Seen as an early proxy for whether Democrats can flip certain Republican-leaning districts in the President Donald Trump era, Tuesday’s election drew national attention and record cash which flowed in from around the country for the Democrat candidate. Democrats have aimed to leverage what they mistakenly believe and have touted as being Trump’s dismal approval rating, the fake Russian Obstruction of Justice scandal, and of course opposition to the Republican health-care bill, into winning Republican seats and potentially taking control of the House in 2018. It is now becoming more obvious that their campaign is failing more and more.
The loss also show-cases the Democrats continued special election losing streak on what they considered one of their party’s bright hopes Jon Ossoff. In addition to Ossoff losing his bid in the suburban Atlanta Congressional seat long held by Republicans, the painful defeat further highlights deep fissures in the party and perhaps the slow-burn destruction of the Democrat Party.
More so, despite the best efforts by Hollywood elites, glitter-bombing liberal suburban moms, and a massive infusion of out of district, and out of state donations, Ossoff’s youth and $36 million, could not wrench the Congressional seat from the Republican, a U.S. House seat which has firmly controlled the district for four decades. Karen Handel won the previous runoff by just over five percentage points in what is now the most expensive House contest in the nation’s history.
The Georgia House race was also considered a referendum on a number of hot-button issues, depending on where you sit politically. Handel’s hands-down victory is already being spun as a victory for Trumpism, a mark of approval for Obamacare repeal efforts, an increasing condemnation of Democrats campaign of hate and violence, and now a less than encouraging sign for the left’s midterm hopes, and an endorsement of the influence and power of Trump.
The single positive note for the Democrats is that Ossoff performed significantly better in the district than Hillary Clinton did in the 2016 presidential election, but that’s it, and at this point no one cares. In the end it doesn’t bode well for Congressional races in 2018. On the other hand, the 30-year-old political upstart couldn’t translate a tide of healthcare frustration and anti-Trump sentiment into victory. Perhaps that’s because he didn’t promote single-payer, or because Bernie Sanders criticized his politics, or because Georgians hate the influence of out-of-state money.
While those are significant, in the closing weeks, I believe the hate, violent and assassination campaign of the Democrats is having an effect — because Kathy Griffin decapitated the president, the Democrats believe the assassination attempt on Congressman Steve Scalice had it coming to him, and the fact that the political-left’s and Democrat Party failure to condemn the Shakespeare in the Park in the park assassination of President Trump is angering more and more Americans including Democrats, as a number of voters noted.
Ossoff’s so-called centrism label appears to also have alienated many of the radical-left progressives. Further, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders eventually endorsed him, but only after publicly questioning whether he was a true progressive, it fell short. Exit poll comments from voters suggested that some on the left never understood or liked a Democrat who stressed his fiscal Conservatism. In the end, Ossoff lost the seat by more than the margin of in error Tuesday’s Congressional race.
In the end, the basic schism in the Democrat party—is the negative new course it has charted and the totally insane direction the party has chosen — that of hate, violence, and brutality, and now the new trend, of the constant calling for the assassination and death of Republican. The drastic impact of this horrific trend is even more apparent now that Democrats have lost every special Congressional election since President Donald Trump took office. In addition to the Georgia race, the party failed to pick up seats vacated by Republican House members who joined the Trump cabinet in Kansas, Montana and South Carolina, although they ran far ahead of their usual numbers.
Going into 2018, there are a number of vulnerable seats, more than enough to make up for the 23 the Dems need to take back the House. But for now, Republicans in Congress are increasingly confident they can survive and thrive—in the Trump era.