Former CNN host and failed Democratic congressional candidate John Avlon blasted his party in the wake of its electoral losses this November, including his own.
Avlon, who lost to incumbent Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., in New York’s Congressional District 1 race on Election Day, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday that voters see the Democratic Party as the “status quo” and not strong enough on the issues most urgent most urgent to Americans.
“They can’t be the default party of the status quo. I think that’s the most dangerous place to be. And I think right now they are seen that way,” Avlon told co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
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The show brought Avlon on to weigh in on what happened to the Democratic Party this cycle, especially as popular liberal candidates were beaten by Republicans. One major loss they brought up was Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who conceded to Republican candidate Dave McCormick on Thursday, following more than two weeks of vote counting in Pennsylvania.
“Morning Joe” characterized Casey’s loss as a “shot across the bow” from a formidable GOP, and asked Avlon for a postmortem on that loss and others.
The former CNN anchor gave an honest assessment, noting that his party failed in speaking to the most important concerns of American voters.
“I kept thinking of one of my favorite quotes from Bill Clinton,” he began. “He said, ‘People will vote for strong and wrong every time.’ And I think the Democratic Party has a strength problem on the issues that matter most – personal safety and economic security. I think those are the fundamentals.”
Avlon argued that Democrats were too focused on defense compared to aggressive GOP messaging and then were seen as the status quo. “Democrats got to get off defense and play offense,” he said, elsewhere noting that Republicans were able to appear more appealing.
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“And so, people will take a chance if they seem like there are bold solutions on the other side.”
Avlon also suggested that his party did not do enough to address the “civic decline” that Americans have been feeling. “But if people feel that that civic decline is going on, Democrats have to be taking that on and being the leaders of that reform, otherwise they’re gonna get caught up in a wave,” he said.
Later on in the segment, Scarborough pushed back, saying that the Democratic Party had to address other serious issues, like the “authoritarian” threat of the Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump’s so-called “threats of retribution” to his political enemies.
Avlon, who repeatedly hammered Trump on such topics during his media tenure, admitted that those issues simply weren’t as “urgent” as the economy and border security.
“Look, I think life is a struggle between the urgent and the important. And I think for a lot of people the urgent issues they face are about affordability, right… and about feelings of personal safety.”
He continued, “And here’s where Democrats gotta get the big things right. If people don’t feel safe, if they don’t feel economically secure, everything else is secondary.”
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