Speak the Truth and Close the Deal, GOP

AMAC Exclusive – By David P. Deavel

It’s time for Republicans to close the deal with the American people in this election. They have the opportunity, they have candidates showing the way, and they have some great campaign spots. 

The opportunity is surely there. USA Today poll results released on October 27 showed Republicans winning on a generic congressional ballot 49%-45%. This was quite the turnaround from their July poll showing Democrats winning 44-40. Even more remarkable were the numbers for black and Hispanic voters. While Donald Trump made a breakthrough in getting 12% of black voters in 2020, right now 21% plan to vote GOP in the midterms. And 40% of Hispanic voters nationwide lean red. Given the Democrats’ reliance on supermajorities of these two groups, the GOP’s pick-ups there look good for taking both House and Senate.

And they are. While some establishment Republicans have complained about candidates this term, the fact is that many of the boldest ones are looking more impressive. Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon’s direct responses to reporters about the rights of parents to control their children’s education (among other topics) are responsible for her moving within three points of Gretchen Whitmer on the RealClearPolitics average.

In Arizona, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters are both surging. Lake now polls between four and eleven points ahead and Masters is polling dead even with incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly after being written off a few weeks ago. Both have gone after biased media outlets and Democrats on the main issues of the economy, crime, border security, and children’s health. And both have been picking up large support from Hispanic voters, who make up about one in five Arizona voters.

Masters’ surge has been advanced both by his own plain speech and by ad buys from the Frontiers of Freedom PAC, whose ads AMAC Newsline readers learned about this week in Seamus Brennan’s column. The ads are targeting the Democratic media complex itself for its covering up Democratic illegal behavior and responsibility for the current state of affairs while pushing conspiracy theories such as the Russian Collusion Hoax. They are also attacking Democratic incumbents Mark Kelly (Arizona), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire), and Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nevada) for their consistent voting for the insane left-wing policies pushed by Chuck Schumer as a result of his (and, we might add, Joe Biden’s) willingness to cater to the ideological whims of the farthest left wing of his party.

These two-minute ads have been successful because they hit at exactly what is bothering Americans: a complete lack of trust in media institutions and the reality that Democratic politicians like the above are willing to vote for crazy policies because they were promised by Schumer that they would not be primaried if they went along the primrose leftist path he set out for them. That they have supported the massive inflation-exacerbating spending bills, the attacks on democratic institutions, and the transformation of our nation’s schools and military to weak and woke shadows of their former selves is shocking.

Yet vote with Biden they do—Catherine Cortez-Masto votes with Biden 93% of the time. And, shockingly enough, she supports mandatory “gender counseling” for children that aims at “affirming” adoptions of gender identities that don’t match their sex. Given what we know about Democratic initiatives in other states on these issues to give minors the right to puberty blockers and even surgery—in California, successful, while in Michigan, up for a vote in Proposition 3—it’s no wonder Hispanic voters are turning away from the Democrats. The Nevada ad smartly adds a Spanish-language banner noting that 93% of Hispanics oppose this mandatory gender counseling.     

Masters has also made this point an issue, tweeting that he “opposes child sex-changes” while “Mark Kelly does not.” While his Twitter feed is filled with woke white people’s rage, the numbers don’t lie. Masters also tweeted this week a CNN story about his growing Hispanic support with the message: “Latinos don’t want high inflation, open borders, violent crime, or fentanyl pouring into their communities. That’s why they’re voting Republican in November, for a better future. ¡Vote Blake Masters este 8 de noviembre! ¡Salvemos Arizona!”

No, they do not want any of these things. Nor do ordinary Americans of any race. And the more Democrats try to, in the words of Nancy Pelosi, “change the subject” from issues like inflation, crime, border security, and their children’s health and future, the more people will look elsewhere for leaders who will focus on these basic issues to represent them.

Republicans have the opportunity and many of them are taking advantage of it. Let any who are struggling to stay above water in their races follow the examples above. Speak the truth about what matters and catch the red wave. Voters know the stakes and want to “save America.” If you want to do that, you’ll close the deal.

David P. Deavel is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and a senior contributor at The Imaginative Conservative.