Virginia’s forthcoming gubernatorial and other local election campaigns may be characterized as refried like beans or re-fired echoing the Obama slogan. The political calculus functioning across the nation following the broadside attack on the 2020 election results contains unknown quantities and values conspiring to produce civil dialogue and campaign statements far more fractious than those that emanated from the White House for the last four years.
In Georgia, the very same elected Republican officials who defended the voting process in the Peach State from the Trump-Giuliani-Wood-Powell inanities have recently advocated photo ID mandates for mail-in voting. The rationale sounds identical to that of Lindsey Graham’s lament concerning GOP odds of winning the White House again following Biden’s 80 million vote victory.
The Georgia Republican House Speaker expressed skepticism for voting by mail, telling a local news outlet in April that increased mail voting “will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia.” What could that possibly mean? In November, VoxFairfax (Did Success Spoil the GOP?; https://wp.me/p9DCF-1Wt) reported the devotional allegiance of a local candidate in a Virginia county election:
Because, if Trump wins, he can never run for president again. What happens then, when it’s all over? My scary thought is, where do we find another one like him?
Try as they might, the GOP’s attacks on the nation’s voting processes, especially early and mail voting, may backfire. In any event, such criticism will not likely dent the 80 million ballots for Biden. Evidence of this bipolar dysfunction has appeared in Georgia where some Trump advocates are advising Republican voters to sit on their hands for the January runoffs. The response: make mail voting more difficult. As coherence was never a hallmark of P45’s administration, it appears incoherence may prevail into the 2024 election cycle.
[One Democrat’s response to Georgia Republicans’ not voting: Make My Day!]
While there is no hard evidence to characterize forthcoming GOP gambits, there ae some smoke signals. One Republican strategist offered:
It’s very possible, if not likely, that Trump will be in a kingmaker position for the 2022 primaries. Whether people like it or not, this is Trump’s party. And nothing that happened on Election Day or since then has done anything to change that.
While some Republicans, especially in the country’s reddest precincts, are delighted about the prospect of Mr. Trump’s running the party from tropical exile at Mar-a-Lago, those who represent voters exhausted by the soon-to-be-former president are eager to move on. That sentiment remains to be seen as one permeating the party ranks.
While some Republicans, especially in the country’s reddest precincts, are delighted about the prospect of Mr. Trump’s running the party from tropical exile at Mar-a-Lago, those who represent voters exhausted by the soon-to-be-former president are eager to move on. That sentiment remains to be seen as one permeating the party ranks:
“I want to be a party of ideas and values, said a Nebraska House member who won re-election despite his district’s turning against Trump. “We should not be a party of any one person. Unless it’s Lincoln.”
After Georgia’s Senate runoffs, an early test of Trump’s clout will come in another Southern state that has already undergone a similar political metamorphosis: Virginia. Republicans there are hoping to reclaim the governorship next year. But they are nervous that their eventual nominee may have to demonstrate fidelity to the former president in a fashion that could ensure success in a primary but torpedo their general election prospects in a state Mr. Biden carried by 10 points.
Re-fried political campaign strategy and campaign themes from the national and local GOP war rooms may be expected. At this moment, the party promises to remain in the grip of its titular head while the RNC prepares to vote on the continuing leadership of Ronna McDaniel. Déjà vu could morph into kamikaze results. Dems hope to remain fired up. The Commonwealth’s gubernatorial race may be little influenced by the candidates themselves from the major political parties and more determined by the lessons learned in recent years, especially 2020.
Re-fried beans or political campaigns, however re-cooked and served, appeal to the palates of a narrow band of diners. A re-fired electorate can change the main dish.
Categories: elections, Issues, Local, National, politics, VOTING RIGHTS
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