Republicans already ran a campaign blasting Democrats as socialists. It didn't work.
(Disclosure: the Politico article was written by this DU poster's daughter)
A swing-state experiment in last year's midterms offer a cautionary tale for the GOP.
By HOLLY OTTERBEIN 04/12/2019 05:07 AM EDT
[link:https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/12/republicans-socialists-democrats-campaign-2020-1271706|
With Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic pack and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turning congressional hearings into viral sensations, Republicans can hardly wait to turn 2020 into a referendum on “socialism.”
But the GOP already tried that very strategy in a swing state that was essential to President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory — and it flopped.
In Pennsylvania last year, Republicans tagged Democrats up and down the ticket as socialists or sympathetic to socialism: Gov. Tom Wolf, congressional candidates and state representative hopefuls all got the hammer-and-sickle treatment. The strategy was deliberate and coordinated, emanating from the state’s Republican Party chairman, Val DiGiorgio.
But come Election Day, Democrats flipped three House seats and 16 more in the state General Assembly. Wolf easily won reelection, as did Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
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more at link.
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