‘It is our own doing’: Democrats find a voice through plainspeak and plain anger

03 June

Tim Walz (Shutterstock)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Democrats are rightfully blaming themselves for putting “a grifter billionaire” in the White House.

The California Democratic Party’s three-day convention this weekend appeared less about finger pointing and more about soul-searching, while also kicking plenty of dirt. 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told audiences: “We gotta be honest. We’re in this mess because some of it is our own doing.”

The Chronicle reports Walz, the keynote speaker, acknowledged he should be “the last person to lecture on this topic,” considering he comprised half of the duo that lost the November election to President Donald Trump. But he added no Democrat “can afford to shy away from having hard conversations about what it’s going to take to win elections.”

“We didn’t just lose the working class to just anybody. We lost to a grifter billionaire giving tax cuts to his grifter billionaire buddies. That last election was a primal scream on so many fronts: ‘Do something! Do something! Stand up and make a difference.’”

The convention was not short on rancor: “If you ask people today what a Democrat is, they say it’s ‘a deer in the headlights,’” said Walz. “We’ve got to find some godd--- guts to fight for working people. … Nobody votes for roadkill.”

“That means having the guts to break down the power structures that are there,” added Walz. “We know who’s strangling our politics.”

Younger Democrats appear to also know, judging by the number of primary opponents gunning for Democrat veteran incumbents this year. Politico reports former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) drew a primary challenger 50 years his junior last week. Harry Jarin, a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter and emergency services consultant, describes Hoyer as representing “a bygone era,” and he is but one young candidate out to topple a Democrat veteran. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have all attracted primary opponents. Schakowsky announced she would no longer seek reelection after getting a younger challenger.

“I’m not trying to be cruel or callous,” Jarin told Politico, “but I want Democrats to win, and there are consequences for having this gerontocracy, and we have to reckon with that.”

The Chronicle reports only 16 percent of respondents in a Sunday CNN poll felt Democrats are the party that could “get things done.” But more than twice as many respondents (36%) felt that way about Republicans.

Among other things, Jarin told Politico the old guard has a problem with communication.

“Steny is still operating in this 1980s information environment where maybe he does some media hits and he stands on the floor of the House and makes a speech to an empty chamber and nobody’s watching,” he said. “We’re not reaching young voters.”

Read the full San Francisco Chronicle report here.

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