Former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday said that not every Democrat should run a campaign based on impeaching President Trump in the November midterms.
“The message has to lean toward the constituents in those districts, and so, if you’re talking about impeachment in southern Illinois, if you’re talking about impeachment in districts like West Virginia, that may fall out of tune with Republican crossover voters that you need in order to win the election,” Israel, who used to serve as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told Hill TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
The former congressman said the party’s message should be “to win” in order to provide “checks and balances” on Trump.
“So the message ought to be to win. We are on the verge of winning the majority, having checks and balances to this reckless agenda, and we ought not to spend our time analyzing what the message should be other than a winning message,” Israel said.
“I’m advising them to reflect what they hear at supermarkets, reflect what they hear at dining room tables. And if people in those districts are talking about the exorbitant cost of health care, if they’re talking about their jobs, their wages, their kid’s future, and they’re not talking about the impeachment of the president, why should you be talking about the impeachment of the president?” he continued.
Trump has faced harsh criticism for his policies and rhetoric, leading some Democrats including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Texas Senate candidate Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) to call for Trump’s impeachment.
Other Democrats, however, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have cautioned against calling for Trump’s impeachment.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told Hill TV on Monday that it’s premature to talk about Trump’s impeachment.
“If we’re talking about that right now at home, we’re not talking to people about how they can grow their paychecks, how they can expand their health-care coverage, how they can have careers they can count on and see improvements in the investments we make in their kids,” Swalwell said. ”That’s what most people care about — it’s not impeachment.”
— Julia Manchester
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