By Brayden Yee
In preparation for the 2022 midterms coming up in November, the Democratic Party has decided to fund the primaries of far right Republican candidates in a strategy that mirrors that of former Missouri senator, Claire McCaskill in 2012. The belief is that if the candidate that advances is a more polarizing, conservative candidate, they will be easier to defeat in the general election.
Two states that have already adopted this ideology are Colorado and Illinois, who hold their primaries tomorrow. McCaskill stated that this plan is a political gamble, which has to be done very carefully. During her successful 2012 campaign, she spent $1.7 million for Todd Akin, a Republican closely aligned with the Tea Party Movement. McCaskill stated that out of the 3 candidates in the primary, Akin was the one with the least funding, and was to her, the most likely to say something that would jeopardize his chances at winning the general election. Her plan proved to be a success, handily beating Akin in the general. However, the political landscape has vastly changed in the past decade. The strategy for democrats today is to fund candidates who perpetuate the lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. So far, more conservative candidates have won their primaries, such as a pro-trump candidate winning the nomination for governor of Pennsylvania, and another winning for the 22nd house district in California.
The belief that it would be easier for Democrats to defeat a more conservative Republican was not the case back in 2016, however. Initially, many Democrats were overjoyed with Trump’s nomination, believing that he was both too conservative, and that he would make many verbal slip ups similar to Akin. Of course this was not the case, as Trump defeated Clinton in 2016, allowing for Trump to be in office for 4 years. It is also controversial for the Democrats to be funding Republicans who believe that the 2020 election was stolen, as the Democrats claim to be the party of protecting democracy, and voting rights.
While Democrats still have a lot of money left in their banks for the general election, it is risky to mess with Republican primaries. Many polls indicate that a majority of Republicans believe that Biden was illegitimately elected president back in 2020, which may mean that pro Trump candidates may perform better in the general election than moderates. Either way, Democrats may have to be weary about supporting Pro-Trump candidates, as many have predicted that a red wave is coming during the midterms.
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