A former Republican lawmaker is sounding the alarm about the Democratic voter registration deficit.
Joe Walsh, a former GOP congressman who challenged Donald Trump for the 2020 presidential nomination, on his Social Contract Substack page pointed to new reporting that shows that Democrats lost up to 5 million voters in all 30 states where party registration is required – which he said was unacceptable.
"This is during the age of Trump — an insurrectionist, a fascist, a pathological liar," Walsh said. "Somebody who is cruel and ignorant and un-American is the leader of the political party that gained voters, according to voter registration in all 30 of these states. And Democrats lost voters in every single one of those states."
Wilson recently registered as a Democrat, but he said not nearly enough other people were joining him.
"My new political party, the Democratic Party, for the last four to five years has been living in some MSNBC studio, utterly out of touch with where regular folks are," he wrote. "Big-tent progressives: we’re all together, but the national party has been too far-left — or been perceived to be too far-left. They’ve ceded the middle to an authoritarian-embracing cult. They’ve ceded the middle to the Republican Party."
"This has got to change now — as in NOW — for the very preservation of democracy," Walsh added. "This must change."
The newly minted Democrat offered some advice to party leaders.
"Democrats must fight," Walsh wrote. "They must get off of their high horse and out of their ivory towers and out of their MSNBC studio and get with regular folk. Listen to and talk about what regular folk care about. And doggone it, you can’t be so freaking far-left and win nationally."
"This is a wake-up call," he added. "And if this doesn’t wake up the Democratic Party, nothing will. In every single state, Democrats have lost voters. Republicans have gained voters over the last four to five years."