Former Chicago Mayor and Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Democrats this year have an opportunity to break “Biden Republicans” away from the GOP for good.
“The question is whether Democrats will let these voters migrate back to the GOP after November, or whether our party will become their permanent safe harbor,” Emanuel wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
Emanuel’s comments come as support for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has grown among moderate Republicans. For example, the Lincoln Project, a well-funded anti-Trump Republican PAC, was established in part by conservative lawyer George Conway. The group runs anti-Trump ads frequently and supports the former vice president’s 2020 campaign.
In addition, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) was given a major speaking role in next week’s Democratic National Convention.
“This year, Democrats have the chance to achieve a generational transformation. Beyond broadening the coalition to include moderate voters who oppose President Trump, we could deepen our base by turning disaffected Republicans into Democrats,” Emanuel said.
The former Obama official said moderate voters in suburbs are “open to conversion.”
“Voters in places that were once beyond our reach—suburban parts of Maricopa County, Ariz.; Mecklenburg County, N.C.; and Bucks County, Pa., for example—are open to conversion,” Emanuel wrote. “So beyond thinking about the outcome this November, Democrats need to focus on what happens after Mr. Trump has been ushered off the stage.”
A Hill-HarrisX poll conducted this week showed that a majority of suburban voters disapprove of Trump’s performance in office. Sixty-two percent of suburban voters say they disapprove of the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.