MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough on Monday blamed the “failings of the Democratic Party” for the election outcomes in New York and Florida during the midterms.
The anchor said on “Morning Joe” the Democratic Party lost in districts a Democratic candidate could have won, particularly in New York, where Republican New York Rep. George Santos won his election against Democrat Robert Zimmerman in the state’s third district.
“You look at New York, you look at Florida, the failings of the Democratic Party in both of those states [were] monumental, and my God, they allowed George Santos to win,” Scarborough said. “If they handled New York correctly, [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries would be Speaker of the House. If they had actually organized in Florida, Democrats would have picked up one or two House seats in Florida. You are so right, the entire political world would look differently if they had just organized … in New York and Florida.”
Lauren Leader, CEO of the non-profit organization All In Together, said Democrats narrowly lost their races in New York and Florida due to “political malpractice.” She criticized the Democratic Party in New York for lacking the resources needed to properly compete for the majority. (RELATED: Scarborough Says He’d Be ‘Very Surprised’ If Republicans Don’t Sweep The Midterms)
“You think of places like New York, which is a blue, blue state: The infrastructure for Democrats in the state of New York is a mess,” Leader said. “It’s a very weak state party. The Long Island Democrats have no infrastructure, so, you look at the map for [20]24 and you see how close Democrats were and you see the extent to which even that five-seat or four-seat majority Republicans have is giving them a chance to completely own the national narrative.”
New York faced another major Democratic loss after Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney conceded to his Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Lawler. The 17th district had been newly redrawn prior to the election, handing the incumbent Democrat a disadvantage.
She then pointed to Democratic candidate Adam Frisch’s race against Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert. The representative defeated Frisch by 551 votes after a weeks-long recount. Leader blamed Frisch’s loss on the far-left Democrats’ alleged refusal to turn up at the ballot box for what they see as moderate candidates.
“Democrats need to do the work to make sure the left flank of the party turns out and supports candidates that may not be as left-leaning as they’d like them to be,” she continued.
“They don’t turn out because [Frisch is] not progressive enough, so Lauren Boebert wins? Really?” Scarborough added.
Santos, who won with 53.8%-46.2% of the vote, has faced scrutiny for telling several lies throughout the campaign trail, some of which included fibbing about his Jewish heritage and his previous employment at Goldman Sachs. New York state Attorney General Letitia James and prosecutors at the local and federal level launched an investigation into Santos and are prepared to prosecute the freshman congressman if criminal activity is uncovered.
Republicans witnessed historic victories in Florida ranging from the gubernatorial to district level. Republican incumbent Reps. Ashley Moody, Wilton Simpson and Jimmy Patronis all won reelection and several Republicans picked up House seats and positions in the state legislature.