As a top Democratic strategist working on House races summed up the argument after reviewing internal focus group data that shows a stronger and more lasting than expected resonance of recent Republican moves, particularly around abortion policy: “ I understand you’re frustrated, everything sucks — but this person believes you can’t get pregnant from rape, this person believes in QAnon… I know you don’t like Democrats — but you really want to vote for this person ?” Between Biden’s declining poll numbers and talk of an impending recession, Republicans are seeing all the traditional effects of a midterm surge. Nearly every poll shows the economy and inflation remain voters’ top concerns, leading one Republican campaign official to dismiss Democratic efforts to talk about extremism as “yelling into the wind.”
Strategy in motion
But many top Democrats believe focusing on Republicans is the best solution. The strategy has already been launched. Last week in the House, Democrats brought bills to the floor in an attempt to force Republicans to vote against legalizing same-sex marriage and birth control rights. Most Republicans did just that. Senate Democrats are pushing for a vote on same-sex marriage, and many Republicans in the chamber are struggling over what to do. More votes are planned on social issues, but also on measures like the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which Senate Democrats floated shortly after the Buffalo supermarket attack. The Democratic National Committee coordinates with state parties on ads and local press tours that draw on words like “dangerous” and “threatening” and highlights what they call “MAGA Hot Mic” moments around Republican officials making tough comments about the abortion, democracy and guns. . Democratic groups have also prepared a barrage of opposition research to exonerate GOP candidates on everything from once-obscure bills introduced in state legislatures to old Facebook comments, while allied groups highlight features such as a study by the Center for American Progress found “at least 104 MAGA Republicans have used guns and other deadly weapons in campaign ads.” On Wednesday, House Democrats will present a series of proposed talking points to members that include focusing on a message that “extreme MAGA Republicans only care about one thing: their own power,” according to a presentation aired by the CNN. Republicans, the presentation argues, will criminalize abortion and roll back marriage rights, end Social Security and Medicare, and “continue to attack our democracy, undermine free elections, and make it harder for Americans to vote”. Days of Action have also been coordinated with the White House for events in House Democratic districts throughout August, and include a focus on the proposed Republican cuts to Social Security on Aug. 15, the anniversary of the Social Safety Net, and Republican restrictions on abortion and other reproductive rights on August 26 on Women’s Equality Day. House Democrats are also encouraged to discuss the threat of gun violence on Sept. 7 in conjunction with the start of the new school year. “Republicans like to duck. They don’t like to answer these questions,” said Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, who helped create the platform. He said he’s been surprised both by how much abortion has resonated at home, and how little most people have registered other issues like democracy and gun control. “You assume people know that. They absolutely don’t.” Michigan Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, who is facing a competitive re-election in one of the toughest states, said it’s even simpler when you’re running against the opponent waiting to emerge from an August primary, a self-funded non-reserved never held elected office before. “The only thing we know about him is that he would vote for the Republican president. That would be Kevin McCarthy,” Kildee said, referring to Republican nominee and House GOP leader Paul Jung. “My record is my argument. The most we know about him is that he decided to run under the banner of a party that seems to have lost its soul. That’s the contrast.” “You don’t have to win every heart and every mind,” added Kildee. “There are a large number of Republicans right now who don’t recognize their party. We can offer them a reasonable alternative, win some of those votes. And in a marginal district like mine, that can be the difference.” Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who won one of the narrowest re-election bids in the country in 2020, said she is campaigning on her record in trying to lower fuel costs and tackling meatpacking consolidation. But Spanberger also said she’s taking aim at what she calls her Republican opponent’s “extremist views.” This November, Spanberger will face off against Yesli Vega, a local elected official who on the campaign trail questioned whether rape can lead to pregnancy and dismissed the Jan. 6 riot as “a group of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.” . Spanberger said those positions are “out of touch with voters in the district, but also out of touch with reality.” “In our race, I certainly want people to vote for me,” Spanberger said, “but I think the opposition and the choices couldn’t be clearer.” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a member of the House Democratic leadership who is spearheading the messaging for his colleagues, is urging colleagues to use a single disqualifying word to label Republicans. He prefers “extremists” to “MAGA Republicans,” the phrase Biden landed on after other Democratic strategists determined it was a more effective way to describe the party than what might be considered a typical political brand. “Republicans are extremists on gun safety and want our communities to be flooded with weapons of war. Republicans are extremists in trying to deny women the freedom to make their own reproductive health decisions. Republicans are extremists in relation to the January 6 uprising, and it seems that many of them no longer believe in democracy. Republicans are extreme on Social Security and Medicare, which they want to end in five years, and Republicans are extreme on weakness them to actually support legislation that would lower costs for everyday Americans,” Jeffries said. . “Republicans are out of touch with the American people and don’t deserve the chance to govern.” There’s the talk and then there’s the numbers. A CNN poll this month found that most voters currently see both parties as mainstream, with the exception of abortion, on which most call Republicans too extreme. They also tend to see Democrats as more mainstream on voting rights and election integrity, immigration — but see Republicans as more mainstream on the economy, which remains the dominant issue. “It’s all on our side,” Republican Senate Republican campaign chairman of Florida Sen. Rick Scott insisted Monday at an event in Washington, urging donors to keep pace with Democratic fundraising. “Joe Biden is not going to get any better.”
“We’re trying to escape MAGA”
In an interview with CNN, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that while Democrats need to appeal to independents and Republicans who are uncomfortable with their party’s Trump turn, they also need to shock disenchanted and disenchanted Democratic voters. “These candidates try to out-MAGA each other, and often the MAGA candidate wins — and even when they don’t, what we’ve seen are Republicans who eventually fall in line and do whatever Trump wants them to do.” , Cooper said. the president of the Democratic Governors Association, said about attracting voters to the polls. “That should be a scary prospect for people as we approach these midterm elections.” That feeling was part of what led Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to spend millions of dollars in the Republican primary boosting a hard-line candidate — because he believed it would make his re-election fight easier, but also because he believes the only difference between the candidates was that the preferred candidate is more transparent about the views shared by everyone else. That was a controversial approach within his own party, and one that Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who serves on the Jan. 6 committee, told CNN this week he found “disgusting.” But Darren Bailey, who won the Republican nomination with Pritzker’s help, is a Trump-backed state senator who welcomed the overturning of Roe v. Wade as “historic and welcome” and supports the ban on abortion without any exceptions. His other positions include legislation to remove Chicago’s “hell” from Illinois to form the 51st state and saying people needed to “move on” after the July 4 shooting in Highland Park. “If you support these extreme views where you would force a 10-year-old to give birth to a fetus that was the product of rape — it’s either that or the silent Republicans who say, ‘I’m not going to say anything out loud, even if I disagree,’” said Pritzker, “that’s what happened to the Republican Party. And as far as I’m concerned, we’re telling the truth.” Bailey’s campaign did not return a request for comment. Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss said first-time candidates across the country, whom he informally advises, respond enthusiastically when he pushes them not to let their opponents campaign as good people or distance themselves from Republicans who voted for them. of overturning the results of the 2020. election or would support a national abortion…
