“We Didn’t Have a Ground Game” - Shalala on why she lost

[Woody]

Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/donna-shalala-house-democrat-defeated-what-happened.html

Congresswoman Donna Shalala has had a lot of different jobs. For the past couple of years, Shalala has represented Florida in Congress. Before that, she ran the Clinton Foundation, led three different universities, and spent eight years as the secretary of health and human services under Bill Clinton—the longest tenure on record, as far as I can tell. Shalala lost her seat this year. She’s one of 11 House Democrats who will be replaced by their Republican challengers come January, leaving Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a dwindling majority heading into a Joe Biden presidency.

Mary Harris: Your seat was supposed to be relatively safe.

Donna Shalala: Yeah, I know, but I didn’t trust the polls because I could feel that there was going to be a real challenge in my district. I saw the attack ads, but I also heard from people as I walk through Little Havana, for example. I was called communist once in the primary, but now it became a consistent theme.

Let’s talk a little bit about how the election went this time around. Did it feel like you were rehashing the race from two years ago, because you were running against the same opponent this time this Republican woman, Maria Elvira Salazar?

No, it was a completely different set of issues because the president had mismanaged COVID. Our economy, when I ran before, was in much better shape. It was a disaster now, because I represent a tourist area. I represent the cruise lines, the hotels on Miami Beach, the restaurants. It was a completely different race in terms of issues.

[SenatorCouzens]

I'm still shocked deeming herself a "pragmatic socialist" in an interview didn't lead to a decisive win for her.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I'm still shocked deeming herself a "pragmatic socialist" in an interview didn't lead to a decisive win for her.

It was bizarre terminology given that she is one of the most rightwing Democrats in Congress.

[Meatball Ron]

I'm still shocked deeming herself a "pragmatic socialist" in an interview didn't lead to a decisive win for her.

It was bizarre terminology given that she is one of the most rightwing Democrats in Congress.

She misspoke; she meant to say pragmatic capitalist. But since she had such a weak presence in her district / generally was such a poor campaigner, it stuck. If people knew her and what she stood for, her opponent's attacks using the verbal slippage probably wouldn't have landed.

[Gracile]

Shalala always seemed like a poor candidate even in 2018; Democrats should have gotten behind someone else in that primary.

[GoTfan]

I see "Never My Fault" is in full swing.

[GALeftist]

Shalala is partly right. The other part of the story is that she is not only a lib but also not even a good fit for her district or a good campaigner.

[Dipper Josh]

...Okay? Did you have a campaign manager, Donna? Sounds like a you problem.

[Rookie Yinzer]

Glad she lost. A better Dem can run and win in 2022.

[ChiefFireWaterMike]

Glad she lost. A better Dem can run and win losein 2022.

Fixed it

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Glad she lost. A better Dem can run and win in 2022.

FL after 2021 Reapportionment is gonna be more gerrymandering in favor of RS, with Gov DeSantis and Rubio easily being reelected, like TX is

Charlie Crist is endangered

D's are gonna get back seats in PA, MI, Cali, IL and NY where gerrymandering is much more favorable with D Govs

[Nyvin]

We're better off with her gone, she was terrible.

[S019]

We're better off with her gone, she was terrible.

Are we? Her winning would have convinced the GOP to cede us a south FL seat, while now they'll try to gerrymander both or at least get them to like Clinton+10 or so, which should be winnable for Giminez and Salazar.

[Nyvin]

We're better off with her gone, she was terrible.

Are we? Her winning would have convinced the GOP to cede us a south FL seat, while now they'll try to gerrymander both or at least get them to like Clinton+10 or so, which should be winnable for Giminez and Salazar.

Good luck with that.   That part of Miami Dade isn't going to be secure for them no matter what they do.

[TML]

If she had faced a primary challenger this year, that could have made her more battle-tested in the general election in the event that she won the primary (not that it would have guaranteed her a GE victory, but it would probably have made her campaign better).

[Blair]

Should have been a red flag when irrc the DSCC/Cavalry had to arrive to save her in the 2018 primary against a state rep...

[vileplume]

We're better off with her gone, she was terrible.

Are we? Her winning would have convinced the GOP to cede us a south FL seat, while now they'll try to gerrymander both or at least get them to like Clinton+10 or so, which should be winnable for Giminez and Salazar.

Good luck with that.   That part of Miami Dade isn't going to be secure for them no matter what they do.

Unless they completely collapse with Cubans and I mean completely and permanently collapse that's actually not true. It's very easy to change the boundaries of the 26th and 27th to Clinton +7.5 (8.5 and 12.5 point swing respectively) meaning that Macarsel-Powell and Shalala would never won in the first place and wouldn't even have been all that close to doing so.

To do this they will have to concede one of the new seats to the Dems in the form of a Homestead to Golden Beach Democratic coastal vote sink but it would be worth it to make Gimenez and Salazar basically safe even a Democratic wave year like 2018. They could also mess around with the boundaries in Palm Beach/Broward to try to make one of those seats more marginal, for example you can quite easily shift Deutch's seat 6 points right (down to Clinton+10) even without tendril-esque lines.

[Antonio the Sixth]

no, you see, it's AOC's fault somehow

[VAR]

no, you see, it's AOC's fault somehow

of course it is imo tbh, also if it weren't for cori bush, ann wagner would've lost

[Antonio the Sixth]

no, you see, it's AOC's fault somehow

of course it is imo tbh, also if it weren't for cori bush, ann wagner would've lost

Just the kind of brilliant #analysis I come to Talk Elections Blog for!

[VAR]

no, you see, it's AOC's fault somehow

of course it is imo tbh, also if it weren't for cori bush, ann wagner would've lost

Just the kind of brilliant #analysis I come to Talk Elections Blog for!

not to mention cisneros lost because ca-39 voters thought aoc was mean

It's sad that some people actually believe this.