Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said the Democratic Party is done employing identity politics in elections after Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bids.
“No one gives a s–t anymore in a Democratic Party what gender you are, what race you are, what ethnicity you are. They just want to win … we’re not here to make history,” Carville said on the “Politics War Room” podcast on Thursday.
“We’re here to make a win and whatever we have to do to win this f–king election, we’re going to do that. And I think that any time that the Democratic Party has any other motive other than victory, it screws us up,” he added.
Carville, who became famous for working on Gov. Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992, responded to a listener’s question read by co-host Al Hunt.
The listener asked Carville, “How do we destroy the notion that it is someone’s ‘turn’ to be the nominee — Hillary, Kamala — rather than the Democrat with the best chance of winning?”
“Remember, that’s a big, big hangover in [President Joe] Biden world that [President Barack] Obama decided that it was Hillary’s turn, not Biden’s turn, so he couldn’t run [in 2016]. Let me tell you what the ‘turn’ is. The turn is to win,” Carville said.
Carville explained further that if there is a formidable female candidate to win the White House, the Democratic Party will rally around her.
However, the veteran strategist emphasized that the party’s priority should be simply to win elections.
“If it’s a woman candidate that has the best chance to win, for God’s sake, let’s rally behind this candidate. If it’s male, let us rally behind that. Whatever it is, the most important criteria is to win the f–king election. Nothing else counts,” he said. “Winning is everything, stupid.”