Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee cited his frustration with the Democratic Party’s “appetite” to perform an autopsy on the 2016 presidential election in his explanation for why he will not embark on a campaign to unseat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., this year.
During an interview with the Providence Journal published Tuesday, Chafee noted that he thought the Democratic Party’s treatment of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in the primaries was unfair and criticized Democrats for not making an adequate effort to take stock of what happened in Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump before looking to the future.
“The appetite amongst Democrats to debate what went wrong in 2016 wasn’t there to the extent that I would have liked,” Chafee told the news outlet.
He also cited an “uphill climb” in polling as a reason for not challenging Whitehouse.
Chafee served as the governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He previously served as a Republican U.S. senator from Rhode Island until 2007 when he was defeated by Whitehouse. He was elected as governor as an independent before switching to the Democratic Party in 2013.
He ran a brief campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
In November of last year he called on members of Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign to “look in the mirror” after neglecting to own up to their faults. In particular he condemned the “Clinton people” for blaming other people for Clinton’s election loss to Trump.
At the time Chafee also showered praise on former Democratic National Committee head Donna Brazile for the bombshell claims she made in her memoir in which he talked about an “unethical” takeover when the Clinton team struck a deal with the DNC.
“Three cheers for Donna Brazile. I like a truth teller and, yes, absolutely,” he said. “There were only four of us that dared to challenge Hillary Clinton for the nomination, and we always thought that the fix was in with the DNC. I know I felt that way through the whole course of it and then even getting into some of the mainstream media.”
