Is there room in the NC Democratic House Caucus for moderates? From the primary results Tuesday, it’s looking less and less likely so.
Two middle-of-the-road Democratic incumbents were tossed from their seats for apparently not being liberal enough.
Rep. Bruce Goforth (D-Buncombe) and Rep. Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson) were both defeated in the Primay in part because they did not march in line with the Democratic party dogma.
Goforth, get this… believes in protecting private property rights and is opposed to gay marriage. His opponent ran to the far left and embraced radical urban planning and the progressive movement.
Sutton, supports the death penalty and believes in corporal punishment. His opponent thinks government should be spending more money on social programs, not less.
Apparently, there is little tolerance for this type of thinking in the Democratic party.
The question now must be asked, are people like Goforth and Sutton even welcome in today’s Democratic party? The House and Senate have both been growing increasing liberal over the past few years and the Goforths and Suttons of the party are being marginalized, pushed to the side and now defeated in primaries.
So the next time you hear some lip-service from the left or the media about how Republicans are abandoning their “big tent” mentality, just point out this election and how mainstream Democrats are being dismissed from the party because they do not share the radical views of the party’s base voters.
Goforth lost due to his support of steep slope development. Sutton lost because he stopped paying attention at home. Also, what voters choose have nothing to do with what is acceptable in a caucus. Moderate Democrats in the legislature are part of the Democratic Legislative Caucus as much as are liberal ones. Go check the definition of caucus.