Happy 2024. The Fight of Our Lifetime is On (Again) and Democracy Must Prevail

We wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year and hope your holidays were joyful and memorable ... that much needed something to restore our faith in family, friends and goodness. 

2024 is finally here. It’s no longer just an election cycle, it’s the actual year. We all know what is at stake this year. We are blessed to you all, a thoughtful and intelligent following that doesn’t need to be bombarded with fresh facts and anecdotes to be convinced the future of the greatest democracy the world has ever known is in the crosshairs of a violent and deceitful authoritarian movement backed by immense wealth and power.

What we will appeal for is an understanding that we are going to have to work harder and longer than ever before to ensure every available vote for American Democracy is identified, courted and moved to cast a ballot for freedom and individual rights for ALL Americans. We can do this with positive persuasive voter engagement and relentless repetition, avoiding the barbs and bomb-lobbing that regale audiences on social media.

President Biden has successfully guided us out of a pandemic exacerbated by MAGA malfeasance and through a painful aftermath of greedy profit-taking by unscrupulous players that contributed to inflation and further belt tightening for American consumers. Think about that for a moment. Many American families blew through their savings during the pandemic and then were hit with a debilitating rise in prices at gas pumps, grocery stores and clothing outlets, and unprecedented jumps in rent and mortgages.

We empathize with the anger and disgust, but we most assuredly know that America is on the path to overcoming the natural and man-made calamities that have imperiled The American Family. The biggest threat now to those ravaged is a repeat performance. If Trump and his allies are to be believed (and we do), the chaos and upheaval that ensued throughout his administration, including the attempted overthrow of the election on Jan 6, 2021, will be dwarfed by the fascist MAGA agenda he will impose in a second term.

With an ambitious pro-democracy agenda for the year, we will do everything we can to ensure a second MAGA White House never comes to be. We’ll update throughout the year, but here are a few highlights:

  • Fortunately, there are no serious primary challengers and the Democratic presidential nominating process is a formality, but that won’t keep us from supporting the grassroots write-in campaign for President Biden in the great state of New Hampshire. Primary Day is Jan.23 in New Hampshire.

  • Democratic candidates and core issues including reproductive freedom have been on an incredible winning streakin special and scheduled elections, as we have proudly boasted here in recent months. Lets keep it going by helping our sisters and brothers in the great state of New York, where Tom Suozzi is seeking to return to Congress in the seat vacated by indicted MAGA troll George Santos. The special election in NYCD-03 will be held Feb. 13

  • We will be announcing our House and Senate endorsements in the intermediate future, which is the first step in setting our targeted states and congressional districts in the November elections. 

  • Discussions with key partners on the ground in targeted states and districts are moving forward. We are planning for another diverse menu of voter outreach and engagement along the lines of our past activities, including our rural Black voter program in Georgia, our contribution to putting ballot drop boxes on isolated reservations in Montana, women voters outreach in Michigan and our bilingual direct mail effort in Western States.

  • Last but definitely not least, we are so excited about our co-founder Mara Dolan’s run for Massachusetts Governor’s Council, the body that confirms judicial nominees and has oversight of the state parole board. A public defender with an A-list government and professional resume, she will bring unique and unquestionable experience to the Governor’s Council at a time of unprecedented court reform.  It’s a significant workload, but Mara is the definition of a multi-tasker, having been trained for it in the most proven hands-on job in our society: motherhood and now grandmotherhood.

We’re excited about 2024 and we are confident that we will play a significant role in energizing and moving voters in the races we enter. We thank you for all your support and all you do to protect American democracy and to promote the best qualified and deserving candidates for elected office. It’s going to feel like a haul up a mountain at times, but we can do this. We must do this.


Nikki Haley: Rob From the Poor to Give to the Rich

The 2024 Republican presidential sweepstakes is a peculiar competition in which the contestants battle among themselves to see who ultimately can finish second in at least the early primaries without taking themselves out the running to be picked as Trump’s running mate. It’s difficult to differentiate oneself when having to act like an independent-minded and unique candidate and be a boot-licker to the frontrunner at the same time.

The GOP nominating contest is a circus that requires a lot of double talk, outright lying, and despicable policies that aim to hurt some people rather than trying to help all people. With one or two exceptions, the GOP nomination charade requires trying to out-Trump Trump with outlandish statements and embarrassing episodes of candidates having to show fealty to a criminally indicted ex-president.

Not a single challenger or would-be challenger to Trump has caught fire enough to pose a real threat to Trump. The stunts by DeSantis, like flying immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, crashed on landing. Ramaswamy’s bid to portray himself as ‘fresh face Trump’ didn’t bring smiles to the MAGA base. And Chris Christie's message of 'I’m normal and that’s okay’ has turned out to be a sentimental journey back to when Republicans elected the Bush family to high office – and that shrinking wing of the GOP is just too far in the rearview mirror to try to appeal to.

So the Republicans are left with Haley as the new flavor of the month hoping to topple Trump with an agenda of delaying Social Security and Medicare for Americans approaching retirement age and eliminating it for millions of others who are already paying into the system. Specifically, Haley is pushing a work until you die scheme that raises the age eligibility for Social Security and eliminates it for future generations.

Like everyone in the GOP leadership, Haley wants to give billionaires and corporations a second Trump tax cut that would be paid for by gutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

None of this should be a surprise. Gutting the American Safety Net has long been a cause for Haley, like most Republican leaders currently holding or seeking office. Haley was able to go after parts of  the Affordable Care Act as a governor, but she couldn’t get her dirty hands on Social Security or Medicare unless she held high federal office.

