California Governor Newsom was losing next weeks’ recall election until he brought Trump into it. He’s running as the anti-Trump, and it’s working. The level of loathing for Trump in California is astonishing.
Trump hasn’t been in the state, and the leading Republican, Larry Elder, never mentions him. But the Democrats and their anti-recall campaign, with huge media buys, have made Trump the centerpiece of the election. He is the key to turning out the apathetic Democratic voter.
The LA Times nails it –if it’s this hard for Newson, how hard is it going to be for Democrats in swing districts? As a result, they will try to repeat the Newsom strategy. Make the 2022 election about Trump
For Democrats in ranked choice voting states, like Alaska, their senatorial candidate will probably come in third, behind liberal Murkowski and the Republican. How does Murkowski motivate Democrats to vote for her in the final round? Paint the Republican as a Trump clone, and run against Trump.
This has been her strategy from the start. This is why her supporters, heavily funded from the lower 48, put Prop. 2 on last year’s ballot. They had to do away with primaries. And they had to have ranked choice voting.
This is why Murkowski was the only Republican in the Senate, up for reelection in 2022, who voted to impeach Trump. She was showing off to Democrat voters back in Alaska.
This has never been done successfully, at least in modern times. Democrats couldn’t run against Goldwater in 1966, for instance. But then this country’s never seen any thing like Donald Trump, one of the most divisive figures in American political history.
If Trump can be used to save Newsom in California, can he save Murkowski in Alaska?
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