Progressives Must Reckon with U.S. Senate Primary Losses

After U.S. Senate candidates backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee defeated progressive insurgents Charles Booker and Andrew Romanoff on Tuesday, Sunrise Movement Political Director Evan Weber issued the following statement:

"I'm not going to say these races are important moral victories that mean we need to work harder next time; the truth is, these races were ours for the taking and progressives blew it. These were not races that progressives could afford to sit out, but too many organizations did.

"I hope the progressive movement reflects on that, and gets serious about matching the establishment's discipline. The DSCC is not an easy beast to take on: when Chuck Schumer decides to anoint somebody, he pulls out all the stops, and puts so much money in their bank account that they don't even know what to do with it. We've proven in these races that we don't need to match their spending dollar for dollar if we run candidates who better speak to the electorate, but we will keep losing these races if we don't come in early enough to make a difference, if we refuse to support movement candidates together when they make the brave, difficult choice to step up and run for office without bank accounts full of cash.

"The final results show we could have won. Despite being outspent by almost $20 million in Kentucky, and 7-to-1 in Colorado, we fell only just short. These were winnable races if more organizations decided to prioritize them. Voters are tired of cookie cutter Democrats who pretend they're Republicans and who listen to consultants and donors, instead of working people. When voters learn they have a choice and hear about our candidates, they want to vote for people like Charles and Andrew. These candidates need us to have their backs and help them get the resources they need to spread their message.

"That didn't happen in time for Charles and Andrew, and because of that, Democrats' chances of flipping the Senate seats in Colorado and Kentucky just went way down. That makes everything else we're fighting for a lot harder, from a Green New Deal to Medicare for All. We hope these results are a moment of reckoning for the progressive movement, and that all of us reflect on what we can do to build power and take advantage of these races going forward."