Gillian Branstetter: This isn't a hypothetical; Dems specifically fund far-right candidates in GOP primaries to give themselves a better chance in the general

This isn't a hypothetical; Dems specifically fund far-right candidates in GOP primaries to give themselves a better chance in the general

The “Pied Piper candidates.” That strategy worked great for Clinton in 2016!

I mean Dems won every race where they employed this strategy in 2022 so yeah I would say so.

Let me know when you find a Republican who votes based on what Dems tell them to do. I'll wait.

In 2016, there was an effort by Democrats to legitimize Trump, hoping people would vote for him to scare away moderates. Trump won. How much of that was impacted by what is anyone’s guess.

It's the worst idea, the worst strategy, and they just love it. "The American people couldn't *possibly* be so racist that they'd elect this person! And giving money to candidates like this *definitely* doesn't legitimize fascism!"

They don’t give money to R candidates man lol. They spend negative ads against the top extreme candidates in the hope that these negative ads make them appealing to Republican primary voters. They would stop if r primary voters didn’t take the bait.

I would ecstatic with this hypothetical - Running against a candidate isn’t the same thing as running one candidate and then self orchestrating a public implosion and last minute drop-in trying to pretend the whole time it’s remotely normal and not a disaster

How we wound up with Hochul and one reason why we lost my Congressman 😤

I mean no lol. Hochul is around because Cuomo is a sex pest. If you want to criticize NY Dems for rallying around her instead of like Tish James fair enough but that’s an entirely different issue.

Zeldin

Democrats didn’t use these tactics to support Zeldin. If they wanted to do that they probably would have picked Giuliani son. The “moderate R” candidate in that race was Astorino who honestly in hindsight could have actually beaten Hochul.

I hate when Dems do this. It discourages decent Republicans from running.

Lol lmao

Every time the Democrats help a MAGAT win a primary, the greater chance a MAGAT will win a general election.

That’s not even remotely true lol. For example take my state of Maryland. There is absolutely no chance a Republican more conservative than Hogan can win here. Dems spent money to boost Jan 6 attendee Dan Cox over Hogans choice. Him winning ensured that Democrats would take the governors mansion.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Democrats spend tens of millions amplifying far-right candidates in nine stateswww.washingtonpost.com The practice by some campaigns and outside groups this year has divided Democrats, with some in the party complaining that such tactics are risky and could result in the election of candidates who pos...

Thank you for the gift article but this bolsters my point lol. Not a single one of the candidates Dem "supported" won. The ones who won their primaries all lost to Democrats.

Private fretting intensifies

They'd be giddy knowing the Republicans would lose by switching candidates that late in the game.

Post