Ben Jealous, Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial race in Maryland, was asked by a Washington Post reporter whether he identified with the term “socialist” that was given to him by conservatives. His response? “Are you f**king kidding me?”
Jealous was asked at a press conference whether he accepted the term “socialist” that incumbent Governor Larry Hogan labeled him as. Jealous said that conservatives only start calling people names when they are scared.
“When you see conservatives like Hogan name-calling, you realize that they’re scared,” he said. “What I am is a venture capitalist, and what I do is invest in growing businesses.”
After a lengthy response that didn’t really answer the reporter’s question, Washington Post reporter Erin Cox asked again if he accepted the term to which he responded, “Are you f**king kidding me?”
It appears that several Democratic public figures are trying to steer away from the term “socialist” that has been rising in popularity since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential run in the primaries for the 2016 election.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed claims that the win of self-described “Democratic Socialist” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th congressional district signaled a new era in the Democratic party.
"They made a choice in one district. So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that," said Pelosi in a news conference earlier this year.
Despite Ocasio-Cortez’s win against an incumbent and fourth-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, not all candidates with similar platforms have succeeded like she has in democratic primaries. Three out of the five candidates she backed in primaries across the country lost their nominations according to the Daily Caller.