Today’s article is to a large degree Part II of yesterday’s posting entitled, Will We Turn On The Light?. In it I outlined why I was concerned about the 2022 election. Today I’ll outline a political strategy for the Democrats.

Other than being a candidate, I’ve been involved in various election campaigns over the decades. There is much more to winning than simply getting your name on the ballot (which many of my friends learned the hard way). First you have to get people to vote and second you have to get them to vote for you.

At this point I think it is apparent that the Democrats will fall far short of the expectations of many of their 2020 voters. Many more Democratic than Republican voters do not consider anything other than presidential elections important enough to show up for. That is a major problem! Entering 2022 the Democrats are facing apathy and disappointment in many of the voters they need to get to the polls. Supplementing that the Republicans are pursuing voter suppression and intimidation at a record pace. Democrats have to turn adversity into advantage. That will be easier said than done but let’s look at some ways to make that happen.

Much of apathy is born of the common misperception that all politicians are the same and there is no big difference between Democrats and Republicans. Show them the clear difference!

Democrats have to convince their marginal voters that voting in 2022 is not only important but imperative. I am still sticking with my theory that Americans are much more likely to vote against than for a candidate. Therefore, we have to make the Republicans run on their records. I’ll be a bit self-serving here but tellthetruthonthem.com is a wonderful opposition research tool. Many of the most outrageous votes in this Congress have been documented down to the individual. Democratic congressional candidates and their operatives are free to use it and stupid if they don’t.

Paint an accurate picture of the Republicans as contrarians and obstructionists. The Republicans will be painting an inaccurate one of the Biden-led Democrats being incompetent.

Tell a woman that your opponent voted against equal pay for women. Tell someone who got hurt economically during the pandemic that your opponent voted against economic relief and vaccination programs. Etc. Do you think you can get the voter to view your opponent negatively? I do!

One issue to pound away at is 1/6! Almost every Republican voted against investigating it. Do you think the insurrection was popular in your district or state? My guess is that it wasn’t, still isn’t and never will be. If I were running against a Republican that voted against the commission I would mention that several time in every speech I made and in every ad.

Pound away at 1/6! Make it Biden’s 9/11. (W had a rare good mid-term (2002) for an incumbent in the shadow of 9/11.)
Take voter suppression and gerrymandering and turn them around. Few things are more motivating than effectively thumbing your nose at someone who tried to unfairly constrain you. Angry people vote and volunteer.

My basic strategy if you are running against a congressional incumbent is to attack, attack, attack and then attack some more. Make them defend their record and you not them set the agenda. Or to put in self serving terms simply tell the truth on them.

This article is the property of tellthetruthonthem.com and its content may not be used without citing the source. It may not be reproduced without the permission of Larry Marciniak.