Haley also has a costly scheme she tries to sell as a middle class tax cut in which she claims she would eliminate gas taxes. The obvious problem is that revenue from gas taxes go to building and maintaining highways and public transportation, so Haley’s bad idea would leave truckers, commuters and travelers in a giant pothole of a mess that would require a tax hike to fix in the long run. Haley, a beneficiary of Big Oil money and largesse, won’t address the real problem for Americans, which is the industry profiteering and market manipulation that triggers the fluctuating and inflation-causing cost of oil and gas that always seems to hit Americans when we need to travel most.

Haley’s ascent to No. 2 is, at least in part, thanks to the endorsement in November by Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of billionaire Charles Koch (pronounced coke), an anti-government Big Oil oligarch with holdings in paper, mining and chemical industries, among others. The coveted but controversial Koch endorsement was joined days later by billionaire Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase. In both cases the endorsements were more against Trump than for Haley, but down 40 points behind Trump in the polls, Haley will take what she can get.

In Trump, the Koch heads now seek to destroy a monster they helped create. Americans for Prosperity was the biggest astroturfer of the Tea Party midterm elections of 2010, pumping $30 million into GOP campaigns, according to  The Washington Post. The big money backers gave the Tea Party slate it funded well known marching orders to vote to overturn Obamacare immediately, before the American public discovered the massive advantages it provides in health care insurance and protections.

At the behest of the Koch cabal, the Tea Partiers quickly after taking office, began to force scores of failed votes to overturn ACA in Congress, and even shut down the government in 2013 for a couple of weeks in an extreme attempt to gut the ACA, costing the government $24 billion, according to Wall Street ratings referee, Standard & Poors. All told, there were more than 70 failed attempts in Congress to vote to overturn the ACA, none more dramatic or consequential than the Senate vote on  July  27, 2013. By then, Trump had grabbed the lead role in the Koch’s cause to repeal Obamacare, which would have ended health care coverage for millions of Americans. If not for the one Republican iconoclast with the guts, integrity and clout to take on Trump, the powerful Koch-Trump alliance would have succeeded in voting to repeal ACA.

Long before the late great Sen. John McCain smoked Trump and the Tea Party supplicants on ACA, Haley was doing her part to serve the Koch heads. As governor of South Carolina, she denied millions of residents in the state health care coverage available under Obamacare. Although she didn’t have a vote in Congress, she was a loud anti-ACA cheerleader during the repeal effort.

“We have fought Obamacare in South Carolina as much as we possibly could. We said no to the state exchanges. We said no to the Medicaid expansion,” Haley boasted to right wing news outlets in 2013 while governor of South Carolina.

The billionaire boys club apparently waited to endorse Haley until one of their own members of the corporate cabal, Virginia Glenn Youngkin, flamed out. Youngkin banked on a total Republican takeover of the Virginia legislature in last month’s state legislative elections. Had Youngkin succeeded it would have meant for Virginia an extremist bait and switch abortion ban, new anti-worker policies, an end to early voting, and a new era of Jim Crow voter suppression laws.

Youngkin was expected to announce his challenge to Trump within days if Virginia Republicans took complete control of the state House and Senate, a top Youngkin donor told reporters.

Haley and Youngkin share at least two significant traits: they are slick operators, and there is plenty of evidence they will say anything if it helps them reach their goal of replacing Trump as the GOP presidential nominee.

Youngkin demonstrated his double-talk with a dubious watered-down bill taking reproductive rights away from women. Youngkin knew Virginia GOP lawmakers would put forward a vindictive abortion ban that resembles that of Idaho, which is facing a healthcare crisis beyond women’s reproductive rights because of its own extreme abortion ban. “‘It depends on what makes it to the floor of the Senate and the House — if it will pass. That is why we are fighting to get as much as we can,’ said state Del. Tara Durant, a rabid anti-abortion Republican from Virginia, according to the Richmond Times-Democrat.

Haley is running on a ‘wants it both ways’ agenda aimed at wiping out reproductive rights. She had tried to soften her extreme anti-choice agenda by letting it be known that she urged Republicans in Congress not to seek a national ban on abortion while babbling about finding a “consensus” on abortion, but it turned out to be a ‘she will say-anything’ stunt. With anti-abortion religious zealots co-mingling with the MAGA base recently had to clarify ahead of the primaries that she intended to sign a six-week abortion ban as governor.

Some Republicans question her authenticity and her word. GOP lawmakers in her own state accused Haley of chameleon-like shape-shifting with her overnight conversion from Sikh to Christian. Many South Carolina Republican lawmakers didn’t believe the conversion and let Haley know it by teasing her to try to get her to react.

“Everybody knew she wasn’t a real Christian.  Everyone knew she converted for political purposes,” Jake Knotts, a veteran GOP lawmaker now retired, said in a 2021 Politico Magazine piece. “Her whole career has been stair-climbing, and becoming a Methodist was just one of those stairs.”

In fairness, the religion question says more about her GOP colleagues’ intolerance, but that won’t keep MAGA operatives from chomping at the bit to make it an issue if Haley moves from longshot to legitimate contender. For Democrats, conscientious Independents and old school traditional Republicans, Haley’s faith won’t be, or at least shouldn’t be, an issue.

The real problem is trusting the word of candidates like Haley. MAGA doesn’t trust Haley to carry the Trump legacy and centrist voters don’t trust her to keep House Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson and rightwing Supreme Court stacker Mitch McConnell from finishing their sinister scheme for taking rights away from women, minorities, young people, and the most vulnerable Americans.

Written by Ken Bazinet, former White House correspondent, covered three presidents and five presidential elections. Still writing, he works with organizations and individuals that focus on opening and expanding ballot access to Black, Latino, Native American, pro-worker and rural voters.

