Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus had harsh words for the far left and, particularly, far-left House Democrats on Wednesday, insisting that election results in New York and Ohio — where “moderate,” more Establishment Democrats routed progressive challengers — prove that Democrat voters are rejecting a far-left message.
“Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a top member of House leadership, said in an interview Wednesday that Democratic voters were clearly rejecting candidates from the party’s most strident and ideological flank,” The New York Times reported Wednesday as part of its Ohio coverage. “Where some primary voters welcomed an angrier message during the Trump years, Mr. Jeffries said, there is less appetite now for revolutionary rhetoric casting the Democratic Party as a broken institution.”
As the Daily Wire reported, the “Establishment”-supported Shontel Brown soundly defeated Bernie Sanders’s former campaign co-chair Nina Turner in a Democratic primary in Ohio on Tuesday night. Turner, an avowed progressive, had hoped to become part of the far-left “Squad” was left puzzled when Brown easily defeated her.
She also immediately leveled an apparent anti-Semitic attack at her opponent, Brown, claiming that Brown took “evil money” to fund her campaign. Turner was, ostensibly, referring to a generous donation Brown received from the Democratic Majority for Israel.
“I am going to work hard to ensure that something like this never happens to a progressive candidate again. See, we didn’t lose this race — evil money manipulated and maligned this election. See, I don’t want you to relent, because it took evil money. They took evil money to come in here and do this. Well, I swear to you, that as sure as there is a God in heaven, sister Turner is going to continue working with every fiber of her being until true justice reigns,” Turner said in her concession speech Tuesday night.
Jeffries, however, blamed progressives for their own loss, suggesting not just that their politics weren’t in line with voters’ but that their rhetoric was too inflammatory.
“The extreme left is obsessed with talking trash about mainstream Democrats on Twitter, when the majority of the electorate constitute mainstream Democrats at the polls,” Jeffries said.
He then vowed that Establishment Dems were not “going to act like punching bags for the extreme left.”
Progressives do not appear to be taking Jeffries’ advice to heart. On Twitter and in interviews, members of the Squad insisted that either Ohio was simply not ready for a more progressive Representative — a possibility given that the swing state tends to favor middle-of-the-road candidates. Voters in OH-11 went heavily for President Joe Biden and Democratic Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who held the seat until she was tapped to serve in the Biden administration, was, generally speaking, a more moderate Democrat.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) said that the Ohio primary had no wider message and that the results meant “absolutely nothing.”
The Ohio election had indications for Republicans running in 2022 as well. A candidate, endorsed by former President Donald Trump was able to secure a win.