Would it have been nice had the Democrats won any of the Congressional Special Elections this year? Absolutely. But let us not lose our heads. While there is a lot of work that needs to be done in messaging, getting out the vote, and the recruitment of good progressive candidates, there is still a lot of reason for hope. Remember that these congressional seats were won in November by double digits. That was not the case in any of these special elections. Republican strength was seriously eroded and although they prevailed and they are putting up an exuberant public face, there are probably private worries about what will happen in Congressional Seats that were a lot closer than these four next year. Progressives and Democrats need to learn from these elections and build on them in order to be successful next year. Steps that should be taken are:
1) Come up with a national progressive pro-growth, pro-people message that could be customized to local areas.
2) Strike greater appeal to the groups that support them by large percentages but have not turned out in great numbers in recent Non-Obama elections.
3) Recruit solid, personable, progressive candidates who can connect with the voters in their states and districts.
4) Maybe have a changing of the guard in House Leadership. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are great public servants and have made historic contributions in moving our country forward. That said, the time may be right for new leadership who can lead the new generation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/opinion/georgia-election-karen-handel-jon-ossoff-democrats.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/21/15842084/democrat-special-election-margin-charts
https://www.vox.com/2017/6/20/15839452/georgia-special-election-results-ossoff-handel
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/opinions/georgia-election-results-psaki/index.html
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