Elections tell who won, but not why

In May, Left of Center conducted a survey of likely Democratic voters in Philadelphia ahead of the 2023 mayoral primary election. The opportunity to gauge voter sentiment and candidate preference in a race that featured multiple credible candidates was too interesting to ignore. With the 2023 election a receding memory, we thought it was time for a rear view mirror look at our survey and evaluate what went right and what went wrong.

Identifying Gym's Decline: One aspect we got right in our survey was the assessment of Helen Gym's performance. We observed that Gym was falling in the ranks late in the cycle, and this was validated by the final results, where she secured 22% of the vote, finishing third. The then most recent public poll from the race had been conducted by Emerson College, rated A- pollster by 538 showed Gym leading the field. 

Margin of Error Analysis: In our survey, Cherelle Parker came within the margin of error of winning. This proved to be an accurate assessment, as Rebecca Rhynhart’s lead in our survey (9%) was not outside the margin of error of +/- 6%. 

Recognizing the Top-3 Race: Left of Center’s survey identified that the mayoral race was a top-3 contest with Rhynhart, Parker, and Gym atop the field, followed by a sizable gap, then Alan Domb, then Amen Brown. The actual results showed precisely that with Parker, Rhynhart, and Gym as the top three candidates, then an 11-point gap between the top three contenders and Domb, followed by Brown. Every one of these candidates had creditable experience in government service, no other candidate received a significant percentage of the vote. 

Highlighting the Possibility of a Parker Win: We indicated in our survey report that Cherelle Parker had the potential to win the race, and if she pulled it off, it would be due to her strong support among Black voters. Parker did end up winning, and according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the majority-Black precincts gave her 56% of the vote, while she got just 12% of the majority-white precincts. Furthermore, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Parker won areas with more gun violence by larger margins. This is notable as our survey indicated people’s top concern by a wide margin was crime and gun control, with 54% listing one of those options as the top issue mattering most when choosing who to vote for. Parker was able to secure the advantage of those shared concerns and had geared her campaign towards it. She was seen as the most tough on crime, even saying that the controversial “stop and frisk policy” was something that needed to be revisited, despite having been a vocal opponent to the policy as recently as 2020.

Sample Size and Weighting: Also important to note is that our survey was conducted with a relatively small sample of likely Democratic primary voters. Despite this, the information gathered provided valuable insights into the race. We weighted the poll on factors such as race, gender and age. Turns out we would have been wise to include income. In that demographic breakdown The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Parker winning nearly 50% of voters making $75k or less, 25% of voter making between $75k-$100k, and just 12% of voters making $100k or more. Had we weighted the by economic status, it's likely the result would have been more aligned with Cherelle Parker's support base, which could have further informed our predictions. 

Low Social Trust Voters: While fielding the survey, we observed that low social trust voters were more likely to respond via text, indicating their intention to vote for Parker but not completing the survey. This phenomenon suggests that some Parker voters may have been hesitant to engage fully in the polling process. This highlights the importance of considering non-response bias in future surveys as well as alternate ways of recording responses beyond text-to-web methods.

If there’s a perfect polling method, we have yet to see it. Our pre-election survey provided valuable insights into the 2023 Philadelphia mayoral primary race. We correctly identified key trends, such as Gym's declining support and the potential for a Parker victory. The small sample size and potential non-response bias are areas for improvement in future efforts. Overall, our survey contributed to a better understanding of voter attitudes in an important local election and suggests opportunity for future use as we navigate the polls and the path to winning more elections. 

Written by Isaac Kaufer, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, and a popular contributer to Left of Center’s blog page. There is nothing more important than electing Democrats. Your investment will help Left of Center PAC to do exactly that.

Virginia Would Take Biggest Economic Hit in U.S. Under MAGA Republican Shutdown

It’s unconscionable that any party in charge of the House of Representatives would even consider a politically motivated government shutdown as the United States works to pull itself out of the grip of the COVID-19 economic calamity and its lingering inflation.

Instead of seeking ways to run on a positive and fulfilling legislative agenda of “we fixed the COVID economy and tackled inflation,” MAGA Republicans are instead pushing for a government shutdown that would disrupt American workers, military, families, supply chains, travel, and volatile financial markets, among causing other unnecessary problems.

Ultimately, like the Jan. 6 insurrection succeeded in doing, the MAGA Republicans shutdown will also threaten the nation's credit rating, causing more economic pain as the country tries to escape the grip of inflation that unmercifully followed the pandemic.

And it’s all because MAGA Republicans are willing to shut down the government unless Congress passes a dangerous series of cuts guaranteed to slow the U.S. economy and give Russia an advantage in its insidious invasion of Ukraine. The scheme is poorly thought out and utterly reckless since it won’t see the light of day in the Senate. Even worse, the MAGA Republicans plan does not appear to include a face-saving exit strategy to end the charade.

While a government shutdown for political points may seem to be a million miles away from many Americans' day to day doings and responsibilities, it is important to recognize the immediate turmoil it directly causes for federal workers, military personnel, contractors, suppliers, communities, and even some entire states. Eventually the shock waves from a prolonged shutdown hits us all in the wallet, but for some the pain comes quickly and runs deep.

Consider the massive fallout that the threat of a shutdown alone has on Virginia, for example. There are more than 140,000 civilian federal workers in Virginia, and their families, communities and businesses where they shop would be affected by the MAGA Republican shutdown. The massive military presence in the state, and frankly U.S. national security, would also be put under duress by forcing military personnel to continue to their jobs without getting paid during the shutdown. Over time support and potential supply chain issues would also cause problems on military installations in Virginia.

“In Virginia alone, 129,400 active-duty service members will be forced to continue working without pay — a phenomenon that will undermine our national security and threaten the well-being of military families,” they said. “Service members should never be put in this situation,” Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia said in a joint statement.

