This morning I was mildly critical of David Nir on Twitter for blowing $25 million in GA-06 on yet another defeat. In my view, the litmus test Nir, Tom Perez and Ilyse Hogue forced upon our party without a vote earlier this year, has cost our party at least two seats in Congress and the Mayoralty of Omaha. His response? Hr blocked me to remain safe in his own bubble. And that's the perfect microcosm of what's wrong with his strategy.
Unlike Mr. Nir, I have worked on a winning campaign within the past two years. I worked on a winning campaign on a District Donald Trump won by 30 last year. Really. I didn't have much to do with the win. I recruited volunteers and made phone calls. The space that the party gave the candidate, Congressman Collin Peterson, to vote his conscience on issues like abortion and guns as well as Congressman Peterson's unwavering respect for his constituents is what won the election.
After that, I moved back to Nevada, where I was extremely critical of State Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford (D-Las Vegas), for taking what I thought to be a misguided strategy into the Nevada legislative session. Aaron Ford had a right to be angry about my writings; I would've understood had he blocked me on Twitter.
But Aaron Ford is the kind of politician who wins elections; he didn't block me. He Direct Messaged me and opened a dialogue. I am not going to reveal the contents of our conversation, but I will say it was clear he had respect for me as a citizen, even we vehemently disagreed on some things. And being a Senate Majority Leader, Ford didn't just talk to me; he talked with a myriad of different people interested in the legislative session.
The result of Senator Ford's dialogue with frustrated liberals, business representatives, and so many other interests in Nevada was getting parts of a progressive agenda like green energy projects, protecting and serving our veterans, improving Nevada's roads and a landmark prescription drug bill past Nevada's Republican Governor. Ford (along with his long time friend Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson) also laid down a marker for the future: if Trumpcare destroys rural Nevada's health care system, Democrats have an existing plan to save it, in the form of the Medicaid for All bill Governor Sandoval vetoed.
I understand why the losing brand of politics Mr. Nir is pushing is catching on. Donald Trump's election to the Presidency caused some to question the America they knew and loved. The result is to hang on to things that they valued even more tightly, and to be less tolerant of the disagreements that come with a broad, winning coalition.
Unfortunately, that doesn't lend itself to winning elections. If pro-life voters had felt like they had a place, not control but just a place, within the Democratic Party, we might be celebrating two victories today. If we had a younger leadership (80% of the Dems Congressional Leadership is over the age of 70), that rejected the politics of the past and cared more about the politics of the future, like Congressman Seth Moulton is doing we might be one a better position to win in states with high military participation rates like Georgia, South Carolina and Montana.
The road to winning isn't in guilt tripping worried progressives into sending $20 with ridiculous hair on fire emails. That will do what it has done: bring lots of money, pay for staff salaries and consultants, and contribute to electoral defeats.
Instead, the road to winning is in being strong enough to understand that diversity of views and building a broad coalition is important. The road to winning is in accepting that different parts of the country have different political viewpoints. And it is in understanding that we cannot get everything we might want, but we can move forward and make a difference if we do what's possible, like Aaron Ford just did.