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Alito: Questioning Supreme Court legitimacy 'crosses an important line'

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the decision earlier this year overturning Roe v. Wade earlier this year, has told The Wall Street Journal that implying the court is illegitimate “crosses an important line.”

Alito offered the remark in response to an inquiry from the Journal about whether the court’s justices were concerned the pubic was losing faith in the Supreme Court after a series of controversial decisions that have roiled public debate.

“It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit,” said Alito, one of six conservatives on the court. “But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line.”

The decision overturning Roe v. Wade was perhaps the most dramatic court ruling in decades, and has become a major point in the midterm elections.

It also appears to be contributing to changing views on the court.

Polling in late July showed just 38 percent of Americans approve of the high court, down 22 points from last September.

While overturning precedents is not uncommon, the ruling marked the first time the court has overturned what was a previously enshrined constitutional right based on other court rulings.

The court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, also delivered conservative rulings on the environment, gun control and religious freedom last term.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan has made public appearances raising concern that the court’s conservative majority has diminished the credibility of the court.

Speaking at a forum with Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law in Illinois this month, Kagan said a court is only legitimate when it’s “acting like a court.” 

“Why is it that people abide by its judgements? It’s not because they agree with everything the court does,” Kagan said. “Presumably, it’s because they have some understanding that, even if they don’t agree, that the court is doing its job, that the court is performing this critical function in a rule-of-law society, in a constitutional democracy.”

Chief Justice John Roberts disagreed with Kagan at a judicial conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., also this month.

“Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal. That “doesn’t change simply because people disagree with this opinion or that opinion or disagree with the particular mode of jurisprudence.”

Partisan lines color views of the court. An August poll showed just 13 percent of Democrats approve of the Supreme Court, compared to 74 percent of Republicans.

Significantly, GOP approval climbed from 45 percent in September 2021 while Democrat approval dropped from 36 percent in the same time period.

In a recent appearance at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island, Kagan again pushed forward her concerns about the court’s legitimacy.

“The court shouldn’t be wandering around just inserting itself into every hot-button issue in America,” the justice said. “It especially shouldn’t be doing that in a way that reflects one ideology or one set of political views over another.”

Her comment drew a round of applause at the forum.

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Ginni Thomas gives interview to Jan. 6 panel

Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, gave a voluntary interview with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. 

The interview with Thomas caps a months-long effort by the committee to speak with the conservative activist, who reportedly exchanged emails with John Eastman, the lawyer who drafted memos for the Trump campaign outlining how then-Vice President Mike Pence could keep then-President Trump in power, as well as with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Thomas’s attorney, Mark Paoletta, said last week that Thomas had agreed to meet with the panel and is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election.” 

Thomas herself also told The Daily Caller in June that she was willing to speak with the panel and “clear up misconceptions,” though she did not detail what those might be. Still, later that month her attorney said he needed “a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant to the committee’s legislative purpose.”

Paoletta did not respond to request for comment on Thursday.

Pressed in a Sunday interview on CNN on what the committee is hoping to hear from Thomas, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the panel, pointed to her communications with Eastman.

“I don’t know what her answers will be, but clearly there were emails between her and Dr. Eastman that we’d like to explore with her. And she said publicly that she’ll come in and everything will be clear, so we hope that’s the case,” she said.

The release of text messages with Meadows show Thomas was engaging with the White House and encouraging efforts to keep Trump in power.

“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!…You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History,” Thomas texted to Meadows a week after the election. 

Thomas’s activism has led to calls for Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from any cases with a nexus to Jan. 6.

Ginni Thomas’s interview comes as the committee delayed what could be its final public hearing due to Hurricane Ian.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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New York to mandate zero-emission vehicles in 2035

All new vehicles purchased in New York will need to be zero-emission models beginning in 2035, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced on Thursday.

“We’re really putting our foot down on the accelerator and revving up our efforts to make sure we have this transition — not someday in the future, but on a specific date, a specific year — by the year 2035,” Hochul said at a press conference in White Plains, N.Y.

After careening into the Chester-Maple Parking Lot in a white Chevy Bolt, Hochul announced a series of new electric vehicle (EV) initiatives for the state, beginning with the zero-emission requirement for 2035. To reach this target, she said that 35 percent of new cars will need to be zero-emission by 2026 and 68 percent by 2030.

