RNC dream scenario: Democrats hire Audie Cornish as their campaign consultant—and heed her advice.
Because on today's CNN This Morning, which she hosts, Cornish claimed that Democrats can win in places like Tennessee by running to the left of Zohran Mamdani, the radical socialist mayor-elect of NYC!
Discussing the results of yesterday's special congressional election in Tennessee's 7th district, won by Republican Matt Van Epps, Group Chat member Jerusalem Demsas said:
"The problem with [Dem candidate] Behn is that she was running to the left of Zohran Mamdani. That's not a way to win in Tennessee."
Incredibly, Cornish responded:
"Can I challenge that? You had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez go down, right? Like, throw their support. So there is a path, because they're drawing crowds everywhere. And I think Behn and others think that that's the kind of path that they can use in their races."
Even Never Trumper Charlie Dent had to acknowledge that Cornish's suggestion was, to be kind, off-target:
"In a plus-22 Republican district, plus-22 Trump district, Behn needed to win some Trump voters. Bringing AOC down to middle Tennessee is not the way to do it. Not the way to do it. It makes no sense."
But by all means, Dems: make AOC the face of your party in deep red districts. For that matter, bring in Ilhan Omar to express her disdain for America. And why not import Mamdani himself to describe his plan to seize private property!
Note: Despite having dumped big bucks into the race, even before the polls closed yesterday the Democrats were clearly seeing the writing on the wall. I received a fundraising email from Kamala Harris early in the day that contained this dread line: "If we come up short, we must not lose hope." As I posted at X, "Those internal polls must be BRUTAL!"
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
12/3/25
6:13 am ETAUDIE CORNISH: Republicans breathing a sigh of relief this morning after a Tennessee special election. CNN projects Matt Van Epps will be the next Congress member representing the state's 7th district. He managed to fend off a strong challenge from Democrat Aftyn Behn by 9 percentage points. But that's a lot closer than the 22-point margin victory that President Trump had won by just over a year ago in an overwhelmingly Republican district.
MATT VAN EPPS: I've heard your stories, and I will be your fighter. As we look forward, I say this to my friends in the liberal media and to the professional panickers in my own party. Tonight we showed running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win.
CORNISH: So Van Epps is a former Army helicopter pilot and Tennessee state official. His victory means Republicans will hold on to their narrow House majority, as two additional seats also remain open. The group chat is back. So even though this is a kind of a dog-bites-man story, right, like this Republican won a Republican district, people have been looking at it because they thought that something different might happen. That different thing did not happen.
Jerusalem, why do you think that is? Because Aftyn Behn did overperform, so to speak, compared to past Democrats.
JERUSALEM DEMSAS: Yeah, I mean, every Democrat is going to overperform in this environment, because there's massive backlash, thermostatic backlash that's happening right now against the Republican brand, as the economy's not doing well, inflation still remains a concern for families, and the immigration raids are creating chaos in communities that people were not wanting. They wanted Trump to end immigration chaos. They didn't want a new form of immigration chaos.
And so, every Democrat's going to overperform. The question is, can you overperform enough to actually win in these really difficult districts? The problem with Behn is that she was running to the left of Zohran Mamdani. That's not a way to win in Tennessee.
And to me, it's not that I think she definitely could have won if she took on certain positions. But you can close that margin. You can make some persuasion gains with Republicans.
CORNISH: But can I challenge that? You had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez go down, right? Like throw their support. So there is a path, because they're drawing crowds everywhere. And I think Behn and others think that that's the kind of path that they can use in their races.
DEMSAS: But mobilizing the people who are already going to vote for you is not how you win a persuasion battle.
CHARLIE DENT: In a plus-22 Republican district, plus-22 Trump district, Behn needed to win some Trump voters. Bringing AOC down to middle Tennessee is not the way to do it. Not the way to do it. It makes no sense.
