Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) PAC was revealed to have meddled in the U.S. Senate seat for Colorado, where vulnerable incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, will face Joe O'Dea, the candidate where it's clear Democrats did not want him to face. As the New Hampshire primary, which is scheduled for next Tuesday, still has to take place, Schumer is now trying to get his preferred Republican candidate of choice chosen as the nominee to make it easier on another vulnerable Democratic incumbent, Sen. Maggie Hassan.
While the Democrats would like to see Don Bolduc as the nominee, and are spending money to make it happen, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) PAC has poured money into the race to support Chuck Morse, as POLITICO's Natalie Allison highlighted last Friday over Twitter.
There’s now a McConnell / Schumer super PAC ad war over the next week and a half in the NH Republican primary.
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 2, 2022
Rs dropped $4.5M to help Chuck Morse last-minute; Ds have now put in $3.1M to try to get the ultra-MAGA candidate Don Bolduc elected. pic.twitter.com/MShMozfH7B
While Allison later tweeted in the thread that she meant Democrats would like to see Bolduc "nominated, not elected," it does raise a telling point when it comes to how Schumer and his ilk better be careful for what they wish for. The race is considered "Tilt Democratic" or "Lean Democratic." Hassan getting re-elected is not a foregone conclusion.
Yeah no coffee yet! Obviously the Dems would like Bolduc nominated, not elected https://t.co/iTC1O1EKGq
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 2, 2022
Further, should Bolduc win the nomination and then the general, it's worth highlighting as to if Democrats helped elect someone they supposedly despise.
Our friends at Twitchy highlighted how many users pointed out the hypocrisy involved in Democrats spending money to boost a candidate who is supposedly "ultra MAGA," with all the ranting they've done about how their political opponents are an "extremist threat to Democracy."
So why are the Dems funding the thing they are at 'war' against??https://t.co/lOkQR02y4l
— Steve (@UberSteve) September 2, 2022
I thought maga was a threat to democracy so why would Dems be helping that candidate ??? almost like they don’t really believe the BS they spew
— k.adams (@kadams190) September 2, 2022
K. Either MAGA is a "threat" or it isn't. Pick one.
— Douglas Brackman, Jr. (@bruinoregonalt) September 2, 2022
STFU forever about the threat MAGA types are to democracy when you're helping them win primaries. https://t.co/Uz0C5jEt8r
— Chief Impact Officer BT (@back_ttys) September 2, 2022
Ds interfering in R primaries to assist the candidates endorsed by Trump makes this all seem rather unserious.
— cc (@cc_fla) September 2, 2022
Day after Biden’s “Saving Democracy” speech, Democrats put $3m behind a candidate Biden would presumably qualify as a “semi-fascist” https://t.co/VI6JBSjdXP
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) September 2, 2022
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has been accused of doing the very same thing in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District. In last month's primary, Rep. Peter Meijer, one of the Republicans to vote for impeachment articles against then President Donald Trump, lost his primary to John Gibbs, who was not only endorsed by Trump, but boosted by the DCCC.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), who chairs the DCCC, has defended the move as Gibbs is considered easier to beat. That being said, the race is only considered "Lean Democratic" by Cook Political Report, and Sabato's Crystal Ball still has it as a "Toss-Up." A Democratic win is not a foregone conclusion.
This is a different strategy by Senate Majority PAC than their attempt to interfere in the Colorado GOP primary. In that case, ads were more explicitly boosting far-right candidate Ron Hanks to GOP primary voters. Now, they’re trying to neutralize the R ad money helping Morse.
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 2, 2022
In addition to the differences highlighted by Allison in her tweet about Schumer's PAC meddling in the Colorado GOP primary, where their candidate of choice lost, it's worth emphasizing that it appears that race was illegally meddled in. Democrats are treading in dangerous water, including but not merely when it comes to boosting candidates they find to be some kind of danger to democracy.