All new school buses purchased will have to be zero-emission by 2027, with the entire fleet meeting these standards by 2035, according to the governor.

“We actually have benchmarks to achieve, to show we’re on the path to get there,” Hochul said, stressing that the changes would not occur suddenly.

New York is following in the footsteps of California in mandating zero-emissions vehicles by the year 2035. 

“We had to wait for California to take a step because there’s some federal requirements that California had to go first — that’s the only time we’re letting them go first,” the governor said.

Hochul was referring to California’s vote last month to ban the sale of gas-powered cars beginning in 2035. GOP leaders nationwide have already begun launching legal battles in an attempt to derail the decision.

Any state-led move to enforce stricter emissions rules must occur first in California, per federal regulations. When Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, it authorized California to set its own emissions standards due to smog conditions at the time.

But because the Clean Air Act includes a provision prohibiting states from implementing their own standards, California first must apply for a waiver with the Environmental Protection Agency. Only then can other states follow suit.

“That’s all right,” Hochul said at Thursday’s press conference. “Once they made that decision, we are able to step up immediately and say now there’s nothing holding us back.”

Hochul directed the State Department of Environmental Conservation to implement the regulatory action necessary to require that all new passenger cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in New York State be zero-emission by 2035.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will be expediting its regulatory process to implement related legislation signed by Hochul last year, which will allow the state to realize these goals, according to the governor’s office. 

In addition to advancing this plan, the governor announced on Thursday a $10 million investment in the state’s Drive Clean Rebate program, which she said could “help New Yorkers purchase and drive these vehicles.”

An up to $2,000 rebate, she said, is available in all 62 counties. The state has already issued more than 78,000 rebates and spent more than $90 million on the programs, according to the governor.

Hochul also announced that the New York Power Authority just completed the installation of its 100th high-speed EV charger, as part of the state’s EVolve NY statewide charging network. Any battery-powered EV can charge at these stations in as little as 20 minutes, she explained.

With the expansion of widely available charging infrastructure, Hochul said she believes that sales of EVs will increase, noting that they have already risen 30 percent over sales in 2021.

New York state will receive a $175 million chunk of the bipartisan infrastructure law’s $5 billion allocation for EV charging networks, according to the governor.

“So that’s going to help over 14 interstates in New York, especially ones used by the people in this community,” Hochul said.

“So you’re going to see that you have no more excuses,” she added.

Updated at 12:51 p.m.

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DeSantis says Ian was 'basically a 500-year flood event'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said the amount of water rising in parts of Florida from Hurricane Ian is “basically a 500-year flood event.” 

DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday that there was potential for major flooding in Orange and Seminole counties, up to Jacksonville and the northeastern part of the state. He said water will likely continue to rise throughout Thursday even as the storm is passing. 

Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour, making it one of the strongest to ever make landfall on the continental United States. 

Ian has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, but strong winds and rain remain in Florida. 

DeSantis said the public will see damage done in southwest Florida, adding that some flooding has occurred hundreds of miles away from where the storm made landfall.

The governor said “massive amounts” of food and water are in the area to be distributed and that 28 large helicopters from the National Guard and Coast Guard are conducting rescue operations. Additional air assets will be added throughout the day to support the operations. 

DeSantis said the next 72 hours will be key for rescue missions. He said rescue efforts will focus on the areas with the most inland flooding. 

“You’re looking at a storm that changed the character of our state,” he said. 

DeSantis said he spoke with President Biden on Thursday morning, and Biden has issued a major disaster declaration for nine counties. 

The governor, who is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, said he told Biden he will ask for the number of counties to be expanded based on the damage the storm has caused in the center part of the state. He said the declaration will allow Floridians to seek individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

The state has been granted 100 percent federal assistance for the next 30 days to support its recovery efforts. 

Hazards remain as power lines and trees are down, and officials encouraged residents not to survey the damage for their own safety.

DeSantis said officials have received reports of two deaths that were likely related to the storm.

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump resists request to declare accuracy of Mar-a-Lago document inventory

Former President Trump’s legal team resisted a request to declare whether an updated inventory released by the FBI of items taken during its search of Mar-a-Lago is accurate.

In a letter written Sunday but made public Wednesday night, Trump’s team sidestepped the request from Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master appointed in the case, at the former president’s request.

