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Senator Raphael Warnock speaks during a Working for Georgia campaign rally in Conyers, Georgia, on August 18. Polls over the past month have consistently shown Warnock, who is up for reelection this fall, leading Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker by single digits. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

With just 11 weeks until Election Day, Democrats are trying to defy two close-to-ironclad rules of electoral politics: Parties that hold the presidency almost always perform poorly in the midterms, and their performance tracks fairly closely with the presidents approval rating. But while President Biden remains unpopular, a confluence of factors has put Democrats in a significantly better position than expected. Can it last? I spoke with Amy Walter, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the venerable Cook Political Report, to try to divine the answer.

Electorally speaking, everything suddenly seems to be breaking Democrats way. Among other developments: Gas prices are plummeting; inflation is coming down, albeit slowly;the party finally passed very significant parts of its agenda; and the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade seems to be galvanizing voters in Kansas and elsewhere. Youve got all these Senate polls from key states that are very encouraging for Democrats, and last week, Mitch McConnell said candidate quality may prevent Republicans from gaining the one seat they need to retake the chamber. Do you agree with his assessment right now?There is definitely a shift both in mood and momentum. I think a lot of us who do this for a living are trying to understand whats really behind that. I think there are a number of factors. The first is where the media focus has been for about the last four to six weeks, especially compared to where it was a year ago at this time. A year ago, what were we talking about? We were talking about the withdrawal in Afghanistan and all the problems that ensued. We were talking about the rise of inflation. We were talking about the fact that the administration was struggling to get ahold of the new Delta variant. You had all of those things in the media Zeitgeist.

What have we talked about for most of this summer? The January 6th hearings. Weve been talking and hearing a lot about the overturning of Roe v. Wade and whats next on abortion access. Weve been talking a lot about Donald Trump and not just with the FBI Mar-a-Lago situation but the candidates hes been endorsing and the folks running on platforms that rely heavily on election denial. I think this is one big reason for the shift were seeing. Instead of territory thats very problematic for Democrats, were now on terrain thats very problematic for Republicans. So then I get to the next piece, which is, Are Americans actually feeling better, and feeling better about the Democrats? I wrote about that, but its a little muddled.

You wrote that the fundamentals havent changed all that much.Right. The presidents not much more popular than before. The economy is better, but its still not great. Are people more optimistic? What Im really going to be watching for in these next couple of months is not whether voters think the economy has suddenly recovered or that everythings awesome but whether Americans are more optimistic. I think it helps Democrats if theres a sense that things are at least headed in the right direction and that they have something to sell to voters to say, Were actually doing something. Were taking this seriously. Were focused on the things that people care about.

At the end of 2021 and into much of 2022, if you looked at polling Navigator polling specifically because they do this in a really smart way people would be asked, What do you think Congress and Democrats should be focused on? And then What do you think theyre focused on? Theres been this big disconnect where voters are like, Well, what wed really like for them to do is deal with inflation or the economy. And they say instead, Well, theyre doing COVID, or theyre doing voting rights, but theyre not really focused on the stuff that matters to me.

It seems smart, then, that Democrats named this huge bill the Inflation Reduction Act when it actually has very little to do with inflation.Correct. It was interesting. Weve got to be careful not to extrapolate too much, but what I thought was interesting when I listened to voters in one focus group these are white men who either had voted for Trump in 2016 but voted Biden in 2020 or they voted for Trump but were like, Ugh, Im not a real big fan of his it was interesting to listen to them because it seemed as if they were agreeing that Democrats seemed to be at least doing something. One guy said, Well, at least they dont look like theyre sitting on their hands and saying, Not our problem. I think thats been very helpful to Democrats. But the question going forward is, Is it enough? Do voters need to actually believe that, because Democrats are now passing legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act, theyve now turned the ship around? Or do they believe that Democrats are still not as good as Republicans at handling these issues?

Bidens approval rating is in the low 40s right now, which is an improvement but also around where Trumps was at this time in 2018. How long can the party outpace those fundamentals with a presidential rating that bad?Thats what everybodys scratching their head about. I think Senate Democrats have done a good job of spending these months building up their profile, and theyve spent a whole lot of money building a positive story, a positive image for themselves. So many of them have spent millions and millions of dollars already on television. Mark Kelly, I think, is a prime example of that. So if, at the end of November or whatever, after Election Day, we come back and we say, Wow, how did Democrats hold the Senate? I think well look to the following: One, candidate quality. Two, the ability for Democrats to define themselves outside of Biden by spending a lot of money early on and building their profile. And three, Biden improving and the economy improving just enough that those candidates can rise above what would be a big shackle around them.

