In an appearance Friday on MSNBC, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) sounded off on what the best strategy for red-state Democrats headed into a tough re-election bid next week should be, especially given at least two of those incumbent Democrats, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) are trailing in their respective contests.
Given that Jones is a Democrat that pulled off a monumental upset in Alabama last year, he is seen as an authority on the subject of Democrats conquering red states.
He explained to host Hallie Jackson those Democrats facing challenges in states that Trump won in 2016 have an out on the hot-button immigration issue given Senate Democrats supported funding for border security of “up to $25 billion,” and added that Republicans “killed it.” However, he said the best path forward for Democrats was to “pivot” to other issues.
Jackson pushed back against Jones’ assertion by saying that the kitchen-table issues messaging wasn’t necessarily resonating with voters in battleground states.
“I’m not sure I agree with you, Hallie,” Jones replied. “The immigration issue resonates with the base — the president’s base. That’s not going to decide this election. What is going to decide this election is those folks in the middle, and the millennials that you talked about, and the others that are coming out in droves, just like they did in my election in December. That election gave so many people a reason to hope and understand that their votes make a difference, that elections have consequences. I think what you’re seeing is so many people are going to be focused on what we call the kitchen-table issues, and health care is going to be an issue.”
“The president is going to drive his base, for sure,” he continued. “But remember, every time he does that, he is also driving up a different base as well, and that’s the base that wants to see real change in this country and want to make sure that we do health care, education and jobs.
Jones noted the positive jobs report that came out earlier in the day but said that not every state was reaping the reward with the increase of wages, including in Alabama.
“We got a good report coming out, but guess what? Wages in West Virginia and Alabama and the South are not moving up,” Jones added.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
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