RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/chris-queen/2021/10/18/democrats-are-increasingly-freaking-out-about-2022-n1524804

The 2020 election was a tough one for Democrats. Other than the presidency and the Senate, Democrats suffered at the ballot box. The party lost 11 House seats and face the narrowest House majority in two decades. Add to the damage the beating Democrats took in state races, and 2020 looked like a pummeling indeed.

The Biden presidency hasn’t made things any better. The party is dealing with infighting between moderates and far-left members, and the president’s approval ratings are abysmal. On top of these factors, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) became the latest among 10 key Democrats to announce their retirement ahead of the 2022 election cycle last week.

As a result, the 2022 midterm elections are looking more like an uphill battle for Democrats, and they’re freaking out about it. Back in September, Democrats were already talking about a “bloodbath” and “going for broke” on progressive agenda items, but their mood is growing increasingly fearful.

According to The Hill:

“To be blunt, I’m not feeling good about where we are,” one senior Democratic congressional aide said. “Look, it was never going to be easy or anything. It was always kind of contingent on what got done. I just think we’re starting to see how fragile this is.”

The numbers already favor the GOP. The Republicans only need to turn five seats red to gain a majority in the House, and that’s even without redistricting, which will also work to the GOP’s advantage next year.

The Senate currently sits at 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tying vote, and several Democrats are vulnerable, including Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who won a special election to fill a seat that is up for reelection this cycle.

The 2022 election is also a clear referendum on President Biden and his agenda, which have given Republicans plenty of ammunition to use throughout the campaign season. Approval numbers and recent issue polls don’t bode well for Biden and his party.

On top of all these genuine concerns for the Democrats, a slew of “longshot” candidates have entered key races, drawing attention and donations away from Democrats who stand a better chance of winning their elections. Democrat strategists have their hands full with some unviable candidates.

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — In a western battleground state that could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate, Republican Adam Laxalt has early on targeted those who feel angered and afraid, telling them the stakes of next year’s race against Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto are no less than existential.
From rural towns to Las Vegas, people he’s met campaigning ask: “What in the world has happened to this country? And so fast,” he said Sunday in Gardnerville, near where cattle lined the highway. “We have a role to play in saving the whole country with this race.”
Since launching his campaign with a good-versus-evil, “Star Wars”-themed ad titled “The Good Guys,” Laxalt has railed against Democrats and an unholy trinity he says is working in parallel to “radically transform” the United States — the media, Hollywood and Big Tech.
The high stakes messaging mirrors early campaigns in rust belt battlegrounds like Ohio,Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and hints at a national Republican strategy focused on drawing stark contrasts with Democrats on cultural issues.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2021/10/virginias-hated-dominion-energy-monopoly-secretly-daniel-greenfield/

The Virginia energy monopoly has been accused of using its lobbyists to run a shadow government. It’s unique in that it’s widely hated not only by conservatives, but by leftists. Conservatives have warned that its ‘greeniness’ will cause massive blackouts while leftists hate it for the usual environmentalist reasons. The last time Terry McAuliffe was booed by leftists on his way out for his ties to Dominion Energy.

It was bad enough that the Washington Post ran an op-ed accusing Terry McAuliffe of betraying Virginia.

Dominion Energy was supposed to stay out of the governor’s race. But considering McAuliffe’s history, what were the odds of that?

McAuliffe has said from the outset of the 2021 race that he would not accept Dominion contributions, a pledge he also made during his unsuccessful 2009 gubernatorial run.

During his successful 2013 bid, though, Dominion donated $75,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign and another $50,000 to his inaugural committee.

Hala Ayala, the Democratic nominee for Virginia lieutenant governor, also swore off Dominion support this year, but later accepted six-figure sums from the company. “People change their minds all the time,” she said of the shift.