“Because the special master’s case management plan exceeds the grant of authority from the District Court on this issue, plaintiff must object,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.

The refusal to meet the court’s request comes as Dearie has pushed Trump’s team to back in court many of the claims Trump has made on television and on his social media platform that the FBI “planted” evidence at Mar-a-Lago and that he declassified the documents found there — a reason that matters little for the crimes the Justice Department is contemplating.

The FBI posted an updated inventory on Monday night that contained slightly different figures about the number of documents in each box, but was largely the same as the inventory first released earlier this month.

The Justice Department referenced Trump’s letter in their own filing before it was made public, saying all of the objections were “without merit.”

“The Special Master needs to know that he is reviewing all of the materials seized from Mara-Lago on August 8, 2022 — and no additional materials — before he categorizes the seized documents and adjudicates privilege claims,” the Justice Department wrote.

The Trump team’s Sunday letter also seeks to avoid instructions from Dearie to detail what type of privilege they believe a document qualifies for. Dearie asked the team to file the documents into six different categories, while the order initially approved by federal District Judge Aileen Cannon asks for just four — only asking for presidential records to be deemed privileged or not privileged.

“The amended case management plan goes beyond that grant of authority,” Trump’s legal team wrote.

The Justice Department pushed back, saying Trump needs to fully participate in the process he requested.

“Plaintiff brought this civil, equitable proceeding. He bears the burden of proof. If he wants the Special Master to make recommendations as to whether he is entitled to the relief he seeks, plaintiff will need to participate in the process,” the government wrote.

The fighting over the inventory and how to categorize the documents comes before Trump’s team has been able to see them. The parties have yet to secure a vendor to scan the documents so that all parties can digitally review them.

The government insinuated that vendors did not want to work with Trump, writing that none of the five companies they reached out to were “willing to be engaged by plaintiff.”

Trump’s team said the issue was the sheer volume of documents. In the Wednesday night letter, they say the nearly 11,000 documents taken during the search include some 200,000 pages.

Source: TEST FEED1

Millions without power, people trapped as weakened Ian crosses Florida

Millions of people in Florida have lost power and some are trapped in flooded buildings due to now-Tropical Storm Ian, which hit the state on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane and is making its way north to Georgia and South Carolina.

The massive storm has knocked out power for 2.5 million Floridians as of Thursday morning while others remain stuck in flooded homes.

Police in Fort Myers are being dispatched to conduct hazard assessments in Ian’s wake after receiving calls from people stranded by flooding, historically the most likely cause of deaths from a hurricane.

Ian’s tropical-storm force winds began surging northeast on Thursday morning and are predicted to spread northward on the east coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge today through Friday along the coasts of northeast Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina,” the center wrote in an update early Thursday morning.

Flooding that could reach record levels continues to threaten Florida the storm moves across the center of the state.

However, coastal water levels are subsiding on Florida’s west coast.

No deaths from Ian have been reported in Florida, though two people were killed in Cuba.

The storm also capsized a boat of 23 Cuban migrants south of the Florida Keys. The U.S. Coast Guard initiated a search and rescue mission in response to the sinking of the boat. Officials say they have found three survivors as they continue their search.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Memo: Beto O’Rourke, running out of chances, needs debate game-changer

Beto O’Rourke faces a moment of truth on Friday.

The former Democratic congressman is lagging behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in the polls with less than six weeks before Election Day. In the RealClearPolitics polling average, O’Rourke trails Abbott by 8 points.

Once the bright new thing of Democratic politics, O’Rourke needs to find a game-changing moment in the sole debate between the two, which is set for Friday in Edinburg, Texas, about 20 miles north of the border with Mexico.

His political career is on the line.

O’Rourke, now 50, came to national prominence when he challenged Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2018. O’Rourke sparked excitement among Democrats nationwide, raised $80 million and ultimately ran Cruz close. But he still lost, albeit by less than 3 points.

His next endeavor was far less successful. A quest to win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination sputtered horribly. The campaign seemed ill-starred from the outset, when O’Rourke posed on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine alongside a quote proclaiming “I’m just born to be in it.”

He was, instead, out of it by November 2019, roughly three months before the opening caucuses in Iowa.

