It’s a roll of the dice, with huge implications. From Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, to Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, to North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn (recently ousted), there’s living proof that offensive is no longer disqualifying. It also seems risky considering a slew of Trumpy, extremist, “fringe” candidates have been elected in recent years, and to terrible effect. So much, of course, depends on the population of those districts, but it’s not clear that Democrats have grasped the deep reddening of certain pockets of the country. In Pennsylvania, a whopping 13 districts have gotten redder, compared to five that have gotten bluer, perhaps good news for Mastriano.Īnd in Illinois, 12 districts have gotten redder, while only 6 have gotten bluer. In Colorado, five districts have gotten bluer while two have gotten redder. CA 22, for example, has gotten bluer, while CA 40 has gotten redder. You’d assume that Dems have spent money elevating far-right candidates in districts and states that have gotten bluer in recent years. It shows which districts in every state have gotten redder or bluer between 20.

One map, from Daily Kos, may be particularly instructive. One hopes Democrats are looking at their maps very carefully as they venture down this fraught road. And in the 40th, the more moderate Young Kim beat Greg Raths. David Valadao, who voted to impeach Trump, defeated Chris Mathys. In the state’s 22nd district, the more moderate Rep. Hanks is now trending up in Google searches and social media sentiments.īut in two California districts, the Democrats’ efforts - and ad buys - were wasted. 6, over Joe O’Dea in that state’s Senate primary, in hopes Hanks will face Democratic Sen. In Colorado, Democrats are pushing Ron Hanks, who marched to the Capitol on Jan. Bailey currently leads that primary by 15 points. Pritzker is spending millions pushing far-right state senator Darren Bailey over the more moderate Richard Irvin. In Illinois, a PAC backing Democratic Gov. Yikes.Įlsewhere, the Dem plan is working…for now. If Mastriano defies their calculation that Pennsylvania couldn’t possibly elect him governor, the detritus will be considerable.Īmong other things, Mastriano is calling for wiping the state’s voter rolls clean and appointing a secretary of state who could refuse to certify elections. When asked by CNN if it was “irresponsible,” he said, “What we did was start the general election campaign and demonstrate the clear contrast….”ĭemocrats better hope it works. The Democrats have spent millions in ad buys pushing far-right candidates.Īnd it’s a strategy Shapiro defends. So, we’ve all learned our lesson, right? Obviously not. The over-coverage of Trump wasn’t just because he was, at best, entertaining, or, at worst, truly newsworthy for his impolitic and unorthodox campaign, but because there was this underlying assumption that the more we exposed, the worse he would perform. I’ve said for a long time that many in the media took the same approach.

It was the same calculation Hillary Clinton made in 2016, assuming that elevating someone as “unlikely” and offensive as Trump in the Republican primary would make a general election a cakewalk. It’s a big gamble predicated on the somewhat smug and downright amnestic belief that voters couldn’t possibly support an extremist, racist, conspiratorial or inexperienced candidate - in other words, Trumpy - in a general election. Or to another California Republican candidate in California’s 40th district who trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes while running for the House of Representatives there.īut Democratic PACs, the Democratic Party and fundraising outfits all over the country - from California to Colorado, Pennsylvania to Illinois - are putting Democratic dollars behind far-right Republican candidates in hopes that they’ll beat their more moderate Republican counterparts in the primaries. If you gave money to the House Majority PAC, associated with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, you probably didn’t intend for it to help back a far-right Trump defender in California’s 22nd district, who believes Trump would still be president if the 2020 votes had been “properly counted.”

Alexa daily kos