Too Many Democrats Still Don’t Get the Working Class
Instead of debating abstract ideas like "predistributionism," the party needs to focus on concrete policies to raise living standards.
Redistributionist or predistributionist?
Photographer: Pool/Getty Images North AmericaDefeated Democrats are looking for new ways forward, and one of their most articulate leaders is Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. They should be “an aggressively economically populist party that builds a wide tent,” he says, “asking working class voters to come inside even if they don’t align with us on every social and cultural issue.”
Murphy is clearly on to something: Moderate Democrats such as former Governor Jon Bel Edwards of Louisiana, who left office this year after reaching the two-term limit, have shown that it is possible to win even in red states by supporting policies like Medicaid expansion and an increase in the minimum wage — while also taking more conservative positions on issues like abortion and guns. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky has followed a similar playbook.