Another loss in this year’s gubernatorial contest would give O’Rourke an 0-3 record in campaigns since leaving the House after serving six years. Such a stark record of losses points to a bleak future, at least so far as elected office is concerned.

With his back against the wall, O’Rourke has every incentive to come out swinging at the debate.

“I do think O’Rourke needs to do something to change the dynamic of the race. I think Abbott maintains a modest but real lead,” said Keir Murray, a Texas-based Democratic strategist.

Paul Fabrizio, a professor of political science at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, concurred that O’Rourke “clearly needs to do something to stand out. … It has to be one of those viral moments that really jumps out.” 

But a gift to O’Rourke in the shape of a gaffe by Abbott appears improbable, Fabrizio added. 

“Gov. Abbott, across his career, is a very careful politician, well-trained and well-versed on using language not to attract attention,” he said. “Beto O’Rourke has a tough road ahead.”

The Texas gubernatorial debate will be hosted by Nexstar station KXAN. Nexstar is also the parent company of The Hill.

The Democrat does have some obvious lines of attack.

O’Rourke has assailed Abbott for his response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 students and 2 teachers dead in May. In the immediate aftermath, O’Rourke popped up at a press conference where Abbott was speaking, accusing the governor of “doing nothing” to prevent the next mass shooting.

The Democrat has also sought to keep memories of a disastrous 2021 ice storm, which almost collapsed the state’s energy grid, at the forefront of voters’ minds.

But observers of the state’s politics caution that O’Rourke faces his own challenges, some of which stem from previous races. 

Several sources of varying political affiliations told this column that O’Rourke’s presidential run had been damaging to his Texas ambitions — not only because it failed, but because the candidate had staked out positions intended to appeal to a progressive Democratic primary electorate. Those same positions have alienated some Texas voters.

Exhibit A in that regard is O’Rourke’s comment on guns at a September 2019 debate. 

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore,” he said.

Republicans are eager to remind voters in a broadly pro-gun rights state about that remark.

“Beto has had to pay a political price for reckless comments throughout his 5-year quest to be elected to something higher than Congress,” said Matt Mackowiak, the chair of the Travis County, Texas, Republican Party. “Gov. Abbott is now holding him to account.”

Alongside such criticism, though, others take a more sympathetic view of O’Rourke. 

It’s not only that they acknowledge his abilities as an orator and as a fundraiser. They also note that, running against Cruz and Abbott, he has to try to surmount tough odds that face any Democrat in Texas.

Former President Trump carried Texas by almost 6 points against President Biden in 2020. The last time Abbott was up for reelection, in 2018, he crushed his Democratic opponent Lupe Valdez by 13 points.

“Nothing will change for Beto until the demographics shift in favor of the Democrats,” said Texas GOP strategist Brendan Steinhauser. “I’m not one of those who would say that he will never run again or he could never win statewide. I think it’s a long way off but I think he will remain a big figure in the Democratic Party.”

Fabrizio, the political scientist, mused that O’Rourke could have an advantage, of a kind, in that he remains by far the biggest name in Texas Democratic politics, despite his losing record.

“He seems to have reached a ceiling. If he loses this race, that would work against him in terms having a future in Democratic politics. But then there’s the other thing — who else is there on the Democratic side?”

O’Rourke, of course, is far from submitting to defeat. He is in the middle of a 15-stop college tour, timed for the run-up to an Oct. 11 voter registration deadline in the Lone Star State.

If he is to overcome his polling deficit, young voters — perhaps joined by women moved to defend abortion rights — will be vital.

Murray, the Democratic strategist, noted that polling in the gubernatorial race has been fairly stable.

That being so, he added, “O’Rourke has to do one of two things: something that changes the perceptions of the existing electorate, to move things; or something to change the complexion of the electorate — meaning he has to get people to the ballot box who might not otherwise go there.”

The smart money remains on Abbott — unless Friday’s debate creates some high drama.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

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Trump-McConnell feud takes new turn with Electoral Count Act

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky) support for the Electoral Count Act is renewing the schism between he and former President Trump, setting up a vote likely to divide the GOP caucus. 

Supporters are hopeful that McConnell’s backing will lead to a majority of the Senate GOP conference backing the legislation, drafted in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that many blame on Trump. 

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes 20 to 30 Senate Republicans could ultimately back the proposal, which is expected to be voted on during the lame-duck session after Election Day. He added that McConnell’s move will be a big reason why.

