AOC exposes grave flaws in Democratic party campaigning and strategy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/us/politics/aoc-biden-progressives.html

Wow, no wonder they underperformed this election, especially in the House. Poor messaging, poor investment, not paying attention to their races, no ground game, bad national strategy, taking voters for granted, etc. They continue like this, Dems will lose big in 2022. The Dems this year just pumping money, but didn't put in the work and it cost them in the House and the Senate.

And centrists need to learn a hard lesson. Progressive politics did not cost them their seats, their sucky campaigns did. The results are clear, Progressive and liberal members in swing seat districts actually kept their seats, while many of the centrists lost them.

And these don't even count the races that more Democrats might lose, like "DINO" Harley Rouda and wishy washy centrist Gil Cisneros in Orange County California. Contrast this with the two more progressive swing district Orange County Democrats, Porter and Levin (who also represents part of San Diego), who soundly defeated their GOP opponents.

And the centrist "too far left and lose" argument falls flat. And Conor Lamb and Abagail Spanberger, who survived their races, fail to look at the facts and blame progressives for the center's failures. And really, these outcomes should be encouraging to progressives, argument vindicated.

Powell and Shalala lost their seats because Democrats didn't bother to show up to Florida Latino voters. Finkenauer ran an uninspired and inexperienced re-election campaign running from the party, Max Rose decided to be completely unlikable and his opponent easily defined him. All were winnable races done in by piss poor campaigning, with no digital or ground games.

Democrats should start listening to AOC, I think she knows a lot about effective campaigning and organizing. She only took out a high ranking Congressman who was supposedly next in line to be Speaker of the House while also being a extremely powerful local party boss. Because the Dems are headed for disastrous defeat in 2 years. This election actually made Dems more vulnerable.

AOC is amazing, she telling the truth. You can’t just assume people will vote for you. You need a unified message and a strong ground game. They need to primary piglosi out and give AOC more influence before the Democrats lost progressives forever. It’s not terrible, can easily fixed fast. Biden did better where Clinton failed.

This lesson Democrats painfully learned in South Florida and South Texas.

And really, it was progressives that helped Biden get over the top. Had the cities not matched the suburbs and the rurals in turnout, Biden's election would look dicey.

@texasgoldrush: The real issue seems to be the Democratic old guard who doesn’t want to let go. Do the numbers really match up with what pelosi said about going to far left?

Denying the problems won’t fix them, but they need to be fixed by 2024 or the Democrats maybe in permanent trouble.

The issue is that the old guard are historically bad campaigners who message poorly and haven't grasped on to new methods and ideas. This is why GOP kills them digitally, and this is one reason why AOC took out Crowley, he had no real digital campaign.

Cheri Bustos needs to no longer chair the DCCC. Not only did she lose seats under her leadership by sidelining firms that help challengers against incumbents, she failed to realize these firms were also superior at digital work. And she nearly lost her own seat.

The we had the Biden campaign's idiotic decision to not have a real ground game, and just rely on the air, while the GOP had boots on the ground. This hurt Dems down ballot and helped cause the "Blue Wall" to almost stay in Trumps hands. Progressives with ground games unconnected to the Biden campaign saved him.

Some interesting results coming out of southern border counties in Texas compared to 2016 and, in some cases, history.

Percentage of Trump vote in:

Starr County (the most Democratic county in the union)

• 2016 - 18%
• 2020 - 47%

Zapata County

• 2016 - 32%
• 2020 - 52%

Maverick County

• 2016 - 20%
• 2020 - 45%

And if Dems don't care about these latino communities, simply because there are rural, they should at least pay attention to how much Trump closed the margins in Hidalgo, Webb, and Cameron.

In the house, a Republican incumbent held district 23 for the first time in its history. In district 15, historically uncontested for Dems, saw Republicans close the margins from 35,000 votes in 2018 to what looks to be less than 9,000. It will probably be a battleground in the midterms.

Southern Texas is often concerned with border security and reliant on the fossil fuel industry for jobs. I'm curious how you think a progressive agenda will help Dems in the region.

Trump calling Biden a socialist helped him. Much like people painting Obama as a far left liberal helped him as well, how he kept winning elections despite the other democrats distancing away from him (and therefore losing their elections).

