Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Brooklyn Democrat who is House Minority Leader, declared in a fundraising appeal just four days before the midterm elections, “We will end the nightmare of MAGA extremism.”
He says that assessment is based on several things, including Democrats surging in the late polls; the growing disgust of a majority of Americans with the economy and with the Trump policies they believe are responsible for it; and the unprecedented levels of spending by Republicans determined to literally buy seats in swing districts.
The major media are reporting that the mood inside the White House is depressed and miserable as Republican candidates across the country struggle to put distance between themselves and the president.
Until recently, Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, now running for governor, was a staunch acolyte of President Trump. He faces Democrat David Crowley, who would be the first African American governor of that state.
In his campaign against Crowley, Tiffany, according to a recent article in the New York Times, these days never mentions his long association with Trump, focusing instead on his role as a “tax cutter.” “Crowley will raise your taxes and will take away your guns and your freedom,” he says at rallies and on his website. “You can count on me to continue to stand up for your freedom and for all your rights.”
Crowley is picking up support as he takes strong stands on the issues important to voters. “Republicans want to do favors for their wealthy supporters,” he says on his website. “I support good quality medical care for everyone and good schools, including strengthening, not dismantling, the Department of Education.”
Taking clear positions seems to be paying off for Democratic candidates. The famed election forecaster Nate Silver said, “If the election goes as the polls say it will, it will be a momentous election indeed. It will be in reality the end of the Trump era.”
Silver said in the same recent interview, on Ezra Klein’s podcast for the New York Times, that “after the election Trump will still be president for two more years, but the minute the votes are counted—which might take a while because of states like California and Alaska—the 2028 election begins, and if Trump has a bad night, as polls show, then he is a super lame duck. You might draw an analogy to George W. Bush in 2006.”
Among the candidates leading the charge against longtime Trump supporters are progressives who won their primaries to become the official Democratic Party candidates.
One of the best known of these is Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, who defeated a so-called “establishment” Democrat, Rep. Haley Stevens, in the primary. El-Sayed is facing Republican Mike Rogers but also still dealing with primary leftovers.
Stevens, his former Democratic opponent, has been accused of undercutting his campaign during the final days of a race that can determine which party controls the Senate. Her fiancé, Jason Turkish, said this week that he will vote for Republican Rogers on grounds that El-Sayed, who has spoken out against the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, is an antisemite and a danger to the Jewish community.
Stevens has not disavowed her fiancé’s stand and says she still backs El-Sayed. She has, however, publicly urged him to cut ties with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, and on national television this week she repeatedly stopped short of saying she was fully behind him. In an apparent effort to heal the rift, Stevens is scheduled to campaign with El-Sayed in Detroit this Sunday, according to The Washington Post.
Centrist and more conservative Democrats have strongly pushed for progressive Democrats, including those backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, to support the party when the centrists win the primaries. They do not always return that favor, however, and there is fear that in some races where the progressive is the official Democratic candidate and the gap in the polls with the Republican is narrow, the Republicans could end up winning.
Unity is critical if Democrats are to take control of the Senate in addition to the House, where they already have a large lead in the polls. They must hold onto the Senate seats they have now in Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Michigan and add four seats from a list that includes Maine, North Carolina, Alaska, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, and Kansas.
When it comes to taking control of the House, where they are way ahead, Democrats and progressives seem to be leaving few stones unturned.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, for example, has been campaigning heavily in the Central Valley in California, not normally considered a “liberal” bastion. He is backing a progressive, Randy Villegas, who is challenging Republican Rep. David Valadao.
When it comes to both House and Senate races, Sanders has warned that it would be foolhardy to think that places that often elect progressives don’t need work. “In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan faces a tougher challenge than most people think,” Sanders said, explaining why he makes trips there to campaign for her.
“She won her primary, but Republicans are spending a fortune to try to block her election,” he said. A recent New York Times/Siena poll, however, showed Flanagan leading Republican Michele Tafoya 54% to 40%.
“In Florida, on the other hand,” Sanders has told the New York Times, “I would not be surprised if Angie Nixon, the progressive Democrat, defeated her Republican opponent.”
a dozen or so victories next week could mean significant long-term changes in the makeup of Congress, with MAGA being dealt a severe blow in ways that involve more than just numbers.
Other races on that list include, on the House side: Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and union leader running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th District; Manny Rutinel in Colorado’s 8th District; Randy Villegas in California’s 22nd District; Sam Forstag, a union leader and former smokejumper in Montana’s 1st District; William Lawrence in Michigan’s 7th District; Matt Dunlap in Maine’s 2nd District; and Justin Pearson, in Tennessee’s 9th District in Memphis.
And on the Senate side: Troy Jackson in Maine, El-Sayed in Michigan, and Angie Nixon in Florida.
All 11 of those candidates are strong progressives with pro-labor backgrounds. It is conceivable that all or most of them could win next Tuesday, which would not only help wrest control of both houses of Congress from MAGA but also lay the groundwork for major long-term changes in Washington, if not in the entire country.
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