In the 2020 election roller coaster, it’s beginning to look a lot like Joe Biden will be the next president but some Democrats in Congress have started to point fingers and assign blame for Election Day losses.
A pair of Georgia run-off Senate races in January could determine whether the 2020 election secures Democratic Party control of the Senate with Biden as the tie-breaker.
Centrist House Democrats lashed out at liberal colleagues, blaming far-left views for costing the party seats and calling for a return “to basics” during a three-hour private caucus call, according to people who heard the call, the Washington Post reported.
Republicans are expected to win undeclared races in Alaska and North Carolina and a narrow majority in the Georgia runoff. But if Democrats win both Georgia Senate seats — a long shot — they would secure control of the Senate with a Biden White House as the tie-breaker.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) warned Democrats on Thursday that they will blow their chances in the Georgia runoff if they swing too far left, ProPublica reported.
If “we are going to run on Medicare for All, defund the police, socialized medicine, we’re not going to win,” Clyburn warned on the caucus call.
Pelosi told House Democrats to focus on an “agenda of lowering health care, better paychecks, building infrastructure” — ideas that are more likely to be appealing to moderate Georgia voters, ProPublica reported.
The two months leading up to the Jan. 5 runoff will be “fraught with meaning” Pelosi said.
Pelosi formally announced her plans to run for House speaker again, writing a letter to each Democratic member on Thursday outlining the agenda for the next two years and asking for their support in reelecting her.
GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will take on Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock and GOP Sen. David Perdue is expected to take on Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff.
Party leaders were certain that Trump’s divisiveness and mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic would help them expand their majority in GOP-held districts. Instead, Dems lost at least six seats and failed to retake the Senate.
Republicans successfully portrayed all Congressional Democrats as socialists and radical leftists who endorse far-left ideas such as defunding the police, according to multiple people who were on the call and spoke anonymously, Washington Post reported.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
“We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), , who is ahead in her reelection bid. “Need to get back to basics … If we are classifying Tuesday as a success . . . we will get f—ing torn apart in 2022.”
Spanberger was among 15 Democrats who did not support Pelosi for speaker in 2018, Fox News reported. Pelosi could afford to lose a few because Democrats had such a strong majority after the midterms. This year will be different because there are fewer Democrats.
Pelosi needs a majority of votes on the House floor to win the speakership. If the House has 435 members, a majority is 218 votes.
The leaked caucus comments got attention on Twitter.
“Maj Whip Jim Clyburn is 100% correct,” Michelle Johnson tweeted. “America, moderate democrats, liberal/moderate Republicans and Independents aren’t ready for the Progressive agenda which is why Sen Bernie Sanders and Sen Eizabeth Warren aren’t on the top of the Democratic ticket.”
