Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) said in an interview Sunday that calling for defunding the police and a ban on fracking led to Democrats losing seats.
Lamb, who just narrowly beat Republican Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, told the New York Times that Democrats pushing for defunding the police and fracking led to Democrats losing seats in the House.
Lamb said:
I’m giving you an honest account of what I’m hearing from my own constituents, which is that they are extremely frustrated by the message of defunding the police and banning fracking. And I, as a Democrat, am just as frustrated. Because those things aren’t just unpopular, they’re completely unrealistic, and they aren’t going to happen. And they amount to false promises by the people that call for them.
Lamb added that the “rhetoric and the policies” have “gone way too far.”
“It needs to be dialed back. It needs to be rooted in common sense, in reality, and yes, politics. Because we need districts like mine to stay in the majority and get something done for the people that we care about the most,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said.
Lamb also criticized the “Squad” or progressive Democrats, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), for pushing unrealistic policies.
“But the fact is that they and others are advocating policies that are unworkable and extremely unpopular,” Lamb said.
Lamb’s interview with the New York Times follows as Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who also represents a swing district, charged last week that Democrats should never say “defund the police” or use the word “socialism.”
“We need not ever to use the words socialist or socialism ever again. It does matter, and we have lost good members because of that,” she said during a press conference call with House Democrats.
She warned that if they repeat these leftist tactics, “We will get f— torn apart.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.