By: Mason Mattu, News Writer
In a relatively unsuccessful move to gain support, former vice-president and 2024 presidential nominee Kamala Harris focused her campaign strategy on pandering to independent and centrist voters. Harris attempted to bridge the gap by enlisting the support of Republicans such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Oh yeah, Liz Cheney, daughter of a literal war criminal, will definitely convince people to vote for you! Way to go, Harris. While building a centrist coalition to back her campaign, Harris neglected left-wing Democrats who became ever-so more dissociated with the Democratic Party.
Voters who cared about issues related to Palestine, for example, were left behind by a Harris campaign that refused to take accountability for the US’ complicity in the genocide. This led to a strong show of support for independent candidates such as Jill Stein, especially in Muslim communities.
Let’s come back north of the border. This same abandonment of leftist communities can be seen here in BC. The BC New Democratic Party (NDP) has always touted environmental action as a key part of the province’s agenda. While they say this is the case, the BCNDP continues to support the expansion of mines and liquified natural gas infrastructure, particularly in wake of Trump’s tariff threats. David Eby wears a mask of climate change heroism, but is in reality causing voters to sway away from the BCNDP and join ranks of the BC Green Party.
While there is very little statistical evidence about the transformation of former BCNDP voters to BC Green voters, the idea is Eby and his party are shifting their policies away from its previously strong environmentalist base.
Centrists do not need to be approached with toned-down ideas. Instead, it would be beneficial for leftist politicians to come to them and try to change their minds.
In using the examples of Harris and Eby, I am not suggesting that reaching out to moderates is a bad thing. In order to win an election, it is absolutely necessary for a left-wing candidate to speak and reach out to moderate voters. However, this doesn’t mean that the moral and ideological foundations of a party should be compromised.
Centrists do not need to be approached with toned-down ideas. Instead, it would be beneficial for leftist politicians to come to them and try to change their minds. Before you ask if this is even possible, I ask you to remember Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Democratic presidential nomination campaign. In a shocking turn of events, conservatives supported Sanders’ 2016 campaign as they believed he embodied “conservative values.”
Sanders did not make concessions in his policy to appeal to conservatives. Instead, he saw conservatives the same way he saw leftists, as people who could change their minds if given proper information and resources. However, this becomes increasingly more difficult as political campaigns fabricate or misinterpret the positions of their opponents. In an era rife with disinformation, it is important that we actually hold events and town halls that show people the receipts and facts. Even if it is to debunk how a candidate’s policies aren’t actually socialist, leftist politicians should provide compassionate aid to help clear the air. Another example of this can be seen during a FOX News Town Hall, where the audience verbally agreed with Sanders’ proposals for proposals such as tuition-free colleges and universal healthcare. Think about that one more time — a FOX News audience.
If we take this approach and apply it to a general election candidate, we may have ourselves a winning campaign. It is the way candidates present their platforms to centrists or conservatives that will end up changing tides. Merely making concessions to these groups is meaningless, as there is a good chance that you’ll lose your party’s leftist base or be unsuccessful in courting moderate voters in this period of electoral disinformation.
