Welcome to this week’s mailbag. Some really great questions and comments from the community this week.
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Kathleen Bohland
Dan, how is it possible Kamala Harris thinks she can run for president and win given that she lost all the swing states? As much as I hate to say it, do you really think the electorate wants a woman for president? Also, I think Pete Buttitieg would be an incredibly intelligent choice for president, but what are the odds he could be elected? Do we need another white straight male again? It’s dispiriting, but we need to win.
Merrily Dunn
I have mixed feelings about the electability arguments. I’m a Georgian. We failed to elect the brilliant Stacey Abrams for Governor twice. It was heartbreaking. Now Keisha Lance Bottoms is our nominee for Governor. The primary also featured Jason Esteves (who many of us liked) and Geoff Duncan - former Republican Lt. Gov. (I cannot trust a former Republican with his big of a change of heart.) I heard so many people say, during primary season, that Keisha can’t win statewide. And then she won all but one county in our very diverse, complicated state. Sometimes I think if we keep saying someone isn’t electable then they aren’t. I feel a little naive but I think Keisha can win and become the first Black woman Governor of Georgia (and the entire country.) I realize my feelings aren’t data driven.
Answer
I feel like we’re doomed to live in a world where the electability discourse never ends. But because it remains top of mind for so many voters (and Message Box subscribers), I wanted to take these two questions together — they speak to something I hear a lot from Democrats around the country: a desire to limit our options and lower our ceiling because of the perceived biases of mythical swing voters out there.
It’s worth unpacking that very notion before it comes to dominate the discourse.
