Liberals tone down calls to ‘defund police’ amid GOP attacks
| Progressives are toning it down on police reform as a growing stack of evidence suggests it is hurting the party with voters.
While a number of liberal Democrats remain opposed to virtually any expansion in law enforcement funding, gone are the days when progressive lawmakers were calling openly for “defunding the police” — a message that Republicans used to devastating effect in clobbering House Democrats at the polls in 2020. “Everybody knows it’s a bad idea,” said one moderate Democratic lawmaker who’s noticed the softer tone this year. “People like having police keeping them safe. And I think we had to do a better job of demanding reform, but supporting the police. And we only sang one song” in 2020. |
