Nearly half a year into the Biden administration and narrow Democratic control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, conservatives have essentially had to hold our collective breaths and hope that Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin continues to hold back the wildest of the insanity leftists had in store for us. And while the damage has indeed been bad - with multi-trillions down the drain and countless executive orders gutting everything possible about what was good and right about America - it could definitely have been worse.
Thankfully, the damage done so far can mostly be reversed, IF Republicans both start acting like Republicans AND start winning elections again - starting with later this year and continuing through to the 2022 midterms, when a solid election cycle could mean GOP control of at least one, if not both houses of Congress.
Here are three key races to watch from now through 2022:
2021 Virginia gubernatorial race
Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin toed the line between fully embracing former President Donald Trump and appealing to more moderate Republicans during his primary victory earlier this year. That didn’t stop him from winning Trump’s endorsement, and it arguably has served to keep him in the running against the Democratic nominee, former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, in what has become a solidly blue state.
Youngkin is polling anywhere from 1 to 4 points behind McAuliffe, well within the margins for error and well within striking distance of victory in a state where Republicans have won only one major election (presidency, U.S. Senate, or governorship) in the past decade and a half. Will uber-liberal policies like gun control along with the lockdowns and months-long mandates imposed by Governor Blackface be enough to tip the scales against power-hungry Democrats, or will the pre-election return to normalcy deep-six all the bad memories?
Virginia is a blue state, but it’s also a bellwether. The lone Republican to win a major statewide office in the relatively recent past, former Gov. Bob McDonnell, won his term in 2009, a year after Obama’s win and a year before Republicans took back the House of Representatives in 2010. If the GOP can win the Virginia governorship or at least keep it closer than expected, or even win back one of the two state houses, Democrats could have a tough road ahead in 2022.
2022 Georgia Senate race
Despite the facts that Biden and the Democrats are doing their dead level best to burn the country to the ground and the opposing party to whoever holds the presidency tends to do well in midterm elections, the 2022 U.S. Senate landscape isn’t a good one for Republicans. The GOP, unfortunately, is stuck defending vulnerable seats in the purple states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in addition to what could end up, for various reasons, being close races to replace retiring senators in North Carolina, Ohio, and Missouri. And they’ve got to win ALL those before they can even think about beating a Democratic incumbent to win back a Senate that currently stands at 50-50.
On the positive side, however, is a golden opportunity to grab back a seat in Georgia that should have never been lost in the first place, and the Democratic incumbent on the hottest seat of all is Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, whose extreme leftism is clearly out of step even in a newly-minted purple state.
Turning that vulnerability into a win, however, could be a complicated task. Former Rep. Doug Collins and former Sen. David Perdue have both said they aren’t entering the race, but former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who lost to Warnock in January, has expressed an interest in giving it another go, this time for the whole 6-year enchilada. That, Georgia Republicans, would be a BAD idea, akin to Arizona Republicans constantly propping up Martha McSally as the sacrificial lamb to future Democratic Arizona senators. Are we really going to go there again?
A solution to the Loeffler problem could be the entry of former Georgia Bulldog and NFL great Herschel Walker, who would presumably need to move from Texas to Georgia to toss his hat into the ring. Though he still hasn’t decided, Walker is a dynamic potential candidate and a statewide legend who, should he run, already has the coveted Trump endorsement.
Whether it’s Walker or someone else, here’s to hoping Georgia Republicans choose wisely, because this could be their only chance to flip a seat and have a shot at taking back the Senate for the GOP.
2022 Florida gubernatorial race
This one is huge, not just for Florida’s immediate future, but for the 2024 presidential race. If Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pulls off a relatively easy victory - and he’s leading comfortably in early polls now over both Florida agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried and Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist - that will bode well for Republicans in several ways.
First, it will be a major public vindication of what DeSantis has called “freedom over Fauciism,” or his general policy of trusting the public and avoiding statewide lockdowns and mandates. Second, it will mean four more years of GOP governorship, and freedom, for a key swing state. Third, it would make that key swing state easier to win for the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. And fourth, it would cement DeSantis’ legitimacy as a viable 2024 presidential contender, should he decide to run and former President Donald Trump decide to bow out.
Certainly, there are plenty of important political races ahead, but those are three major ones to watch. If the GOP sweeps all three, look out!
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