James Carville says 'woke' people need to take 'nap' after down-ballot Dem losses

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Democratic strategist James Carville Tuesday suggested that left-wing issues like the “defund the police” movement may have helped lead to Democratic losses in the House and Senate on Election Night after some had predicted a blue wave. 

“Some of these woke people need to take a nap,” the characteristically blunt Carville joked on MSNBC after "The 11th Hour” host Brian Williams asked him if Democrats still want the support of working-class Americans who may feel the party has left them behind.

“Hell, yeah," he answered. “We’ve got some good candidates out there. We lost some close races and we’ve got to get back up and win those two races in Georgia." Both Senate races in Georgia will go to January runoffs after no candidate received the required 50% of the vote. 

Carville, a 1992 Clinton presidential campaign veteran, said Democrats would win more races if they spoke to “all of America not just one sliver of America.” He was referencing more progressive Democratic leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whose stances on issues like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and "defunding the police" play better in deep blue districts than more moderate parts of the country.

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14888_232.jpg_James Carville at the CNN Election Breakfast 2007 at Gotham Hall on October 16, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/WireImage)

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Carville noted that President-elect Joe Biden is ahead of President Trump by several million in the popular vote, showing that his message “resonated more" across the country than the “more extreme elements” of the party. 

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He added that he had talked to other members of the party who also felt rhetoric coming from the left-wing wasn’t helpful.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., who won narrowly won reelection last week in a Trump-friendly district, also assailed the “defund the police message” last Thursday.

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“If we don't mean we should defund the police, we shouldn't say that,” she said on a Democratic caucus call, in which she described the election as a “failure" for Democrats.