Is Abigail Spanberger Trying to Rebrand the Blue Dogs?
Blue Dogs to Battleground Dems?
Just after the midterms, I saw Dave Wasserman tweet something with rather transparent intentions
Dems lost *five* NY seats that voted for Biden by more than the national result in ’20 — including two that voted for Biden by double digits. You can’t really blame that on bad redistricting.
There are a number of ways to interpret this until you reach this tweet
Did we overestimate GOP House gains? Yes. Did we also nail the key dynamic of 2022 — an unusually uneven landscape, w/ Dems struggling in places like NY/OR but demonstrating impressive resilience in red/purple states and districts? I’d say absolutely.
Call me crazy, but I can’t help thinking he’s saying that more centrist Dems were in a better position.
Which then brings us to Representative Spanberger’s rules change to create a new Battleground Leadership representative. This is in keeping with her prior comments on Biden
“Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos”
Since that statement, she won a district by five points that Biden only won by one point. That’s some good political capital to push her ideals forward and possibly rebrand the Blue Dogs. Given that a respected, famous elections analyst like Dave Wasserman seems to agree that it was more a matter of electability than redistricting battles, she may be able to push that pretty far.
But is any of that true?
Tim Ryan lost by six points. Val Demmings, a former police officer, lost by double digits. Sean Maloney, the DCCC chair, lost in a newly created Dem district. The Dems pushed an independent against Mike Lee. The guy lost by 10 points.
You know who won?
Fetterman.
A candidate that supports bail reform, isn’t afraid to confront Republicans on their extremism, wants to fight for medicare expansion and healthcare for all, and wants free community college.
Still more, AOC lost maybe a point and Ilhan Omar won by MORE than she did during her last election. Apparently, the progressive caucus gained a member.
I’m not sure I understand where Spanberger gets the idea that she should fight to make a new leadership position if the progressives are the ones making gains.