Going to your original question about the Republican candidates, I do think its a real problem. Because what so many voters have seen from Republican Senate candidates is a focus on things that are really important to Republican base voters. Do you have Trumps endorsement? Do you think that Americas too woke? Do you think that the transgender kids shouldnt play sports? Whatever it is.

Culture-war stuff.Culture-war stuff, with Trump at the center of it all, instead of really tackling the major issue here, which is, Do you think Democrats are doing a good job on the fundamental issues in this country? We know Republicans are going to reestablish that argument postLabor Day, but will it be too late? And are there other problems, other baggage, that makes it harder for them to be seen as credible? If Republicans had nominated candidates who were less controversial, had less baggage, were stronger just in terms of the quality of their profile, would they be doing better?

The Senate is in play, but most people have treated it as pretty much a foregone conclusion that Republicans will win the five seats needed to retake the House. However, FiveThirtyEight now rates Democrats as having about a one-in-five chance of keeping it. That would be a true shocker with few precursors. Do you actually see a universe where it happens?We have readjusted our range for Republican pickup downward.Were seeing that the red wave does not look as big today as it did a few months back. We were talking about somewhere in the range of 25 to 30 or 35 seats. Now its 15 to 20-something seats as the range. So were paring down the expectations. But the House is a different beast than the Senate. With the amount of money going into Senate races now, theyre almost mini-presidential campaigns in every state. Were talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.

Theyre so nationalized now in a way that they werent even a few years ago.Exactly. Thats what makes this really fascinating. We have a country that is as polarized as ever and fewer and fewer people flipping their allegiance or splitting their tickets. In some ways, that should mean that the party out of power benefits, the theory being its less about persuasion and its more about turnout. But I think whats been clear even before the Roe decision, though I think the Roe decision definitely pumped this up, is that were not seeing the drop-off that we may traditionally see in midterm elections for the party in power. The intensity is usually on the out-partys side. I just dont think thats going to be there this time.

It reminds me of what we saw in 2018. Democrats did well that year especially on the House side not necessarily because they turned out at levels that were so much higher than Republicans. They had better turnout, for sure. But what they also did was win over independent voters by double digits. Thats the other thing to watch as we go into this next 80 days. Its not so much just whether Democrats are going to turn out their voters because theyre all fired up. Its about independent voters. Thats going to come into focus, I think, once we get into September.

Yeah, in the post-2016 world, were living suddenly in a universe of high turnout all the time even for off-year elections. In the 2014 midterms, Democrats were completely unenthusiastic, and Republicans rode their wave of Obama disapproval.Its hard to imagine that happening again in our current climate.Both sides are really turning out. What makes for a 2014-like scenario or maybe even, if you go back in time to the quote-unquote olden days, the pre-2008 era is depressed turnout. Two thousand six, I think, was a really good example of this.

With everybody turning out, its hard to win in a red state if youre a Democrat.Its hard to win in a blue state if youre a Republican. You win in those purple places. Part of the way you win in the purple places is you get your side out, they get their side out, but you get those not-as-attached partisans we can call them soft partisans or independents to come to your side. Again, if you look just at the fundamentals, youd say, Well, what are those folks going to be interested in? Where are they in terms of the way they are thinking about this upcoming election?Who do they think is going to handle the economy better? Who do they think is going to help focus on the issues that matter to them, their day-to-day concerns? On those issues, Republicans have continued to have a pretty significant advantage with independent voters. But those voters are also probably feeling somewhat cross-pressured when they see Roe v. Wade being overturned and they think Republicans are more interested in fighting the ghosts of 2020 than for me.

