Atlantic staff writer Jacob Stern lampooned Democrats Beto O’Rourke and Stacey Abrams Tuesday for becoming famous by losing elections, coining the term "superstar losers" to describe them.
Stern observed that O’Rourke and Abrams are "among the country’s best-known political figures, better known than almost any sitting governor or U.S. senator" yet they "have become so well known not by winning big elections but by losing them."
The Atlantic writer described both Democrats as part of a trend he coined the "superstar loser" phenomenon in politics.
"After serving 10 years in the Georgia House of Representatives, Abrams rose to prominence in 2018, when she ran unsuccessfully for the governorship. O’Rourke served three terms as a Texas congressman before running unsuccessfully for the Senate, then the presidency," he recounted. "And they are both running again this year, Abrams for governor of Georgia, O’Rourke for governor of Texas. They are perhaps the two greatest exponents of a peculiar phenomenon in American politics: that of the superstar loser."
Part of the phenomenon’s prominence, he suggested, comes from the fact that social media allows people to remain powerful public figures after they have lost their elections. "Even when the campaign ends, no one can stop you from posting," he noted.
He also observed that losing to a disliked member of the opposing political party can still be a credential in its own right.
"Whether because they outperform expectations or because of what they’re up against, these candidates and their supporters are then able to frame the losses as moral victories. Sometimes, as for Abrams supporters, that means framing a defeat as the outcome of an unjust system," he wrote. "Other times, as for O’Rourke supporters, that means framing an unexpectedly good performance in an unfavorable state as a sign of things to come."
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Stern added, "This, perhaps, is one reason superstar loserdom has so far skewed Democratic, political scientists told me: Democrats desperately want to take advantage of some red states that have been trending purple. Or perhaps the disparity is a product of our post-Trumpian moment. Or perhaps something else entirely."
In the current year, he said that one Republican candidate who seemed like a fitting equivalent to O’Rourke and Abrams actually has a better chance of winning.
"This election could produce Republicans’ answer to Abrams and O’Rourke. But John James, the Michigan conservative who has made two failed bids for the Senate and was the one contemporary Republican superstar loser political scientists mentioned to me, seems poised to win his congressional race this year," he wrote.
There is a consolation prize of sorts for so-called superstar losers, he noted.
"Politically speaking, they don’t survive long enough to let anyone down," Stern wrote.
