Donald Trump has a lot to lose this cycle. His continued dominance of the Republican Party appears likely to be challenged heading into 2024. And in the closing weeks of the 2022 midterms, several of his most high-profile endorsees—who could either secure or doom a GOP takeover of the Senate—are in tough contests.
This is particularly true of former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, locked in a tight race with Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto; former Georgia football star Herschel Walker, who is trailing Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock; and TV huckster Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is playing catch up against Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman. (The Arizona race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly and GOP challenger Blake Masters also appears to be tightening, while Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Tim Ryan continues to be in striking distance of his GOP rival J.D. Vance).
It's worth noting that Laxalt (a forced-birther election denier whom the GOP is working overtime to muzzle), Walker (a word-salad master with a history of personal violence and boatloads of personal baggage), and Oz (a carpetbagger with zero personal integrity and a track record of scamming people for millions), are all particularly dangerous candidates.
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Trump is reportedly already gaming out his election denial strategy in case the midterms reinforce his leftover loser status from 2020, according to new reporting in Rolling Stone. He is putting a special focus on stoking confusion and doubt in contests that aren't called on Election Night. Sound familiar?
Yep, it's a rerun of Trump's 2020 gambit. Rolling Stone writes that Trump assembled a handful of his acolytes in September at Trump Tower in Manhattan to warn them that he anticipated a midterm replay in Philadelphia of the stolen election fantasy that has rotted his brain.
“During our briefing, he was concerned that 2020 is going to happen again in 2022,” former Trump administration official Michael Caputo told Rolling Stone. Naturally, Caputo, who was joined by a Pennsylvania County Commissioner, Doug McLinko, and retired CIA officer Sam Faddis, fed Trump's delusional paranoia.
“Our team encouraged him to be concerned … [Furthermore], I’m advising Republicans to recruit and train election observers and a team of attorneys to oversee historically problematic precincts,” added Caputo.
Trump is apparently especially obsessed with Pennsylvania's mail-in voting law, Act 77, which he is encouraging GOP lawmakers to repeal. Questions arose in 2020 over whether mail-in ballots that were signed but undated could be counted. State courts ultimately ruled that undated ballots must be thrown out, while a federal court ruled this year that rejecting undated ballots violated federal civil rights law.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court fast-tracked a legal challenge to counting undated ballots brought by the Republican National Committee, the Pennsylvania GOP, and several other Republican groups. The briefing schedule suggests the state's high court could resolve the issue before this year's midterm votes are counted, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
But the Pennsylvania suit is just one of 73 election-related lawsuits the RNC has filed in an effort to tilt the midterm landscape in the GOP's direction. RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's great vision for 2022 was to make it the GOP's “most litigious" cycle ever. Republicans are suing Democratic secretaries of state, challenging state laws they believe will advantage Democrats, and fighting federal lawsuits initiated by the Biden administration in GOP-led states.
Of course, every one of those RNC lawsuits will also give GOP election deniers a toehold for making hay if Republicans lose, seeding baseless conspiracy theories, and cultivating perpetual doubt in the outcomes.
At the same time, Republicans are currently fielding roughly 300 to 370 candidates who are either outright 2020 election deniers or have questioned the legitimacy of the outcome. In addition, GOP candidates in some of the most critical races this year have either declined to say they would accept the election results or given conflicting answers on the matter. They include:
- Kari Lake, Arizona gubernatorial nominee
- Blake Masters, Arizona Senate nominee
- Tudor Dixon, Michigan gubernatorial nominee
- Ted Budd, North Carolina Senate nominee
- J.D. Vance, Ohio Senate nominee
So while the GOP’s armed 'poll watchers' are intimidating people on the front end of voting, the Republican machine and its candidates are full-on preparing to launch a firehose of disinformation on the back end if things don't go their way next month.
As national security expert Marcy Wheeler tweeted Sunday, “I hope the FBI is preparing for political violence in NV, AZ, and PA after the elections.”
That’s the unfortunate reality we are living in.
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On Daily Kos’ The Brief, we speak with polling giant Drew Linzer, who runs polling firm CIVIQs and comes in to talk about a new poll his team conducted for Daily Kos. He is also here to explain, as a professional, how to not stress out every time you see a poll going your way or the other way. One thing is for sure, though: We are living in historic times, and what that means for these midterms cannot be easily predicted—so Get Out The Vote!
So much is on the line this election, and we need to make sure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballots. Sign up to volunteer for Election Protection to fight voter suppression and rampant disinformation. From field work to remote work you can do at home, there is something for every volunteer with Election Protection.
