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Millions of dollars in attack advertisements are hitting television screens in Illinois castigating Aurora Mayor Richard Irvins (R) track record as an attorney for defendants accused of violent crimes.

But the advertisements targeting Irvin arent coming from his main rival for the Republican nomination for governor. They are funded by Democrats, more than a month before the Republican primary takes place in late June.

The Democratic Governors Association has spent millions in both Illinois and Nevada, where incumbent governors are seeking reelection, in an apparent effort to weaken their likely Republican opponents.

The DGA is wasting no time in educating the public about these Republicans, said Christina Amestoy, the groups senior communications advisor. These elected and formerly elected officials want to deceptively retell their histories, and were just filling in the gaps.

So far, the DGA has dropped $8.4 million on television ads across Illinois, including more than $4 million in the Chicago market alone. Those ads target Irvin, the leading Republican ahead of next months primary, in which he faces state Sen. Darren Bailey (R) and a handful of other contenders. The winner of the GOP primary will face Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) in November.

And Democrats have spent $2.3 million in Nevada, targeting Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo (R). Lombardo leads attorney Joey Gilbert (R) and former Sen. Dean Heller (R) in the race to take on Gov. Steve Sisolak (D).

The group is also spending early money on what is likely to be an effort to boost an independent candidate in Oregon in hopes of syphoning votes away from the newly minted Republican nominee. The DGA has funneled at least $61,000 to a group called Oregonians for Ethics, which is preparing advertisements that will paint former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, an independent, as a conservative.

Johnson, elected as a Democrat to represent a timber-heavy district on Oregons Pacific Coast, is trying to build a multiparty coalition in her bid to become the states first independent governor in nearly a century. This week, she touted support from both former Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) and former Sen. Gordon Smith (R).

Instead of standing up for our values, she sided with the right wing to advance their agenda, says a digital ad paid for by Oregonians for Ethics, citing Johnsons votes against raising the minimum wage and a cap and trade proposal.

Johnson will vie against former state House Speaker Tina Kotek (D) and former House Republican Leader Christine Drazan (R), who won their respective primaries this week.

The early spending comes after Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) ran an unconventional advertisement spotlighting state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) and his support for former President Donald Trump. That ad reminded both Republican and independent voters of Mastrianos ties to Trump, dual missions with two very dissimilar goals.

On Tuesday, Mastriano and Shapiro both won their primaries in the race to replace term-limited Gov. Tom Wolf (D).

Republicans say the early spending is a sign that Democrats have already hit the panic button in the midst of an unfavorable political climate.

The DGAs spending decisions indicate they are very worried about their incumbent governors chances as their failed records are being litigated for voters, said Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the Republican Governors Association. There isnt enough money for them to meddle in the nearly dozen states where Democrats are in danger of losing their hold on the governors office.

Meddling in another partys primary, or goosing an independent candidate in hopes of syphoning off votes from a rival, is a rare but not unheard-of occurrence in modern politics.

In 2012, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) ran advertisements slamming then-Rep. Todd Akin (R) as too conservative ahead of the Republican primary a message that conservative voters wanted to hear. Akin won the GOP primary, and McCaskill trounced him that November.

That same year, allies of Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) ran advertisements attacking Dan Cox, the Libertarian Party nominee, as an arch conservative. Cox took just 6.5 percent of the vote a share that might otherwise have gone to then-Rep. Denny Rehberg (R). Tester won with just 48.6 percent of the vote.

Republicans in 2020 tried their own late trick, paying for ads that elevated state Sen. Erica Smith (D), a progressive Black woman. Smith took almost 35 percent of the vote against former state Sen. Cal Cunningham (D), national Democrats preferred candidate though Cunningham lost to Sen. Thom Tillis (R) after details of a sordid affair sunk his campaign.

Thirty-six states will elect governors this year, including eight states where incumbents are not seeking a new term. Democrats have strong chances to pick up seats in Maryland and Massachusetts, where popular Republican governors are retiring, while Republicans are aiming to knock off Democratic incumbents in key states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine and Kansas.

