This is correct. But it's not (necessarily) bucking your party by doing something bipartisan or centrist. In the 2020s, it's by being anti-establishment, an outsider, a populist.
You can do it by endorsing the R position on a policy. Or you could do it by banning stock trading in Congress.
One thing you will *have* do is, in a maximally attention-grabbing way, distinguish yourself from your electorate’s perception of a “generic democrat.” McCain was extremely smart about picking one or two Big Issues where he waged holy war on his own party and something along those lines might work.
Endorsing the other party's position on an issue may make you, a candidate, do better, but it costs your party collectively by damaging its brand relative to the other party's.
Better to do something *outside the partisan dimension*
May 14, 2025 01:44
