This week, moderate Democrats have made clear that they are seeking to win back trust with voters on the issue of immigration. Blue Dog Democrats are co-sponsoring a Remain in Mexico bill. Twelve Senate Democrats backed the Laken Riley Act.
What’s going on?
Democrats who have to win swing voters have finally reached their limits with the explicit politics of evasion.
Immigration is a tough issue. Voter sentiment shifts quickly and voters don’t currently trust Democrats. While Biden shifted to the center on the border late in his term, he never told voters what he was doing and extreme policies popularized during the 2020 presidential primary, like “decriminalize the border”, stuck with voters.
Practical Democrats can stick to their values while also being responsive to voters. But that means taking tough votes and clear stands, not dancing around reality with new sound bites.
Some progressive still haven’t gotten that message. As we outlined in Slow Boring on how Democrats Should Try Harder To Win, the incumbent over-performers don’t just have different messages: they vote differently.
We get it, that’s hard. That’s why people on social media yell at leaders like Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
But it also helps explain why they win over so many swing voters and get Democrats closer to winning a majority.
On values and voter perspectives, practical leaders can feel secure drawing the right line: we shouldn’t be deporting legal immigrants, and we certainly shouldn’t be ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. In addition to being clear, those positions are overwhelmingly supported by voters. On the other hand, legislators have to remind voters that most Democrats oppose decriminalizing the border and abolishing immigration enforcement.
Democrats seem to be waking up to the reality of where voters stand. Senator Ruben Gallego said in a recent interview, “I’m here to bring some more real truth about what people are thinking,” he said. “immigration groups [are] largely out of touch with where your average Latino is.”
Punchbowl News scooped a recent Congressional Hispanic Caucus meeting where frustrations with progressives boiled over:
Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), the BOLD PAC Chair, told leaders the party must stop yielding to progressive ideology, saying progressives haven’t won any battles on immigration “in decades.”
Sánchez also suggested that CHC should request a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to confront him over what the group views as a failed effort to help with immigration measures.
But while practical Democrats are working to position the party for success, progressives are still engaged in the politics of evasion:
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in the private meeting that the CHC needs to do more to help its Frontline members with messaging instead of allowing them to break with the party on immigration and border legislation on every vote.
Ocasio-Cortez mentioned her frustration with two CHC senators – Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) – who voted for the Laken Riley Act.
The phrase “help its Frontline members with messaging instead of allowing them to break with the party on immigration and border legislation on every vote,” should ring bells. It’s classic politics of evasion: the belief that Democrats simply need to message their agenda better rather than responding to voters. The reality is that they don’t just need to change their message, they need to change their votes.
Luckily, CHC attendees have rejected AOC’s call. Democrats need to change course, and leaders are stepping up to both advance American values and win majorities.