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Democrats spend big in GOP governor primaries - The Hill

Shortly after the draft supreme court opinion overturning Roe v Wade was leaked to the public, Californias governor, Gavin Newsom, condemned conservative attacks on abortion rights and pledged that his state would be a sanctuary for those seeking to end a pregnancy.

But Newsom also directed some of his most pointed remarks toward fellow Democrats.

Where the hell is my party? Wheres the Democratic party? Newsom said. This is a concerted, coordinated effort, and yes, theyre winning. They are. They have been. Lets acknowledge that. We need to stand up. Wheres the counter-offensive?

Even as Democrats have denounced the courts provisional decision to overturn Roe and vowed to defend abortion rights, their efforts at the federal level have largely failed to live up to their rhetoric. A vote last Wednesday in the Senate to codify Roe and protect abortion rights nationwide was once again blocked, as Democrat Joe Manchin joined all 50 Republican senators in opposing the bill.

The failure of Democrats in Washington to shore up abortion rights, even as they control the White House and both chambers of Congress, has complicated the partys messaging to voters about the likely end of Roe. Some frustrated Democrats are instead turning their attention to state and local policies that could protect reproductive rights even if Roe falls.

Abortion rights supporters frustration with Democratic inaction at the federal level has been on display since the draft opinion leaked earlier this month. At a protest outside the supreme court last week, abortion rights demonstrators chanted: Do something, Democrats.

Progressive members of Congress have also argued for the urgent need to pass federal abortion rights legislation, calling on senators to amend the filibuster to get a bill approved.

People elected Democrats precisely so we could lead in perilous moments like these - to codify Roe, hold corruption accountable, [and] have a President who uses his legal authority to break through Congressional gridlock on items from student debt to climate, progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter.

The stakes of Democratic inaction are high, as abortion is certain or likely to be outlawed in 26 states if the court follows through with overturning Roe. Last weekend, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, warned that Republicans may go even further if they regain control of the White House and Congress, floating the idea of a national abortion ban.

Republicans would probably face widespread public outcry if they advanced a nationwide ban. A poll %09https:/www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_US_051122/">released by Monmouth University last week found that just 9% of Americans support the idea of a national ban, while 64% support keeping abortion legal. However, abortion rights advocates warn that the threat of a nationwide ban will be real if Republicans take back Congress and the White House.

Republicans are definitely passing a national abortion ban once they have the power to do it, said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of the reproductive rights group UltraViolet. Theyve been signaling they were going to pack the supreme court in order to overturn Roe. I dont think people took them seriously enough. And so people really need to learn the lesson here and take them very, very seriously on this point.

Progressive groups like UltraViolet have called on Democrats to amend the Senate filibuster, which would allow a bill codifying Roe to get through the upper chamber with a simple majority of support. But Manchin and fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema have made it clear they will not support a filibuster carve-out, and the vote last Wednesday failed to even attract the 50 votes that would be necessary if the Senate rules were changed.

Our constitutional right to abortion has to be more important than their loyalty to arcane Senate procedures that are not even laws, Thomas said. People watched them carve the filibuster out to raise the debt ceiling. If they can do it for that, they should be able to do it for this.

Democratic congressional leaders have encouraged members of their party to direct their criticism toward Republicans rather than each other. In a Dear colleague letter to House Democrats last week, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, warned of Republicans wish for a national abortion ban and said their policies could even criminalize contraceptive care, in vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care.

Make no mistake: once Republicans have dispensed with precedent and privacy in overturning Roe, they will take aim at additional basic human rights, Pelosi said.

Christina Reynolds, vice-president of communications at Emilys List, which promotes pro-choice female candidates for office, insisted that voters who support abortion rights will know to hold Republicans accountable in the midterm elections this November. Republicans have gotten us here in a large number of ways, Reynolds said.

But Democratic candidates running for office this fall will have to paint a longer-term picture of how the party plans to protect abortion rights, even if they cannot prevent the court from overturning Roe.

The Democratic party has to move away from this message about how we can fix everything right away, said Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee. This is a lifetime struggle. Government is hard. We will need you to vote this November, next November and every November after that because the people who want to take away your rights arent going to stop.

In the meantime, Democrats have an opportunity to turn their attention to the state and local offices that may be able to help protect abortion rights if Roe falls, Dietrich argued.

