GOP losing streak continues (Gettysburg Times op-ed)
Democrats locally, statewide, and nationally must be satisfied with the results in special elections and the 2023 elections.
Locally, the election of Alice Broadway (GASD) and Alisha Sanders (Borough Council) and the strong showing of Elizabeth Blanc (GASD) provide hope to a Democratic party that has a perpetual problem convincing people they can run and win as a Democrat in Adams County. A few young, attractive, successful candidates could stimulate the emergence of more Democrats to run for office.
Statewide, the strong showing in judicial races buoyed the Dems and torpedoed GOP hopes of judicially imposed gerrymandering and abortion restrictions.
Finally, high profile national contests, counting special elections earlier this year, included Dems winning both state Supreme Court seats up for grabs (Wisconsin and Pennsylvania), winning control of a second house of Virginia’s legislature and in the process ending talk of higher office for Virginia’s governor Glenn Youngkin, and enshrining a woman’s right to an abortion in the Ohio state constitution through the mechanism of a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment proposal.
Perhaps a sign of the times is the fact that, in two of the four above-mentioned races, gerrymandered state legislatures gave serious thought to negating the voice of the people by impeaching the Wisconsin court’s new chief justice for, as Forrest Gump would say, “no particular reason at all,” and cancelling state court authority to enforce the Ohio abortion law, though no action has yet been taken. Whether it is court-ordered redistricting in Ohio or North Carolina or Alabama, constitutional amendments in Ohio, or a ballot proposition in Florida restoring voting rights to ex-prisoners, gerrymandered Republican legislatures increasingly react to bad news on election day or in court decisions by ignoring, rejecting, or nullifying it.
One thing these results make clear is that there is broad support for women’s healthcare options and almost no support for so-called abortion bans. While legislatures in deep red states like Alabama or highly gerrymandered states like Florida continue to pass tighter restrictions on abortion, in states where the voters get a say, they always so far have voted against restrictions, including red states like Kansas and Ohio. And the issue has affected candidates as well. For example, the disappointing results in Virginia legislature races were blamed in part on Governor Youngkin’s surprisingly restrictive proposals.
Donald Trump also continues to serve as an anchor on Republican tickets in general elections around the country. Trump won an election in 2016 that even he expected to lose – and has dragged the GOP to outright defeat or under-performance in every election since. The only American politician who can even claim similar loser status to Trump is William Jennings Bryan, three-time unsuccessful nominee for president and the “lost by winning” counsel in the Scopes Monkey Trial – and, adding insult to injury, he promptly died.
It is beyond argument that Trump lost the US Senate in 2020 with his antics in the Georgia special elections and his choice of unelectable MAGA loyalists like Mastriano, Dr. Oz, and Kari Lake harmed the party’s chances in 2022 that should have yielded major Republican electoral gains.
The relative success of Democratic candidates in the face of President Biden’s apparent unpopularity is a continuing surprise – and concern. The issue of Joe Biden’s age and concerns about his performance as president loom large over the 2024 elections. This is one of the most confounding political developments of the year. While Trump News runs any Biden stumble or any time he closes his eyes in prayer on a continuous loop, it ignores the increasing signs of incoherence in the 45th president. Biden has been perhaps the most effective legislator ever to sit in the Oval Office, presides over the strongest job growth ever, continues to show mastery in foreign relations, and keeps up an international travel schedule that would be daunting for a man thirty years younger, while his likely opponent seems often to think that he is running against Obama, and frequently does not know what city he is in. This issue and the increasing splits within the Democratic Party on Israel-Palestine issues will need to be addressed between now and the 2024 elections.
Leon Reed is a former US Senate aide and US history teacher. He is the co-chair of Gettysburg DFA.