“Mitch’s endorsement of the final bill that came out of the Rules Committee was very important. If he had not supported it, it would have been tough for us to get a large vote.” Portman told The Hill. “Mitch has a lot of credibility in this area,” he added, pointing to McConnell’s long-standing opposition to federalizing elections.

At least three more Senate Republicans — John Thune (S.D.), John Cornyn (Texas) and Bill Cassidy (La.) — on Wednesday threw their support behind the push to pass the bill. Cassidy said he is “temperamentally supportive” of the legislation, which passed overwhelmingly through the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday.

But signs are emerging that a battle is brewing among Republicans over the Electoral Count Act.  

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the lone lawmaker to vote against the bill at the committee level on Tuesday, pressed that politics and an anti-Trump animus are at the heart of the push. 

There is also strong opposition to Jan. 6-inspired election reform among Trump allies in the House, and a number of Trump-backed House and Senate candidates who have repeated his unfounded claims about election fraud throughout their campaigns.

“Hell, everything’s political up here,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told The Hill in an interview when asked about Cruz’s remarks. 

Cruz and Tuberville were among eight GOP senators to vote against certifying electoral results in either Arizona or Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021. 

However, outside of Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), the majority of senators who objected to the two electoral slates are keeping their powder dry, and said they are still reviewing the latest version of the Electoral Count Act. 

“I don’t mind changing something if it needs changing,” Tuberville said. “But don’t do something unless it’s going to help. If this is going to help the situation, I’ll be all for it.” 

In addition to Tuberville, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he still has not read the Electoral Count Act bill that emerged from the Rules Committee, while a spokesperson for Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told The Hill that he is still examining the legislation. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Axios on Tuesday that he too is “reviewing” it. Hawley told Axios he didn’t see a need for the bill and would “probably” vote against it. 

The legislation would significantly raise the threshold for lawmakers to object to Electoral College votes from one senator and House member, respectively, to one-fifth of each chamber. It would also block state officials from submitting electoral votes that do not line up with a state’s popular vote.

Republicans backing the bill downplayed the political aspect of it and maintained that its potential passage would be in the name of good policy.

“When I go back home, I’ve never had someone ask me a question about it, so this to me is just sound policy,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a co-sponsor of the proposal.

“We’ll just have to deal with that and agree to disagree,” Tillis said of the divide between McConnell and Trump on the issue. “I was in that chamber on Jan. 6. It never occurred to me that one person in that body could determine what we were deliberating on, and I think this provides some clarity for it.” 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has been leading GOP efforts on election reform, indicated that she is hopeful one of the Jan. 6 objectors outside of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), who voted to advance it from the panel on Tuesday, will jump on board too.

“The vote in committee speaks for itself,” she said in an interview of the 14 to 1 vote. “I believe we have momentum.” 

One argument proponents of the bill say could help sway pro-Trump members and conservatives is that it would spell out role of the vice president in the process as strictly ceremonial — meaning it would rule out any chance Vice President Harris could take matters into her own hands in January 2025.

“If you’re a conservative, why don’t you think about the shoe’s on the other foot and isn’t it better to have an honest pathway by which everybody plays by the same rules?” Cassidy said.

But Cruz was unswayed in Tuesday’s committee meeting. 

“I understand why Democrats are supporting this bill,” he said. “What I don’t understand is why Republicans are supporting it.”

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Democrats disagree on best midterm message: Pro-Biden or anti-Trump?

Democrats are disagreeing over strategy in the final weeks before the midterm elections as the party seeks to retain its slim congressional majorities.  

The battle centers on how much to link GOP candidates to former President Trump, with one side wanting to go all-in on aggressive campaigns that make the election about “Make American Great Again” ideology and the other itching to make more of a case for why Democrats’ policies should keep them in power.  

A third group argues they simply need to make both cases to the public.  

The signs of the tension are breaking into public view. 

“These guys are ruthless on the other side,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a leading voice urging Democrats to dial up their rhetoric, said this weekend at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. “Where are we? Where are we organizing, bottom-up, a compelling alternative narrative? Where are we going on the offense every single day? They’re winning right now.” 

Democrats are eager to minimize their losses and make gains where they can in a difficult election cycle. 