The fight for the next 10-plus years is going to be at the state and local levels, he said. Its going to be in the state legislatures. Its going to be in the city councils and at all the different local government forums we have around the country that arent big and sexy.

Some of those efforts are already under way across the country.

In Michigan, where a 1931 abortion ban is still on the books and could go back into effect if Roe is overturned, the Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has filed a lawsuit to block implementation of the law. Several county prosecutors also signed on to a statement saying they would not pursue criminal charges in connection to the 1931 law.

One of those prosecutors was Democrat Karen McDonald in Oakland county, the second-largest county in Michigan. She said that, despite her despair over the likely end of Roe, she was committed to finding ways to ensure her neighbors rights and healthcare access.

It is a sad, tragic moment, McDonald said. But I am not going to spend one minute of my energy letting that tear me away from what I think is absolutely critical right now, which is we all need to pay attention and support and fund and help elect [those candidates] who want to protect our right to choose.

Oakland county was once a Republican stronghold, but it has become increasingly Democratic in recent years. McDonald said she has heard from members of her community who previously supported Republicans and are now rethinking their politics in light of the supreme courts expected decision.

I know a lot of women who voted for Trump and are now saying I will never, ever ever, vote for a pro-life candidate. They just didnt think it would happen, McDonald said. So I think this is really turning politics on its head.

Thomas agreed that many Americans who support abortion rights seem to have been taken aback by the provisional decision to overturn Roe, even after Republicans obtained a 6-3 majority on the court. Conservatives have also been calling for the end of Roe for decades, and Trump promised to nominate anti-abortion justices to the supreme court.

I dont think its surprising that people had to see it to believe it, despite having heard this, particularly from Black and brown women who have been bearing the brunt of these attacks at the state level for a long time, Thomas said. As an organizer, I will tell you, its never too late to join the fight. And the time is really now.

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'We need to stand up': Democrats criticized for inaction on abortion - The Guardian US

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Its not just Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros.

Democratic primary runoffs for congressional and state legislative seats in South Texas are putting on display clearly different directions for the party as it approaches a general election where Republicans are set on capturing new territory in the region.

While Cuellars battle royale against Cisneros in the 28th Congressional District continues to captivate national attention especially with the recent news that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade these additional runoffs are also deeply meaningful for Democrats. They also showcase a new guard of more progressive Democrats taking on more moderate Democrats, often backed by more established local political players.

In the 15th Congressional District, Ruben Ramirez and Michelle Vallejo are vying to be the Democratic nominee for an open seat that Republicans consider one of their top pickup opportunities nationwide. In Texas Senate District 27, Morgan LaMantia and Sara Stapleton-Barrera are competing for the Democratic nod to replace a retiring incumbent, Eddie Lucio Jr., who leaves behind a long legacy of bucking his fellow Democrats on social issues. And in House District 37, Ruben Cortez Jr. and Luis Villarreal are jockeying for the Democratic slot in a new battleground district that Republicans created for themselves in the redistricting process last year.

All the contests have grown contentious in recent weeks as candidates fight to show they are the best standard-bearer for Democrats going forward in a newly competitive region. Here is a look at the three runoffs:

The 15th District arguably carries the highest stakes of all the Democratic primary runoffs in South Texas, given that Republicans see it as the most flippable. Already a district that Biden barely carried in 2020, redistricting tilted it a little more in the GOPs favor, prompting the incumbent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen, to seek reelection in a more safe neighboring district.

The runoff candidates are Ruben Ramirez, a lawyer and Army veteran who previously ran for the seat, and Michelle Vallejo, an activist and small business owner. Its a timeworn matchup between a moderate Democrat who believes the party will risk the seat in November if it goes too far to the left and a progressive Democrat who sees it differently.

More than just telling people things, Ive been showing up, Vallejo said in an interview, noting she has been able to earn more endorsements than Ruben, both locally and nationally, and posted better numbers on the latest campaign finance report.

We havent just been talking the talk, weve been walking the walk, she said.

Ramirez has continued to campaign hard on electability and distancing himself from the national Democratic brand, impressing upon audiences that he knows South Texas Democrats are different. With an eye on the general election, he regularly namedrops the GOP nominee, Monica De La Cruz, who has emerged as one of the Republicans most prized congressional candidates nationwide.

Theres only one candidate that can win and beat Monica De La Cruz, and thats me, Ramirez said during a campaign stop earlier this month, noting he was the top vote-getter in the primary, earning 28% to 20% for Vallejo. In a statement for this story, he added, "We won the primary in March, we will win the runoff this month, and we will win in November to make sure that we have a common sense fighter for South Texas in Congress."

Vallejos endorsements include U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachussets; the Congressional Progressive Caucus; two former primary rivals; and EMILYs List, the influential national Democratic group that supports women who favor abortion rights. Ramirez has the backing of Gonzalez, plus the moderate Blue Dog Coalition in Congress and national groups that reflect his public-service background like VoteVets and 314 Action.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has been deeply divided on the runoff, with nearly a dozen members splitting their endorsements between Ramirez and Vallejo.

One of Ramirezs most helpful endorsers lately has been Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel group that is spending mid-six-figures on positive TV ads and mailers for him. The biggest outside spender for Vallejo has been LUPE Votes, a local progressive organizing organization.

The two avoided open conflict for months, but Ramirez recently sent out a mailer criticizing Vallejo over one of their biggest policy differences: health care. Ramirez is focused on protecting the Affordable Care Act and expanding coverage, while Vallejo supports the far more sweeping single-payer system known as Medicare for All. The mailer says such a plan would end the Affordable Care Act and eliminate private insurance, among other things, which Vallejos campaign called GOP talking points and lies in a recent fundraising email.

I will absolutely keep talking about Medicare for All, including in the general election, Vallejo said, calling the proposal more important than ever with Roe v. Wade on the line.

There has also been tension lately around ethics in campaigning. A Ramirez supporter filed a campaign finance complaint last month against LUPE Votes accusing it of violating multiple laws for how it has supported Vallejo; LUPE Votes has not responded to the charges. On Friday, a national progressive group, the Working Families Party, said voters were getting texts claiming to be from the group and urging support for Ramirez, even though it backs Vallejo; Ramirez's campaign denied any involvement.

And an Edinburg campaign worker whose clients included Ramirez was recently indicted on a federal bribery charge unrelated to the race; Ramirez's campaign cut ties and said "corruption has no place in government."

Morgan LaMantia and Sara Stapleton-Barrera are running for the Democratic nod to replace a giant in South Texas politics: state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., the Brownsville Democrat who has represented the 27th District since 1991. And he looms prominently over the race given that he has endorsed LaMantia, and his socially conservative politics are not widely embraced inside the party these days.

But LaMantia has made clear she disagrees with him on some key issues like his opposition to abortion rights while looking to fend off a persistent progressive campaigner in Stapleton-Barrera, who ran against Lucio in the 2020 primary and forced him to a runoff. Despite LaMantias massive spending in the March primary over $1.5 million she and Stapleton-Barrera finished close together, getting 34% and 33%, respectively.

Now LaMantia has shaken up the runoff with a full-throated message criticizing both Gov. Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden on the border, vowing to stand up to both parties to fix immigration.

To President Biden: The surge is here, theres still no plan, and we on the border are paying the price, LaMantia says in a TV ad, which is complemented by a mailer that tells Biden to walk back your decision on [ending] Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that border officials are using to quickly expel migrants at the border. One mailer shows a grainy, dark shot inside a migrant detention facility.

Stapleton-Barrera said Bidens move to rescind Title 42 is the right thing to do and an important step toward rebuilding the asylum system. She accused LaMantia of using national Republican rhetoric and trying to scare people here on the border.

LaMantia defended the advertising in an interview, saying border communities are fed up with inaction by both parties on immigration reform. She said the frustrations are resonating even among the hardcore Democrats that can be expected to turn out for a primary runoff.

There is no shortage of contrasts, especially with Stapleton-Barreras old opponent Lucio in the mix. She said the district does not need another one of [Lucios] mouthpieces, and even if LaMantia is sounding different notes on abortion rights, I dont think that necessarily means shes gonna be a champion or go up to bat on it. LaMantia said Lucio remained an asset for her candidacy given all his experience and the void in seniority the next senator will have to fill.

