Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumVulnerable House Dems fear a Bernie nomination could end up costing them their seats
and costing the Dems a majority in the House.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/sanders-success-ramps-concern-among-congressional-democrats-n1136456
WASHINGTON While congressional Democrats share in their party's overriding goal of defeating President Donald Trump in November, there is growing concern that their efforts to retain a somewhat fragile House majority and hopes of winning control of the Senate could be hampered with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at the top of the ticket.
Democrats worry that Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, and his policies are too liberal for the broader electorate they need to win in states and districts that Trump won in 2016.
In particular, they are concerned that having Sanders at the top of the ticket could drive away suburban voters who favored Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections in the nation's small number of closely divided districts and put potential Senate seats out of reach in GOP-leaning states.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
JohnBoltonsmustache
(21 posts)If these Representatives worked for their constituents instead of their donors, theyd be less venerable. Granted, some are in gerrymandered districts that add to that venerability, but they had two years to prove their worth.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
pnwmom
(108,994 posts)for their constituents?
Are you aware that Mitch McConnell is blocking virtually all legislation that the D's have passed, with the help of these vulnerable legislators?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)It happens and she understood and condoned it.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)Kevin McCarthy also wants sanders to be the nominee
Link to tweet
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Qutzupalotl
(14,327 posts)Link to tweet
Meanwhile, its very hard to identify congressional districts where the hypothetical return of Sanders-to-Trump voters to the Democratic column would swing the districtand its easy to identify many where discomfort with Sanders could swing the district back to the Republican column.
In 2018, Democrat Lizzie Fletcher won Texass Seventh, a wealthy district in and around Houston. The district had been held continuously by Republicans since 1966, when it was won by George H. W. Bush. In 2016, Republican John Culberson got almost 144,000 votes; Democrat James Cargas, 112,000. In 2018, the Democratic vote improved to 128,000; the Republican vote fell to 116,000. Yet the district remains Republican +7 according to The Cook Political Report. What happens to Lizzie Fletcher if Bernie Sanders wins the nomination on a message of higher taxes, no private health insurance, and admiration for Fidel Castro? Do you think a Republican House member cannot recover to 144,000 running against that?
.....
But in an important way, Sanders represents an even greater danger to Democrats than McGovern did. McGovern ran in an age of ticket-splitting. In that same election where McGovern did so disastrously, Democrats lost only 12 seats in the House. They actually gained two in the Senate and also won a governorship.
That pattern will not repeat itself in 2020. If Sanders loses badly as moderate voters swing away from Democrats, he will take with him a big clutch of House Democrats and Democratic Senate hopefuls. It will be a loss up and down the ticket, a loss that could not only reelect Trump, but also enable him, by preserving his elected bodyguard in the Senate and restoring his majority in the House. The question to weigh before Super Tuesday is thus not only Sanders versus Biden or Sanders versus Bloomberg. It is whether you prefer Speaker Pelosi or Speaker McCarthy, and Chairman Schiff or Chairman Nunes. The hopes of congressional Democrats hang in the balance in the fateful week ahead.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/state-democratic-race/607024/
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden