With the 2022 US midterm election results looming, a key campaign strategy of the Democrats has apparently backfired, according to reports. In many battleground states the Democrats bankrolled ultra Conservative Republican candidates in the primary races, hoping that the Trump loyalists will eventually be defeated easily by the Democrat nominees.
However, some key Governor races show that the strategy has failed, even as the ‘divisive’ and ‘weak’ MAGA candidates have edged out the Democrat nominees in opinion polls or have made the races tied.
DDHQ
Arizona Governor Race
The case in point are Arizona and New Hampshire, where Trump-endorsed candidates received Democratic help in the primaries. The Democratic PACs spent money to discredit their moderate Republican opponents in the hopes that the MAGA candidates will be beaten hands down.
In Arizona, Republican Kari Lake is now leading Democrat candidate Katie Hobbs in the governor’s race by several percentage points, according to the Washington Times.
New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, Trump-endorsed Republican Don Bolduc is closing in on Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan and stands a good chance to win. The Democratic Senate PAC reportedly spent $3.2 million on ads that discredited Bolduc’s opponent in the race.
Illinois
In Illinois Trump-endorsed Republican state Senator Darren Bailey won the gubernatorial nomination, mainly helped by the Democratic ad funding.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who was backed by Trump was also helped by the Democrats in the primaries. According to Fox news, he was Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro’s campaign spent more than $840,000 in ads to boost Mastriano.
Michigan
Another case in point is the Congressional race from Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District the Democrats bankrolled Republican John Gibbs. However, the Republican has now launched a stiff challenge to Hillary Scholten. Fox reported that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spent $425,000 to promote Gibbs through advertising.
The report also says that the Democrats spent $100,000 to support Trump-endorsed conservative Robert Burns in New Hampshire’s Republican 2nd Congressional District primaries.
Moral Questions
The Democrat ploy did not only fail electorally, but also exposes integrity issues, according to experts. “It undercuts the urgency of Biden going out and giving these two big speeches about democracy being on the ballot then having at least some democratically aligned groups supporting candidates who are 2020 election deniers … Voters have a very short attention span, and they won’t remember it or think about it,” a senior Democratic operative told the Washington Times.
Earlier, a Washington Post analysis had shown that the Democrats spent nearly $53 million in nine states in primaries to boost conservative Republican candidates aligned to Trump in the hopes that they would be easier to defeat in the mid-term elections.
In September, Fox News had reported that democratic campaign groups spent more than $46 million to promote Trump-endorsed candidates in the primary races.