More broadly, LaMantia pointed to her business experience her family owns L&F Distributors, a beer wholesaler throughout South Texas as her main difference with Stapleton-Barrera.

Where she enjoys the soapbox, I enjoy the work, LaMantia said.

Whether the GOP is serious about flipping this seat is the most open question among the Democratic primary runoffs in South Texas. But just like elsewhere, Republicans got a head start in SD-27, finalizing their nominee, Adam Hinojosa, back in the March primary.

Much to the chagrin of Rio Grande Valley Democrats, Republicans divided up state House districts in the region during redistricting last year and came out with a newly competitive district based in Cameron County, including South Padre Island. President Joe Biden would have carried it by only 2 percentage points.

Republicans swiftly consolidated behind Janie Lopez, a San Benito school district trustee, and she easily won her primary in March. But the Democratic primary went to a runoff between two candidates who hail from distinctly different local factions: Luis Villarreal, a young former aide to state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville; and Ruben Cortez Jr., a member of the State Board of Education who challenged Lucio in the 2020 primary.

Cortez is arguing Villarreal would be more of the same, a moderate like his former boss who is too cozy with Republicans. He has also highlighted that Villarreal recently worked as an executive for a staffing company that partnered with a troubled nonprofit to open a shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in the Valley.

This young man is poised to become the next Ryan Guillen, Cortez said, referring to the longtime South Texas state representative who switched parties and joined the GOP last year. He is not gonna fight for this battleground district every two years. He will fold to the Republican Party.

Cortez has seized on two donations that Villarreal made to Republicans toward the end of the 2020 election $5,000 to the state Republican Party and $2,800 to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn asking if Villarreal is running in the right primary. Villarreal has not shied away from the contributions as he has characterized them as indicative of the kind of bipartisan cooperation needed in the state Senate.

Asked at a recent forum if it is OK for Democratic candidates to have previously donated to Republicans, Villarreal answered in the affirmative, saying it shows character in a way that youre willing to work with both sides.

Were here locally, and we need to ensure that youre able to get what you need done, Villarreal said, and sometimes that means working with the other side, as I will when I become a legislator.

Cortez has faced his own attacks from charter-school advocates, who he has battled on the State Board of Education. One pro-charter school PAC, Charter Schools Now, is running an ad against Cortez that hits him as an unethical politician out for himself. Villarreal has piled on, writing on Facebook on Friday that Cortez has spent the last 18 years milking the governments cow.

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South Texas Democrats fight to shape their party's future in primary runoffs - The Texas Tribune

Across the aisle, obviously, a different ethos has prevailed. Republicans have adopted an aggressive, freewheeling politics that tends to center anything sufficiently lurid, enraging, frightening or energizing: Socialism, the caravan, Ebola, Doctor Seuss, critical race theory. The list goes on and on. Outside of an effort to launch assaults along fault lines of race, gender, sexuality or age, theres no consistent set of real-world issues or policies being addressed.

Where Democratic politics is characterized by a rigid left-brain approach that evaluates a list of issues and tries to prioritize each one in accordance to its presumed salience, the GOP in recent years has been pure right-brain: Emotion leads, everything else follows. One sides tactics are highly structured. The others are postmodern, assuming that any narrative can be forced into political relevance, mostly by dint of being shouted about.

If it were true that politics was about a small set of core policy issues, the Democratic approach would be clearly and unambiguously superior. After all, in many respects, it is the only party even attempting to tackle such concerns. In 2020, the Democratic Party platform ran for 92 pages and touched on every traditional policy issue in the country. Infamously, the GOP did not even produce a platform, instead releasing a one-page resolution professing uncompromised loyalty to Donald Trump and his aims, whatever those may have been.

But election results do not suggest that Democrats have a smarter approach. The party has run slightly ahead in most recent elections, but hardly by a margin that suggests they have a powerful fundamental advantage and certainly not enough to consistently overcome the structural hurdles facing them in the Senate and Electoral College.

