A longtime Democratic strategist issued a dire warning to Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Hilary Rosen – a self-described “strong, progressive Democrat” – slammed her own political party for not listening to voters.
Commenting on Democrats’ chances in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Rosen admitted, “I’m a loyal Democrat, but I am not happy. I just think that we are – we did not listen to voters in this election. And I think we’re going to have a bad night.”
“And this conversation is not going to have much impact on Tuesday, but I hope it has an impact going forward,” Rosen said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Because when voters tell you over and over and over again that they care mostly about the economy – listen to them.”
Rosen blasted Democrats’ midterm messaging that “democracy is at risk” if Republicans make significant gains in Tuesday’s election.
Rosen implored Democrats, “Stop talking about democracy being at stake.”
“Democracy is at stake because people are fighting so much about what elections mean,” she continued. “I mean, voters have told us what they wanted to hear. And I don’t think Democrats have really delivered in this cycle.”
Former Democratic politician Bakari Sellers agreed, “I think that’s actually very true about the national messaging that’s going on.”
He then claimed that Democratic candidates such as Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, Josh Shapiro, John Fetterman, and Tim Ryan have had effective messaging about the economy. All of the candidates that Sellers mentioned, except for Shapiro, are locked in tight races and are in jeopardy of losing to Republicans.
Rosen noted that the massive popularity of Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has elevated Blake Masters in his race against Kelly.
She also blamed Democrats polling poorly on President Joe Biden’s unpopularity, “We’re in trouble because of the top of the ticket.”
Former Mike Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short pointed out, “But I feel like – I feel like Blake Masters is going to win Arizona because the reality is that the border is a serious issue down there.”
Short then agreed with Rosen but added, “And to Hilary’s point, they’re not – the Democrats have not talked about – how, what are we going to do to fix inflation at a 40-year high? What are we going to do to control the border? What are we going to do to handle crime?”
Rosen then claimed that Americans like the economic policies of Democrats over Republicans.
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll disputes Rosen’s claim.
The poll found that the top midterm election issues were the economy (80%), inflation (77%), and education and schools (75%). The Democrat Party’s midterm priorities of threats to democracy (74%) and abortion (62%) were lower on the list.
When Americans were asked which political party would handle the economy better, the poll found that 52% preferred Republicans to only 38% for Democrats.