House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., admitted on Sunday that ‘Defund the police’ and other radical leftist movements hurt Democrat candidates in the recent election.
Asked why House Democrats lost so many seats to Republicans last Tuesday when they were projected to win most, if not all, of their races, Clyburn said Republicans effectively used the Left’s anti-law enforcement agenda against Democrats.
He noted that the ‘Defund the police’ slogan might not have “cost all the seats,” but it did specifically hurt Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison.
“That’s why I spoke out against it a long time ago,” Clyburn told NBC News. “I’ve always said that these headlines can kill a political effort. We are all about making headway, and I just hope that going forward we will think about each one of these Congressional districts and let people represent their districts.”
Clyburn warned his party that if they want to win one or both of Georgia’s Senate run-off elections in January, Democrats need to reject far-left policies.
“If we are going to run on Medicare for All, defund the police, socialized medicine, we’re not going to win,” he said on a recent Democratic caucus call, according to Politico.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., agreed and told House Democrats to focus on “an agenda of lowering health care, better paychecks, building infrastructure.”
Clyburn’s comments echoed many private conversations Democrats have had over the past week as they realize how unpopular the leftist agenda actually is.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., grew angry at her party during the caucus call and called the election results a “failure.”
“No one should say ‘defund the police’ ever again,” Spanberger said. “Nobody should be talking about socialism.”
Spanberger also warned that if Democrats continued to move further to the Left over the next two years: “We will get f—— torn apart.”
