The party leadership needs to get away from the coasts. Having Schumer (New York), Jeffries (New York), AOC (New York), Pelosi (California), Harris (California) and Newsom (California) be such prominent leaders reinforces the idea that the party only cares about the needs of people in NYC and LA. I'd be fast-tracking Raphael Warnock, Elissa Slotkin, Abigail Spanberger (if she wins the governorship in Virginia), Ruben Gallego, and Jon Ossoff (if he wins reelection) to visible leadership positions. I hope the 2028 primary is filled with some of them and governors like Gretchen Whitmer and Josh Shapiro who can welcome more of the country into the fold.
The merits of my argument or getting the coastal Democrats to cede power? Because if it's the latter, I agree with you.
Totally. The Senate is an institution set up, formally and informally, to resist change. It's why dinosaurs like Chuck Grassley still sit stop important committees. It's infuriating! But, I think Trump's rise to domination of the GOP shows that power can be taken during a presidential primary. The GOP tried to stop him during 2016, but failed for a variety of reasons. Eventually the entire party, from leaders to the official platform, reoriented itself around him. Granted l, Trump is a singular figure. But there will be a chance for a non-coastal Democrat like Beshear to assert themselves in a primary. If they win, the party will coalesce around them.
They need someone that doesn't look like a city slicker even if they are. Clinton being from a small town in Arkansas made all the difference. It's really weird how Trump was able to connect with these people. Maybe it's his crude and direct way of communicating that made him look less like the entitled city slicker that he is.
lol Elissa Slotkin is terrible The five Democratic Senators who have voted with Trump most often so far are Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both of Arizona; and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. she was also one of 7 Democrats who voted to confirm Kristi Noem, and is basically a slave to AIPAC/Isreal
I also think getting the east and west coasts to relinquish their chokehold on the party is unlikely. I actually think that's a bigger problem than dinosaurs. Dinosaurs eventually die--whereas the urban areas on each coast are forever.
It's a vicious cycle. The coastal cities have poisoned the Democratic "brand" so badly that true economic populists like Sherrod Brown cannot win reelection in a midwestern state during a presidential cycle. It's why I highlighted the people I did in a previous post: there is genuine young talent in places like Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan. If one of them can stand out then it softens the impact of the coasts on the national brand. I lean toward the Abundance hypothesis: voters won't trust us to lead if the places we lead don't work. Set aside social issues and politicians like Newsom have a real issue with their governance; he was the mayor of one of the most expensive cities in the country and is the governor of half of the top-10 most expensive metro areas. How can he convince people that he'll do something about the cost of living when his own state is impossible to buy a home in? Even though politicians like Jeffries, Schumer, AOC, and Pelosi don't have an impact on local housing policy, they all come from places that are unaffordable. That symbolism matters.
