Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb said his party has “moved way far to the left” and is “not my Democratic Party in and of itself” in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
The former Virginia senator and Navy secretary, who recently declared his presidential bid, was asked who his base is in a party that is excited by liberals like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Related: Jim Webb tests the limits of a maverick’s appeal
“I believe we can bring a different tone to the Democratic party,” Webb told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “You’re right, the party has moved way far to the left. That’s not my Democratic Party in and of itself. We need to bring working people back into the formula.”
Webb pointed to poor whites in the Appalachia section of Southwestern Virginia who lack medical care and said, “These are people who have been forgotten by both parties and I think they need a voice.” Sanders’ surge is driven largely by college-educated whites, who were also the core support base for Warren.
The candidate, who recently caught some flack for seeming to defend Confederate flag, compared liberals’ views of Southern white culture to Donald Trump’s controversial views of Mexican immigrants, which Webb condemned.
“This kind of divisive, inflammatory rhetoric, by people who want to be commander-in-chief is not helpful. And we have seen from the liberal side as well this kind of rhetoric as it goes to Southern white cultures,” Webb said.
He called for moving beyond the conversation on the flag to more substantive issues like jobs and racial reconciliation.
Webb served one term in the Senate from Virginia and announced in November in interest in launching a longshot bid for the Democratic nomination against frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Webb is a complex maverick in his party whose ideas don’t fit neatly inside any box. He’s to left of some leaders in his party on national security but to the right of them on social issues, while at the same time preaching a populist economic message.
Alex Seitz-Wald