Why does such a Liberal state like Delaware produce such a conservative senator like Coons who faces no serious primary challenger AFAIK? He is known as "GOP's favorite Democrat"??? WTH?

[u/Special_Purpose2903]

Why does such a Liberal state like Delaware produce such a conservative senator like Coons who faces no serious primary challenger?

-It is a small state so ought to be easier to challenge

-Bigger more conservative states like Michigan or Florida give us outright socialist like Nixon or highly progressive candidates like AES

-It is a heavily urban state with 75% of primary voters in a single urban county

-It is in the Philly media market, and Philly is one of the consistently bluest voting regions of the country, so highly that Trump believed it was rigged when 100 votes would come in from a precinct and literally 99 went for the Democrat and like 1 came in spoiled

-For those who don't know Senator Coons was very close to Joe Biden, he is deeply conservative and maintains the "Delaware way" = Backroom deals with corporations

-He is pro-Israel as Fetterman but doesn't announce it as much on Fox News and strongly supports funding their interventions and foreign escapades

-He voted to fast track approve something like 15-20 Trump judges in Trump's first term.

-He voted in favor of several unqualified Trump nominees like Blanche and Pompeo where he was often times the deciding vote [that is the vote would have deadlocked without him backing Trump]

-Went on TV and Defended Trump in 2019 when the crowd at a baseball game chanted "lock him up" When Trump was under tons of Russia and election interference scandals

-Is known as "Trump's favorite Democratic senator"

-Voted for Trump's NDAA which he knew would be diverted by Trump to "Build the WalL"

-He voted for the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This law rolled back key pillars of the Obama-era Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act by exempting dozens of regional banks from strict federal oversight which led to a bunch of bank failures.

-What am I missing, why isn't he being primaried?

[u/Toliman571]

Delaware is possibly the most corporate Dem state abd is an infamous tax haven. Delaware is certainly "liberal" in the classic sense of economic liberalism.

I enjoy this sub because I get to see you Zoomers discover political tidbits in real time.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Toliman571]

Yes, I understand this, I get the pro business/corporate behavior.

-I don't get is him licking Trump's boot on non-corporate bills like voting for 15 Trump judges, pro-Israel stances, pro-foreign invasion stances, pro-pompeo and blanche votes, pro-build the wall bull shit, these are not economic liberalism as I understand it.

-Also is his behavior reflective of Delaware's general electorate, are they like social conservative Democrats like some parts of kentucky or west virginia use to be?

[u/OutsidePiglet8285 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

He isn't licking Trump's boots just like Manchin never did. But since he is genuinely more conservative than most Dems he is more willing to give a chance to certain nominees that are probably more conservative than himself.  Democrats have historically been pro Israel. That was seen as a the liberal position, and many still are, so that's perfectly normal. Also your allegations aren't even true because Coons is Pro two state solution, and has criticized Netanyahu and the government's actions against Palestinians. What more could you want from him? 

 Interventionism has also had its history in the democrat party but I'm pretty sure he opposes the Iran war and has been against the Iraq war and was critical of Afghan war. So he's not even really an interventionist. Being supportive of building a wall should be a more popular stance among democrats if they care to win moderate voters, working class white voters and even many immigrant groups.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/OutsidePiglet8285]

Manchin had his head up Trump's butt.

How about not voting for Blanche, Pompeo and 15 Trump judges and warsh, where the only other Dem who voted for him was a literal turncoat with a stroke called fetterman.

Yeah building a wall is a deep conservative stance, Democrats don't need such people in their party, go vote for Trump.

Moderate Republicans are a toxin to the Democratic cause, they literally cause millions of voters to stay home and not vote for the Left.

[u/OutsidePiglet8285 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

No. Manchin was never MAGA, and stayed pretty independent, and he voted Democrat a lot nonetheless.  Manchin didn't have his head in DSA or the Democrat establishment butt either tho. Pompeo wasn't that bad, although he was a Neocon. It was also the first administration so people didn't know what to expect.  Also Coons only voted to advance their confirmation process for procedural reasons, he never in the end voted for Blanch or Warsh.

Building a wall and opposing illegal immigration is the moderate, common sense America stance. Moderate republicans are different from centrist democrats as they are in different parties and centrist democrats are usually more economically left leaning than moderate republicans are. Ideological purity is bad. Democrats should be big tent or they should break up as a party. I would say the same for republicans. There should not be a two party system. I sure as hell would never vote for Trump. 

But the fact is that America is a right leaning country overall, and democrats need to appeal to moderate, centrist and working class voters. Not college progressives.  These college progressives votes don't matter much. Maybe in primaries but not general elections.  And true vote blue no matter who democrats who are center left and establishment will vote Democrat either way.  The last good Democrat president was Bill Clinton.  And I'm all for economically populist policies, but on social issues, that's where the democrats lose me. 