As a polling obsessive, Ive learned to be wary of some of these surveys, particularly in certain states like in Wisconsin, where we have polls showing Mandela Barnes beating Ron Johnson. In 2016 and 2010, Johnson was supposed to be totally dead in the water according to polling. Then he won easily. Weve seen that pattern repeat a lot in recent years in states, particularly in the Midwest but not only there: North Carolina, Florida, Maine. Then you have other states where polls have been dead on, like Georgia. As a forecaster, how do you account for these enormous misses?You have to have a healthy dose of I dont know if skepticism is the right word, but you just have to be realistic. I think I am doing a couple of things. One is that I am not taking each and every poll and saying, Well, thats absolutely wrong or Thats absolutely right. Im marrying it with other things were seeing and appreciating and understanding about what is going on in that state beyond the individual race.Again, were all scratching our heads on this. Its not just that those polls have been off; its that in every one of those polls, we see that the Democratic Senate candidate is ahead of Biden and is ahead of, in many cases, a Democrat running for governor. I go, Hmmm.

Im looking at the presidents approval rating as a key indicator, not the only indicator. I do think youre right that we do have to be cautious not to be so attached to each and every one of these polls. Im trying to do a couple of things. One, just see where the mood is in that state overall. Thats the qualitative work with focus groups and others, trying to get at what people are grappling with. And then trying to just be sure were really appreciating the underlying dynamics in these races that go beyond the head-to-head numbers.

Back in ancient history, a few weeks ago, Democrats were struggling so badly that some officials were openly hoping Donald Trump would announce a reelection campaign before the midterms to boost turnout. That was the partys last best hope. But now that things have turned around, to what extent does Trumps ubiquity in the news which would obviously go into overdrive if he declared his candidacy affect midterm races?I think its definitely affected things in that it has turned the midterms away from just a pure referendum on Biden into a choice between two unpopular politicians. That is certainly a better situation if youre in a state that is purple and a Democrat. Its a great situation in a state thats blue and that went for Biden by bigger numbers. Virginia gave us a great road map here. I think part of why the Terry McAuliffe hair on fire about Donald Trump didnt work in Virginia is that it seemed just out of nowhere. He was just crying wolf. Its not as much of a cry at this moment. But youre not going to see Democrats put Donald Trump in their ads thats not how this is going to work. And much like in 2018, you dont see candidates talking about Donald Trump. Voters are very well aware.

Hes ambient. Hes in the atmosphere.Hes ambient. Thats a good way to say that. So if what youre hearing from voters isnt, Oh my gosh, Im so frustrated about how terrible the Biden administrations doing. Why arent they fixing the economy? Why did Biden screw up Afghanistan? How come Democrats cant get their act together in Congress? Instead of that coming out of voters mouths, what it is now is more like Gosh, things are still pretty messy. I hate that were still so divided. You hear things like that. Theyre more upset at the political system than at one political party. Thats a much better place to be if you are the party thats completely in charge than where we were two months ago.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Could Democrats Really Pull Off a Miracle in November? - New York Magazine

When I asked Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, about the resonance of democracy in the midterms, she mentioned health care, the minimum wage, education, the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and economic unrest all as issues of concern to voters.

What we see every day is people deeply concerned about democracy and about the broader promise of democracy what are their wages going to be, what is their economic opportunity going to be, can they educate their kids, are they going to be able to raise their kids in safe communities? These are broader democracy issues, she said. There is a movement that is seeking to eradicate and undermine the very foundation of our democracy But that same movement is also engaged in a range of conduct that is harmful to people and communities, and that is a democracy issue, too.

Democratic messaging about democracy itself may pick up once Trump announces hes running again for president, as is widely expected, especially if Biden seeks a second term.

Biden, who was in the Senate even before Carter got to Washington, is steeped in institutional concerns. He cast his 2020 campaign broadly as a return to democratic norms, and in a preview of his likely messaging in 2024, he said of Trump last month: You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy. You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-American.

If the electorates attention to threats to democracy can be fleeting, said John Anzalone, the longtime Biden pollster, the fact is, in some ways we forget democracy worked.

The fact is that we had a threat, Anzalone said, referring to the 2020 election. America rose up, and it kicked its ass.

Still, he said it wouldnt surprise anyone if Biden or Democrats running in some midterm elections make it more of an issue as the campaign season unfolds.

There may still be time for that. Most of the partys paid messaging will not come until after Labor Day. Democrats in some races are issuing fundraising appeals based on their opponents statements about elections, and they have found criticizing Republicans for election denialism effective when wrapped into a broader critique of a candidate as extreme.

On the call in November with the Carter group, Gephardt, who is 81 and living in Florida, said, Us old people dont have much of an audience And we shouldnt. Were has-beens. But we love this country, we love this democracy, and weve got to play the role of Paul Revere.

