Dem Rep Dingell: ‘Very Concerned’ Identity Politics Has Hijacked the Democratic Party

On Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live,” Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) expressed her concern that the Democratic Party has been hijacked by identity politics.

said, “[W]e’ve become this identity politics. We’re the women’s caucus, the black caucus, the Hispanic caucus. We’ve lost sense of we, that our strength comes in community, and that community of all of us. And sometimes I don’t feel like I belong in any of the little different caucuses, but I am a proud Democrat who was sent here to represent the working men and women of my district, and that’s what I’m supposed to be a voice for.”

Later in the interview, anchor Craig Melvin told Dingell, “It sounds like you think that identity politics have sort of hijacked the party. That’s what I’m hearing.”

Dingell responded, “I am very concerned that that is what’s happening, and that we are forgetting that our strength comes in being we, all of us coming together. And if we don’t figure out how we become we again, we’re going to keep losing. So, I think it’s important that we need to understand each of these groups has issues. Look, I’m a woman. I’ve been discriminated against. I could tell you story after story, like when I started at gm and I got asked, ‘Why would a woman want to work at GM?’ But I know my power comes — or my strength is being part of a broader community, where we all pull together and fight for an issue.”

(h/t Grabien)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett