The GOP has mastered the political equivalent of being ahead by two touchdowns in the middle of the fourth quarter and then losing by a field goal in the closing seconds of the game. In the aftermath of last Tuesday's unexpectedly disappointing results, we are being treated to the usual facile excuses for what went wrong.
Ignore them! We need to cancel the usual "noise" inevitably being pumped out after these losses and we must stop repeating the mistakes of the past. The common denominator in these disheartening results for the GOP on Tuesday night was low turnout.
Local and state Republican parties must invest in reliable get out the vote infrastructure, and that requires hiring people to canvass. Maybe we had enough volunteers in the past, but clearly the number of volunteers isn't keeping up with the turnout machine of the Democrats.
Thankfully there are a lot of useful lessons to learn so we can avoid the same follies in 2024. Here are the most important takeaways from Tuesday night's results:
1) Avoid Intra-Party Chaos
Republicans politically shot themselves in the foot with the House speaker crisis provoked by eight Republicans who joined every single House Democrat in removing Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. McCarthy's removal left the House without a speaker for almost a month. This move may have warmed the hearts of a tiny group within the party (who would welcome a shutdown and prefer that we don't have a government at all), but it also scared the daylights of middle of the road families trying to make ends meet.
Joe Biden is a "chaos President." During times of uncertainty, voters crave stability. Any advantages gained by Republicans in this election cycle by Biden's feckless policies were largely negated by the bizarre spectacle of several weeks of brutal public fighting in the House of Representatives that most voters didn't understand, and few could justify.
2) Embrace Early Voting and Mail-In Ballots
It's understandable why people miss the days when Election Day was one day instead of one month or two; it's also lamentable that mail-in ballots are susceptible to fraud. Stomping our feet and yelling about the Kraken making things right is not a rational strategy. If we expect to win elections, we must wholeheartedly embrace early voting and mail-in ballots.
3) Candidates Must Own Their Campaigns
The attacks on much maligned RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel are over the top and misplaced. In almost every election cycle, the Republican Party fields hundreds of candidates for local and state office. While local, state and national organizations can and do provide valuable assistance, there are so many campaigns, it's not possible to get involved in every race.
Armchair quarterbacks are reluctant to acknowledge that money is not finite; when you fund one race you are going to have to refuse to fund another race that might be viable. Unfortunately, many candidates fail to build their own independent operations while waiting for help that never arrives.
They don't even try to raise money or gain volunteers. We see too many candidates posting tweet after tweet hoping to gain the attention of a prominent national political figure, when their time should be spent on the campaign trail.
"If you build it, they will come." This line was made famous in the movie "Field of Dreams," and it relates well to the problems plaguing GOP candidates. If you are serious about running for office, don't expect a one-shot social media cure-all to help your fledgling campaign. Go out and build a campaign organization, raise as much money as you can, and other influential people will take notice.
4) Stop Using Abortion as a Scapegoat
Republican candidates fare much better when pro-lifers are mobilized — just look at the second term campaigns of George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump (both of whom were far less enthusiastic pro-lifers during their first presidential runs) who got a much bigger boost from evangelicals in their second campaigns. Blaming the referendum in Ohio or the pro-life movement is misguided for several reasons.
First, Gov. Mike DeWine and Sen. JD Vance are staunchly pro-life and both comfortably won their most recent election contests. Second, pro-choice advocates spent twice as much in the Ohio referendum. Abortion is such an emotional and deeply personal issue. That anyone who claims pro-abortion zealots can be thwarted when they have such a financial advantage is being temerarious.
Turning against reliable coalitions in the Republican Party and instituting a circular firing squad is foolhardy. Republicans could reasonably blame "Trump" or "abortion" if most of these contests were blowouts or if turnout was high; we came close in so many ridiculously low turnout affairs.
Republicans can have historic gains in 2024 at the federal, state and local level. Instead of "savage tweets," let's just focus on working much harder on engaging real voters and making sure they get to the voting booth on Election Day or Election Month!
Nicholas Chamberas has advised good government advocacy groups, elected officials and political candidates on public policy matters as well as having served as a senior adviser on several prominent New York City campaigns. He holds a degree in Political Science and a Juris Doctor. Read Nicholas Chamberas' Reports — More Here.
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