957: Learning in Both Directions
NYC spills into DC
Partisan electoral politics is a zero-sum game. We focus on winning House races in tough districts. So does the National Republican Congressional Committee. It did not take them long to weigh in on the NYC mayoral race:
The new face of the Democrat Party just dropped, and it's straight out of a socialist nightmare.
"If you engineered the modern Democrat Party in a lab, you'd get Zohran Mamdani: Antisemitic, anti-police, and anti- American. Every vulnerable House Democrat will own him, and every Democrat running in a primary will fear him." - NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella
The image put out by the NRCC immediately after the election was called last night was of Zohran Mamdani House members from New York in difficult districts.
One of my favorite episodes of The Depolarizers has been with Rep. Tom Suozzi, one of the three Democrats pictured. He recently wrote this op-ed the Long Island Herald:
Centrist Democrats need to listen, learn and lead
Two weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking at WelcomeFest, the nation’s largest gathering of centrist Democrats. Held in Washington, D.C., the event brought together a growing coalition committed to reshaping our party with one urgent mission: connecting with the American people again.
This year’s theme, “Responsibility to Win,” says it all. The American people are asking tough questions: Do Democrats hear me? Do they understand my struggles? Will they deliver real results? Too often, the answer feels like “no.”
If you ask most American voters what the top five issues they are most concerned about are, they’ll say: the economy, immigration, taxes, crime, and health care. If you ask the same people what the Democrats are most focused on, they’ll say: choice, LGBTQ protections, health care (fortunately there’s some crossover there), protecting democracy, and climate change. While all of these issues are important, the disconnect between what “the people” are most concerned about and what they see as Democrats’ focus must be addressed.
I was invited to speak at WelcomeFest because I’m one of the few Democrats who won in a district that President Trump won. I didn’t do it by hiding. I did it by showing up, listening and being honest — even when it wasn’t easy.
Suozzi did not just win a Trump district, he over-performed his party’s president by more than 99% of his fellow members of Congress. There is a lot to learn from him, and another of my favorite interviews from the post-election period is Suozzi with the influential Catholic Bishop Barron, who has more than 2 million followers.
There is also a lot to learn from the successful campaign in NYC last night. The NRCC knows its power to damage Democrats, but there are also a wide range of lessons to be learned from the far-left. Holding both those realities in our mind is important.
One of our first posts was titled What The Center Can Learn From AOC: Risks to American democracy require an entrepreneurial response. What can those seeking to win the middle learn from the far-left’s success?
We have to hold up the winners, and learn from everyone we can - even if the NRCC thinks they make it harder for Democrats to win.