Generally, when you’re running as a new politician to unseat an incumbent, and you’re trying to appeal to a different set of voters than your traditional party base, you would want to consider taking an empathetic approach.
Such is the case for some Democrats running in traditionally Republican precincts in Alabama. In 2006, as a candidate for lieutenant governor, “Little” Jim Folsom ran as a church-going, dog-loving family man that likes to hunt and was successful in winning a statewide election. In this election cycle, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Walt Maddox went out of his way in his first statewide TV commercial to play up his pro-life and pro-Second Amendment stances.
The bottom line is if you want to win as a Democrat in a lot of places in Alabama, you have to win over Republican voters, as now-Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) had last year. Perhaps Democratic congressional hopeful Mallory Hagan, who is running in Alabama’s third congressional district against incumbent Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) didn’t get the memo, or she is entirely oblivious to that strategy.
In an appearance on Alabama 100.7, a community radio station that features high school football, gospel music and serves Clay County, which went for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a 79-to-18 percent margin, Hagan took her hard-left, pro-big government message to what one would assume is a conservative-leaning audience.
Watch:
https://www.facebook.com/WCKFAlabama1007/videos/2450592054969929/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCbZv-oev412g-aLxhHW42YkdzEWVKqR6m_XZxPkYP6AKJr9ihQaTiwAXFl_1Atce_YGJY-VZroFSDCZPC8sNRJCQx1BMVztpnFz7Ssgj1lSIEhTJLZJ38RNKovSnQ6JDSv4zurOrMO-7EKTrdNKkiH1aOgo1AoYmTSA4Y9YVHP0429XV4SmA&__tn__=-R
At times, the interview was contentious with host and station owner Teresa Goodman and the callers, given Hagan’s apparent left-of-center orthodoxy on a wide-ranging number of topics, including economics and health care.
The Opelika-turned-New York City-turned-Opelika Democrat also contradicted her prior stances on abortion. In a Montgomery Advertiser interview last month with the indefatigable Brian Lyman, Hagan was described as being in favor of “abortion rights.”
“I do not ever see a scenario where I would make it more difficult for a woman to make the choice that’s best for her family,” Hagan said to the Advertiser.
However, she contradicted that stance when questioned by a caller about her Democratic Party affiliation.
“I don’t support abortion,” she said to the caller. “Just because I’m a Democrat doesn’t mean that I agree with every single thing that every person on any party says. That would make me a sheep.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
