Prominent Democrats are publicly worrying that their party’s support peaked too early after weeks of rough economic news and nationwide concerns over rising crime have weakened Democrats’ standing in the polls with just weeks to go before Election Day.
Summary
Prominent Democrats are publicly worrying that their party’s support peaked too early after weeks of rough economic news and nationwide concerns over rising crime have weakened Democrats’ standing in the polls with just weeks to go before Election Day.
- Voter concerns about inflation and rising gas prices are once again at the forefront after a summer dominated by abortion concerns after Roe v. Wade was overturned in a period when gas prices were falling.
- The class of House Democrats elected in 2018 were hailed as “rising stars” and the party’s future candidates for statewide office. Now several prominent rising Democrats like Elissa Slotkin (MI) and Abigail Spanberger (VA) are scrambling to save their political careers.
- Democrats won the House in 2018 thanks to college-educated suburban voters’ anxiety over then-President Donald Trump, but economic concerns and frustrations about President Joe Biden have clearly surpassed Trump in terms of importance.
- Recent poll results favorable to the G.O.P., persistently high inflation, and President Joe Biden’s low approval races have fueled Republican optimism even in traditionally Democratic-leaning states like Colorado, Oregon, and Connecticut.
- The newest updates to POLITICO’s Election Forecast were favorable to Republicans, with 10 of 12 House updates moving in the G.O.P.’s direction including several seats in “blue America” that Biden carried by large margins.
- As Democratic hopes fade, President Joe Biden is nowhere to be found on the campaign trail. The president hasn’t held a campaign rally since before Labor Day and is only expected to participate in closed-door fundraisers for the remainder of campaign season.
- The New York Times covered the increasingly close race for governor of New York. Recent polls found Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead “dwindling” as her G.O.P. rival Lee Zeldin’s top campaign issues of inflation and crime appeared to win over more suburban and independent voters.
- The Washington Post highlighted several “potential sleeper races of 2022.” The races included the Senate contests in Utah, Colorado, Washington, and Iowa along with the governor’s elections in Oregon and Oklahoma.
- Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance wants Republicans to challenge the Biden administration on immigration if the GOP wins in November. Vance wants Republicans to use their majorities as leverage to fight for border wall funding.
- The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito covered a potential upset brewing in the traditionally Democratic House district seat that includes Pittsburgh. Summer Lee, a democratic socialist, is “underperforming.” G.O.P. candidate Mike Doyle has the same name as the retiring Democratic incumbent. Internal polls reportedly show the race within the margin of error.
- Jim Geraghty from National Review thinks “there’s a whiff of Democratic panic in the air.” Geraghty cited positive polling for Republicans in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona and Politico’s election forecaster shifting seats towards the G.O.P. as reasons for Republican optimism.
- The Washington Free Beacon reported Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Wisconsin, praised some of the world’s worst dictators on Twitter. For example, Barnes hailed Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei for supporting Black Lives Matter.
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
