GEORGIA ON MY MIND!

I was expecting Hershel Walker to lose to Raphael Warnock. To be honest, Hershel Walker came with too much baggage to ignore. That does not mean Warnock was a better choice, he wasn’t. But when you combine the far too real baggage with a campaign based almost entire on the politics of personal destruction, well there you are. It didn’t help that Democrats outspent Republicans two to one. It is a miracle this was even close.

A lot of Republicans want to blame Donald Trump, and they have a point. He focused on “celebrity” candidates, people with very high name recognition. The classic example of that was Dr. Oz. It have been nice if Dr. Oz actually lived in Pennsylvania and Hershel Walker really lived in Georgia. The result is that two celebrity candidates, powered by the Trump endorsement, got hosed by candidates that didn’t come close to passing the smell test.

But before Democrats start crowing, they need to look at a map. This year Democrats only had to defend 14 seats while Republicans had to defend 21. In 2024, the opposite will be the case. Democrats will have to defend 21 seats and Republicans only 10 seats. In addition, Republicans will be defending seats in: Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Good luck with those states Democrats. Democrats will be defending seats in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.  The slogan for 2024 should be “lose two and you’re through.”

The point being that Democrats have a lot of work to do and Republicans have a much easier playing field. There will be some changes, regardless of which party wins. Even in California, Diane Feinstein is 88 years old, well past her expiration date. Angus King is 78, Ben Cardin is 78, Bernie Sanders is 80, Patrick Leahy is 82. Republicans will see change too. Jim Risch is 78. Mitch McConnell is 80, Jim Inhofe is 87, Richard Shelby is also 87, And Chuck Grassley is 88.

Change is coming and it is coming soon. During the past 20 years, the Democratic Party has become increasingly liberal. But that does not mean the new class will share their values. Odds are they won’t. New Democrats running for office are very likely to realize the total failure of the Biden administration policies and of the enormous backlash to the “woke community.” One thing is sure, neither Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi will be the leaders of tomorrow’s Democratic Party.

Once again Georgia put on an election that raises questions, but Brian Kemp was re-elected Governor and Chris Carr was re-elected Attorney general. Don’t assume that Georgia is now a blue or even purple state just because Republicans ran some questionable candidates.

So, while it is depressing to see someone as despicable as Raphael Warnock and John Fetterman elected to the Senate and nauseating to realize these two clowns give control to the Democrats, I am reminded that if this is the best Democrats could produce, their chance of success is also greatly diminished. Sometimes it is darkest just before dawn, but dawn is always just over the horizon.

 

TDM