Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) warned the field of 2020 Democratic presidential nominees that they should resist the urge to move leftward, suggesting that the party cannot win in key states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio with a severely progressive platform.
Speaking at a Bloomberg News roundtable on Friday, Pelosi mocked the liberal ideas, like “Medicare for All,” that candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are using to fire up Democrats on social media, noting that what wins in her home district in San Francisco, California, isn’t what wins in states where Democrats have struggled to remain compeitive, and where voter bases are more moderate.
Instead, Pelosi said, Democrats should focus on what wins in the Rust Belt, because voters in decidedly “blue” states will respond to those policies, too.
“What works in San Francisco does not necessarily work in Michigan,” Pelosi said, according to Yahoo News. “What works in Michigan works in San Francisco — talking about workers’ rights and sharing prosperity.”
“Remember November,” Pelosi added. “You must win the Electoral College.”
She’s not wrong. Democrats learned in 2016 that the Rust Belt was more volatile than expected; blue collar, working class Democrats responded well to now-President Donald Trump’s message of economic populism and immigration control and switched parties to cast a ballot for the New York City real estate developer over 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. – READ MORE