GOP roars back to life in Trump-resistant Pennsylvania suburbs

[brooklynite]

Politico

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia suburbs buried Donald Trump in 2020.

One year later, after enabling Joe Biden to flip one of the nation’s most critical swing states, their lurch in the opposite direction is a cause for alarm among Democrats.

Largely overlooked amid the party’s dismal suburban results in Virginia and New Jersey last week, Republicans regained ground in the vote-rich Philly suburbs after years of losses under Trump. The GOP flipped multiple row offices in populous Bucks County, carried a state Supreme Court race there, and even came close to winning seats on the county council in Delaware County, where Biden romped by nearly 30 points in 2020.

Pennsylvania will be home to highly competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in next year’s midterm elections — and the GOP’s local comeback here shows that Democrats’ newfound shakiness among suburban voters reaches far deeper than one or two states.

“This November was an early insight into what Democrats could be facing in the suburbs in 2022,” said Dan Sena, former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The suburbs have become much more competitive for Democrats than they have been in the last two elections, and provide opportunities for Republicans to make gains.”

A reason I'm not convinced Fetterman is the best choice for Senate.

[Lovie777]

1. Maybe . ...

[Klaralven]

2. Progressive, centrist, Trumper? These Pa. 2022 candidates could change the balance of power in the U

https://whyy.org/articles/progressive-centrist-trumper-these-pa-2022-candidates-could-change-the-balance-of-power-in-the-u-s-senate/

Summarizes some of the leading candidates.

[rso]

3. Pennsylvania

If Fetterman gets the nomination for US Senate, it would be difficult for any Republican to beat him.

[Amishman]

4. Agreed, Fetterman has the perfect personality for this state

And he is most progressive in labor / economic areas - which works well here. The state is more socially conservative than economically.

[belpejic]

7. I think so as well

I grew up in SE PA. I don't know about deep red Pennsyltucky (that area is unfortunately kind of hopeless), but I think that Fetterman can perform very well in the purplish suburb/exurb areas that I assume will be crucial for victory. He totally has the right personality. As long as he doesn't get pinned down on some bulls**t like CRT--I think he should focus on the popular parts of our agenda--he should be able to hold his own.

[Tree-Hugger]

5. Meanwhile

An 8 year GOP mayor seat was flipped for a Dem. A 100% DEM school board was under extreme coordinated attacks from Trump cultists and was out raised in donations due to the outside money from GOP groups. They still won anyway. A DEM judges seat was threatened by a GOP ex-cop. The DEM won.

It wasn't all a "bloodbath," but the media doesn't like that.

[maxrandb]

6. Politico has a special "Dems in Disarray" section

It's right next to the "Dems are sinking" section.

The local and national Democratic Party leaders better understand something.

This "Dems in Dispair" narrative from Politico and other "media" outlets is NOT a coincidence.

This is a concerted, funded effort, much along the same line as T-Bagging, that has two specific goals.

1. To suppress Democratic voters and motivate Retrumplican voters. It's designed to put blood in the water, and create a feeding frenzy of more "Dems are losing" stories.

2. To try to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of Retrumplicans as the ultimate victors, and more popular than they truly are. I mean, if they can show you that your "friendly" neighbor doesn't have a problem with white supremacy and violent insurrection, why should you.

Like the General told Joker in Full Metal Jacket; " you need to get onboard for the big win".

It's focus grouped psycho babble.

The billionaires on the right know that a large percentage of the American people simply want to be "winners".

Think about it.

When was the last time you heard a Retrumplican admit defeat?

When was the last time Retrumplicans admitted that they needed to be "concerned" about "reaching out".

They constantly use the words of war.

We need to learn to do the same.

Dems can worry about playing nice and introspection AFTER we save our Democratic form of government.

Every single one of these "sky is falling" stories needs to be responded to with overwhelming strength.

If they scream that you are losing, you need to scream back louder that you are winning, and winning bigly. Hell, Democrats should be proclaiming that the American Middle Class will win so much, they'll get tired of winning.

[brooklynite]

11. Explain how Politico, a publication that voters don't read, is suppressing Democratic voters.

[maxrandb]

13. Politico, like a million other "news" sites don't need voters to read them

But just watch how much this Politico story is quoted and referenced by CNN, MSNBC, FAUX NEWS, C-SPAN and Bloomberg.

Once it makes it there, it's just a hopskip and a jump to ABC, CBS, NBC, and all of their affiliates.

How much of print media simply cuts and pastes stories from Politico and others?

Know who else you can count on to spread it far and wide? Hate Radio.

[Cosmocat]

8. How on earth does this put Fetterman in question?

?

[brooklynite]

12. Because...

Pennsylvania has had a habit of electing Republican Senators (Spector, Santorum, Toomey) or moderate Democratic Senators (Casey, Wofford).

The appeal I’ve seen posted here is that he “looks” and “talks” tough. I don’t see those attributes translating to Republican or Independent votes.

[Cosmocat]

14. I take the point you just made but

Dont agree to it as a conclusion to the situation at hand.

A bland, "moderate" democrat gets hammered this cycle. JF excites the liberals while potentially flaking some nontraditional voters who may otherwise vote R.

[Cosmocat]

15. I take the point you just made but

Dont agree to it as a conclusion to the situation at hand.

A bland, "moderate" democrat gets hammered this cycle. JF excites the liberals while potentially flaking some nontraditional voters who may otherwise vote R.

[PortTack]

9. Typical Politico! Their two siderism sucks. Break down that vote and you find that it's

The uneducated white voter that went for the gqp, while the educated voters go for Dems! So what has changed? they will always vote for the gqp.

Politico is going to a pay per view so hoping we see less of their crap.

[LiberalFighter]

10. If anything it calls into question the makeup of county Democratic Parties.

Have they had changes in officers. Are they putting in the work supporting candidates?