"We shouldn't have played it safe": Walz critiques 2024 campaign strategy of "prevent defense"
The one-time vice-presidential candidate told Politico that he thinks his campaign with former Vice President Kamala Harris tanked because Democrats believed they had the race in the bag. With the benefit of hindsight, Walz wished that the Democrats would have made time for more face-to-face interactions with voters.
'We shouldn't have been playing this thing so safe,' Walz told the outlet. "I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls, where [voters] may say, 'you're full of shit, I don't believe in you.''
In a campaign season that saw eventual victor Donald Trump record interviews with Joe Rogan and Adin Ross, Walz felt that the party was far too precious with their chosen candidates' media appearances. Walz said this strategy was born out of a sense of inevitable victory, the same sort of thinking that was behind the Democrats' last presidential election loss.
"We, as a party, are more cautious,' Walz said. "In football parlance, we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don't think we were ever ahead."
Walz has pitched his vision for a bolder, more aggressive Democratic Party since November. With the collapse of Democratic turnout for Harris' moderate campaign, Walz thinks it's up to the party to meet voters where they are on more progressive positions.
"When we get back, which we will – we'll fight – I'll tell you what people are going to expect is they're not going to expect us to tinker around the edge with the ACA [Affordable Care Act.] They're going to expect universal health care," Walz shared during a visit to "Fast Politics" late last month. 'A saying I always said is, 'You lead with good policy and good politics will follow.'"
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