Christopher Ruddy is the CEO of Newsmax Media. Fastest growing cable news channel. He had a piece yesterday where he got it mostly right on what happened election day. I’ll post that but will leave out the rest cause he went out into loony tune land for the most part from where I left off. I’ll have a reason or two of my own at the end.
Since Election Day 2022, almost everyone has been playing Monday morning quarterback.
Today, it’s my turn.
Republicans seriously underperformed and the establishment/media points the finger at two big factors: Donald Trump and abortion.
Specifically, voters were turned off by former President Trump and they reacted negatively to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
If you look at election results across the nation, neither holds up as the real culprit.
In Florida, we saw Gov. Ron DeSantis, a MAGA candidate if ever there was one, win by a record 19 percentage points.
In recent elections, Florida had been a close state in terms of the “red vs. blue” dynamic.
Still, DeSantis won so big, he even carried Democrat stronghold counties like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.
DeSantis was also a strong pro-life proponent, last year signing a strict heartbeat bill banning abortions after 15 weeks.
In bellwether Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who also signed a law banning abortion after six weeks, won reelection by 26 points.
And then in Democratic Wisconsin, pro-Trumper and pro-lifer Sen. Ron Johnson won reelection.
Even in liberal, extremely pro-choice New York, Republican Lee Zeldin moved the needle 17 points from Trump’s loss in 2020, coming within five points of beating Democrat Gov. Hochul.
Zeldin was both pro-life and pro-Trump, even seeking the former president’s endorsement in the race.
More astounding, the GOP won 11 House seats across New York state, including several in suburban districts with those allegedly angry-over-Roe women swing voters.
As it turned out, 10 of the 11 New York Republican congressional winners were pro-life, and almost all were pro-Trump.
So, what really happened on Election Day?
I believe the Republicans completely misread the electorate.
The GOP actually believed their own press releases (and yes, polls) and thought voters were just as furious as they were with Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and their friends.
From here I give my thoughts and opinions. Everything Mr. Ruddy said was true. But when it came to abortion, the Republicans who lost in the blue districts should have went with Senator Grahams 15 weeks. Saying it was state rights was taking the easy way out. ” I don’t want to talk about it.”
Finally the Republicans weren’t able to make the case that the economy, the border inflation, and the fiasco in Afghanistan was Biden’s doing and weren’t able to tie their opponent to those disasters. Why? Cause they didn’t say what they would do to fix things. Just said blame Joe.
