(New York) Peter Meijer is the kind of Republican whose death Democrats say they deplore.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Elected to the House of Representatives in November 2020, this young politician from Michigan has shown a strong sense of responsibility from his first election. On January 6, 2021, he endorsed the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. And, a week later, he was one of ten representatives of his party to vote for Donald’s indictment. Trump for “inciting insurrection” during the storming of the Capitol.
Never mind, Democrats have worked recently to ensure the disappearance of Peter Meijer.
PHOTO JOEL BISSELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michigan Republican primary candidate John Gibbs
In the days leading up to a high-profile Republican primary, they spent $425,000 running an ad to promote the candidacy of John Gibbs, their main challenger in the Republican primary.
John Gibbs believes in various conspiracy theories, including rigging the 2020 presidential election.
Peter Meijer lost this primary last Tuesday. Has House Democrat Election Committee money tipped the scales?
It is impossible to answer this question with certainty.
But the strategy deployed by the Democrats in this election has earned them these days being treated as hypocrites, cynical and irresponsible. And these accusations sometimes come from their own ranks.
Because Peter Meijer was not the only target of this strategy. Since the beginning of the primary season, Democratic organizations have spent tens of millions of dollars on advertisements to help the cause of extreme Republican candidates at the expense of more moderate Republican opponents.
The objective is the same everywhere: to promote the victory of a Republican candidate who would, in theory, be easier to beat next November.
How does this strategy unfold?
The case of John Gibbs, Peter Meijer’s rival, is typical. At first glance, the publicity paid by the Democratic Party concerning him seemed negative. She claimed that this candidate was “too conservative for West Michigan”, that he had been “handpicked by Donald Trump”, that he had “worked in the Trump administration with Ben Carson” and that he had promised to defend in Congress “the same conservative program” as the former president, particularly in matters of immigration and education.
Hearing this description, Trump supporters may have said to themselves, “I didn’t know this John Gibbs, but I’m interested in him. »
In Maryland, the Democratic Governors Association has spent more than $2 million promoting Dan Cox, one of the Republican candidates for governor of that state. A promoter of the “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election, Cox attended the rally ahead of the Capitol storming.
PHOTO RIC DUGAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Maryland State Delegate Dan Cox after winning the Republican gubernatorial primary
In their ad for Cox, the Democrats appeared to attack him by calling him “100% pro-life” and pro-gun.
Cox will protect the Second Amendment at all costs. Dan Cox, too close to Trump, too conservative.
Excerpt from a Democratic Party ad
On the eve of the Maryland primaries last month, the ad may have convinced some conservatives to vote for Cox. One thing is certain, the latter was chosen by the Republicans as a candidate for the succession of moderate Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who had called him a “QAnon nut”.
Democratic ads taking the same approach have also aired ahead of Republican gubernatorial, senator or representative primaries in several states, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and California.
In Pennsylvania, a Democratic ad may have contributed to the victory of Doug Mastriano, a fierce opponent of abortion who participated in Donald Trump’s efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Just more of the same
The strategy of the Democrats is not new. In 2012, future Democratic Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, used it to promote Todd Akin, a Republican candidate who had proven too hardline for her conservative state. Akins had torpedoed his own campaign by claiming that it was rare for a woman to become pregnant during a “real rape”.
However, ten years later, this strategy seems to contradict the repeated assertion of the Democrats that the followers of Donald Trump’s “big lie” threaten American democracy.
It’s disgusting. I recognize that a number of Democrats really understand that democracy is under threat, but don’t come to me after spending money supporting an election denier asking, “Where are all the good Republicans?”
— Adam Kinzinger, Republican Representative from Illinois, member of the January 6 Commission, on CNN
The strategy could backfire on Democrats in another way. Midterm elections often result in waves that contribute to the election of candidates who would not necessarily win under other circumstances.
It is therefore not excluded that the Democrats find themselves in particular with a John Gibbs in place of a Peter Meijer in the House of Representatives.