Unwelcome PAC
I am an admirer of Welcome PAC
https://welcomepac.org/
that wants a broader political spectrum involved in the Democratic Party, even though I am probably land two notches to the left of it ideologically. Its general points are usually correct, including pushing for the party to compete in the center and identifying races the party should have competed in but didn't.
However, a recent Welcome post troubled me greatly.
Some of the post is paywalled, but the gist is a nasty attack on DNC vice chair and gun violence prevention activist David Hogg for saying it was a good thing Congresswoman Mary Peltola of Alaska lost because of her stance on gun issues. I am 100% with WelcomePAC on the issue and have been a huge supporter of Congresswoman Peltola. But this is an extremely sensitive moment. The 2024 election wounded everyone on our side deeply. It hurt. A lot. In that hurt, we all risked saying things we would regret and lashing out at people on our side. David Hogg was wrong to attack Peltola and I would advise him to take the tweet down. I understand WelcomePAC’s upset; it worked extremely hard to get her re-elected and it was right to do so. But David Hogg is now a key leader in our party. What is more, he has a great deal to contribute given his energy, vision, and a ability to connect with people. Throughout his DNC vice chair campaign, he spoke a great deal about the need to talk to all kinds of people in all sorts of places. So I think he gets it, poor tweet aside.
By choosing to basically declare war on Mr. Hogg, WelcomePAC is now attacking the entire party. Without a doubt, the goal is to make Mr. Hogg feel less than welcome. This is wrong. Across the board, we need less ideological snipping, not because the points are invalid but because it makes people feel worse about the party no matter what point is hoping to be raised. I would encourage both sides to sit down and have a discussion in the hopes difference can be settled and we can move forward as a party. The era of pretending there aren’t problems, rather than solving them, needs to be over.