One might expect that the devastating impact a government shutdown poses on Virginia would prompt the state’s highest Republican elected officials to at least urge their Republican colleagues in the House to avoid a shutdown at all costs. Sadly, no chance. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is downplaying the threat and hasn’t said a peep publicly about what if anything he plans to do to at least try to avoid a shutdown, and there is no indication he’s said much privately to persuade MAGA Republicans to halt the approaching crisis. The same goes for Virginia’s Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert, who also hasn’t been heard speaking out at MAGA Republicans over the shutdown threat. No-show leadership while early voting is going on in Virginia state elections does not project well.

Some Virginians, however, do remember well the 35-day Trump-driven government shutdown between 2018 and 2019, the longest shutdown in the country’s history. Sen. Warner of Virginia believes one lesson learned in that episode was government shutdowns hit Virginia hardest.

“I just don’t get anyone who’s calculating that somehow this is in the country’s best interest, or even in their short-term political interest,” Warner said, according to WTOP news radio in Washington.

There is at least some hope that a long-term shutdown won’t happen. Senate Democrats and Republicans are at least trying to use a temporary measure to keep the government open and running, but it will take some legislative finesse to get a bipartisan bill through the House, where MAGA Republicans can’t even work with traditional Republican conservatives to pass a budget, let alone Democrats.

Any so-called stop-gap measure, however, would bring the country back to a potential shutdown once the next deadline hits. So the problem of a shutdown isn’t being solved, it's just being delayed, and unfortunately, MAGA Republicans are under orders from Trump to shut down the government, so if not now, this scenario could easily play out again in a month or so.

The shutdown is just the latest incarnation of MAGAnomics, the prevailing agenda in the Republican Party in which chaos, division and destruction replace policies that improve the lives of Americans and bolster the U.S. economy. We’ve seen this kind of malicious lawmaking for at least nine years, so there is no reason to believe it’s going to stop until those responsible are held accountable by the voters.

This piece was written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Click here to help Left of Center continue the hard work of helping Democrats win elections.

How America’s Free Market Democracy Still Prevails Despite MAGAnomics: Rebuilding U.S. Economy After Trump’s Disgraced Pandemic Response & January 6 Coup Attempt

It took two and a half years for Fitch Ratings to blame “an erosion of governance” for doing its part in threatening the U.S. economy, but when the Wall Street economic arbiters finally lowered America’s credit rating the message was clear: the Trump-led, MAGA-driven Jan.6, 2021 insurrection was bad for business.

By comparison, it did not take the economic forecasters nearly as long to assess the cataclysmic predecessor to the insurrection,  COVID-19. The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of the supply chains, overwhelmed urban and suburban hospitals and rest homes, exposed the shortage of rural hospitals, threatened air and ground mass transportation, and introduced “super-spreader events” into the lexicon.

What took a little while longer to uncover was the fatal response to the pandemic, which included initial denial of the threat by Trump and his allies even though most recognized Covid was indeed a clear and present danger to the American people and economy. Nothing demonstrated the deceit and incompetence of the initial pandemic response more than the GOP pandemic-deniers, especially those that were later discovered to have sold their stocks after being warned of the threat during a classified briefing.

However, the crowning moments of ineptitude and perhaps criminality came from the Trump White House itself, as Trump initially opposed a national coronavirus strategy because he feared it would help “Blue States.”  Trump then prescribed insane and harmful remedies to the American people to fight the virus, including injecting disinfectant. Finally, Trump and his son-in-law-turned-henchman Jared Kushner were caught giving away free coronavirus money to their pals and cronies (a massive fraud investigation into Covid money is underway and some of the money is expected to be recovered), while then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin worked to keep the incoming Biden administration from having access to coronavirus response money. 

There is a lesson shared and taught by both the pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurrection: the inept initial response to a deadly virus, and Trump’s attempts to overthrow free and fair elections were toxic for the U.S. economy.

MAGAnomics were bad business and have turned out to be very bad for business.

The forecasts for escaping the economic and legal disasters left by MAGAnomics were bleak, with some economists predicting dark years ahead with recession, declines in the financial markets and job losses that would not easily recover. As hard as it was for him to win the election, for President Joe Biden the more difficult task of cleaning up the mess was ahead.

Biden’s approach to all the gloom has been practical. He and his brain trust have pursued the path that had saved America from economic peril since 1932: make smart investments in people, their businesses, their roads and buildings, and their access to prescient and valuable information, and offer workers the best training and education to fit into next-level jobs of the fast-coming future. Finally, add a differentiator into the mix: promote and incentivize competition.

The three-pronged approach has manifested itself as the three pieces of legislation signed by Biden most credited with pulling the country out of the malaise of MAGAnomics: the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips and Science Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The results so far are noteworthy:

  • 13.2 million new jobs since becoming president, including 750,000 manufacturing jobs

  • Wages are up across the board 

  • Biggest surge in factory construction and returning manufacturing from overseas since the start of over-globalization in the 1980s saw much of Wall Street and American corporations sell out American workers and communities for the low wages and hazardous environmental conditions in countries like China

  • The S&P 500 has climbed about 16% since Biden's inauguration

  • There is more work to be done, but inflation is slowly moving downward

While workers and middle class families have been most vulnerable to the top-heavy scourge of MAGAnomics,  the pro-labor Biden policies have contributed to an economy that is benefiting workers beyond those covered by collective bargain agreements. Biden’s bottom-up and middle-out approach clearly isn't hurting the richest “one percenters” that have continued to grow their wealth during his administration.

The epic fight for democracy and the protection of the individual rights of all Americans is clear, but make no mistake, the battle to protect the American economy from that same tyranny must be fought with the same vigor and resolve.  

This piece was written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Click here to help Left of Center continue the hard work of helping Democrats win elections.

