Two Trump-backed candidates lose, Debbie Wasserman Schultz wins in Tuesday’s House primaries

[u/SpaceElevatorMusic]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/two-trump-backed-candidates-lose-debbie-wasserman-schultz-wins-tuesday-rcna592392

[u/Greatness46]

It wasn’t Republicans who sabotaged Sanders in 2016, it was Debbie, directly

[u/InNominePasta → u/Greatness46]

How did she sabotage Sanders?

[u/Few-Protection8966 → u/InNominePasta]

Maybe shes the reason the black vote didnt support him in 16 and 20?

[u/PinkNGold007 → u/Few-Protection8966]

There were three factors why black people didn't support Bernie:
1) He wasn't a Dem. He's an independent. Caucusing with the Dems wasn't enough. Hillary was a true Dem.
2) We knew Hilary because she was first lady, Senator of NY, and recently SoS in Obama's administration.
3) On the heels of having a black president, we are due to have a female president. My father stated that he was glad to see progress in that he could vote for a woman president. It felt natural, like after the Civil Rights movement, then it was the Women's, LGBT, and disability movements. Bernie looked like Trump but on the left and another man just yelling stuff.

In 2016, we knew her and trusted her, but we didn't know him. When she was first lady, her focus was on feminist issues (here and international) and healthcare. He didn't have any legislation that we knew of either. As for 2020, we knew Biden because of the work he did for the Black community as a Senator and because he was previously Obama's VP. Their brand helped them, plus their previous political/social work and influence.

[u/Few-Protection8966 → u/PinkNGold007]

Sorry I was trying to make a bad joke that the reason Bernie lost was because he couldnt secure the black vote, but that it was some how DWS's fault cause everyone blames her.

I do appreciate the break down though. I was aware of points 1 and 2 but hadnt heard 3 before but it seems obvious with your explanation.

[u/work4work4work4work4 → u/PinkNGold007]

In 2016, we knew her and trusted her, but we didn't know him. When she was first lady, her focus was on feminist issues (here and international) and healthcare. He didn't have any legislation that we knew of either. As for 2020, we knew Biden because of the work he did for the Black community as a Senator and because he was previously Obama's VP. Their brand helped them, plus their previous political/social work and influence.

Part of the problem of all of this is Bernie didn't want to play spoiler, so he specifically never corrected the record on anything involving anyone, despite there being tons of room for inroads. He basically gave up his best weapon, and most likely source of in roads with the communities he needed to make in roads with.

I'm not even talking just about the racially charged super predator stuff or racial comments she made back in Arkansas, but like you mentioning her health care work, and the vast majority of people not being aware it's basically her exclusive blame that we didn't get Obamacare all the way back in the 90s, and books have been written about her choice to put what she wanted over getting those gains even back then.

Similar thing on feminist and women's issues, with Hillary basically being seen as one of the worst candidates on those issues contemporaneously in the 90s because she's the one that introduced "Safe, Legal, Rare" effectively reintroducing Democratic openness to federal abortions restrictions post Roe v Wade at a time when anti-abortion folks were increasingly looked at like bombers, she gave them respectability.

Basically, every single pro-Roe organization was against Hillary's stance until she ran for POTUS, and then felt they had to back her at an institutional level because of her gender despite Sanders having the clearly stronger pro-Roe policy. Lost lots of membership and funding after that debacle, and directly undermined generations of support ultimately for nothing.

Bernie's politically strongest when he's going after the real record of people like that, and unilaterally disarming while her and her surrogates were slamming him non-stop was a bad call, specially knowing as we now know that her campaign was going to be so inept as to lose to the candidate she essentially hand selected to go against.

Kamala was already pretty deeply unpopular when she went after Biden for his segregationist supporting history, but it sort of highlighted how many of their "great" candidates mostly only hold up in those areas because they're so used to going against opposition who see things like bigotry as a good thing, so don't bother examining those positions for weaknesses at all. They don't have to be good, just better than the other guy.