Opinion: The lesson from Ohio: Democrats want to fight Trump, not Biden

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Progressives attacking Joe Biden was a bad move
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/04/lesson-ohio-democrats-want-fight-trump-not-biden/

It should not surprise anyone that grass-roots Democrats are united behind the president who defeated Donald Trump and wary of candidates who seem more interested in fighting Joe Biden than in advancing his agenda.

This is why Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown defeated former Ohio state senator Nina Turner in Tuesday’s special Democratic primary election for a U.S. House seat centered on Cleveland.

Brown, 46, had backing from much of the national Democratic Party as a down-the-line supporter of the president. Turner, 53, is a progressive hero, but you could argue she lost the race back in 2020 when she likened voting for Biden to eating half a bowl of excrement (not the word she used). In 2016, Turner declined to support Hillary Clinton against Trump.....

It needs to be repeated until it really sinks in: If you look at primary results over the past five years, Democrats remain the party in which more moderate candidates can prevail. Republicans, even when they opt against a Trump-endorsed candidate here or there, are much further to the right than Democrats are to the left.

But something else is true, too: Turner’s defeat does not mean that progressive Democrats are “crushed,” to use the sort of language popular on Wednesday. Progressives remain an important force in the Democratic Party but as part of a broader coalition. They succeed when they act as critics inside the tent. They fail when they are seen as bringing down the tent.

[KPN]

1. Excellent piece.

[Aristus]

2. I'm pretty far to the left, but I'm pragmatic enough to realize that ideological absolutism

will get us absolutely nothing.

[question everything]

3. The more the merrier

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016298552

Thirteen hours earlier. Perhaps searching is called for. One can kick the existing one

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Jeffries: Shontel Brown win in Ohio proves anti-establishment line of attack is 'lame'

I am tired of the Justice Democrats and their affiliates attacks on the Democratic Party
Jeffries: Shontel Brown win in Ohio proves anti-establishment line of attack is 'lame'

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), a member of the House Democratic leadership, pointed to a win this week by Shontel Brown in a special primary election for an Ohio congressional seat as evidence that voters have no appetite for attacks on establishment Democrats ahead of next year's midterm elections.

“The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls,” Jeffries told The New York Times. “In the post-Trump era, the anti-establishment line of attack is lame — when President Biden and Democratic legislators are delivering millions of good-paying jobs, the fastest-growing economy in 40 years and a massive child tax cut.”.....

Jeffries said Brown's win should provide a sobering message to progressives looking to challenge the party's status quo moving forward.

“Let me put it this way: The majority of Democratic voters recognize that Trumpism and the radical right is the real enemy, not us,” Jeffries said. “Apparently the extreme left hasn’t figured that out.”

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. What some progressive activists fail to realize: Democrats like their party

The Justice Democrats really hate the Democratic Party and do not understand why this hatred is not shared

Link to tweet

Mainstream Democrats have been winning a lot of big primaries in 2021. Their latest win came on Tuesday in the primary for Ohio's 11th Congressional District special election: local legislator and party chair Shontel Brown -- backed by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton -- defeated Nina Turner, former co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign.

But while that win and those that came in other 2021 elections can be seen as moderates beating progressives, what it really shows is how Democratic voters actually like their party and its leadership. This marks a major difference between Democratic and Republican voters.

The candidates who have won major Democratic primaries this year have tended to be very loyal to the Democratic Party.....

But look at how Democrats view their congressional leaders in a recent Quinnipiac University poll. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both have net favorability (favorable - unfavorable) ratings of +40 points or higher.

In the last two Democratic primaries for president, the "party decided." Biden and Clinton were the clear leader in endorsements from major party officials and both won. Sanders, who had few endorsements, found his momentum blunted at moments when he could have turned his movement into a nomination for president.

[lees1975]

6. Just make sure

that everyone shows up for the general election.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. This makes me smile

Link to tweet