But that was in November. This spring, the Carter group met less often, disrupted by a run of deaths and memorial services for members of the group or people close to them. Between March and May, among other people, Albright and two former House representatives Vic Fazio and Norman Mineta, also a former transportation secretary passed away. There was a memorial service in May for Walter Mondale, the former vice president who, before his death last year, had been a regular on the calls.

By the time the group resumed its regular meetings earlier this summer, the anxiety some members had about democracy in the fall was no less severe. In some ways, they were even more dispirited. (Carter was aware of the groups meetings, Francis said, but has yet to participate in one. He has publicly warned the country is at risk of losing our precious democracy, while the Carter Center, long involved in monitoring elections abroad, turned its focus to the United States for the first time in 2020.)

Its conventional wisdom among pro-democracy activists globally that one strategy for protecting the ballot is to boost pro-democracy candidates regardless of their party. But instead, in a handful of states including Michigan, Maryland and Pennsylvania, Democratic groups had been meddling in Republican primaries, spending millions of dollars elevating pro-Trump hard-liners they believed would be easier for Democrats to defeat in the fall.

It may have been smart politics. In Maryland, the candidate helped by the Democratic Governors Association, Dan Cox a state lawmaker who organized buses to Washington for the rally preceding the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is running in such a heavily Democratic state that he is almost certain to lose. By helping to sink Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee may have given Democrats a better chance of flipping a congressional seat there.

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There's a Huge Divide Among Democrats Over How Hard to Campaign for Democracy - POLITICO

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mocked Democratic Mayors Muriel Bowser and Eric Adams for their utter hypocrisy over concerns of illegal immigrants being bused to their cities.

The mayor of [Washington,] D.C., Muriel Bowser, has said that the 6,000 illegal immigrants that Texas has put on buses and sent up to D.C. has created a crisis and it is unacceptable and has to stop. Now, that is just 6,000, Cruz explained on his Verdict podcast. We ought to send 600,000 600,000 would be roughly one-sixth of the number of illegal immigrants who have come in under Joe Biden.

SEE IT: BIDENS PINOCCHIO NOSE GROWS IN NYC BILLBOARD

By the way, if she doesnt like it, she is a member of the Democrat Party. The person responsible for these 3.5 million [people] lives in her city, Cruz continued.

The Republican senator also blasted Adams for considering it a successful idea to send New Yorkers to campaign against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for reelection.

"I have to admit that I had some great joy responding and said, 'Well, actually, to be fair, there are already thousands of busloads of New Yorkers fleeing New York and coming to Texas, and Eric Adams is driving them away, Cruz said.

Cruz suggested those crossing the southern border should also be sent to places such as Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, south Hampton, Cupertino, California, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where Biden vacations.

Every place that rich liberals sit and swirl Chardonnay, Cruz suggested. They ought to sit there and watch busload after busload of illegal immigrants unloading.

It reveals the utter hypocrisy of the Left, Cruz added. Theyre willing to cause human suffering as long as it doesnt impinge on the view from their golf course.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

When pressed about the concerns of Bowser and Adams, the Biden administration has deflected reporters questions, accusing Texas of using the migrants as political pawns.

Well, the question is to Gov. Abbott. Why is he using migrants as a political pawn in doing what he's doing?" White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this month. "There's a legal process here, and he's not using that legal process."

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'Utter hypocrisy': Ted Cruz blasts Democrats criticizing immigrants in their cities - Washington Examiner

Congress has quietly replaced a farm loan assistance program for racial minorities that was under threat from White farmers legal challenges.

The new provision no longer mentions race. Instead, it provides loan relief for distressed borrowers and additional aid for farmers, ranchers, and foresters who have experienced discrimination. The change comes after White farmers claimed the program, established by the 2021 American Rescue Plan, discriminated against them by specifying that loan assistance was available only for socially disadvantaged groups.

Supporters of the pivot including some Black lawmakers say the workaround is more legally airtight and will quickly get aid to the groups that need it. Yet some Black farmers are concerned its just another example of the Agriculture Department leaving them behind after generations of discrimination that made it more difficult and at times impossible for them to get loans.

When you put Black farmers in with everybody, we come up last based on all the numbers and all the history, said John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association.

