Fmr. DNC Chair: ‘Donald Trump Reminds Us that He’s Extreme and All the Candidates He’s Exposing and Supporting Are Extreme’
Abortion continues to be a major motivation, as well, Perez says
Democrats can buck historical trends by doing well in the coming midterm elections not by reminding voters what they and President Biden have accomplished — and letting Donald Trump prompt voters into remembering why they didn't like him in the first place.
This is according to a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Democrats will be defending their razor-thin majorities in both houses of Congress in November and they have taken the political momentum in recent weeks, since the US Supreme Court took the unpopular step of overturning Roe v Wade and upending half a century of national abortion rights.
“I think you can draw a balance and I would start with making sure we remind voters of all the points that we are putting on the board,” said Tom Perez, who headed the DNC from 2017 to 2021 and served as secretary of labor before that. “Look at what President Biden has done for seniors: Capping drug costs to $2,000. Medicare Part B premiums are going to go down next year for the first time in a decade. Look at all the infrastructure investments and, by the way, Governor DeSantis opposes infrastructure investments, but wants to show about all the ribbon cuttings for those infrastructure projects. He and so many other Republicans are doing the same thing,” he added, referring to the governor of Florida and a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
“And so, I think it’s really important for us to make sure we are outlining that we have people’s backs. We are working on the issues that matter most,” Perez said in an interview on the Rev Al Sharpton's MSNBC program. “Ordinarily at this point, Rev, this is a referendum on the president. But Donald Trump is inserting himself. And I think he’s doing us a favor, and all these extreme candidates are doing us a favor by reminding independent voters that ‘I voted against Donald Trump in 2020 for a reason.’”
Abortion is also playing a huge role, according to Perez.
“Now the issue of abortion is a huge issue across America. The Republicans, you know, they are the dog that caught the car. Now they have to own this and people, you saw it in Kansas, who sought in that New York special [election, in which a Democrat won in a swing district],” he added. “Women and others are motivated to get out there and vote. So, I don’t think it’s an either or. I think we can highlight our accomplishments and at the meantime, Donald Trump reminds us that he’s extreme and all the candidates he’s exposing that support him are extreme.”
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