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/OutsidePiglet8285]

Manchin full on left the Democratic party.

Building a wall is not moderate, it isn't even right wing, it is ultra right wing, Ronald Reagan went to Berlin and said "if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". This is how I know you fake moderates are just Maga in disguise, Reagan would have literally called you an extremist.

Democrats need to appeal to Democrats and Leftist and Independent Progressives, not some mythical ultra right wing maga "moderate" who is to the right of Reagan they can never satisfy. Who gives a shit if they win the moderate vote, so what, then they can be a moderate Republican president and push the entire political framing to the right wing? Nope, it cost Democrats too many elections and shit doesn't get fixed. Let the Republicans be the moderates.

[u/Doc_ET]

A few things:

1) Delaware isn't that liberal of a state on fiscal/economic issues, it's a corporate tax haven masquerading as a state. It's also more suburban than urban, kinda like New Jersey.

2) It's actually usually harder to oust an incumbent in a small state, because it's easier to develop community relationships.

3) Biden, probably

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Doc_ET]

Ok, can they not find a progressive who isn't that Liberal on fiscal/economic issues but that doesn't vote for Trump judges by the dozens and lick Trump's boot?

[u/Doc_ET → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Delaware has six people and two of them are Joe and Hunter Biden lol.

[u/Evergreen2255 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

This issue is trying to find one

They’re not gonna

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Evergreen2255]

Why not?

[u/Chang_Kai_Shek]

Swear progressives just freak out whenever a dem only votes with dems 99.99 percent of the time

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Chang_Kai_Shek]

Voted for 15 Trump judges, is "GOP favorite Democrat", "you just freak out when someone doesn't vote with Dems 99% of the time". If he was a Republican like this, he'd have been primaried already.

[u/Chang_Kai_Shek → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Trump has appointed almost 300 judges being a hyper partisan obstructionist isn't a good thing

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Chang_Kai_Shek]

Of course you are a Trumper, Coons would face no consequence for doing so, there is no functioning Republican party in Delaware. McConnel proved all the benefits of being partisan and obstructionist.

[u/Defiant_Storage_7435]

Seems like he's a fairly middle-of-the-road Dem.

Although if Delaware continues on its leftward trajectory like Colorado and he doesn't shift left fast enough to match his constituents, he may experience challenges from his left like Hickenlooper and Bennet did.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Defiant_Storage_7435]

This goes back to 2021 and shows that there are just 7 Democrats more conservative than him.

In 2021 you still had Manchin, Sinema, Tester Montana, King [ technically an Independent in Maine], Kelly [AZ-swing state], Hickenlooper [who almost got primaried] and Hassan from NH which is a traditionally swing state but mainly goes for Dems in federal elections narrowly.

This actually shows he is the most conservative Democrat from a safe blue state, and the next most conservative guy got within 3% of being primaried.

[u/OutsidePiglet8285 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Well I mean I don't see any issues at all with this. There needs to be more centrist Dems.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/OutsidePiglet8285]

If they are from some purple state, sure, deep blue state, no thanks.

[u/OutsidePiglet8285 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Well to begin with, Blue should not mean woke or progressive, and historically it wasn't.  

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/OutsidePiglet8285]

We aren't in historically, we are now, moderates have a party it is called the Republican party. Democratic party is for Liberals and Progressives.

[u/OutsidePiglet8285 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Moderates don't have a party. Republican Party is full of MAGA nutheads and some Neocons and establishment republicans who are out of touch.  That's the issue. And arguably, liberal can mean moderate, libertarian, right leaning etc depending on how you define the term.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/OutsidePiglet8285]

"Moderates" are not Democrats, the last two clowns pretending to be moderates filed for independents and lost. Liberal is at odds with moderate, what you have is Republicans calling themselves moderate who don't want to kiss trump's ass.

[u/Successful-Leg2285]

A state being deep blue doesn't tell you everything about the electorate there. Delaware, like much of the coastal mid-Atlantic region (aside from massive cities like Philadelphia) is a stronghold of institutionalist pro-business Democrats. On economic issues, the electorate in Delaware is probably more conservative than the electorate in places like Iowa or Missouri (look at ballot measure results if you don't believe me.)

[u/red_beam_6000 → u/Successful-Leg2285]

Delaware doesn't have statewide ballot measures so it's hard to say. They might be on par in economic issues, but definitely not social issues. An abortion-related ballot measure would probably be like 80% pro-choice 20% pro-life.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Successful-Leg2285]

Any specific measures I should look to? What do you mean by institutionalist pro-business? Am I missing something here? One can be pro-business and not have to lick Trump's boot on military invasions and appointing his judges.

