Political Irony

The Democratic Party tried a rather risky gambit during the midterm election. During the primaries, they promoted far-right Trump-loving candidates (even running ads for them), assuming that such candidates would be easier to defeat in the election. At the time, there was much concern that it might blow up in their face.

But did it work? Yes, absolutely!

• Election denier Donald Bolduc (R-NH) lost his Senate race to incumbent Maggie Hassan (D-NH). At the time, Hassan had very low approval ratings and the GOP was working hard to flip her seat.
• In Michigan, the Trump-backed candidate John Gibbs was defeated by Dem Hillary Scholten, which flipped a red seat to blue (so much for the “red wave”!). The Dems even ran ads linking Gibbs to Trump, which helped Gibbs to defeat a primary opponent who was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
• This tactic was especially used by the Democratic Governors Association, and it worked very well, as far-right-wing GOP governor candidates lost to their Dem opponents in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Massachusetts.
• Two other races are too close to call, but right now Kari Lake (R-AZ) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) are trailing in their races. Both are rabid MAGA and QAnon fans. Amazingly, Boebert is the incumbent in a deep-red district (and FiveThirtyEight predicted she was “clearly favored to win”, as did the NY Times live election forecast).

One more piece of evidence that Donald Trump is way past his expiration date. He still holds sway with his base, but that only helps in Republican primaries, and can be a losing proposition in general elections.