MoveOn: 2020 Democratic nominee must be unapologetically progressive

Karine Jean-Pierre
Updated
Voters are going to back candidates who’ve got their backs, writes Karine Jean-Pierre, the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.

Polls show that the 2020 Democratic nomination for president is anyone’s game. In fact, recent polls of our members at MoveOn show that “undecided” and “other” rank higher than any one potential candidate.

But there’s one thing we already know about the 2020 Democratic nominee: She or he must offer a clear, unapologetically progressive alternative to Donald Trump.

Because while voters have yet to coalesce behind a single candidate, they’ve made it abundantly clear that the last thing they want to see in their nominee is a middle-of-the-road Democrat who won’t go far enough to turn our country around.

And that’s not just my opinion. Just look at November’s midterm elections, which offer a blueprint for the 2020 presidential election.

OUR VIEW: How Democrats could blow it in 2020

Progressive candidates challenged centrist Democrats in primaries across the USA — and won. But they didn’t just win their primaries. Many of them went on to win their general elections, too, transferring control of the House to Democrats.

November taught us another lesson: Progressives aren’t just winning primaries; they’re also increasing the number of voters by inspiring voters who stopped showing up at the polls to return as well as engaging new voters.

That energy — an energy that inspires everyone to get involved, especially young people and people of color — is the kind of spirit Democrats need to take back the White House in 2020. Voters are excited about progressive candidates because they’re fighting for our interests, not special interests.

Progressive candidates don’t hesitate when it comes to supporting universal health care, or the fight for $15minimum wage, or the right to vote. Voters in 2020 are going to back candidates who’ve got their backs — and those candidates are progressives who won’t compromise on the backs of the American people.

So while I couldn’t, for the life of me, name the next Democratic nominee for president, I can tell you this: She or he will be the most progressive candidate the Democratic Party has ever seen.

Karine Jean-Pierre is the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MoveOn: 2020 Democratic nominee must be unapologetically progressive