Michael Bloomberg has sent a warning to Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden that the party is “headed for a wipeout in November.”
Bloomberg, the former Republican New York City mayor who ran for president as a Democrat, just warned his new party they need to change course immediately.
“The political earthquake that just occurred in San Francisco should be a dire warning to the national Democratic Party because the same fault line stretches across the country and the tremors are only increasing,” Bloomberg wrote in an op-ed for his media outlet Bloomberg.
“In 2018 and 2020, I strongly supported efforts to win back control of Congress and the White House, because never in my lifetime have protection of the Constitution and the preservation of democracy been so threatened by domestic politics.
“I continue to believe that a healthy and vibrant Democratic Party remains essential to beating back the Republican Party’s dangerous turn toward authoritarianism and its tolerance for election subversion.
“But I am deeply concerned that, absent an immediate course correction, the party is headed for a wipeout in November, up and down the ballot.
“Three months after Republicans scored major election upsets in Virginia and New Jersey, largely because of the frustration parents felt with Democratic officials who catered to teachers’ unions and culture warriors at the expense of children, voters in San Francisco recalled three school board members by margins of nearly three to one.
“Coming from America’s most liberal city, those results should translate into a 7 to 8 on the Richter scale, because the three main factors that drove the recall are not unique to the Bay Area.”
“Instead of reopening schools, they spent their time renaming them, stripping off the names of historic figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln before a public outcry forced them to reverse course.”
Bloomberg goes on to list other failures of policies that seem key to the Democratic identity before telling them to change course:
“A recent Democratic Party poll showed that voters perceive it as being too ‘focused on the culture wars’ — from renaming schools to defunding the police.
“But the advice that party leaders are giving members of Congress — to ‘correct the record’ when Republicans criticize them on schools and culture — isn’t going to cut it.
“Voters need to hear from Democrats that schools remained closed for too long and that improving schools means closing achievement gaps, not eliminating standards.
“In New York City, one of the reasons I and so many Democrats and independents — and Republicans — supported Eric Adams for mayor is that he spoke to the fears and frustrations voters had around education and crime.
“His victory demonstrated that in deep-blue cities, not to mention purple suburbs, Democrats want leaders who have the backbone to stand tall and take the political hits that come with being a practical problem-solver.
“Swing voters will decide the 2022 midterm elections, and right now, polls show they are swinging away from Democrats.
“The earthquake that shook San Francisco needs to shake up our party before voters do it themselves in November,” he wrote.
I’m concerned that, without an immediate course correction, Democrats are headed for a wipeout in November up-and-down the ballot. https://t.co/oGAmVYTVV0
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 22, 2022
The SF school board recall should be a wake up call to elected officials — especially Democrats — across the nation: Parents are fed up with the status quo that puts adults ahead of kids and ideology ahead of results.
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 16, 2022
