Why is it so hard for progressives to win in North Carolina?

[(David P.)]

Why is it so hard for progressives to win in North Carolina?
by Paige Masten, May 20, 2022, Charlotte Observer

For a while, it seemed like 2022 might be a pretty good year
for progressives in North Carolina. Two of the state’s
longest-serving congressional Democrats, U.S. Reps. David Price
and G.K. Butterfield, announced last year they would not seek
re-election, leaving two blue seats wide open. It resulted in
two fiercely competitive primaries that epitomized a long-standing
and ever-deepening divide among the party’s progressive and
moderate wings. In the end, though, progressive candidates lost.
And it wasn’t even that close.

A BATTLE OF THE BLUES
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In Price’s 4th Congressional District, state Sen. Valerie Foushee
defeated Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam and six other
candidates with just over 46% of the vote Tuesday. And in the
1st Congressional District, voters elected state Sen. Don Davis
over progressive former state Sen. Erica Smith to succeed Butterfield
as the Democratic nominee. Davis received more than double the
votes Smith did.

The race to replace Price in the state’s bluest district was the
most expensive Democratic congressional primary in state history.
Foushee was seen as the establishment candidate, though her politics
are still fairly progressive. She was backed by millions of dollars
in outside money from pro-Israel lobbyists and a cryptocurrency
billionaire, which resulted in sharp criticism, lost endorsements
and fear that the seat was being bought.

Allam, who in 2020 became the first Muslim woman elected to public
office in North Carolina, was the progressive favorite. She had
the endorsement of big-name progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

In Butterfield’s eastern North Carolina district, it was a similar
story. As far as Democrats go, Davis might be as moderate as they
come. He’s sided with Republicans in the state legislature, and was
accused of being anti-abortion (which he denied). Davis was also
backed by outside, pro-Israel money and earned the endorsement of
Butterfield himself, while Smith was endorsed by Warren and the
Congressional Progressive Caucus.

FOR PROGRESSIVES, AN UPHILL CLIMB
-----------------------------
Meanwhile, the far-right wing of the Republican Party doesn’t
seem to have a whole lot of trouble winning elections. A Trump
endorsement and major spending by a conservative super PAC called
Club for Growth helped lead Ted Budd and Bo Hines, once relatively
obscure candidates, to victory in their respective primaries. Both
Budd and Hines positioned themselves as the most Trump-friendly
choice & labeled their opponents RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only.

It’s an interesting contrast: Republicans lose because they’re
too moderate, while Democrats lose because they’re not moderate
enough. Why? The core of the Republican Party has moved into a
strong conservative position, Michael Bitzer, political science
professor at Catawba College, told me, with no real sense of
moderates being acceptable anymore. “Both parties contain
distinctive hard-core ideologies, but it’s just that the Republican
Party is dominated by conservatives, while the Democratic Party
still has a noticeable tension between moderates and progressives,
with a strategic imperative that to win, Democrats can’t go too far
left without suffering at the polls,” Bitzer said.

Money is a key factor, too, Western Carolina University political
science professor Chris Cooper says. Like Foushee and Davis, Hines
and Budd had lots of outside money being spent in their favor. But
money does often follow ideology. “When we look at who Club for
Growth funds, which is the reason why Hines and Budd, of course,
had so much money, they’re not going to support a moderate
Republican,” Cooper said. “So it’s the incentive structure created
in some ways by these massive funding organizations.”

In many cases, those with money and power in politics seem more
willing to push back on progressive candidates than conservative
ones. But when the Republican establishment makes an effort to
expel those running to the right of them, they, too, can be
successful. Cooper pointed to Madison Cawthorn as an example:
outside spending and endorsements from the establishment wing of
the party cost Cawthorn a second term.

Both parties seem to be following the votes — and the money.
Republicans seem to have accepted that moving further to the
right helps them win elections. Democrats, on the other hand,
are trying to keep their progressive side in check. On the left,
including in North Carolina, it still pays to be moderate.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article261573207.html