Trump Did Not Win, the Democrats Lost

WASHINGTON D.C. — Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party decisively lost Tuesday’s election, thanks in large part to the party’s extreme abortion position, which alienated would-be Clinton voters. “The election of Donald Trump and the weakness shown in the coalition of Democratic voters should surprise no one,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America. “We cautioned in our DNC Report – Make Room for Pro-Life Democrats & Achieve Party Goals Nationwide – that the party is slowly dying and on the way to being irrelevant if it does not start a dialogue with its pro-life members.” For years, Democrats have been eroding their base of pro-life voters as abortion opponents flee to the Independent category and Republican Party. Democrats for Life of America staff have done an analysis that shows a close correlation between loss of pro-life Democratic seats and the overall decline of Democrats in Congress. The recent election reflects the party’s shift to wholesale support for the abortion industry. Standing on a severe party platform on abortion, Hillary Clinton lost soft Republicans, anti-abortion Independents, and millions of pro-life voters in her own party. She lost key states, long part of the Democrats’ Blue Wall, such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. “One of the reasons she lost these groups is that she championed an extremist abortion platform, one that embraces so-called later-term abortion and rejects bipartisan efforts such as the Hyde Amendment,” Day said. “Clinton promised that if elected, she would nominate pro-abortion justices to the Supreme Court.” The consequences are dire. Americans throughout the country rejected the Democratic allegiance to abortion-on-demand throughout pregnancy, giving Trump Republican majorities in the House and Senate and in governors’ mansions and state legislatures. “Americans want to see wages rise, and they want to see more people protected with health insurance, and they want to protect the environment, but they absolutely do not support abortion-on-demand,” Day said. DFLA is calling again on the Democratic Party to give a voice to one-third of its membership who identify as pro-life. This means it must #openthebigtent to Americans who feel politically homeless after this divisive campaign. “Candidates matter,” Day said. “And if the Democratic Party continues to run radically pro-choice candidates, we will never win a majority of seats in the Senate or the House, and we may not win the White House for a long time.” The Democratic Party can win when it take steps to embrace a Culture of Life and to truly support women and children in America. The election of Democrat John Bel Edwards in deeply Republican Louisiana shows that pro-life Democrats can succeed. Pro-life Democrat Foster Campbell now has a chance to win the Louisiana Senate seat in the December run-off election against Republican John Kennedy. The party needs to support candidates like Foster, Day said. “We will work tirelessly to support future candidates in the Democratic Party who can appeal to voters who acknowledge and understand the humanity of the unborn person and who believe that late-term abortion is wrong. The Democratic Party is going to be the party of coastal, urban elites if it does not change course and respect the social conscience of pro-life voters.”