Katie Kerekes, FISM News
The Democratic Party tried a “risky move” in the midterms and spent over $40 million on ads boosting certain “far-right-wing” candidates in Republican primaries that it thought Democrats could more easily defeat in the general elections. The move seems to have paid off.
The Left’s strategy to “meddle” in the primaries in order to solidify wins against candidates they have labeled as weaker and easier to defeat began with the left aiding these candidates in the primaries against their more centrist Republican opponents, according to Fox News.
After solidifying a primary win for these conservative candidates, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) then funded defamatory ads labeling them as “too conservative” or “too extreme” for a government representative of its people.
In six of the races where this happened, Democrats brought home victories over their “pro-Trump” rivals. Three gubernatorial races, one senate seat, and two congressional district races were lost to the left on Tuesday in Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
The Illinois gubernatorial race pitted incumbent J.B. Pritzker (D) against Senator Darren Bailey (R).
Pritzker’s campaign and the Democratic Governors Association spent more than $35 million on ads attacking Bailey’s Republican opponent in the primary, Richard Irvin. After securing the victory for Bailey, the DCCC painted him as a far-right candidate due to his abortion views and Trump endorsement.
In the Maryland gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Wes Moore secured a victory over Republican state Delegate Dan Cox with the same strategy.
The Democratic Governors Association’s DGA Action spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to run ads for Cox in the primary season, labeling him as a protector of the second amendment. However, Maryland has twice as many Democrats as Republicans, which led to Cox’s loss in the general election, securing only 37% of the vote to Moore’s 60%.
In Michigan’s 3rd congressional district, Democrat Hillary Scholten defeated Republican John Gibbs, who was publicly backed by Trump. Democrats spent $425,000 to boost Gibbs in his primary race, with the Democrats then turning ads against him in the general election.
In the New Hampshire Senate race between Senator Maggie Hassan (D) and Don Bolduc (R), $3.1 million was spent to aid Bolduc in the Republican primary, but again these ads turned against him in the general, painting his views as far-right-extremist.
Also in New Hampshire, the Democratic incumbent in the 2nd congressional district race Annie Kuster defeated the Republican candidate Bob Burns, who was reported to have benefited from $94,000 in ads against his primary opponent.
In the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, Senator Doug Mastriano (R) was defeated by Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) after Democrats spent more than $840,000 to run ads in support of Mastriano in his primary race.