Biden Campaign Co-Chair Cedric Richmond: ‘Defunding the Police Is a Title That Hurts Democrats’

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), the co-chairman of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, acknowledged some of the branding associated with the so-called progressive wing of the Democratic Party did not help their cause on Election Day.

Richmond said his party’s association with the “defund the police” slogan hurt it in House elections.

“Our progressive wing of the party is very important to our party But I think that what Whip Clyburn was trying to say that, no matter how progressive your ideals and values are and what you want to do and how bold your plans are, if we don’t win, if we don’t keep the majority of the House, you cannot implement any of those plans. So, you can’t govern if you can’t win. And so I think our party has to make sure that we have a solid playbook of what we want to do, how we want to help the American people. But, when we lose, and if we lose the House of Representatives, then we will be in the minority and we won’t pass a bill for at least two years. And I think that that — his point is, we have to make sure we win first and govern second.”

“And so, when we govern, we will govern with our values,” Richmond continued. “But when we can’t pass legislation, we shouldn’t be out there talking about it. And some titles hurt. Defunding the police is a title that hurts Democrats, and especially when the fact of the matter is, nobody’s calling for defunding the police. We’re calling for reinventing how we police communities in this country, how we do criminal justice. So, I think that, basically, what the whip is saying, and I agree with, is that words have consequences. And, in this election, those words cost us some Democratic members.”

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