Thread by @JakeReif

For folks who think this ad is going to be effective here... it won’t.

We’ve had so many of these, and this is the least compelling one yet.

Of course the ad was coming, but the answer was the right one, and I maintain that.

https://twitter.com/perduesenate/status/1333787968176234497

I know this might be an unpopular opinion among my followers, but dragging Ossoff for this is unhelpful and extremely frustrating.

No, the fact that this ad was created does not prove your point.

We know it was. This ad is *weak.*

Stop knifing our own candidates.

Ossoff gave the exact right answer, which is why the worst they have of him in this ad is the same “I welcome his support” played twice, with nothing else connecting him to Bernie.

If you think it’s effective, it’s because it reinforces your priors.

I need y’all to please understand that while “defund the police” and AOC have caused damage (and maybe even Bernie too, tho I think there’s less evidence of that), Ossoff would have looked weak and ineffectual had he said anything other than this.

Jon Ossoff is not going to win a single vote by saying he does not want Bernie’s support.

He’s not actually going to lose any votes for saying he welcomes the support, either.

What *would* have hurt him is to undermine his *own message* of inclusivity and coalition building.

I’ll repeat this as many times as it needs to be said: you do not win Georgia by being a “moderate”.

You win by being a pragmatic progressive, which means working with *everyone* who’s willing to work with you on *areas of common agreement.*

Ossoff AND Warnock are running on a positive message that would be ripped apart by introducing unnecessary division.

None of their voters are looking for them to do what may be popular here on twitter.

They both constantly speak about the need to *end* division.

Maybe you don’t like the idea of bipartisanship or reaching across the aisle. I don’t either. The GOP is a death cult.

Neither of our candidates are running on bipartisanship.

What they ARE running on is welcoming a big tent, which, yes, includes Bernie Sanders Democrats.

I know I’m facing an uphill battle arguing this on twitter.

We’ve seen the worst of Bernie’s supporters here.

I don’t expect any of y’all to make friends with them.

But I hope you can put that aside for a moment and consider we’re trying to win a race here.

And I also hope y’all can trust me that the way to do that is to keep the coalition fully intact, period.

It’s not just about those voters, it’s about what *all* of our voters here want, and that’s an end to this toxic politics.

Stay as cynical as you like, but trust.