The party is expected to lose control of the House to a GOP looking to make their side of Capitol Hill revolve around investigations into Biden World. 

The Senate seems more favorable for Democrats, but the anxiety of even partial Republican control of Washington has pushed some on the left, like Newsom, to call on the party to be more forceful in its approach.  

That side sees itself as having plenty of ammunition: the Justice Department investigation into Trump’s removal of classified and presidential documents from the White House, the ongoing probes into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 win, and the number of prominent Trump-backed candidates on ballots nationwide who continue to make the case the last election was stolen from him. 

But not everyone in the party is ready to fight fire with fire. Independent voters in swing states, especially those with sizable populations who voted for Trump, are expected to determine the outcome in places like Arizona and Ohio, and some Democrats believe the party needs to be nimbler. 

“I think Gavin Newsom’s stuff is f—ing stupid and it’s childish,” said Michael Ceraso, a progressive strategist and former state organizer for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in New Hampshire, likening Newsom to Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, of Florida and Texas, respectively, both of whom have made names for themselves with partisan and often-incendiary rhetoric.  

In Ceraso’s view, even publicizing the intraparty disagreement less than six weeks from Election Day takes away from a sense of unity that helped the two most recent Democratic presidents — Biden and former President Obama — rise to power against the GOP.  

“What I loved about Obama is he would pick when he would shit-talk,” Ceraso said.  

Progressives, rather, generally prefer to talk about policy than about their opposition. While many see Trump and his aligned candidates as existential threats, they often make the case that Democrats can actually succeed when they bring issues to the table. In that worldview, Republicans’ efforts to deny elections and strip away certain Americans’ rights can be more effectively matched by effective governance.  

For much of the summer Biden’s low approval rating rendered that view overly rosy in the eyes of some strategists. But recently the president has seen a slight uptick in approval, along with a number of legislative wins. 

Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden delivered on his campaign pledge to cancel millions in student loan debt and he signed a bipartisan infrastructure bill into law. 

“In an ideal world, voters see the policy that the administration has implemented make real changes in their lives,” said Ellen Sciales, communications director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement. “That has been why we’ve been pushing the administration to get a lot of that done. To our credit, that argument has held up.” 

The most recent aggregate of national surveys shows Biden at 43 percent of support with voters, a higher standing than at most points in his first term.

Some Democrats say candidates need to focus on that legislative scorecard and how it affects voters. 

“The swing districts need to overemphasize what we have done, what we have delivered for them. They don’t necessarily identify with a party,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist and close confidant of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C). 

“Geographically and demographically, different strokes for different folks, as we say in the South,” he mused. “I think that is applicable to politics.”  

One of the biggest policy debates igniting Democrats is being fought over abortion. After the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, many activists and lawmakers began rallying support for reproductive rights, hoping that it would make a difference on the margins in November. 

Liberal organizers point to women as a demographic that will help decide which way certain battlegrounds will lean. In states like Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, populist Democrats are running on a platform supporting abortion rights, while right-wing Republicans are divided over how closely to push the issue. 

“Every week across the country, voters are seeing Republicans vote to ban abortion without exceptions for rape and incest, plot their future attack on emergency contraception, and stand up at press conferences to announce to the world that they will pass a national abortion ban if they win power,” said Julie Downey, vice president of communications at American Bridge and a former senior director of advocacy at Planned Parenthood. 

“They are wildly out of step with a vast majority of Americans – and they’re singing it from rooftops,” she said.  

Still, there’s some recent indication that tying candidates to more divisive Republican policies and Trump doesn’t always work well for Democrats. 

In 2021, that effort failed in Virginia, where former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Biden ally who sought to position his opponent to Trump, lost to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who leaned on culture war issues like critical race theory in education. 

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) kept the governor’s mansion, but by a much narrower margin than expected. Both off-year races were seen as bellwethers for the midterms. 

But that was last year. Some Democrats are hoping that as Trump faces multiple investigations as the midterms near, they can more easily show voters the difference between many of the Republicans who he has endorsed and their own down-ballot alternatives. 

“I’m a ‘both’ kind of fellow,” said Seawright. “I don’t think one strategy should supersede the other. Fear, anger, frustration and confusion. Those are things that the Republican Party has used to win elections,” he said. “I think that same strategy can apply to us.”

Source: TEST FEED1