Democrats climate, tax, and health-care law (Public Law 117-169), provides $3.1 billion for loan relief for at-risk borrowers encompassing distressed farmers regardless of minority status and $2.2 billion for farmers who experienced discrimination in USDA lending. For the latter program, farmers outside of race-based socially disadvantaged groups, such as White women and members of the LGBTQ community, could be eligible. The Agriculture Department said it intends to get the relief out to farmers as quickly as possible.

Under the American Rescue Plan (Public Law 117-2), socially disadvantaged farmers were set to get $4 billion in loan relief. The funds were supposed to correct the Agriculture Departments historic denial of loans to ethnic minorities based on race, saving scores of Black farmers with untenable debts from foreclosure.

BGOV Bill Summary: Democrats Reconciliation Bill

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Glenn Morris watches as his corn is unloaded at the elevator on Oct. 11, 2021 in Princeton, Ind. Morris is one of two Black farmers still working full time in Lyles Station, a region of Indiana once dominated by Black farmers.

There are less than 50,000 Black farmers in the US, down from 950,000 at their peak in 1920. Advocates warn that many remaining farmers are hanging on by a thread.

The debt relief was a contract between the Black farmers, the farmers of color, and USDA, Boyd said, and they broke that agreement by repealing it. He added that hes considering filing new litigation based on the cancellation of the program.

U.S. Black Farmers Lost Billions in Land Value, Study Shows

The new language has been in the works for over a year, a Senate aide said, but was only added in a managers amendment before the Senate vote.

The White farmers who sued the Biden administration for discrimination through the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty cheered the repeal of the earlier assistance for socially disadvantaged groups.

The devil may be in the details, of course, and we will be closely monitoring the program to ensure USDA adheres to the constitutionally mandated principles of nondiscrimination, Rick Esenberg, WILLs president and general counsel, said in a statement.

Some underrepresented farmers groups are optimistic the new program will actually help them and avoid the legal hurdles that stalled the aid from the American Rescue Plan.

The immediate aid just needs to get out to the folks who are the most distressed, said Kari Jo Lawrence, the executive director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council.

Lloyd Wright, who grew up on a family farm in Virginia and served as the director of the USDA Office of Civil Rights in the 1990s, said eliminating the earlier section of the American Rescue Plan makes the program even better.

I dont think they could have done a better job in writing it, Wright said, adding that the White farmers lawsuits that held up aid werent going anyplace.

Boyd said hes concerned this funding could be used up by other farmers, such as White women.

That scenario seems plausible to Cesar Escalante, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Georgia. Compiling and submitting evidence of discrimination have been challenges for Black farmers in the past for reasons including lack of access to documents and computer literacy, Escalante said.

So even if more racial minority farmers are victims of discrimination, not a majority of them can argue and prove their case, Escalante said. But more female farmers could, even if their absolute number is lower than victims from certain racial minority groups.

Warren, Booker Press USDA to Address Bias Against Black Farmers

But many Black farmers do have a documented history of discrimination, Wright said, especially those whose family operations got their start before 1964, when the Civil Rights Act made segregation illegal. He said Native American farmers should also be able to easily prove theyve dealt with discrimination, since settlers took their land in the first place.

The laws language directs the USDA to create a program to determine who was subject to discrimination, said Stephen Carpenter, an attorney with the Farmers Legal Action Group and that will be hard for them to do.

Supporters of the new program argue the alternative would have been no aid at all if the White farmers won their case against the Biden administration. This way, they say distressed Black farmers and other disadvantaged racial groups will still be eligible for loan modifications, as well as the discrimination assistance.

But Boyd said Black farmers in his community feel left behind by an administration they helped elect.

Its going to be hard for me to go out there and ask our Black farmers in midterm elections to vote for people who aint helping, he said.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who sits on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and was involved in drafting the provision in the Democrats bill with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), said he understands why some Black farmers are skeptical given the history of the federal government breaking promises to them.

I wish that right-wing extremists and activist judges had not held up the debt forgiveness we passed in the American Rescue Plan, Booker said in a statement. But it was clear that those resources were going to be held up in court for years, with an uncertain outcome at the conclusion.

The legislation is key to lessening the weight of debt threatening to make Black farmers shut down their operations, Lorette Picciano, executive director of the farmers network Rural Coalition, said. Likely these farmers are going to get a resolution much faster than they would have without the bill language, she said.

