On paper, the mid-midterm elections yesterday should have produced bountiful results for Republicans. A Democrat president has proven very unpopular; Joe Biden is now plumbing the 30s on overall job approval and even lower on some issues. The impacts of sustained inflation at rates not seen in 40 years have pounded American households. A paroxysm of anti-Semitism on the hard Left has split Democrats and made at least a few of them look like terror sympathizers. The crisis on the southern border has now become a top issue in blue states as well as red.
The table could not possibly have been set better for the GOP. And yet, they largely flopped, even in red states like Ohio and Kentucky. The only clear wins they got came in Mississippi, where Republicans swept the constitutional offices, but that’s in a state where a Democrat win in one of those elections would have made national headlines.
Earlier this morning, Jazz attributed it to “one word,” in a smart, must-read post: Abortion. Clearly that played a role, explicitly in Ohio and close to explicitly in Virginia, too, which was Jazz’ focus. It has become clear that the GOP still cannot campaign effectively on the…
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