In the 2018 midterms, Democrats won the House solidly, but there was no evidence that the partys singular campaign focus on maintaining health coverage for preexisting conditions was transformative. The suburban-urban coalition that delivered the election was the same one that rallied against Trump in 2016 and 2020. In 2020, the country faced no shortage of real-world policy problems, most notably the Covid-19 pandemic. Characteristically, Democrats were convinced that the pandemic would define the election and focused campaign efforts around it. But while the policy-laden Biden defeated the policy-absent Trump, head-to-head polls barely budged throughout the year, and, in the final total, Trump achieved essentially the same vote share as in 2016.

More than anything else, the 2018 and 2020 results and the freakish stability of Trumps approval rating throughout his presidency suggested that the main subject in U.S. politics since 2016 was not any policy issue, but Trump himself. A large number of Americans strongly supported the man; a somewhat larger number loathed him. Everything else in their voting behavior seemed to flow outward from that.

And yet most Democrats specifically avoided making their campaigns about Trump, refusing to accept that he could be a more salient issue than the traditional set of policy concerns. Perhaps as a result, down-ballot Republicans substantially outperformed Trump himself.

Trumps centrality to voters broke all the assumed rules. Here was an all-consuming political force, one that largely washed out the electoral effects of tumultuous real-world events. It was attenuated from specific policy proposals and only indirectly linked to anyones day-to-day material wellbeing. It was a topic defined mainly by moral and emotional narratives on both sides. Yet, Trump shaped political reality. Few felt, or feel, indifferent.

Democrats face a dire midterm in 2022. If the partys business-as-usual strategy keeps falling flat, it might be time to reflect on the success of the GOPs political postmodernism. Democrats should consider that politics, rather than being about a short list of predetermined issues, can really be about anything at all. Political narratives dont have to stick to tried-and-true positioning around health care, immigration or taxes. They just have to tell a good story.

Plenty of potent civic sentiments are available. The desire to defend community and democracy whether against creeping disease, conquering foreign despots or far-right insurrection reaches across countless demographic groups. Support for fundamental values like fairness and patriotism is shared as widely as any policy preference. From civil rights and racial injustice to prohibition and abolitionism, American history is packed full of intrinsically moral causes that galvanized the public, both quickly and slowly. Nor should negative sentiments be written off. Nobody likes a crooked politician, and public fury over injustice or graft has driven many votes in the past. And few emotions motivate people as well as fear like the fear of unelected judges eliminating basic reproductive rights.

Some Democrats seem to have figured this out. Barack Obamas successful campaigns leaned heavily on themes of inspiration and forward progress, dovetailing with his own oratory and the gravity of his personal presence. In the 2020 Georgia Senate runoff, Jon Ossoff successfully hammered David Perdues perceived corruption, a tactic Democrats have ample opportunity to wield against Trump and his allies.

Democrats that are newer on the political scene also seem more comfortable living in this reality than party elders. It isnt just congressional lefties like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. John Fetterman, who just swept to victory in the Pennsylvania Senate primary, has noted that voters make up their minds based on a visceral feeling and he has notably avoided efforts to pigeonhole him as a progressive. Even some relative moderates, like Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 presidential campaign and Beto ORourke in the 2018 Texas Senate race, have overperformed expectations with campaigns built more around memorable personas and emotionally evocative narratives than fine-tuned issue positions.

None of this is to say that theres a single right way for Democrats to stave off disaster in 2022. There is no formula here. Issue polls can give hints about the sort of political stories that might catch on, but they ultimately cannot predict the future. Audiences often dont know what theyll respond to until they see it. Whats more as is obviously true in other mediums, but can be strangely overlooked in political campaigns presentation is often as important as content. Embedded in genuinely emotive language or evocative imagery, even standard talking points can suddenly become inspiring or thrillingly combative. Whos surprised Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow went viral simply for standing up for herself and her values? But a lot of Democratic campaigning focuses on matters like highway funding or drug pricing, which seem practically lab-constructed to repel any kind of emotional response outside of boredom.