Philly Mayoral Primary Survey Shows Rhynhart Leading a Packed Field

Background: For a glimpse into Democratic voter attitudes heading into the 2024 cycle, Left of Center undertook a survey of likely Democratic voters in swing state Pennsylvania, through the lens of a looming Democratic mayoral primary on deck for tomorrow.  Turnout in municipal races is traditionally challenging. This practical opportunity to create a meaningful survey of likely voters and into mindset of the likeliest voters of all was irresistible.

2023 Philadelphia Mayoral Primary Voter Viewpoint Survey Report

Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart leads a crowded field in the race to be the Democratic nominee for mayor of Philadelphia, with a clear top 3 emerging in the race’s final days.

30% of respondents said they will vote for Rhynhart, which represents a 9-point lead over former City Council member Cherelle Parker, who is in second with 21%. Former City Council member Helen Gym is following closely behind at 18%, followed by former City Council member Allan Domb at 12%, businessman Jeff Brown at 10%, and 10% still undecided.

Who do you plan to vote for?

When undecided respondents are pushed to pick a candidate, there is no change in the order-of-finish for the top 5. Rhynhart continues to be in the lead at 31% and she maintains her 9-point lead over Parker, who is at 22%. Gym is at 19%, Domb is at 13%, Brown is at 11%, and 4% say they would vote for someone else.

Who do you plan to vote for? (Pushed to choose)

While all of the top-5 candidates receive double-digit support from Black voters, Parker has a commanding 30-point lead over everyone else in that category. 16% of Black voters remain undecided, suggesting that there is still a lot of room for other candidates to gain, but while everybody else hovers at the 10% mark, Parker garners 41% among Black likely voters. If she is to pull off the victory in this race, it will almost certainly have a great deal to do with her candidacy’s strength with Black voters.

Rhynhart leads among white voters at 43%, a 16-point lead over Gym, who is at 27%. No other candidate managed to crack double digits, while 8% of white voters remain undecided. Among voters who are neither white nor Black, Rhynhart leads with 37%. That represents a 16-point lead over Domb who is at 21% with this group. Brown comes in a close third here with 18%. Gym and Parker are lagging among this group with just 11% and 9%, respectively.

Among voters under 50, Parker leads the field with 29%, followed closely by Rhynhart at 23%. Gym is at 13%, Domb is at 12%, and 7% support Brown with 16% undecided. Among those over 50, Rhynhart has a firm 14-point lead, with just 4% undecided. In second is Gym with 23%, followed by Brown, Parker, and then Domb who have 13%, 12%, and 11%, respectively.

In this survey, we also asked about which issue mattered most to voters when choosing who to vote for. “Reducing crime” is the most pressing issue, with 40% of voters ranking it as their top motivator. The second highest voter motivator is “city services (i.e. road repair, trash pickup, etc)” at 16%. “Gun control” comes in third at 14%, and “education” at 11%. Issues that are less of a priority to people include “creating more affordable housing” at 5%, “inflation and the cost of living” at 3%, and “police reform” at 2%. “Other” logged in at 8%.

Which Issue Matters Most When Choosing Who to Vote For?

Left of Center conducted this survey of 285 likely Philadelphia Democratic primary voters with cell phones, from 5/12-5/13. The pool of respondents was weighted to targets for the expected Democratic primary electorate for race, gender, and age. The survey was conducted entirely using text-to-web data collection and the top-line results have a margin of error of +/- 6%.

This survey report was written by Isaac Kaufer, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, and new contributor to this page.

The Hero vs. The Hack: Arizona’s Race that will Keep Us Up Late Unnecessarily Election Night

It’s hard to fathom in the post-9/11 world a Trump disciple, who actually made money by investing in China and has no history of service to his country, even daring to challenge a decorated combat pilot and distinguished NASA astronaut that flew more than one historic mission into space. Yet here we are.

It's really no contest, but supporters of Sen. Mark Kelly in Arizona are taking no chances as they work to make sure a true American patriot and hero is re-elected to the Senate. Volunteers, including concerned Republicans, are canvassing the state, making phone calls, and urging their neighbors to vote for the candidate they can trust, Sen. Kelly.

“I think we all know guys like this,” Sen. Kelly said at a recent debate. “Guys that think they know better than everyone about everything.”

He, of course, was talking about fortunate son and MAGA wannabe Blake Masters, a sketchy Silicon Valley product, who has more in common with the members of the Chinese Communist Party business partners than a small business owner in Phoenix, or a farmer in Apache County.

“You think you know better than women and doctors about abortion. You even think you know better than seniors about Social Security. You think you know better than veterans about how to win a war,” Sen Kelly added at the debate, where he frankly made Masters look weak and small by simply stating the facts. “Folks, we all know guys like this, and we can’t be letting them make decisions about us because it’s just dangerous.”

Like everything he has done in the course of his life, Sen. Kelly has quickly forged a bond with Arizona's working families and businesses. Trust, truth and the oath of allegiance to America he repeatedly took over the course of his life matters to Sen. Kelly. His tireless work in the Senate on behalf of Arizona has earned the deep respect of his colleagues, and his leadership qualities have him ascending swiftly in the Senate, bringing even more value and reach for the people of Arizona.

As for Masters, well, he takes his orders from Trump, not the people of Arizona.

After that embarrassing debate performance, Trump actually ordered Masters to tell The Big Lie about the 2020 election the way MAGA election-denier Kari Lake is doing in the race for governor of Arizona.  “Look at Kari. Kari’s winning with very little money. And if they say, ‘How is your family?’ She says the election was rigged and stolen. You’ll lose if you go soft,” Trump said in a phone call disclosed by Fox News.

