Does “Defund The Police” Hurt Democrats?

According to Congressman James Clyburn and other Democrats, the phrase “defund the police” hurt Democrats, and aided in Democrats losing congressional seats. I do remember Republicans branding Democrats with the label of defund the police, and the media running with it, but I don’t remember any Democrats running on the message of defund the police. My question for Democrats is this; why didn’t the Republican candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene, who ran on supporting QAnon hurt her? Why didn’t the Access Hollywood video of trump talking about grabbing women by the vagina hurt him? None of the aforementioned instances hurt Republican candidates; so why does negative labels and phrases attached to Republicans DOESN’T hurt them, but negative labels and phrases attached to Democrats DOES hurt them?

Instead of Democrats reprimanding their Democrat colleagues about unfounded accusations, leadership Democrats need to be working on how NOT to allow Republicans to dictate the narrative of Democrats. It seems like Democrats are always in the position of reacting to a narrative, instead of settling the pace of their own narrative. I believe a lot of Republicans just couldn’t stomach anymore of donald trump, and voted for Joe Biden, but refused to vote for a Democrat down ballot. If Democrats don’t start realizing they can’t afford to play nice with Republicans, none of the incoming administration’s agenda items will be addressed. That’s not to say don’t try to work across the aisle with Republicans, just don’t try to play nice with those people.