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Kamala Harris You are in the Harris 2020 Group. Only members who have selected Kamala Harris as their preferred Democratic presidential candidate are permitted to post in this Group.

Kaleva

(38,164 posts)
Thu May 9, 2019, 05:07 PM May 2019

Opinion: The Real Electable Democrat Is Kamala Harris

Posted in Democratic Primaries by SidDithers

"Winning in 2020 requires energizing black voters, just like the last Democrat to win an election did. That's what the "electability" discussion should be about.

A bad idea is running amok in the Democratic primary — the conversation on “electability.” Thanks to the disappointing 2016 presidential election results, electability for many strategists can now be interpreted simply as “the white male candidate who is best suited to defeat Trump.”

That’s precisely the wrong way of looking at things, and it’s based on the mistaken belief that the path to victory in 2020 only requires winning back Trump supporters. It misses the much larger issue at hand: Democrats simply won’t stand a chance in 2020 if we can’t energize African American voters.

The truth is, too many voters who supported President Obama in 2008 and 2012 made a choice to stay home in 2016. In Wayne County, Michigan – home of Detroit, where Kamala Harris gave a speech addressing the “electability” conversation on Sunday – 37,000 fewer voters turned out in 2016 than 2012. The county is 40% black. Given that Hillary Clinton lost Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes, it is reasonable to assume this turnout drop cost Democrats the state."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/bakarisellers/kamala-harris-is-the-electable-democrat

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Opinion: The Real Electable Democrat Is Kamala Harris (Original Post) Kaleva May 2019 OP
I wonder at times if we aren't underestimating wasupaloopa May 2019 #1
Black voters were actually slow to warm up to Obama... Wounded Bear May 2019 #2
Well I am pulling for Kamala because I think she would wasupaloopa May 2019 #3
Yeah, I'm sporting her pic in the Primaries forum... Wounded Bear May 2019 #5
Black voters being "energized" to turn out, is not the problem. They will. And Harris FailureToCommunicate May 2019 #4
 

wasupaloopa

(4,516 posts)
1. I wonder at times if we aren't underestimating
Thu May 9, 2019, 05:27 PM
May 2019

black voters when we say we need a person of color to win the black vote.

I think a minority or a woman brings into the mix some minority and women voters who would have been disinterested in the past.

But women and minorities who have been engaged in the past will not need the extra incentive to vote.

Wounded Bear

(60,683 posts)
2. Black voters were actually slow to warm up to Obama...
Thu May 9, 2019, 05:37 PM
May 2019

the important thing is how the candidate appeals to them, through policies and temperament.

One thing a candidate can't do is take them for granted. Blacks and women of all races were huge in 2018 and we'll need their support in 2020.

We don't NEED to elect a black candidate, but it wouldn't hurt.

 

wasupaloopa

(4,516 posts)
3. Well I am pulling for Kamala because I think she would
Thu May 9, 2019, 06:31 PM
May 2019

be a very good President and that she is a minority and a woman is all the more reason to hope she wins.

Wounded Bear

(60,683 posts)
5. Yeah, I'm sporting her pic in the Primaries forum...
Thu May 9, 2019, 09:32 PM
May 2019

but I could vote or Jay Inslee, too. He's my gov and he is aces on environmental issues.

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