What If Conor Lamb Was Right?
Eight months later, the Democrats are still fighting over whos to blame. A new report from Third Way, the Collective PAC, and Latino Victory seems to support Lambs original thesis: Although the party succeeded at demonizing Donald Trump, Republicans were successful at demonizing Democrats. Republican attempts to brand Democrats as radicals worked, including among voters of color, the analysis concludes. It is one of several comprehensive examinations of the 2020 election released recently by a range of liberal groups that include the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the left-wing donor network Way to Win. Each offers a distinct conclusion about 2020 and a different lesson about how to proceedevidence that the fierce intra-party debate, which consumed Democrats in November, remains unsettled 16 months before the party heads into an already unfavorable midterm election. The authors of the Third Way and co. report, Marlon Marshall and Lynda Tran, present a few linked findings. First, Democrats lost support among Latino and Black voters because the party didnt give them something to vote for. Part of the reports explanation was that Democrats were so busy attacking Trump that they failed to offer a consistent vision for rebuilding the economy. In the absence of a powerful message, Republicans had ample space to label Democrats radicals who endorsed a socialist agenda and violence in the streets, the report said. According to Marshall and Tran, districts where Republicans emphasized law and order and socialism also saw a higher share of Latino, Asian, and Black voters supporting the GOP. The reports prescription might sound familiar: The party needs to start talking to votersespecially voters of colorearlier and to offer a focused message about jobs, wages, and economic prosperity. Just as important as having a message is sticking to it. Democrats need to fall in line during campaign season, says Quentin James, the leader of the Collective PAC, which recruits and supports Black candidates for political office. We have to be real about our ability to win elections and not just promote certain grassroots slogans, James says, alluding to the unpopularity of the movement to defund the police. Running in deep-blue districts is super cool. But if you want to have a majority to legislate, then you need to help those candidates in more moderate districts. Shooting off the mouth on things that dont poll well is not helping the cause.  Mucarsel-Powell is not the only one who blames shooting off the mouth for her defeat. [Voters] said to me directly, We support you, we know your positions, but were worried about the direction of the national Democratic Party, Ben McAdams, who lost his reelection bid in his deep-red Utah district by fewer than 4,000 votes, told me. McAdams was one of the Democrats who voted most often against his own party. But there were ads after ads saying I support a radical socialist agenda, and many of our loudest voices were saying things that reinforced that message. Other losing moderates, such as Xochitl Torres Small in New Mexico and Gil Cisneros in California, whod flipped districts in 2018, were pelted with accusations of extremism and tied to progressive policy positions that they didnt endorse.