Democrat strategist James Carville had some tough news, and a reality check for the group in Congress known as “The Squad” in a recent interview, essentially claiming their left-wing ‘wokeness’ won’t help the party win elections.
The informal group is comprised of Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar, but it used to be bigger. Former Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush were defeated by other Democrats in the 2024 election, which highlights the point that Carville was making.
The strategist, in an interview with Joanna Coles of The Daily Beast, slammed AOC and Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which has drawn large crowds across the country, as “counterproductive,” arguing it plays into the image of the Democratic Party as “old”, “coastal” and “urban.”
“I’ve got a great idea,” he said sarcastically. “Let’s send an 83-year-old and a congresswoman from Queens out in the country.”
“You know what they don’t do? Win elections,” he said about Ocasio-Cortez and “Independent” far-left Sen. Bernie Sanders, who went around the nation on a “Fight Oligarchy” tour. “They never beat a Republican!”
“The progressives, all they do is impress other journalists. They never beat a Republican. Tell me when one body from that wing has ever run against a Republican. All right,” he said, noting that their left-wing views are out of touch with the vast majority of Americans.
“That’s the problem. So everybody goes and says, okay, Bernie has run for president twice. He lost twice. He lost more the second time. But when I go on cable TV, or podcasts like this, the entire Democratic Party is AOC and Bernie. You know, Jackie Rosen doesn’t exist,” he lamented.
“Tammy Baldwin doesn’t exist. Ruben Gallego doesn’t exist. Alyssa Slotkin doesn’t exist. I never get asked about them. What about AOC? What about it?” he complained.
A frustrated Carville said that there is “an abundance of potential candidates” for the 2028 presidential election from his side and that “there’s a lot more to the Democratic Party than AOC and Bernie.”
Coles pressed him on the value of “name recognition” for people like Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Sanders, but Carville, who believes that the Democrats will be in prime position for victory in 2028 even as polls show the party with historically low approval, was not impressed.
“I’m not marginally worried about the nominee of the Democratic Party not being sufficiently known by election day. This is not even the summer of 2025. The election is in the fall of 2028,” he said.
“Why in God’s name do we have to articulate an entire program and an entire laundry list of potential presidential candidates? The answer is we do not. That is not necessary. Timing is everything. And so, well, okay, AOC has recognition,” the annoyed strategist said.
“You know how many times on Fox News AOC is mentioned in a day? I have no idea. Go on. A ton. Right. And so she represents a plus-25 Democratic district. And every time that you see a Democrat that is out there screaming and pounding the podium, ask yourself, have you ever beat a Republican? Is that really? Because if you know me, you know that there’s one and only one noble purpose in politics,” Carville said.
“And you know what that is? Winning the election. Okay. That’s why we exist. So we’re not going to win the election in the summer of 2025. We don’t need to try. You know, what we have to do is set up ourselves as the party that is simply trying to help people who are trying to make it. And what they’re trying to do is help people who already have it made. You know, you’re not going to achieve the American dream with a 7% mortgage rate,” the strategist said.