SALENA ZITO: Democrats try to win back labor in order to win back the House.
When Democrat Conor Lamb stood in a sea of United Mine Workers of America here in early March, it was clear that Democrats had found a way to bring the blue-collar worker back into their camp.
Lamb would go on to win the special election in this southwest Pennsylvania district that Donald Trump had carried by 18 points.
The two questions now:
First, will that union support materialize in other races, and thus elect Democrats in swing districts across the country?
Secondly, why had Democrats lost these blue-collar areas in the first place? What was missing from Democrats’ messages over the past 10 years that made them stay home or vote Republican?
The union voters I talked to said they didn’t feel that Democrats in Washington had their back; that they were too progressive, too strident, and way out of touch with their lives and needs.
Well, that seems right.
By the way, Salena Zito and Brad Todd (whom long term InstaPundit readers will remember as the author of the superb “109 Minutes” essay right after 9/11) have a book coming out: The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.