Progressives blast ‘uninspired’ McAuliffe campaign’s inability to combat ‘race-baiting bulls—'

A coalition of progressive groups issued a scathing reaction to Terry McAuliffe’s loss in Virginia's election for governor, blasting Democrats for running an "uninspired" campaign that failed to address issues voters really care about.

"Terry McAuliffe ran the milquetoast campaign he wanted to run — where every other word he uttered was ‘Donald Trump’ instead of focusing on the issues voters cared about the most," the groups wrote."What happened in Virginia is what happens when Democrats fail to take on the GOP’s divide-and-conquer racism and motivate people to turn out," they continued. "The McAuliffe campaign had no comprehensive pro-worker economic message against a literal private equity magnate. It had no positive message on what the next four years would be like for Virginians. It had no rebuttal to Republican race-baiting bull----. Put simply: it was a campaign designed to fail.""This was a controlled experiment for what NOT to do in 2022," they wrote. "This is what it looks like when Democrats get caught flat-footed and let Republicans dictate the terms of the debate by manufacturing a fake ‘education crisis.’ It does not have to be this way. There is still time to adopt an inclusive economic message that crowds out racist dog whistles. There is still time to go on offense and fight for the very voters who powered Democratic victories in 2020."

The left-wing groups also blasted the "DC establishment" for rushing to back McAuliffe's campaign, saying it "sidelined two potentially history-making Black women running for the same office."