Excerpt from the Washington Post's Greg Sargent interview with Congressman-elect Pat Ryan (D-NY), whose win in a swing, bellweather district showcases the winning Democratic messaging going into November:
... Ryan ran ads highlighting his military service and linking it to the fight to defend our freedoms, stating unambiguously that those freedoms include “a woman’s right to choose” and that he’ll defend it in Congress.
“We centered the concept of freedom,” Ryan told me in an interview. “When rights and freedoms are being taken away from people,” he said, they “stand up and fight.” Ryan said that for voters, the decision “ripping away reproductive rights from tens of millions of people” was “visceral.” [snip]
I asked Ryan if the Democratic Party should full-throatedly argue that electing Democrats is essential to getting abortion rights codified in federal law. He said it should, while suggesting Democrats should link this to “the fight for freedom on multiple fronts,” under an umbrella argument that Republicans will make us “less safe” and “less free.”
Ryan suggested Democrats should also try to reclaim the idea of patriotism. “Patriotism to me means, when your fellow Americans’ rights are being taken away, you stand up and fight, not just for yourself, but for them as well.” (our emphasis)
Here it is, in one form or another: Democrats Are Fighting for Your Freedoms and Democracy.
It's been bubbling up all Spring and Summer, with the egregious Dobbs decision by the ultra-MAGA Republican Supreme Court crystallizing the extremism of their party and what's at stake for other freedoms in the future. As Ryan smartly implies, "freedom" is a concept that also keys into the fight to defend our democracy, the rule of law, and free and fair elections; for common sense gun laws that keep us safer; for environmental laws that protect our country and planet; for a "stronger, fairer" economy that includes fair wages and affordable health care, etc.
In the days leading up to the Labor Day starting point for all- out campaigning, the Democratic Party seems to have found its legs and a winning overriding message. Keep pounding it and prove the Trumpists and Beltway pundits forever looking in the rear view mirror wrong in November.
(Image: Bingo!)
