Four years ago, the midterm elections in the United States were a victory for progressive Democrats. Now those candidates are struggling, and doing more harm than good for Democrats, he writes Victor Bach.
Victor Bach (1995) is the author of EW. Every Saturday he blogs about what’s happening in American politics.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Four years ago they presented themselves as leaders of the Democratic Party. The party won the 2018 by-elections and the victories were largely credited to them. Progressive thinking pulled the party to the left. If a law is preached that the leftist democrats are guaranteed to win the upcoming elections.
Democrats were often defeated by more progressive programs
His own supporters replaced Bernie Sanders with moderate Joe Biden two years later, disappointingly, but Biden secured a strong left-wing electoral platform from the party. A clear sign of the new progressive signature.
In the 2020 elections, it did not yield the expected results. Biden won the presidency, and of course, it ended in a tie in the Senate, but Democrats lost precious seats to Republicans in the House of Representatives.
They lost thirteen seats. Mostly because the candidates are more progressive. Cuts to police budgets, free health care and expensive climate plans aren’t catching on everywhere.
Americans don’t want to cut the police
Progressive Democrats should have learned their lesson. Take the infamous slogan’Take back the police’ – Short police. A typical progressive plan to deter voters. Crime is one of the biggest concerns for many Americans. Many more progressive candidates are repeating the slogan at several campaign rallies.
It’s not without reason that President Biden often says he’s all about more money for the police. Even in the progressive city of New York, a former police officer was elected mayor, thanks to his plans to make the city safer. Moderate Democrats are trying to rebel against their more radical party members.
It was a huge success during the party’s prime. Several progressive contenders lost to moderate Democrats. Nevertheless, many voters still see the party as too progressive in key elections.
This year, the most progressive Democrats will lose their party seats
For Republicans, the Democrats’ radical plans are a great campaign tool. Take the state of Wisconsin. Incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson is particularly vulnerable there because of his close ties to Donald Trump. Wisconsin elected Joe Biden in 2020. Democrats were naïve enough to appoint a more progressive Democrat to take on Johnson.
As of September, Mandela Barnes, a Democrat, was tied with Johnson in the polls. After that, Johnson spent millions on ads portraying Barnes as a smooth-talking thug to criminals.
There is ample evidence for that. Barnes never said ‘Get the police back’ But it supported disguised cuts to the police budget and welcomed calls on social media to abolish the Border Police. Thanks to the ads, Republican Johnson has now built a steady lead in the polls for the Nov. 8 election. For example, radical progressive programs make Democrats vulnerable at the expense of important votes.
