Women’s March Warns Democrats Must Change Course Or Risk Bigger Losses In 2022

Amarillo, TX — In response to last night’s losses by Democrats in Virginia and elsewhere across the county, Women’s March Executive Director Rachel O’Leary Carmona released the following statement: 

“For four years under President Trump, women in all fifty states took to the streets to demand better. And last November, we voted for the promise of better—sending President Biden to the White House and giving Democrats a majority in both houses of Congress. 

“Ever since, we at Women’s March have been issuing a warning: If Democrats in Washington don’t act with the urgency we sent them there with, if they don’t pass legislation that addresses our priorities and impacts our lives, then they can say goodbye to winning the midterms in 2022. Turns out they can also say goodbye to winning in 2021. 

“In the name of compromise, decorum, and perceived electability, Democrats have spent the last year sacrificing the wants and needs of women, of working class communities, of people of color, of immigrants, of each key constituency that led them to victory in 2020. They sacrificed a $15 minimum wage, free community college, voting rights, the federal codification of Roe v. Wade, a DREAM Act and Equality Act, and more. They even sacrificed the full $2,000 stimulus checks that President Biden and Georgia’s two current Democratic senators ran (and won) on. 

“It’s simple, and simply unacceptable: Rather than improve people’s lives in a big way, Democrats have gone small. They’ve crouched in a corner and fear-mongered about the past, when they should have been standing tall and giving people a reason to be proud of our leadership and excited about the future. Last night’s losses in Virginia and elsewhere are the result. Any other takeaway—including the misguided notion that progressives are to blame—doesn’t just miss the point; it threatens to derail any success in 2022, too. 

“Democrats have exactly one year to get it right. That means looking at what the hell just happened and learning what works—and what doesn’t.

“If they didn’t already know, now they do: Running stale candidates on scared and substanceless campaigns is a recipe for disaster. And running to the middle, in hopes of keeping so-called swing voters around, is really just a race to the bottom. After all, even moderates want to vote for politicians who inspire them and policies that impact them. It’s not just progressives who want to see progress made. 

“Last night—and the months of political inaction, impotence, and indecision that led to it—is a case study in how and why Democrats lose. Their only hope of winning again is to turn to the playbook we know works: Pass legislation that impacts people’s lives, and then run loudly and proudly on that. If they spend the next 370 days doing anything else, they can expect another Election Night just like this one.”