"We shouldn't have played it safe": Walz critiques 2024 campaign strategy of "prevent defense"
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz may have a state to run, but he's still got plenty of time to look back on what with wrong with his failed 2024 bid for the White House.
The one-time vice-presidential candidate told Politico that he thinks his campaign with former Vice President Kamala Harris tanked because Democrats believed they had the race in the bag. With the benefit of hindsight, Walz wished that the Democrats would have made time for more face-to-face interactions with voters.
'We shouldn't have been playing this thing so safe,' Walz told the outlet. "I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls, where [voters] may say, 'you're full of shit, I don't believe in you.''
In a campaign season that saw eventual victor Donald Trump record interviews with Joe Rogan and Adin Ross, Walz felt that the party was far too precious with their chosen candidates' media appearances. Walz said this strategy was born out of a sense of inevitable victory, the same sort of thinking that was behind the Democrats' last presidential election loss.
"We, as a party, are more cautious,' Walz said. "In football parlance, we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don't think we were ever ahead."
Walz has pitched his vision for a bolder, more aggressive Democratic Party since November. With the collapse of Democratic turnout for Harris' moderate campaign, Walz thinks it's up to the party to meet voters where they are on more progressive positions.
"When we get back, which we will – we'll fight – I'll tell you what people are going to expect is they're not going to expect us to tinker around the edge with the ACA [Affordable Care Act.] They're going to expect universal health care," Walz shared during a visit to "Fast Politics" late last month. 'A saying I always said is, 'You lead with good policy and good politics will follow.'"
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Newman said the latest raids show Democrats hesitant to attack Republicans over their immigration policies have misread the moment: 'The wrong lesson (from the 2024 election) is that immigration is inherently a losing issue for Democrats at the top level. The right lesson is that what … the American public wants is a clear, legible immigration policy.' Among the most outspoken California Democrats in recent days has been San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who was pilloried by conservative media outlets over his Instagram post that included a photo labeling ICE agents as 'terrorists' in the restaurant raid. The post drew national attention, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accusing politicians on the left of 'openly encouraging violence against law enforcement to aid and abet the invasion of America.' Elo-Rivera, who's also a member of the progressive Working Families Party, said while the restaurant incident made headlines, it was indicative of more aggressive ICE actions that have rattled his district near the U.S.-Mexico border — tactics he argues are designed to stoke fear. He said while Democrats did a lot of 'hemming and hawing' post-election over the party's stance on immigration, they now have a chance to make a sharp contrast with the GOP by consistently advocating for the dignity and rights of migrants. 'Immigration is not a distraction for Democrats. We just need to have the conversation on our terms,' Elo-Rivera said. 'Unfortunately, there's folks that think they need to see a poll first before they take a position.'