The Democratic party has been terrible at running campaigns for decades now. AOC and people like her may be farther left than most Americans, but they can tell you what she is fighting for. Messaging matters, and the establishment Dems lack in that regard. Tell me, what does Chuck Schumer stand for exactly?

@vl4d_l3nin: South Texas also went for Bernie Sanders in the primaries, and Jessica Cisneros almost took out centrist Henry Cuellar in Laredo, so South Texas is indeed receptive to left economic messages.

Biden simply put, ignored these voters. They voted heavily for Hillary. And unlike Arizona, progressive GOTV operations were not as visible in South Texas to fill in the hole of Democratic presence there.

And here is what Dems really missed.....Latinos are economically focused voters!!!!! Biden failed to focus on economic issues all campaign long and it cost him Texas.

no one cares about texas.

Trump is gone, that is all that matters.

And Dems should be relieved, they could have lost that region for a generation if Trump won.

Nah that would hasten the switch to blue.

The world only cares that the orange moron is gone, i dont see why you dont get it.

And what if the Dems set themselves up to get the next right wing extremist elected, one that is not as stupid?

That says more about Republicans then Democrats...........

@texasgoldrush: Not a bad thing. The right here needs something to blow up in their faces.

How much of the defeat of the Democrats was just lack of support for Medicare for All though and not other issues? I know in the North Country of NY, Stefanik was running ads about not defunding the police and whatnot.

@Ring_of_fire: Since the Democrats who ran on Medicare for all won, I say a lot.

After losing her state tens of thousands of jobs and a few billion dollars in potential tax revenue, there’s no reason for anyone to take her seriously on a national stage. She may have municipal support due to her celebrity, but that all falls flat with center left Democrats.

In other words, she’s an idiot.

I am sure it hurt some of the ones up for re-election or election. I just think there is more to the defeat than just lack of support for MFA, especially in heavily Republican districts. Would Kendra Horn or Collin Peterson have won if they supported MFA? Maybe, maybe not.

I think simply put, progressives are better at campaigning than centrists. They are more likely to be better digitally, put more value in ground games, and less likely to take voters for granted.

Many of these centrists also had poor campaign skills, Max Rose for example.

@thegreatchomp: What makes AOC awesome? She has demonstrated time and time again she doesn’t understand policy, or legislation.

You keep assuming the majority of US voters are on the side while in reality they are moderate.

She is just a damn cry baby that is threatening to quit because she might not get her way. I say don't let the door hit you on the way out. Typical millennial behavior.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-politics_n_5fa915f0c5b66009569c6c08

Did you see the Fox News exit polls? Majority supports for many progressive positions

I bet you not only will she not quit, she will get her way eventually.

@Xabiss: Yet you are the one crying

So are you going to add anything to the conversation or are you just here to attack me as normal? Sorry the only one crying right now is AOC because people are mean and they won't do what I want. So I am going to cry about it and threaten to leave politics because of it. Seriously how pathetic!

The democrats lost house seat and might end up failing to gain the senate because of a lack of organization in various minority communities, the lack of message control and stuff like that stimulus check trump signed months ago. You had many people in minority communities in places like south florida, Orange County and etc think that the dems were radical socialists that wanted to defund the police, didn’t care about them at all and etc. What the dems need to do is show voters they care about them without promoting radical change.

Also a lot of people were not hurt much by covid and as a result they didn’t feel like voting for change. Some people also benefited from the money they got from the government at the start of the pandemic and attributed the cheque they got to trump.

both sides dont really work for the American people. so not new

Yet its those who didn't run on Medicare For All and "Defunding the Police" that lost because they were poor campaigners who let themselves get defined. The Democrats simply did not counter Trump's messaging in South Florida and took them for granted. Nothing really ideological about it.

And I personally have nothing but contempt for most of the Cuban and Venezuelan communities in Miami. They advocate policies that hurt their people back home.

Try getting constant death threats and a ridiculous amount of opposition media focus. Also is the fact that people want her to advance too quickly as well. People want her to primary Schumer in 2022 (which probably won't happen) and people actually want her to run for President. It makes her very uncomfortable right now.

