Democratic Losses in Special Elections

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/opinion/democratic-losses-in-special-elections.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Republicans Win a Race in Georgia Drenched in Cash” (front page, June 21): Jon Ossoff’s loss in Georgia, on the heels of previous Democratic special election losses since President Trump took office, should wake liberals up.

While they should take encouragement that their candidates, running in traditionally conservative districts, lost by only single-digit margins, they still need to face the fact that a critical mass of American voters still feels no particular need to rebuke Mr. Trump. Therefore, continuing to run primarily on a platform of, essentially, “join us in fighting the president and his agenda” is a dead end.

Instead Democrats need to take a page from the Bernie Sanders playbook and sell voters on a message of “here’s a better alternative, here’s the better world we want to create with you rather than what the president is offering.” It’s the difference between Apple’s saying “Android is an awful phone, don’t you want to get rid of it?” and Apple’s putting out a new iPhone with better features that everyone wants to buy.

DAVID NURENBERGSOMERVILLE, MASS.

To the Editor:

The left is starting to get the message after four congressional losses in special elections: We have met the enemy and it is us.

Democrats threw tens of millions at Jon Ossoff, their 30-year-old newbie candidate, documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide who lives outside of Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District. Mr. Ossoff couldn’t even vote for himself. The vast majority of his campaign contributions came from outside Georgia.

The left also underestimated Karen Handel, a seasoned political gladiator and former Georgia secretary of state. Georgians saw the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” carpetbagger and gave Ms. Handel a resounding victory.

MICHAEL VELSMIDNANTUCKET, MASS.

To the Editor:

I hope Democrats don’t turn themselves inside out over Jon Ossoff’s loss in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District. While I’m truly sorry he lost, it was an overwhelmingly Republican district, where Tom Price won by 23 points in 2016, and the full disaster of the current Republican policies are not yet being felt by most people.

When the astonishingly terrible health plan is finally made public and people watch their parents, children, siblings and friends be denied health care, and when they experience the full horror of President Trump’s foreign policy, Democrats will win in district after district, if they do the groundwork that is always necessary to win elections.

I hope Mr. Ossoff runs again in 2018, and I hope Democrats all over the country take heart and dig in. The work is hard, but the Republicans are making a mess of the country. I think, with a lot of local work, we can take back the House in 2018.

MARY LOGAN ROTHSCHILDTEMPE, ARIZ.

To the Editor:

Re “Democrats, Demoralized Again,” by Frank Bruni (column, June 21):

I am disappointed by the outcome of the Georgia election but definitely not demoralized. Jon Ossoff was a real long shot. The better news is that in South Carolina’s Fifth District, Archie Parnell, the Democrat, was only three points away from winning! I don’t understand why more attention hasn’t been focused on his amazing showing.

Next year elections for these congressional seats will be held again, and during that time we will continue to build support for Democratic candidates there and elsewhere.

The interesting thing about Mr. Parnell’s race is that the Democratic Party did not pour in money and resources to help him. I wonder if that had to do with what may be a misperception that college-educated, well-to-do whites are more alarmed about President Trump than working-class people and African-Americans. As it turned out, Mr. Parnell did as well as Mr. Ossoff. We need to learn from that.

JEAN BERMAN, BROOKLYN