I don't know if running a farther-left candidate would work in the South. The South's been trained to believe all kinds of crazy things about "liberals" so, as far as the South goes, something more moderate would probably fly better. Other regions, maybe go farther-left. The South... I don't think it'd get good results. I know a lot of people who were willing to vote for Hillary but (stupidly) would not have voted for Bernie because he scared 'em. Me, I preferred Hillary but would have voted for whatever would've beaten the Republican. It's not that I love Democrats as much as I hate Republicans -- they're held my state back long enough.
Losing sucks, but, knowing the tribalism here, and people's stubborn propensity for voting against their own interests, it doesn't surprise me too much that a Democrat didn't win. O' course, I hoped it'd turn out different, but that'd have been a happy surprise.
A few good signs:
1. Ossoff was a young, inexperienced candidate not even from the district, and he still got close... in
Georgia. Freakin'
Georgia. This means there are a lot more Democrats in "red states" than people suspect, and they're enthusiastic. So, we should stop just ceding
any state to the Republicans. We should make them fight for every state. Yeah, we'll still lose for a while, but if we show we're putting up a fight, more people get enthusiastic about joining the battle. It's too easy for Democrats in the South to just give up. We kill that complacency, we'll be getting somewhere.
2. Republicans had to fight hard and funnel a lot of money in a very close race to hold on to
Georgia. I repeat, freakin'
Georgia. That should have been a gimmie state for them. The fact that they had to fight for it, tooth and nail, means that "gimmie states" are a fading idea for Republicans in the era of Trump.
3. And, yeah, we had to spend a lot of money, too... but the fact that so much money was collected for an uphill battle in a state that wouldn't ordinarily even be a contest proves that Democrats do have enthusiasm. We
want to win enough to put up a scrap in frickin'
Georgia. So in more fertile ground, we'll likely see better results.
4. This got national attention. This country has such a will to fight Republicans that even Georgia is being viewed as hopeful. This may be a good sign for voter turnout in 2018. Especially since, by then, Republicans are almost certain to be demoralized. Their president is doing a
rotten fucking job. He's an incompetent headcase who doesn't even want to be there anymore, and he's almost certain to be a drag. Even though the Republicans held on to Georgia, ordinarily that would've been a cake walk for them. They can be happy about it, but, they better watch their backs.
So, yeah, disappointed. But not discouraged.