Masters so far is doing the same as when he was a lacky for China investor and right-wing anti-democracy poster boy Peter Theil: hedging on The Big Lie, but staying close to the Trumpist wave of fascism in America. Like J.D. Vance in Ohio, Thiel is Master’s sugar daddy, pumping millions into his campaign, but he was also entrée into Master’s dark past with investing in China at a time when national security professionals were warning that the investments overseas were a threat to the American supply chain.

The world has now seen that greed over patriotism has put the supply chain at risk, creating an unnecessary vulnerability for the people, economy and security of the United States. Trump’s unilateral trade war (by then he had alienated allies suddenly running to distance themselves from his get-rich-quick schemes) accelerated the decline of the supply chain, and set the U.S. economy on a collision course with a pandemic.

It’s clear these aren’t the people you want running things when things get rough, and everyday Americans discover they are at risk. Arizona voters have embraced Sen. Kelly for his experience and his wisdom, and any Americans embrace him as leader because of his love for his wife, Gabby Giffords, who was a victim of violence against lawmakers long before the horrific attack on Paul Pelosi.

Sen. Kelly is many good things to many good people, but for Arizonans in the case of Kelly vs. Masterson, he’s simply the only choice.

“Sen. Kelly is working for Arizona on issues such as border security, water rights and inflation reduction while his opponent, Blake Masters, supports a ban on abortions, privatizing social security and expanding use of fossil fuels due to “soaring gas prices” (which have been coming down for 12 weeks),” John Flynn of Goodyear, Ariz. stated. “Masters campaigned as a “Trumpster” and now claims to be an Independent. False. He is too extreme for Arizona. Vote for Mark Kelly for senator.”

Pennsylvanians are Telling Oz They Won’t Follow Him Down the Goldbricker’s Road

From swing voters to disenchanted Republicans, Pennsylvanians are rallying to the side of John Fetterman as his campaign makes its final push to vanquish a carpetbagger quack that even has doctors sounding the alarm.

“Having someone like Dr. (Memhet) Oz running for a position in my state certainly would make sense for me to get involved that way, although I do try and promote other Senate races across the country. But Oz is the antithesis to what it is to be a caring, empathetic, and professional healthcare provider,” Dr. Ezekiel Tayler, a physician, anesthesiologist, and critical care physician in the Philadelphia area told WHYY recently.

Health law and policy expert Timothy Caulfield, author of the book "Your Day, Your Way: The Fact and Fiction Behind Your Daily Decisions writes in Scientific American: “Oz has few ties to Pennsylvania, a weakness that could impede his campaign. But even so, in these bunk-filled times, Oz the conservative—and inexplicably still-licensed—medical misinformation machine is an unsurprising GOP candidate.”

Even the leading group organizing traditional Republicans and conservatives has had enough of the smoke and mirrors act and is calling out Oz from behind the curtain that he hides his dark past behind.

“Unlike the character he plays on TV, Dr. Oz is actually a snake oil salesman pushing dubious health cures and using his status as a doctor to dupe his viewers,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of the Lincoln Project. “Someone this willing to sell out his medical ethics to obtain fame and wealth shows he has no principles. There is nothing Oz won’t do in the pursuit of power, making him a danger to our democratic institutions. He must be defeated in this election.”

As thousands of volunteers sweep across the cities, towns and rural areas of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to support Fetterman through Election Day, it is looking more and more like Oz will have to resort to Trump’s failed and criminal Big Lie to try to steal the election, because the voters clearly aren’t going to elect him. What Oz has failed to realize is that Pennsylvania voters want action, not some TV carny-barker and his doctor-for-hire act.

“After that stroke, I got knocked down, but I got back up because I had to. And that's really the core value of our campaign,” John Fetterman said at a weekend rally in Philadelphia. “We are running for anyone that ever got knocked down that had to get back up, too. Any forgotten communities or community's towns that got left behind, that got knocked down, because they have to get back up."

Pennsylvanians this year are demanding a plan for fighting price-gouging and ripping off consumers and insisting on protecting the personal choices and rights of the citizens of the Commonwealth, but John Fetterman is the only candidate in the race for U.S. Senate that has produced those actual plans for tackling inflation and guaranteeing the protection of personal rights and freedoms for Pennsylvanians.

“Our economy is a mess because the rich (and) powerful don’t care about PA. They set the rules, weakened our supply chain, and spiked inflation,” Democrat John Fetterman said as he rolled out his inflation-fighting plan for Pennsylvania. “They’re too busy sending jobs overseas, ripping off American workers, and eating crudité.”

With a reputation from not running from a fight or a debate no matter the odds, John Fetterman has made it clear he is using the homestretch to call out Trump-darling and MAGA-wannabe Oz for refusing to disclose whether he has a plan for the economy, how to protect Social Security and Medicare, or guarantee Republicans won’t continue to strip rights away from woman, workers and minorities.

From the start of the election, Oz has demonstrated just how out-of-touch he is with his newly “adopted” Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but he still managed to stun Pennsylvanians last week when he declared local political officials should be among the people that decide whether a woman can have access to safe reproductive health care and choices.

“Oz doesn’t think I have that right to make the decision on my own. Mr. Oz doesn’t trust people with uteruses to make decision by themselves. John Fetterman believes that women are capable of making their own decisions. I’m on the side of the person that believes I can,” state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti (D-Montgomery) told PolticsPA.

“Mehmet Oz is an out of touch TV millionaire who referred to the U.S. Senate race as a ‘TV show’ and said abortion should be between ‘women, doctors, and local political leaders,’” Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Jack Doyle said in a statement. “The future of Pennsylvania and this country are not a TV show that Mehmet Oz can use to boost his own bottom line and ego. Oz offered no ideas on how to help voters, and has no place representing Pennsylvania.”

Republicans continue to demonstrate they don’t have a plan to fix anything. What they have is a scheme to try to deceive voters. We are seeing it everywhere in Republican campaigns for House, Senate and state and local races all over the country. Oz, however, takes it to another level with his pseudoscience, home elixirs, and cruelty to animals – and experts have said so for years.

