Moderate Dems push back
Infighting among moderates and liberals may alienate voters
Sweeping proposals and hardball tactics of some liberals could alienate centrist voters ahead of 2020 election.
WASHINGTON — From the halls of Congress to the presidential campaign trail, Democratic moderates are beginning to push back against the wave of liberal energy and policy ideas that have captured the party’s imagination over the last two months.
They worry the sweeping proposals and hardball tactics of liberal firebrands could alienate centrist voters in the 2020 election, even as they hold out hope that Democratic primary voters, focused on defeating President Donald Trump, will check the party’s move to the left.
The moderates’ concerns came to a head last week when one of the newest Democratic stars appeared to threaten her colleagues if they did not toe the liberal line.
At a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said some of her colleagues could find themselves “on a list” of primary election targets, after they voted for a Republican amendment requiring that immigrants in the United States illegally who try to buy guns be reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to people not authorized to comment publicly.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a co-chairman of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said he has confronted party leaders about such threats, which have also come from the Justice Democrats, a liberal group that backed OcasioCortez’s primary campaign.
“Being unified means ensuring that Democrats aren’t primary-ing other sitting Democrats,” Gottheimer said. “Since when is it OK to put you on a Nixonian list?”
Some warned that imposing purity tests could lead to a Democratic version of the conservative tea party revolt that transformed the GOP in recent years. That surge has brought Republicans new energy and new voters, but it’s also cost the GOP some congressional races and legislative victories.
Several Democratic presidential candidates, including many of the early entrants, have quickly endorsed sweeping liberal policies, including a Medicare-for-all
health plan, a “Green New Deal” to combat climate change, and reparations for African-Americans. Recently, however, some prospective candidates have been offering an alternative vision.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who is contemplating a presidential run, said politics needs to return to a more civil place. He referred to the House Freedom Caucus, a group of purist Republicans that often opposes legislative compromises.
“We don’t have to settle for disgraceful politics. We don’t have to settle for being as terrible as Donald Trump,” Bennet said during a recent visit to Iowa. “We don’t have to settle for Freedom Caucus tactics — those guys are tyrants. We don’t have to accept that.”
Liberal Democrats, including many new to Capitol Hill or national politics, argue the party has been too timid, caving to Republican pressure and failing to inspire voters with calls for sweeping change. The surge of new voters in the midterm elections, they say, shows the excitement and support generated by such proposals.
The centrists counter that liberal ideas and candidates have more power online and among the grass roots than at the ballot box and that the passions will likely fade in coming months, both in Congress and the presidential campaign.
For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been treading carefully — sidelining the most sweeping liberal proposals, playing down prospects of a Trump impeachment and scheduling weekly meetings to bring together leaders of the moderate and liberal factions.
Thursday’s meeting threatened to open a new breach. After 26 Democratic moderates joined with Republicans to pass an amendment on a key gun-control bill, Pelosi said they should show more “courage” on politically sensitive votes, according to the people in the room. That struck some as tone-deaf, as did Ocasio-Cortez’s comments about primary challenges.
Ocasio-Cortez in a tweet Friday said she was not making threats but warning that the Democratic defectors “were inadvertently making a list of targets for the GOP and for progressive advocates” by voting with Republicans.
The eruption followed weeks of growing tension between wings of the party. Freshmen who were elected on platforms of cleaning up big-money politics and fixing the heath care system have found themselves voting on, and answering for, a different set of issues, and some are feeling the heat from their constituents.
“A lot of people are complaining and expressing concerns about the Democratic Party being portrayed as socialist, or certain voices being louder than others,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who unseated a GOP incumbent.
The new liberal energy in the House is coming from candidates, including Ocasio-Cortez, who captured districts that generally favor Democrats. Some party strategists say liberal activists must recognize that their message would not work in more conservative areas.
“People would be wise to remember that, by definition, we have the House majority because people flipped seats from red to blue,” said Tyler Law, a Democratic consultant who helped direct the party’s communications efforts in 2018.