Chris Rabb Is Too Radical for Pennsylvania, and His Interview With Hannity Proves It

Chris Rabb went on Hannity and didn't dodge a single question about what he actually believes. Give him that much credit. He didn't hide behind vague talk about "reimagining public safety" or "restorative justice frameworks." He said what he means: defund the police, abolish prisons. That's the DSA platform in plain English, and Rabb apparently thinks Pennsylvania's 3rd District is ready to hear it delivered straight.

We're not sure the voters he's asking to send him to Congress actually agree with him, though. Philadelphia has had its own struggles with crime and public safety in recent years, and "abolish prisons" isn't exactly a rallying cry you hear at your average block association meeting. It's the kind of position that sounds fine in a DSA chapter meeting or a grad seminar, and falls apart the second you say it out loud to someone whose car got broken into last month.

What's notable here isn't that a socialist holds socialist views. It's that he said it on national television, unfiltered, instead of letting a campaign staffer soften it into mush for a mailer. Most candidates with these positions learn fast to talk around them once they're actually running for something. Rabb didn't bother. Maybe that's principle. Maybe it's just that he doesn't think it'll cost him anything in a safely blue district.

Either way, Pennsylvania voters now know exactly what they'd be getting, and that's worth something. Whether they want it is a different question entirely, and one his opponents would be smart to keep putting in front of them between now and November.