Even when national Democrats are alerting to the threat posed by the far-right Republican candidates, their campaign partners are pursuing a very dangerous strategy. Beat in November.
These most intense efforts in California’s Central Valley, accusing the Democratic campaign of voting for Republican Rep. David Valadao for the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, point to anger within the party over danger and wisdom. Prompted discussion. Especially in the midst of a hearing of the Commission on the Capitol Attack on January 6th.
Concerns are clear. Republican candidates who may consider Democrats unable to be elected in a year when soaring gasoline prices and inflationary turmoil have crushed President Biden’s approval rating can win based solely on party affiliation.
Kathleen Rice, a Democrat in New York, said: “It’s ridiculous for these democratic groups to spend money to raise people who know they want to destroy this democracy.”
Republican targets asked how to defeat their leadership and cast difficult votes if former Democratic allies were on standby.
“I thought it was important, so I voted the way I voted,” Baradao said of the impeachment vote. “But they put us in a place where we vote for these things, and they members of people who try to use it as ammunition against us in campaigns and may consider them a threat to democracy. Putting it in a position where it can be, it tells me that they are not serious about governance. “
Democratic efforts go far beyond Mr. Baradao’s race.Democratic Party of Pennsylvania Election of State Parliamentarian Doug Mastriano Despite the spread of false allegations about the 2020 elections and attendance at the January 6 protest behind the White House just before the Capitol riots, during a successful quest for a Republican governor nomination. ..
In Southern California, Democratic candidate Asif Mahmood, Flooded orange county radio waves An ad that assembled his run as a contest between him and conservative anti-abortionist Greg Raths never to the main Republican in the race, incumbent and much more moderate candidate Young Kim. Helped Mr. Raths without mentioning it. Instead, it overturned the Roe v. Wade case and emphasized Mr. Russ’s support for banning abortions and his affinity for “pro-Trump Republicans.” (Efforts were unsuccessful: Kim blocked Russ and proceeded to the November election for Mahmood.)
And in Colorado, a mysterious new group called Democratic Colorado is spending nearly $ 1.5 million ahead of the state’s June 28 primary. Broadcast the conservative views of Congressman Ron Hanks, Wants to challenge Senator Michael Bennett, an incumbent Democrat. Hanks’ views will be widely shared in Republican primaries.It was left unreferenced — for now — Hanks brags about the march to the Capitol On January 6, his false allegations that the people who attacked the Capitol were left-wing “Antifa” and his unfounded allegations that the 2020 elections were stolen by President Biden.
January 6 House Committee Hearing Theme
Colorado Democratic spokeswoman Albina Basquez did not reveal who was funding the group and claimed that there was nothing wrong with advertising.
“It’s important to emphasize who is running on the Republican side,” she added, “the general election is just around the corner.”
However, Basquez admitted that the group has only one target. Mr. Hanks, not Joe O’Dea, a businessman who is a more moderate Republican of the primary. The Bennett campaign declined to comment.
The Democrats involved admit to the games they’re playing, but have one job to keep the majority of the party in the House of Representatives, targeting only races whose radical candidates can’t win in November. Claims.
“House Majority PAC was founded on a mission to do whatever it takes to ensure a democratic house majority. In 2022, we will continue to do so,” said Abbey Karanhorel. I am saying. Managing Director of a committee affiliated with Democratic leaders.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a candidate for governor of the Democratic Party, defends an ad for a campaign declaring Mastriano’s victory at the Republican Governor’s Primary as “a victory for what Donald Trump represents.” did.
“What we did was to launch a general election campaign and show a clear contrast, a clear difference between him and me.” Mr. Shapiro said at CNN..
But it’s not clear if the Democrats can continue to control what they unleash. Especially in the year when the party’s president suffered from record low approval rates and inflation reached an unseen rate in 40 years.A poll at Suffolk University released Wednesday found that Mr. Shapiro was running. Only 4 percentage points ahead of Mastriano At the race of the important governor of the state.
No matter how confident Democratic insiders hear about their chances for radical Republicans, the inherent dangers of the fire-playing approach remind some Democrats of their annoyed memories. ..
After all, they also considered Mr. Trump’s nomination in 2016 to be a solid ticket to President Hillary Clinton.
Former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill undoubtedly created a modern genre that interfered with the nomination process by posting an ad in 2012 that lifted Republican senator far-right Todd Akin. I did.
However, McCaskill said the stakes were too high in all but a few races over the years.
“No one, including Donald Trump, believed he would be elected president,” McCaskill said. “Campaigns need to be very calm about decision making. They need to be confident that they can win if the most extreme candidates are promoted to nomination.”
Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Major was particularly furious that the Democratic majority PAC spent nearly $ 40,000 on the media markets in Bakersfield, California and Fresno. Airing an ad blaming Mr. Baradao While promoting his opponent as a “true conservative” for his impeachment vote.
It’s impossible to say how the ads have affected, but votes in California’s 22nd Parliamentary District are still counted, with Baradao surpassing Mathis by 1,400 votes in the November finals. I am.
“Protrump Republican Chris Mathys: military veteran, local businessman,” exclaimed a Democratic ad. “Or, David Valadao, a politician who voted to impeach Trump. Republican-It’s time to decide.”
The ad was broadcast during the preparatory period for a January 6 hearing that fueled Republicans who confronted Mr. Trump. But by using these votes against the Republicans for political gain, Mr. Meyer is one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the Capitol riots. Said. As a deadly threat to American experiments.
And that made it easier for Republicans to dismiss the hearing as a political theater, Mr. Meyer said.
On August 2, Meyer, whose primary is approaching Trump’s supportive enemies, accused the Democratic dissonance of “a deep moral attitude in the midst of natural hypocrisy.”Already, he said, the loudest voice to advertise his main enemy, John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official. A person who once accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief of performing a demon ritualNot a Republican, but a Democrat.
A clear precedent for Democrats is McCaskill’s almost legendary ad, which promoted Akin to the enemy in the 2012 reelection. The other two Republicans of that year would have been far more formidable enemies in Republican-prone states, with Barack Obama on the reelection ballot. In comparison, Mr Akin said he was short of money, undisciplined, and “a little weird.”
The Advertising language may be threatened For general election voters, but McCaskill’s list of details for Akin was music that could be heard by Republican primary voters. It will outlaw many forms of contraception. “And only Akin says President Obama is a complete threat to our civilization.”
“Todd Akin, a true Missouri conservative,” said the ad, using a pause during pregnancy, “too conservative” before it ends.
Akin won the Republican primary by majority vote and then lost nearly 16 percent to McCaskill.
McCaskill said tactics are still sound in some areas, such as Baradao, where voters are strongly democratic. But she added that 2022 stakes are much higher than they were 10 years ago.
“I’ve decided internally that it’s okay to think he can be responsible for becoming a U.S. Senator,” she said of Akin, and she couldn’t do the same calculations for some of the current ones. I added that. Republican crop.
Beyond individual candidates, Republican leadership has changed, McCaskill added. When Mr. Akin famously said that victims of sexual assault would not get pregnant, her bet that Mr. Akin’s tendency to open his chaotic mouth was rewarded with spades, “if it is a legitimate rape. , The female body has a way to try to shut it all down. “
Beyond the damage of those words, Mr. Akin’s own party turned him into a Paria, avoided him and ensured his defeat. Republican leaders can’t expect to cut off candidates for this campaign season, she said.
Rice points out the same, with all the dollars spent interfering in the Republican primary with dollars not spent directly to support endangered democratic incumbents. He added that there is.
“We should support our front liner,” she said.
