Letters to the Editor
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Defending Brazile, doubting white working class
I say this as no fan of Brazile, whose dreadful spinmastering has normally annoyed me to the point of switching channels as soon as she's on the TV screen. In this case however, she's completely right. She was refuting the notion that only the white working class matters, and indeed that's not nearly enough to win. Assumed in her statements, but it needs saying, is that new voters form habits in their first 2-4 elections that last a lifetime. Young voters are more engaged than ever since the voting age was set at 18, judging by their turnout. Put those things together, and winning young voters is vital. Given how heavily Democratic they're leaning, it would be an immense screw-up not to emphasize them this year.
The same applies to Latinos. They're not just growing in relative population, but they're younger than other ethnic groups, and have a lot of new citizens, which means Latinos have a disproportionate level of new voters just forming their habits. Winning them now could mean winning them for a couple generations. Nativist Republicans are driving them into our hands if we're smart enough to focus on them, just like the Know Nothings turned the Irish into Democrats for a hundred years.
Besides, I challenge the assumption Democrats lose the white working class or rural white vote. In total probably, but take out the Southeast, and I don't buy it. If they're so Republican and so determined to vote against their interests, why do Republican have such a tough time winning Midwestern rural US House seats? Why do Republicans hold just one New England seat, and I believe that's suburban? Outside the Southeast, Democrats are at least competitive for rural whites or the white working class. The Republicans are close to being reduced to a suburban party, so unless we're specifically talking about the Southeast, the concern about losing whites is overblown.