Democrats’ focus on potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government has been a “distraction” for the party, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Wednesday.
“When I am back in Connecticut, I often get on a commuter bus and ride it for just an hour to talk to folks that, frankly, don’t normally call or write my office, and I’ll just say, they are never talking about issues like Russia. They are not talking, frankly, what’s on cable news at night,” Murphy said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Murphy and the “Morning Joe” panel were discussing Tuesday’s special election in Georgia’s 6th district in which Democrat Jon Ossoff lost to Republican Karen Handel.
Democrats had high hopes for the race, and spent heavily on the contest. The party’s loss makes them 0 for 4 in special elections held to replace Trump administration appointees.
“The fact that we have spent so much time talking about Russia has been a distraction from what should be the clear contrast between Democrats and the Trump agenda, which is on economics,” Murphy said Wednesday.
He said that Democrats would have more election success if they focused on the differences in the economic agendas of the Trump administration and the Democratic party.
He said that voters he talks to are “talking about the same things, wages, they’re talking about education, they’re talking about public safety.”
“So I think Democrats have to be hyper focused on an economic contrast and I think this president is handing it to us, using this administration and presidency to enrich himself and his millionaire friends,” he added.
“We’ve got to be focused on an economic agenda for everybody else.”
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