The Democrat Who Can Win

John Avlon in NY-1

To save democracy, we need to practice it. That starts in primary elections, where Democratic primary voters in high-stakes elections choose the pragmatic candidate time after time.

Democrats need to invest more in center-right districts - and in the depolarizing candidates who can win over swing voters.

New York’s 1st congressional district fits the bill, and John Avlon is that candidate. We are out with a new ad making that case:

Why NY-1?

The political ratings agencies say this seat, where Trump won by 1.8% in 2020, is “Likely Republican”.

Center-right districts are systematically underfunded, as we saw in 2022 when Welcome candidates like Will Rollins and Adam Frisch won over more swing voters than any other Democratic challengers but narrowly lost due to a lack of national investment.

WelcomePAC focuses on those underfunded center-right districts because voters in NY-1 deserve a competitive election, and it just may decide the House.

Why John Avlon?

As a journalist, Avlon persuasively communicated the problems posed by growing political polarization. He literally wrote the book a decade ago on our extremist problem:

Wingnuts exist on the extreme edges of the political spectrum. They're the professional polarizers and the unhinged activists, the hardcore haters and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're people who always try to divide us instead of unite us. And at a time when the fringe is blurring with the base, they've hijacked American politics.

Wingnuts echo earlier fear-fueled movements in American history. But bolstered by the rise of hyper-partisan media, the Wingnut echo chamber is more influential than ever before and it has led directly to the division and dysfunction in Congress. Avlon asserts that the time has come for the moderate majority of Americans to straighten their civic backbone and hold the extremes accountable while restoring a sense of perspective to our politics.

Avlon is also prepared to deliver the solution: practicing democracy, by empathetically engaging those in the middle.

Why get involved in the primary? 

Avlon’s primary opponent was the Democratic nominee in 2020, losing by 10 points in a district that Biden only lost by 4 points on the same ballot.

This district needs a candidate who will win over swing voters, not lose them.

Luckily, Democratic primary voters largely want the same thing swing voters want: pragmatic candidates who can clearly communicate shared values to win the middle.