Many Black farmers who approve of the new bill language acknowledge that more is needed to make up for years of discrimination by the federal government. But Wright said hes hopeful that it will at least stop the country from losing the Black producers who now make up less than 2% of all the nations farmers.

This bill wasnt designed to do that, Wright said. This bill as its designed can put a thumb in the dike so we dont lose all the rest of them.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maeve Sheehey in Washington at msheehey@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robin Meszoly at rmeszoly@bgov.com; Sarah Babbage at sbabbage@bgov.com

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Democrats Pivot on Race-Based Loan Relief as White Farmers Sue | Bloomberg Government - Bloomberg Government

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar urged Democrats to better serve and engage with working people in a Saturday keynote speech at the annual progressive political convention Netroots Nation.

"We cannot assume that the politics of transaction will turn out the votes when Americans are longing for the politics of transformation."

The Minnesota Democrat's 11-minute address in Pittsburgh wrapped up a session about the upcoming midterm elections titled, "On to November: How We Win and Save Democracy."

Omar celebrated recent victories, stating that "our movement is at a watershed moment. Over the past several years, we've seen the biggest resurgence of progressive organizing and movement-building in our lifetimes."

"Across the country young people are reviving the labor movement," she said, noting unionization efforts by Amazon, Google, Starbucks, and Trader Joe's workers. "We have taken on some of the biggest, wealthiest multinational corporations in the worldand we are winning."

"I'm proud that workers in my office led a movement to unionize the staff of the United States Congress and we are just getting started," Omar said. "But friends, it is not just unions."

The Somali-born congresswoman cited her youth in a refugee camp, her historic election to Congress, and the campaigns and wins of other diverse, progressive candidates despite well-funded efforts to defeat them.

Omar also highlighted recent legislative successes, including healthcare expansion for veterans, a gun safety measure, and the Inflation Reduction Act, a compromise package on Medicare, taxation, and climate action that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) negotiated with obstructionist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

She further noted public safety changes currently underway in her districtover two years after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man.

"The reality is none of these things would be possible without a massive, vocal, organized progressive movement driving the narrative and pushing for change," Omar said. "Because I know this: when you show up, it gives us the power to organize the base and to work to push for change on the inside."

The congresswoman continued:

I want to be clear about something else: We cannot take any of that for granted now. It is when you start to get comfortable that your opponents strikeand I know this very well. We have to be alert. We have to protect our victories as vigorously as we fight for them, because we cannot build on those wins if they are rolled back.

Labor rights, abortion rights, criminal justice reform, even the very survival of our democracy is being threatened at this moment. We are up against forces that are willing to suppress the vote, overturn election results, and literally commit treason against our country to get their way. We are up against corporate donors, landlords, and war profiteers spending millions of dollars to take out progressive members of Congress.

"The only way to protect our wins is with a massive, historic voter turnout," Omar argued. "We cannot go after the same tiny slices of swing voters we go after election after electionusing the same poll-tested talking points we use every election. We cannot assume that the politics of transaction will turn out the votes when Americans are longing for the politics of transformation."

Noting that in 2016, a notable share of votersparticularly those who supported former President Barack Obama four years earliercast their ballots for a third-party candidate or simply stayed home, Omar explained that "these nonvoters are more likely to be working class, they are more likely to be immigrants, and they are more likely to be people of color. In fact, more than half of them have an income of less than $30,000 a year."

"These are the people the Democratic Party should stand for," she argued, adding that "we cannot rely on" the likes of outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) or Manchin "to save us."

Instead, "we need to elevate people who have fluency in the day-to-day struggles of the people they seek to represent," Omar asserted. "For every moderate suburban Republican there are line cooks, homeworkers, dishwashers, cashiers, farmworkers who would vote a straight Democratic ticket if they were given a reason to."

"Progressives win when turnout is high and we lose when turnout is low," she noted. "So this election, we cannot let fear defeat us. Let us focus on those who don't have a voice and who will support our boldest, most endearing ideas as a party."

"Let's elevate the people who are closest to the pain. Let's give working folks a reason to turn out to vote for us," she added. "That's who our party should be for, that's who our party should be talking to, and that's who we should be counting on to help us save our democracy in November."

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Omar to Democrats: 'Let's Give Working Folks a Reason to Turn Out to Vote for Us' - Common Dreams