The money is in.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/10/16/2022_the_year_of_the_maga_outsiders_146575.html

With Donald Trump out of office, Democrats and their media allies posit that the America First movement is waning. The stellar abundance of proud outsider candidates running for office in 2022 dispels that notion. Like Trump himself, these new outsiders come from beyond the world of politics. They bring the lessons and vigor of careers in the military and business to the world of politics.

Arizona

In the race to replace Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, one Republican challenger stands out: Blake Masters. The successful COO of Thiel Capital, Masters takes a clear-eyed stance on migration and sovereignty. He vows to oppose all amnesty efforts for illegal aliens, and supports hiring even more Border Patrol agents even as President Biden tries to punish federal employees who are just doing their jobs.

Masters doesn’t shy away from discussing the  clear possibility of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, pointing out that a combination of factors, from COVID-related lockdown measures to direct interference by Big Tech CEOs played a role in determining the outcome. On this topic in particular, Masters contrasts sharply with the current Republican frontrunner, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who repeatedly insisted that there was no voter fraud in Arizona in 2020.

Despite having never run for office before, Masters raised over $1 million in the third quarter of 2021, far more than any of his competitors. Brnovich, by contrast, raised around $600,000. This advantage will be aided by the $10 million Saving Arizona PAC, supported by his mentor Peter Thiel, the only Silicon Valley mogul brave enough to openly support the America First movement. Come next autumn, only Masters will command the resources to successful challenge Mark Kelly’s massive financial operation.

Ohio

With the retirement of Sen. Rob Portman, the Buckeye State has a chance to finally elect a true America First populist nationalist. Within a crowded GOP primary field, outsider J.D. Vance is the candidate most clearly espousing working-class values.

Vance has also never run for office before, but his seminal autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” perfectly captured the travails of the declining working class in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. Though non-political, this book exposed the trauma inflicted upon Americans who once formed the backbone of U.S. industrial might. Vance focused on the communities hollowed out by the offshoring of jobs, the rise of the welfare state, and the plague of opioids and other drugs pouring through porous borders.

Like Blake Masters, Vance is supported in his Senate bid by Peter Thiel. Other prominent voices on the right have recognized Vance’s power, including Tucker Carlson and Turning Point Action, the 501(c)(4) arm of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, the largest and most influential conservative student group in the country.

Pennsylvania

The MAGA movement finds widespread support among military veterans. Among these heroes is decorated U.S. Army combat veteran Sean Parnell, who came on the radar of populists during his near-upset of Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb in 2020. Despite narrowly losing, Parnell proved his mettle to Trump supporters and delivered a rousing speech to the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Now, he’s running for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring incumbent Pat Toomey. Parnell (pictured) naturally prioritizes our military and our veterans in his  campaign platform. But also stands for election integrity and border security.  

Armed with a Trump endorsement, he is the favorite to win the nomination. Polling overwhelmingly indicates that Parnell has the strongest chance of keeping the seat red as the only Republican who would beat the top two candidates for the Democratic nomination: Conor Lamb and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

Washington state

Another military veteran outsider candidate is former Green Beret Joe Kent, in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. Kent is challenging establishment Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of the 10 Republicans in the House to vote in favor of the second sham impeachment of President Trump. Not only did she support the Democrats’ last-ditch witch hunt against an outgoing president, but she also actively bad-mouthed Trump, repeating Democrats’ claims that he supported the breaching of the Capitol.

Joe Kent intrinsically understands the failures of the entrenched political establishment: His wife, Shannon, was killed by ISIS fighters in Syria in January of 2019, roughly one month after President Trump initially ordered the withdrawal of American forces from the region. Kent says that his wife’s death was directly the result of the establishment defying Trump’s orders and delaying the withdrawal in pursuit of their interventionist agenda.

He, too, has earned a Trump’s endorsement.  

The odds favor a Republican wave in 2022. But this upcoming election is not merely about defeating the radical Democrats and stopping Joe Biden’s dreadful agenda. This plebiscite will also determine whether the GOP evolves into an America First party for the middle class, energized by populist nationalism. These four outsider candidates embrace their vital roles in that transformation.