Blue Dog Democrat Rebecca Cooke, a Wisconsin congressional candidate, discussed in an interview Thursday how she is trying to set things right after she accused her party of abandoning rural and working-class voters in recent years.She appeared on the "Politics War Room" podcast with co-hosts James Carville and Al Hunt, known for calling out the far left of the Democratic Party."I don’t wanna put you in a box, but you say you’re a Blue Dog and a New Democrat, tell me what it means to be a Blue Dog Democrat," Hunt asked. "They are folks that are fiscally conservative, socially liberal, are really working from, like, a place-based perspective," Cooke said."They're people that understand rural Democrats, working-class Democrats, that are showing up in rural communities and working-class spaces that historically our party has left behind.
And that's like I think why I was connected with them originally or why I — you know what they were doing resonated with me so much."JAMES CARVILLE PREDICTS 2028 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY WILL TEST TRUE STRENGTH OF PARTY'S SOCIALIST WINGRebecca Cooke talked about her working-class origins and her work as a waitress, suggesting that doing such jobs gives people like her more of a connection with Americans' real kitchen table issues than many other politicians.(Kayla Wolf/Getty Images)She cited multiple examples of other moderate Democrats who "understand how to talk to people in rural America where I feel like a lot of folks in the Democratic Party don't anymore, and I certainly do.""I think we've built strong coalitions across this district with farmers, you know, healthcare workers, people in rural communities that feel really left behind," Cooke added.Hunt cited her past comments, "You've said that in Congress, Republicans are too right-wing and congressional Democrats are too left-wing.
Specifically, how has Hakeem Jeffries [been] too left-wing?""I'm talking just, I think, in general when I talk — I did an ad last cycle where I ...