And she is not threatening to leave politics actually (read what she says again) and multiple interviews she has said she does not know what she wants to pursue and that she will find what is best to help people.

@Xabiss: Seriously, Nobody is attacking you. Read your comments again and see I am right.

Maybe if you understood what your side does to her, you might actually understand the frustration. Nah, as normal you attack.

Ummmm... She is actually complaining about what her side does to her now. She is just the typical millennial cry baby when they don't get their way, but I think I do spot a simp.

WTF, most politicians get this. Don't act like she is the only snow flake that gets attacked. Major *eyeroll* I feel sorry for anyone that buys into her BS.

@Xabiss: So most politicians get an extreme amount of death threats, some from actual law enforcement officers? Most politicians got extreme opposition media attention before they ever took office? Most politicians rise from a virtual unknown to superstar of the party overnight?

Wow, you really believe that?

She a snowflake? Wow, did you know she actually fights back? Unlike Obama, Hillary, or Pelosi....AOC fights back, which makes her a really risky target. I guess you guys still haven't learned. She is really kicking your ass.

All I did was quote what she said and she is kicking my ass. That is cute. I am calling her out for being a baby about not getting her way. I am tired that when you say anything about AOC liberals just freak out. She deserves anything she gets. If you don't want these things happening to you then I agree with her she needs to leave, politics is not for everyone.

So she deserves having police officers saying she should get a bullet in the head? Border patrol agents depicting her being raped? Racist and beyond the pale jabs against her because her opponents simply do not know how to take her on? Being cussed out by another congressman? She deserves all that? Wow

This shows what kind of person you are. Another right wing scumbag who thinks you can threaten your opponents out of politics. I constantly say that AOC detractors are stupid, and I keep being proven right, I mean, they shoved $10 million to try and unseat her in a D+30 district. You morons are really something.

And you don't like me disrespecting you, well, I guess you are getting what you deserve.

Yeah. This was not a good election for democrats. I don't forsee them winning either of the two Georgia run-offs. Republicans outvoted Democrats by about 70,000 votes in those initial races.

Also, wtf was up with that Maine election? Biden beats trump by 10% but Susan Collins wins re-election by 10%? eek. That was really bad. I really didnt think that would happen.

WTF are you even going on about? I am only quoting what SHE SAID. All politicians get treated like this don't act like her circumstances are any damn different. Hell I didn't even like Trump and he got it 10000000 times worse then anything that has happened to the little baby AOC. It's not my fault she can't handle the pressures of Washington. BTW all congress people have been cussed at so nice try on that.

Her actions are the cause of what goes on with her and then she just wants to cry about it.

Man I never thought saying anything about AOC would bring out the forum trolls, but it is hilarious. Your little princess is getting something negative said about her, because of her OWN actions. It is hilarious!

Her vote against Barrett may have saved her seat.

So threats against her life are from her own actions and that is acceptable and she is getting what she deserves? Wow

A troll talking about trolls, hilarious.

They run as alt republicans and then blame progressives for showing people what a real dem should look like.

I am glad to see that you all have not had a single good rebuttal to what I have said except to attack me. The truth hurts!

First.........no one believes you don't like trump. You've spent months defending his every move.

Second...........if trump received death threats those individuals would have been investigated/arrested. So please show us these many many instances.

PROVE IT! Prove that I like Trump. You can't so seriously shut up if you don't have proof! Serious you liberals are seriously getting out of hand if someone doesn't like you views. I didn't vote for him in 2016 or 2020 so sorry to say just because you say something doesn't make it true. I know the liberals think like that though.

Again you all attack with with no actual rebuttals. Can you imagine the AOC fans boys would say if the right had a balloon shaped like a baby AOC flying it around, or a comedian carrying a severed AOC head, or every where she went the Right stood on street corners flipping her off constantly. Hell wasn't it Mitch McConnell the one that couldn't eat anywhere in Washington without being attacked constantly? But, you know those things are okay since they were attacking the right?

This stuff happens when you are in politics and I agree with her if she can't handle it maybe she needs to leave. Also just shows again how the left are just a bunch of damn HYPOCRITES and I have proven it time and time again!