Can Democrats Fight? – by The Ink

Congressman Chris Deluzio is a progressive Democrat who represents PA-17, the district that stretches from the northwest suburbs of Pittsburgh to the Ohio border. The county closely reflects the national electorate: Its voters voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, supported Trump in 2016, voted for Biden in 2020 and supported Trump this November — and re-elected Deluzio.

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We asked Rep. Deluzio how, even as his voters moved back to the right, he managed to push through with a progressive, pro-worker message; and why he believes that only an embrace of economic populism — and a willingness to call out the bad guys — can win victories for the Democratic Party.

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What are you doing that other Democrats aren’t doing? And you know you haven’t changed your approach or your core philosophy to win this race. What did you do differently?

Well, I’m honored. I won and my voters sent me back. I think I have the best district in the country. And I’ll tell you, I’m from Western Pennsylvania and I don’t have a specific label for what kind of Rust Belt or Western Pennsylvania Democrat I am. But I also don’t shy away from talking about the forces that make people’s lives worse. I talk a lot about monopolies and the way corporate power has hurt people. I talk a lot about how workers have lost their power in the workplace because of these attacks on unions. I’m talking about what my region and others like ours have experienced through decades of lousy trade deals that were supposed to lower costs to make life better for us.

And indeed we have seen jobs being lost and costs rising. And I don’t address these things in passing as minor problems. The economic message, the willingness to fight, is our focus. And one of the things that I think my party needs to do better at is that we often look for that win-win situation. And sometimes that’s appropriate. But you know, sometimes there are villains who make people’s lives worse and you have to beat the hell out of them.

And you have to make sure that people understand who you’re fighting for and who you’re fighting against. And we could use a little more of that.

Do you think the party has failed to make this point nationally, that it has failed to identify a villain, or that it has chosen the wrong villain?