NOTHING went wrong!
Today’s New York Times article and headline itself gets it wrong!
Democrats Beat Trump in 2020. Now They’re Asking: What Went Wrong? https://nyti.ms/3sdM5Ig
Democrats got it right starting in 2017. The Democratic Party mobilized activists, knocked on doors, phone-banked and texted, and did literature drops. In Michigan, this led to the top three elected positions going to Democrats (Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State). The Michigan legislature saw Democrats gain a few seats despite 2011 Republican gerrymandering.
Trump allegedly asked, as results rolled in showing his loss while downballot Republicans won “how is it I lost when all these guys won?”
Here is why: The presidential ticket isn’t necessarily linked to the slate of that party downballot. I ran for Congress on the Democratic ticket in 2016 in a safe Republican district. Reviewing the results across the district after the election, we found many areas in which Hillary Clinton received more votes than I did. Our conclusion was that people who normally vote Republican voted for HRC, but then went back to the Republican side of the ballot casting their vote for my opponent.
Both sides saw a surge in turnout this past November, but the Democratic turnout was the result of hard work and organizing since 2017 and will continue into 2022 and 2024. The Trump surge, in my opinion, was an emotional temporary surge which won’t likely be sustainable given the fractious nature of the Republican Party right now.
Downballot Republican wins are the same wins, by and large, that they have had since 2012 gerrymandering. 2022 will be quite different. First, we will have redistricting. Some state such as Michigan and Arizona have removed drawing the map from the partisan majority in the legislature. States like this will change the downballot dynamic. For states still using partisan processes, worst case scenario is that we see no difference from what is in place now.
But drawn districts are one thing. Actual VOTES quite another. Republican-held legislatures drawing maps will be done so using conventional information as to how an area votes (Republican vs Democrat) but won’t have a clue A to whether the actual voters are ao put off by Republicans’ sycophant and support for the insurrectionists that they won’t vote Republican again.
So no. No autopsy needed Democrats- just more of the same hard work and organization.
