After House Democrats unexpectedly lost seats in November, significantly narrowing their majority, lawmakers blamed “defund the police” messaging for the poor showing.
Now, House Democrats want to make sure the theme doesn’t crop up in public pronouncements by lawmakers as local law enforcement incidents across the country trigger violent street protests.
Democrats remain mindful about how they describe law enforcement issues going into the 2022 election cycle.
“There may be some Democrats who use the term ‘defund the police’ without a clear explanation for what it means, and that is hurtful to our cause because our nation was founded on the principles of domestic tranquility and rule of law,” Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, told the Washington Examiner. “So, we cannot do away with the law enforcement function, which is what the Republicans would have us believe ‘defund the police’ means.”
Despite winning the White House and gaining just enough seats in the Senate to take the majority, Democrats nearly lost the House during the 2020 election and currently lead the chamber by just a three-seat margin. Some lawmakers blamed the losses on GOP campaign attacks framing Democrats as “anti-police.”
Democratic House lawmakers complained to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately following the tough November House losses that party activists who pushed the “defund the police” movement hurt their campaigns. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, who eked out a second term win after her opponent branded her a supporter of the “defund the police” movement was particularly incensed about the circumstances.
“We lost races we shouldn’t have lost. ‘Defund police’ almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. Don’t say ‘socialism’ ever again,” Spanberger reportedly said at the time on a conference call with fellow Democratic lawmakers.
House Democrats passed legislation early last month named after George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a Minneapolis officer during an arrest set off nationwide riots. The bill, which focuses on setting up a national registry of police misconduct, would also prohibit racial and religious profiling at the federal, state, and local levels. The bill has yet to be brought to the Senate.
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib nearly went off Democratic messaging on law enforcement on Monday after she condemned the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Tlaib called for the end of policing incarceration and militarization.
“No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed,” she tweeted.
Although it is unlikely that the phrase “defund the police” will be heard on Capitol Hill of the campaign trail, more liberal Democrats will describe other ways they want to approach law enforcement issues.
“We just need an entirely new approach to public safety, and we need an entirely new approach to our justice system overall,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, told the Washington Examiner. “There’s just so many things we need to reimagine and rethink with regard to our justice system overall and policing in this country. So, again, allocate the resources in the areas where we could be more helpful towards the community.”
