There are a few days left before Democrats take their 2022 midterm shellacking, but that doesn’t mean you remain idle. If there’s time left, you do what you can to blunt the impact when you’re on the losing end of an election cycle, but it doesn’t negate the fact that this election is over. I’m not talking about the results—I’m referring to the campaign narratives. What both parties have said about these races is now ingrained in voters' minds. It’s too late right now to regroup and re-package the 2022 campaign messaging Democrats deployed for this cycle. That doesn’t mean Democrats aren’t going to try, with Axios reporting on the mad dash from the Left to salvage something this cycle:
Republicans — bullish they can score a big House takeover and flip the Senate — are zeroing in on more Democratic strongholds.
Democrats are recasting their closing message with more emphasis on the economy and health care, saying a Republican takeover would pose risks on both fronts. They're deploying Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama as big-name closers, along with calculated Biden cameos.
Republicans are doubling down on messaging on crime and inflation. This has helped them make notable inroads in the Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Senate races as well as the Oregon and New York governor's races.
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Outside Republican groups have spent or reserved over $7 million against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of House Democrats' campaign arm.
If Maloney loses, it'd be the first time either party has taken out the other party's House campaign chief since 1980.
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House Dems are triaging resources to defend candidates in solidly blue territory. Last week, the Democrats' House Majority PAC moved funds from an Oregon district Biden carried by nine points to salvage a suburban Portland district Biden won by 13 points.
One national Democratic official told Axios they're "very pessimistic" about the prospects of Oregon Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who ousted moderate Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) in the primary. In 2020, Schrader won re-election by six points.
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House Republicans are getting aggressive, while Senate Republicans‘ approach remains more cautious.
Senate Republicans' campaign arm wants to begin drawing attention away from states they think they'll easily win — like Ohio and North Carolina — and putting more focus on battlegrounds where Republicans nominated MAGA-oriented candidates, like Arizona and New Hampshire.
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The McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund is taking fewer risks. SLF announced Friday it was cutting $5.6 million intended to help Republican Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, earmarking it for Pennsylvania, where Dr. Mehmet Oz is gaining in the campaign's final weeks.
The thinking at the GOP super PAC: Bolduc is underperforming in the New Hampshire Senate race, and the money would be better utilized to try and lock down a race that's a must-win for the party to win back a Senate majority.
Liberals got too comfortable with Biden’s initial high approval ratings, thinking they could coast through 2022, using the January 6 hearings to paint the GOP as a radical group and chip further away at their opposition. The only problem is that Biden’s approvals started to decline rapidly after the botched evacuation from Afghanistan, and it hasn’t stopped sliding since. Second, most concerning issues to Democratic voters are not real issues.
This year, global warming, abortion, and January 6 are the top issues for Democrats, showing how liberal America lives in a bubble. They don’t know what’s impacting working people at all. No one cares about that little riot in January, especially working people, including nonwhite working-class voters. Independent women aren’t stupid enough to go homeless over abortion rights and global warming—please—need I say more about how that doesn’t even register on the Richter scale for most voters regarding their worries?
Democrats wasted a ton of time on abortion while most voters saw their economic fortunes deteriorate. The Democratic Party is indifferent to working Americans—Joe Biden munching on an ice cream cone, saying the “economy is strong as hell” couldn’t be more detached from reality. One week before the elections, Democrats have helped revive the red tsunami scenario with their abject lack of awareness and systemic incompetence in governing.
Last, I understand that for the Senate GOP races, now is the time to keep focus and not screw things up as we approach the finish line. Yet, there could be something happening in New Hampshire, with a new poll showing all three Democrats fighting for their lives. Nothing is guaranteed, but John Fetterman’s disastrous performance during the first and only Pennsylvania U.S. Senate election debate probably sealed the deal for Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. We’ll know more later this week, but the polling has shifted toward the GOP in the Keystone State ever since Oz retooled weeks ago and hit Fetterman on his public safety record.