Ultimately, politics has been around a lot longer than issue polls or even public policy. The standardization of national campaigns into a mechanical, poll-driven enterprise has not produced obvious benefits for the Democratic Party. For most of history, politics was an intuitive art, not a mechanical science. Democrats should remember this and going forward, pursue a little more artistry and a little less math.

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Opinion | Why Dems Ought to Take a Cue from the GOP and Get Angry - POLITICO

In 1980, because I was an idealistic conservative eager to do my bit for democracy, I volunteered for my local Republican Party as a poll watcher. When polls closed, election officials asked us to gather around as they opened the backs of the machines one by one and tallied the votes.

We could all see what was happening, and we all gave our assent that the totals were correct.

It was a glimpse into the ordinary yet extraordinary system weve devised over decades and centuries to ensure that elections are performed honestly and securely. Each state has developed its own procedures, but theyre all broadly similar.

The results of each polling location are delivered to the precinct and then on to the canvassing board. Election administrators are observed by partisans of both parties, and the results are often counted more than once.

Our voting systems have not always been perfect the most glaring flaw being the disenfranchisement of many African Americans until the mid-20th century but we corrected that. Over time and in most places, weve conducted free and fair elections every two years.

Today, that stability is at risk.

Across the country, candidates who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election are seeking office to prepare the ground for the next election. Pardoned Trump ally Steve Bannon is encouraging MAGA-ites to run for local posts with authority to count votes. Bannon uses his popular podcast to tout taking over the Republican Party through the precinct committee strategy ... Its about winning elections with the right people MAGA people. We will have our people in at every level.

At least 23 candidates who deny the outcome of the 2020 election are running for secretary of state in 19 states. Among those are battleground states that Joe Biden won narrowly: Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. Trump has endorsed candidates in Georgia, Arizona and Michigan, the only time in history that a former president has bestirred himself over races so far down the ballot.

Were seeing a dangerous trend of election deniers lining up to fill election administration positions across the country, Joanna Lydgate, chief executive of the States United Democracy Center, told The Guardian. States United also tallies 53 election deniers seeking governorships in 25 states, and 13 election deniers running for attorney general in 13 states.

Additionally, death threats and intimidation from MAGA extremists have caused one in five election administrators to say they will leave their posts before 2024. The most common explanation is that too many politicians were attacking a system that they know is fair and honest and that the job was too stressful. A February survey of 596 local election officials found that they spanned the political spectrum: 26% identified as Democrats, 30% as Republicans and 44% as Independents. A majority said they were worried about attempts to interfere with their work in future elections.

While MAGA types are beavering away, attempting to stack election boards and other posts with election-denying zealots, what are other Americans doing? The clock is ticking.

Democrats are likely to have a tough election in November not that widespread Republican victories will cause election deniers to reconsider their belief that the 2020 race was stolen. But while Democrats are likely to lose seats in the House and Senate, local elections may not be so lopsided, particularly if the craziness of some candidates is highlighted.

Kristina Karamo, for example, the Trump-endorsed secretary of state candidate in Michigan, claims that she personally witnessed fraudulent vote-counting in 2020, that Trump won her state (Biden won it by 154,000 votes) and that left-wing anarchists attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Some Republicans, it should not be forgotten, continue to uphold election integrity; a handful of honest Republicans saved the country from a potentially disastrous constitutional crisis in 2020.

If past is prologue, Democrats will probably pour money into unwinnable races. Remember Amy McGrath? She was supposed to dethrone Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. Democratic donors gave her $88 million. Remember Jaime Harrison? He was going to defeat Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. Donors shoveled $130 million his way. Harrison lost by 10 points. McGrath lost by nearly 20 points. The list goes on. Beto ORourke, anyone? (Republicans do this, too. Just look at the money wasted in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs district.)

This year, donors are spending millions to unseat the execrable Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sigh. Trump won Greenes district with 75% of the vote. This. Wont. Work.

Democrats, Independents and sane Republicans should focus instead on critical local contests that will determine who counts the votes in 2024. Those unsexy races for local positions and administrative posts like secretaries of state could make the difference in 2024 between an election and a coup.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

Mona Charen is policy editor of The Bulwark and host of the Beg to Differ podcast

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Are Democrats up to the job of preventing the next coup? - Chicago Sun-Times