disha wrote:. At the same time the progressives are also most apathetic coming from the millenial generation. They will not get their butt out of the sofa unless they get some free doodah to croak on instagram about.
I think that perspective is outdated. According to Pew Research, Millennial turnout nearly doubled from 23% in 2016 election to 42% in 2018 election. And 2018 was only a mid-term election, typically associated with much lower turnout!
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2 ... -midterms/
Let's also remember that Millennials are actually those born between 1982-2000. Meaning ages 20 to 38 next year-- that includes a huge number of people with jobs, homes, marriages, kids, debt, insurance etc. who can and do vote on bread-butter issues. The great majority are not self-indulgent Instagram ke bacchey anymore.
Altogether I think it promises a much higher turnout of that age group in 2020 (whether they end up voting right or left is an open question, but they have swung way left so far).
There are couple of points that is being missed. One is that the natural apathy of desis towards the republicans is gradually withering. In tight races, it matters.
I don't think it matters nearly enough. Even on a politically aware forum like BRF you have many Indo-Ams who oppose Republicans, especially in the Trump era. If you take even a casual poll of Indo-Ams in the wider world, the norm is still very much to vote for Democrats. It is possible that Howdy Modi and the aftermath of these Khanna/Jayapal high-jinks will catch up and make some small difference to this by 2020, but I doubt very strongly that it will be significant (maybe 3 or 4% swing to Republicans, 2020 over 2016, at the very very most). And I don't think the distribution of those votes, geographically, is likely to affect any tight races (certainly not in California-- where, as I said, the FOIL-FOSA coalition of Khalisturds, Crypto-Ambedkarites etc. will make up for any such swing).
Another point is that Mike Honda was unseated. That can be exploited. The same crowd that was resisting Ro for Mike still resist Ro. That district has significant other Asian (Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese) and Latino population. They just need a common candidate. And if there is a latino candidate, expect all the progressives to abandon support for Ro. Point is, Ro can be made to sweat and can be made to lose.
That is, identity politics can be played both ways.
This is the best hope for unseating Ro Khanna... don't just abandon him, but work with non-Desi Dem challengers & constituents to sink him in the primaries. By the time the general comes around (if indeed, Mr. Tandon manages to win the Republican primary for that seat) it will be too late.