Many Democrats have claimed failed gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe lost Tuesday’s election because he failed to appeal to the party’s progressive wing.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), for example, said the campaign was not progressive enough and complained that the progressive wing of the party was left out of McAuliffe’s bid for the governorship.
“I know that Virginia was a huge bummer,” she said, “and honestly, if anything, I think the results show the limits of trying to run a fully, 100 percent fully moderated campaign that does not excite, speak to, or energize a progressive base. And frankly, we weren’t really even invited to contribute on that race.”
In fact, only two prominent Democrats have publicly stated that McAuliffe was too “woke” to win.
One of them was longtime Democrat strategist James Carville.
“What went wrong is just stupid wokeness. Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Wash. I mean, this ‘defund the police’ lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools. I mean that — people see that,” Carville said on PBS.
“It’s just really — has a suppressive effect all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a ‘woke’ detox center or something,” he continued. “They’re expressing a language that people just don’t use, and there’s backlash and a frustration at that.”
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and 2020 candidate for the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination, shared Carville’s concerns.
“McAuliffe’s loss is a victory for all Americans. Why? Because it was a resounding rejection of efforts to divide us by race, the stripping of parental rights, and arrogant, deaf leaders. This benefits us all,” she said on Twitter Wednesday.
McAuliffe’s loss is a victory for all Americans. Why? Because it was a resounding rejection of efforts to divide us by race, the stripping of parental rights, and arrogant, deaf leaders. This benefits us all.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) November 3, 2021
She doubled down on that sentiment Friday.
“My fellow Dems: if you want people to vote for you, stop calling millions of Americans dogs—only dogs respond to ‘dog whistles’. Stop trying to divide us by the color of our skin. End your open-border policy. Treat us all with the respect we deserve as Americans & God’s children,” she said.
My fellow Dems: if you want people to vote for you, stop calling millions of Americans dogs—only dogs respond to “dog whistles”. Stop trying to divide us by the color of our skin. End your open-border policy. Treat us all with the respect we deserve as Americans & God’s children.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) November 5, 2021
McAuliffe often said on the campaign trail that Critical Race Theory (CRT), a hotbed issue in the race, did not exist. Instead, he claimed, it was a “racist dog-whistle” used by his opponent and eventual winner of the race, Glenn Youngkin.
Progressives and moderates have been battling for the heart and soul of the Democrat Party for some time.
Perhaps the most prominent battle is President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” infrastructure plan, which is being held up by moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), much to the chagrin of the party’s progressives.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “James Carville” by James Carville and photo “Terry McAuliffe” by Terry McAuliffe.