“Simply put, Oz is an entertainer. Many believe he is doing great harm by preventing or delaying proper diagnosis, providing false hope, and encouraging people to waste money on useless treatments,” wrote Dr. Steven J. Dell, chief medical editor of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today. “As far as I am concerned, the wackier he gets, the easier it is to logically debunk his claims.”

Written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Hey Budd, Your Plan to Gut Healthcare Will Put the North Carolina Economy at Risk

A plan to gut the healthcare system is threatening the growth and sustainability of the economy of North Carolina, but fortunately voters are already lining up to ensure quality medical care and prescription drug coverage for the state‘s 10.6 million residents will thrive and expand.

“Access to health care – doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent – these are real issues all over the state,” Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Cheri Beasley said in a recent interview.

“We have issues that impact our climate and impact people and our livelihoods every single day. These are not partisan issues,” added Cheri Beasley, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, explained to independent news outlet The 19th.

Judge Beasley knows what she’s talking about. Quality healthcare and affordable coverage are more than just campaign themes for Cheri Beasley and her husband Curt. Shortly after their twin sons were born, the Beasleys learned their boys would need several surgeries, treatments and multiple doctors’ visits over the course of their lives. Along the way, the Beasleys endured fights with heartless insurance companies and budget-busting out-of-pocket costs. Now Judge Beasley wants to take on that fight for all of North Carolina.

“I’m running to represent all of North Carolina—Democrats, Republicans, and independents. I mean, if someone you love cannot afford prescription drugs and they are missing doses and skipping pills, these are not partisan issues,” Judge Beasley emphasized in another recent interview with magazine Vanity Fair.

However, North Carolina men, women, children, workers, and retirees all would see their healthcare coverage evaporate under a plan by Trump pal and MAGA Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), who is running against Cheri Beasley for the open U.S. Senate seat. When it come’s to Trump’s endless irrational assault on the Affordable Care Act and the North Carolina families it covers, Budd is is a top henchman for Trump.

“I will work to fully repeal Obamacare,” Budd, an election denier who tried to prevent President Biden from taking office, said as he lashed out when Senate Republicans, who unlike Budd declined to carry Trump’s water and decimate the Affordable Care Act.

Budd further showed his contempt for affordable quality healthcare when he repeatedly voted against lowering prescription drug prices, the cost of insulin, and insurance premiums for North Carolina residents.

“With an abysmal record on health care, it is clear that Ted Budd only wants to continue Trump’s war on health care and raise costs on the American people,” said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of the Protect Our Care consumer advocacy group. “He voted against the American Rescue Plan, which delivered lower premiums for millions, he voted against capping insulin costs, and he continues to block Medicare negotiation and expanded access to affordable coverage. Even worse, Ted Budd wants to return to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act — even as more Americans are covered than ever before. Ted Budd does not represent the hardworking people of North Carolina, and he is not fit to shape our health care laws in the Senate for years to come.”

Add Medicare and Social Security to Budd’s chopping block. Budd backs the GOP Senate campaign agenda written by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who outlined a blatant path to killing the benefits programs so important to senior citizens and disabled North Carolina workers.

As we have noted here before, Scott, currently the richest serving U.S. senator and former CEO whose company engaged in one of the largest Medicare fraud scandals in U.S. history (the company he headed was fined $1.7 billion), is using his position as chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) to wage what many people believe is a personal vendetta against the American Safety Net, some say it‘s payback because the company he headed got caught with its hands stealing from the Medicare cookie jar.

As chairman of the NRSC Scott is charged with winning back the GOP majority in the Senate, so his agenda is meant to be gospel to the GOP. He pulls no punches, either, calling for putting sunsets on Social Security and Medicare within five years. He’s since resorted to double talk to try to hide the pain and suffering his multi-point agenda written for Senate GOP candidates will cause.

Following the extremist playbook, Budd’s war on quality healthcare for North Carolina crosses over into the Republicans’ all-encompassing war on women. Budd wants a total ban on abortion, even in the case of rape, incest or threat to a woman’s health, and is an original co-sponsor of a congressional bill that would ban abortion nationally. Not surprisingly, Budd’s position is seriously out of step with North Carolina voters, most of who oppose Republicans taking away the rights of women.

"I can certainly tell you that that even in the smallest rural communities, regardless of party affiliation, people want to talk about abortion access," Judge Beasley told CBS News. 

Like Trump, Budd likes to try to talk about the economy, but he avoids the fact that gutting healthcare in North Carolina is not good for business in the state. The healthcare industry pumps more than $54 billion into the state economy. Along with being the cornerstone of providing health and safety, hospitals, healthcare systems, and providers with good jobs with good benefits are anchors in North Carolina cities and towns, serving as an engine for the local economy. North Carolina has also worked hard to establish itself as home to envied cutting edge research and academic medical industry nationally – a well-earned reputation that Budd is willing to threaten for his own political agenda.

Budd could focus on what’s best for North Carolina residents and the North Carolina, but instead he is bent on carrying Trump’s vendetta against healthcare and the GOP’s war on women.  On Tuesday, Nov. 8, North Carolina’s voters will decide whether they want what’s best for them or what’s best for Trump.

Written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Ohio Trusts Tim Ryan to Fight for its Economy and That’s a Big Advantage

In rare bipartisan agreement, Ohio election observers conclude that only the candidate Buckeye State’s voters truly trust to expand and protect the state’s economic future will head into the November election with the support of a cross-section of voters needed to prevail.

