Sen. Chris Coons on Thursday slammed his party’s “relentless race to the left” and called on fellow Democrats to abandon radical ideas and cutesy slogans such as #AbolishICE in favor of policy positions that will actually inspire voters.
“If we as a Democratic Party are going to move from a minority at every level that is dedicated to resistance, to a majority that is capable of governing, we have got to move from grievance to optimism,” the Delaware Democrat said at a New Democracy event in Washington, U.S. News & World Report reported.
“And we’ve got to abandon a politics of anxiety that is characterized by wild-eyed proposals and instead deliver ideas and practical solutions,” he said.
Mr. Coons said he’s worried about the November midterm elections because of “outrageous proposals” put forth by the “Abolish ICE” crowd. He also cited promising free health care, guaranteeing jobs through government and attacking energy companies as examples of radical policy positions that risk alienating voters, U.S. News reported.
“We don’t have to be radical to be inspiring,” he said.
“’Dump Trump’s immigration policies’ should be every bit as inspiring to folks who are looking to hear that we get it and are going to address this,” he told U.S. News in an interview after his speech. “Abolish ICE is too easily mocked as open borders and no law enforcement. Instead of having something that makes a Twitter hashtag and gets you on Rachel Maddow and fires people up, we need to have something that fires people up and is a policy position we can actually defend.
“Forty percent of voters self-identify as pragmatic or moderate. We cannot abandon them,” he added.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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