In truth, we should all be very grateful for Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, and so-called "DINOs".

[DanTex]

Do I share all their views? Hell no. I'm way to the left of either of them. I will happily oppose specific views that they have which I am opposed to. And I don't want them setting the agenda for the party as a whole.

But, big picture, they managed to win Democratic senate seats in North Dakota and West Virginia. That's huge. It's breaking the GOP's serve. Sure, Dem senators from blue states are going to be more progressive, but that's because there are more progressive voters in blue states.

Of course, this does not apply to conservative Dems from blue states. E.g., I think Dianne Feinstein is a waste of a California senator, CA is capable of electing someone far more progressive.

I am a strong progressive, but I am also rational. And being rational means understanding that we aren't going to be able to elect Sanderses and Warrens across the country. In fact, if I had to choose a progressive MVP, I'd probably go with Sherrod Brown, a very progressive senator from the purple state of Ohio.

Making progress in the real world means being smart. Primarying centrist Dems in red states is stupid. Pick our battles, and don't let ideological purity get in the way of winning.

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

And agreed on the stupidity of challenging centrist Democrats in red states.

[leftstreet]

2. Do GOPers push left-leaning GOP reps in blue states?

Are there GOP forums where people are told it's okay if GOP Senator X endorses single payer healthcare, because, well blue state

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. No Republican alive today would support SP

They can't even support ACA, so sort of moot point. But Republicans occasionally let some of their moderates off the hooks for a few votes (ie DeVos) as long as they can win in the end.

[pnwmom]

16. Yes. For example, Susan Collins. She is to their party what our DINOs are to us. n/t

[QC]

3. Breitbart seems to be very grateful for Manchin as well.

He gives them "exclusives" and they write nice things about him. What's not to love?

https://www.axios.com/democrat-joe-manchin-is-getting-in-with-breitbart-2288892177.html

[Rex]

9. Yeah well...

something, something.

[QC]

12. AT LEAST MANCHIN IS A DEMOCRAT!!1!!!11

:CRY:

[Rex]

15. With logic like that

we are sure to wins!

[DanTex]

17. Hmm, Breitbart wrote some articles about him, therefore we should give his seat to the GOP?

Count me out of that strategy.

[nkpolitics1212]

5. Regarding Feinstein-CA, we have to make sure the Democratic primary challenger of Feinstein comes in

2nd place in the open primary. Then defeats Feinstein in the November runoff.
The Democratic US Senate incumbents that deserve a primary challenge in 2018
1)DE-Carper-D
He is a moderate Democrat from a strong Democratic state.

[Warpy]

6. While I'd love to see Manchin primaried out because of his stand on women's healthcare

he's got a 58% progressive rating over at Progressive Punch. The most liberal remaining Republican, Susan Collins, comes in at a dismal 27%.

I think WV can do a bit better. Were he from a deep red state like Nebraska, I'd probably say he's the best we could do.

[crazycatlady]

10. West Virginia is redder than Nebraska

In 2016, it went for Trumpty Dumpty by 10 more points than Nebraska.

[Willie Pep]

7. Even moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin are better than the likely GOP alternative.

I don't agree with the idea of primarying red state Democrats with across-the-board liberal Democrats because I have doubts about whether across-the-board liberals can win against Republicans in red states.

[Staph]

8. Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!!

I've been fighting this battle here on DU forever.

If I've said it once, I've said it one thousand times -- do you want a Joe Manchin, who votes with the Democrats 75 to 80% of the time, or an Evan Jenkins (R-slime), who will vote with the Democrats zero per cent of the time?

It took 15 to 20 years to change this state from true blue, union-supporting Democrats to mindless, red-state Republicans. Give us a little time to change it back, why dontcha!

[brer cat]

11. +1

But don't bother telling the ideological purists; they would rather lose.

[wildeyed]

13. It would be way more effective to put that energy into developing local & state progressives

in those states. If you build the party from the bottom and develop strong progressive leaders who also have a relationship with their constituents, it will go better than coming in and dictating who is and is not an acceptable representative of their state.

Bottom line, those places are just more socially conservative than most. Best case, you get economically liberal leadership that expresses support for conservative social values but doesn't act out on them, IMO. I wish progressives who want to dictate who is acceptable leadership in these states would actually spend some time there and get to know people a bit.

[stevenleser]

14. No, it wouldn't. If you want to change things you need to do outreach and change minds.

It won't help to push the party to the left or find progressive candidates to ru. In WVA a lot of minds need to be changed first.

[alarimer]

18. Will you be grateful when they vote to kill the ACA?

Because they will, to save their political careers. It's why I have no use for them.

[kentuck]

19. Should we feel the same if their votes place a new Justice on the Court?

There is a difference in voting to re-name a Post Office and voting to place a Supreme Court Justice. That is what they should be measured upon, in my opinion. Do they vote with the Republicans on the most important votes?

[liberalhistorian]

20. Heitkamp only managed to eke out

a win thanks to the native American vote in North Dakota. I can tell you right now that her establishment stance on the fight against the DAPL her lack of support for them on several other issues, and her vote in favor of the anti-EPA EPA secretary have guaranteed that she will not have that support for her re-election and that she will also not win that next election in the state as a whole because she is a D and ND is turning viciously Trump-like. So see what trying to act like repub-lite in order to curry favor gets her.

I live on the reservation adjoining Standing Rock, and I can tell you now that the bitterness against her is more than that against the Indian-hating repubs because she was supposed to be an ally and she only won because of their support.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

21. Beggars can't be choosers, the harsh reality is that we need everyone identified as a Democrat.