Democrats Must Reject Socialism

[Foxaèr]

Washington Blade

The general electorate leans moderate to moderate-right. Polling shows “When it comes to polarization, most people in American politics blame the voters. But much of the political science data suggests most voters are actually moderates.” It is the politicians who try to polarize them. Voters tend to not want radical change. Democrats do better when they understand that. It is a major reason Joe Biden won the presidency.

A Democratic Socialist who won her New York State Senate primary race, Kirsten Gonzalez said, “Today we really proved that socialism wins after winning an open race to represent a district covering parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.” Yes, some candidates for the New York State Senate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists and AOC won. Thankfully where it really mattered for Democrats nationally, in congressional primaries, they are losing. Interestingly, even in New York, this contrasted with “June primaries for the Assembly and statewide office when candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party lost to establishment candidates.” I leave it to others to figure that out. It may be the summer primary gets more left-wing New York voters than the June primary. I hope candidates like Gonzalez understand their wins — and her comments — don’t translate to a winning slogan for Democrats nationally in the mid-term elections.

It was great to see the results in the New York Democratic Congressional primaries. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), an out gay congressman, easily defeated the AOC-endorsed candidate, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, in the new 17th. Dan Goldman, a rational progressive, counsel to the Democrats in the first Trump impeachment, won in the new 10th. Then there were two incumbents pitted against each other in the 12th and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) handily defeated Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). Sad to see Maloney out, but one had to lose.

In the special election in the old 19th, moderate Democrat Pat Ryan defeated a Republican in what was considered a swing district leaning Republican until the Supreme Court announced its abortion decision. This result, added to those like the big win for the pro-choice position in Kansas, portends well for Democrats. Ryan also won his Democratic primary in the new 18th with more than 84 percent of the vote against a candidate who really had no apparent reason to run and never had any chance of winning.

In Florida, Charlie Christ (D) won the primary to run against Ron DeSantis for governor and Val Demings (D) won her primary to run against Sen. Marco Rubio ®. While both Republicans are favored, these two Democrats can turn these into competitive races. Both will be well funded but their money pales in comparison to the $172 million DeSantis has raised. In recent years Florida has not been very kind to Democrats. It will be interesting to see what Trump does with DeSantis.

The mid-term forecasts have changed from overwhelmingly Republican to Democrats having a chance. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently said, “Republicans had a better chance of taking back the House than the Senate. Candidate quality has a lot to do with [it].” The same column noted, “Today, an average of different forecasts and political betting odds indicate that Democrats are slightly favored to hold on to Congress’ upper chamber. The change in Senate fortune comes as the party continues to poll far better than expected in a number of states while several Republican candidates struggle to connect with the voters.”

It is actually fun to watch so many Republican candidates stumble. In Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz didn’t remember how many houses he owns. He said two when it is actually eight or maybe 10. That once happened to John McCain in his presidential run. Hershel Walker in Georgia can’t seem to remember how many kids he has. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is down between four to seven points in some recent polls. A Johnson loss to Democratic candidate Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes would be particularly satisfying as he is a totally despicable, non-repentant, Trumper. His defeat by Wisconsinites would make great sense considering they reelected their other senator, lesbian, progressive Tammy Baldwin (D), by a 10 percent margin.

Along with support for Roe v. Wade, Democrats have a great record to run on — everything from the infrastructure bill and gun control to the latest deficit reduction bill, including fighting climate change and reducing the cost of drugs, the new student loan forgiveness plan, and the massive pandemic relief people got. If voters are reminded of all this, Democrats really can WIN!