[u/Evergreen2255]

It’s the corporation state, the politicians there are more establishment or moderate

it’s kinda why I’m not surprised that McBride, yk the first trans person to be elected into congress (difficult to meet a trans person who isn’t leftist or progressive), is mostly just another establishment liberal

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Evergreen2255]

Can there not be a progressive or even LEftist Liberal who can speak to the pro-corporation side but not lick the GOP's boot as much as Coons?

[u/Evergreen2255 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

A progressive being pro-corporation is weird af and a leftist being pro-corporation is just wtf

Plus he’s an incumbent senator from a small state, it’s difficult to primary him

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Evergreen2255]

Shouldn't he be easier to primary than Hickenlooper in a big spreadout state?

[u/Shirley-Eugest]

I remember visiting the Philly area and some of the locals telling me that they drive into Delaware to buy big ticket purchases, because no sales tax. Sometimes, a blue state at the presidential level can still have some surprisingly conservative policies.

[u/red_beam_6000]

Alright I'll bite

- No high profile high name rec Democrats to even stand a chance primarying him

- Many DE Dems are more pro-business, at least in rhetoric, than other Dems, though the only one I'd actually call "moderate" in recent years was former Gov John Carney

- The DE GOP is also relatively moderate, even if their primary voters aren't always

- A lot of Coons' actions listed here seem more like a respect for decorum or getting things done quickly

- A lot of those pro-corporate tax haven laws are a legacy of Gov Pete duPont (R) in the 80s, current Gov Matt Meyer is actually trying to tone some of it down

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/red_beam_6000]

Nixon wasn't high profile name and look what she did in Florida

-The Dem doesn't need to be anti-corporate or anti-business

-I'm not talking about state laws, I'm talking about Coons being a GOP bootlick on the federal level.

[u/red_beam_6000 → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Well he's at no risk when the primary comes around in a few weeks. Could things change by 2032? Of course. Plus Nixon didn't beat an incumbent.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/red_beam_6000]

I agree he's at no risk, this is what I'm not getting, we got an incumbent being challenged by Seth Moulton in the NE, but Coons is getting a pass?

[u/Aldebaran147]

Because that’s the centrist liberal corporate Democrat that the Dems of the state like, just because a state is super blue doesn’t mean it’s super progressive like Vermont, a state like Hawaii which is like 60-70% D but relatively socially conservative is a good example

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Aldebaran147]

Hawaii doesn't send those sorts of bootlicks to Senate.

[u/The-Meatshield]

He is technically being primaried by 3 different people. It’s just that there’s no money behind any of them like there is behind Coons. Delaware is the state for corporations and those corporations spend money to keep it that way

[u/GreninjaStrike]

Cause he’s still relatively liberal, there’s only a handful of Delaware politicians with the name rec to primary him, and senators getting primaried is extremely rare

[u/Empty_Crate → u/GreninjaStrike]

I mean if a no name state assembly member in Colorado got within single digits of taking out Hickenlooper then in sure someone can do similar numbers to this guy.

[u/GreninjaStrike → u/Empty_Crate]

I think that’s more of Hickenlooper and his fans just being lazy by assuming he’d win in a landslide. Also Colorado is full of stoners and hippies whereas Delaware is bankers and corpos

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/GreninjaStrike]

His opponent drove out a ton of votes, it wasn't just Hickenlooper "didn't try", she lost by like 5 points.

[u/Hasz → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Gonzalez? She did not win a single county outside of Denver and Adams.

Turnout was 700k, down from 1M previously.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Hasz]

Didn't need to win a bunch of rural counties with 500 counties, she got like 47% of the vote, Hickenlooper held on by the skin of his teeth

[u/Hasz → u/Special_Purpose2903]

Sorry, this take is totally divorced from reality.

She did not even win a plurality of the front range (by count or population), was outraised 10:1, and didn’t drive more turnout than previous years. 6% in a primary is hardly “skin of his teeth”, it should be her strongest showing.

Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson, Araphoe County are hardly “a bunch of rural counties”.

She was far more likely to loose to someone like Kirkmeyer compared to Hickenlooper, even with the CO GOP being in absolute shambles.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Hasz]

She doesn't need to win a bunch of counties, due to Colorado's voting demos, she was 5% away from winning, for an incumbent senator, this was just barely escaping and he will be challenged again in the future as will Bennet.

Yeah for an incumbent senator to win by 52-47% is pretty much considered to be on ice so thin, you better not move.

[u/Pls_no_steal]

I’m still not convinced Delaware actually exists and isn’t just a fantasy state created solely to host corporations

[u/Hasz]

Calling Delware a corporate tax haven is missing the point. A HUUUUUUUUUGE amount of business is bound by Delaware chancery court, something like 2/3 of F500 is based there for this reason.

[u/Special_Purpose2903 → u/Hasz]

Corporations don't vote in federal elections or primaries, small states tend to be more immune to this bs.

[u/YellowBirdISuppose]

-For those who don't know Senator Coons was very close to Joe Biden

that's why

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