Former CNN host and political analyst John Avlon is running for Congress. He announced his candidacy for New York's 1st congressional district.
He's running as a Democrat - did you have any doubts? - and it's all about saving democracy because of Trump. Are you a MAGA minion? He's coming for you.
It's official: I'm running for Congress in #NY01 because there's too much at stake for the country & community I love. Long Island families deserve someone who fights for their values, not Trump's. It's time for us all to get off the sidelines. Join Me. https://t.co/fMu8RdLyBL pic.twitter.com/RHWAam8yif
— John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) February 21, 2024
How lame. Sorry. Not sorry. That announcement was focus-grouped to death, or so it sounds. Either way, that's not good. He says he wants to build a broad coalition to defeat Trump yet he is running for a seat in the House and not exactly off to a great start with that video.
He's entering a crowded field of Democrat candidates. The district covers Suffolk County. Republican Rep. Nick LaLota currently represents the district. LaLota endorsed Trump in the presidential race.
In a statement Wednesday, the House GOP's campaign arm said Avlon's decision to run "adds even more leftist fuel to an already crowded dumpster fire of a Democrat primary."
"We look forward to litigating this smug, liberal hack's past," said National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Savannah Viar.
LaLota's campaign echoed the NRCC, calling Avlon "a Manhattan elitist without any attachments to Long Island other than his summer home in the Hamptons."
He doesn't sound as though he has anything specific to offer voters. Avlon's announcement used a standard Democrat script. Trump bad. MAGA voters are deplorable. Save democracy, though no one ever says how exactly they do that. He said, “I believe the United States is the greatest democracy the world has ever known, but right now, our democracy is in danger."
How is democracy in danger? I'd like a Democrat candidate to answer that question instead of leaving a DNC talking point hanging. Is democracy in danger if voters vote? There is no COVID-19 pandemic anymore as there was in 2020 when Democrats took advantage and made up election rules as they went. That certainly happened in my city of Houston.
Is democracy in danger if Trump is elected instead of Biden? Maybe he believes that Trump would establish himself as a dictator for life. Trump didn't do that in his first term. That kind of fear sounds more like Biden, a man in the throes of dementia who refuses to retire. Biden is grasping at the power and control though he is clearly not up to the job. I think Biden's loss of mental acuity and physical feebleness while the leader of the free world makes him far more dangerous. YMMV.
None of the bad things that Democrats are trying to scare voters with this cycle happened during Trump's first term. Trump has a record. Voters remember back to his term in office and think about how their lives have changed. In the Trump years, pre-COVID-19 pandemic, he was poised for an easy re-election, despite four years of Democrats throwing everything they could at him, including 2 impeachments.
What does Avlon want to scare voters with - a booming economy, no inflation, the lowest unemployment rates in decades, all demographics did well, including black Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and women? The border was secured. No new wars were started. Joe Biden came into office and the world was set on fire. Putin was emboldened, Hamas was emboldened, and China is saber-rattling over Taiwan. The exit from Afghanistan was a disaster that took the lives of 13 service members and handed the country back to the Taliban. Biden overruled his experts and military personnel to do it his way. Thanks, Joe. Biden will never be forgiven for that.
He left CNN earlier this month. The New York primary is June 25.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member