Voters know the drill: everyone claims to be for job creation and economic opportunity, and everyone rails against U.S. companies shipping factories and jobs off to China and other far-away places. Fortunately for Ohio voters, records speak louder than campaign rhetoric. Only one Senate candidate has an honest history of promoting “Made in Ohio” jobs, manufacturing and investment, while the other candidate made a fortune in and around the slimy business of making a buck in Beijing.

Not surprisingly, with a 20-year voting record and his position as co-chairman of the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan is seeing a surge in his campaign for Senate in Ohio, building on the trust he’s earned from Buckeye State voters. Tim Ryan repeatedly has demonstrated his commitment to Ohio jobs and economy, most recently this month with Intel’s $20 billion semiconductor development project groundbreaking in Central Ohio.

“Today we broke ground on a future that every Ohioan can be proud of,” Tim Ryan said of the project that is expected to provide 3,000 manufacturing jobs with an average salary of $135,000. “This multi-billion-dollar investment is a culmination of an unprecedented collaboration between federal, state, and private sector leaders that will transform Ohio’s economy and provide future generations an opportunity to build a stable middle-class life right here at home.”

The Intel semiconductor project will compete in an industry in which 90 percent of chips are currently produced overseas, and will create another 7,000 construction jobs in Ohio, as well as support jobs and revenue for local businesses. It’s all part of Tim Ryan’s “Cutting Workers In on the Deal” agenda.

“Throughout his career, Tim Ryan has been a reliable partner for Ohio’s building and construction workers, and we can count on him to bring that fight and commitment to the U.S. Senate,” said Mike Knisely, executive secretary of the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor organization with a reputation for backing Republicans yet in this race is putting its trust and support behind the Democrat Tim Ryan.

Jobs are returning to America this year faster and in bigger numbers than at anytime this century since “reshoring” data began being collected. Even Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal trumpeted the good news with an article headlined, “U.S. Companies on Pace to Bring Home Record Number of Overseas Jobs.” Building on that momentum, Tim Ryan has made it a point to emphasize job security and national security depends on bringing home the supply chain from China and other foreign lands and reshoring those jobs and products in manufacturing states like Ohio.

It all comes down to trust. Tim Ryan is the only candidate in the race we can trust on expanding the reshoring movement and protecting the Ohio economy – just ask current and former Republicans.

Tom Laakso of Columbus, a lifelong Republican until 2016, sees the issue of trust connected to how politicians frame themselves, especially the candidate’s personal record of where he worked, who he is backed by and who he is beholden to. So for Laakso, an Ohio State graduate who studied political science, the purely cosmetic reinvention of Trump-backed J.D. Vance is a makeover too far for Ohio.

“To me, someone campaigning as an outsider is like someone applying for a job with no references or prior job experience,” Laakso wrote recently in The Columbus Dispatch. “If it were my business, would I hire someone without experience solving these problems and who I don’t trust?”

At the center of Vance’s trust problem with Ohio voters is his resume and his chief backers, all of which reflect a record of a businesses with cozy relationships with foreign adversaries like China, and policies that cost Americans money, jobs and economic opportunity. A longtime resident of San Francisco up until his decision to run, Vance worked for Silicon Valley companies that invested and operated overseas, some even representing Chinese real estate interests and Chinese online retailer Alibaba.

Vance’s lousy reputation for cashing in on offshoring U.S. manufacturing jobs and investing in overseas manufacturing is a dark but well-deserved pedigree. Vance’s is the protégé of venture capitalist and Maga-darling Peter Thiel, having worked for his Silicon Valley investment firm and landing a whopping $10 million contribution from Thiel that kicked off Vance’s campaign for Senate.

Among the Big Tech fat cats, Thiel is a billionaire that enrages Republicans and Democrats alike, and he has cast a dark shadow on Vance’s lounging campaign. In an attempt to separate himself from who he really is, Vance naturally tries to score points on the campaign trail (when he actually does show up to campaign) by bad-mouthing Big Tech, the very foundation of his wealth, but even Ohio Republicans see right through that hypocrisy.

“The problem is, there’s a large disconnect between that rhetoric and the reality since J.D. left the state for Silicon Valley fortunes and Hollywood dreams,” Republican Rep. Bill Seitz, majority floor leader of the Ohio House of Representatives, wrote in The Enquirer of Cincinnati the week Vance announced his run for Senate in Ohio.

In fairness, Vance is a good talker, much like his best-known backer, Donald Trump. But as the sayings go, talk is cheap, and action speaks louder than words. Trump's idea of economic stimulus was ignoring the middle class and giving billionaires and corporations a free cash giveaway, which even Republicans say laid the foundation for the rampant inflation Ohio is now suffering through.

And, it’s hard not to forget Trump’s claim that “trade wars are easy to win,” but then he failed to get a single major industrialized allied nation to join him in raising tariffs on Beijing. Done right, economic pressure could have worked against China, but because Trump already had lost the trust of world leaders, his trade war instead turned out to be easy-to-lose – and he did. Trump’s go-it-alone tariffs set in motion the supply chain problems now choking America, especially Ohio.

Vance of course is banking on being able to fool people into thinking he’s not an owned man, but Ohio voters aren’t stupid. They know owing favors to Trump and Thiel will not be good for the state, its people, and economy.

The DSCC sums it up well:  “J.D. Vance is a fraud who only cares about himself and will hurt Ohio to get what he wants. He will say or do anything to get elected and Ohio voters cannot trust him in the Senate.”

Written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Floridians Need To Fear GOP Plans to Gut Medicare and Social Security

Public policy experts, healthcare analysts and economists are warning Florida voters that Medicare and Social Security are on the ballot this November in Florida.

So critical to 4.8 million Floridians and the Florida economy, voters this fall will have the chance to determine whether Social Security and Medicare benefits continue to help pay the bills for nearly a quarter of the state’s population.

The Senate race in Florida is shaping up to be a ground zero contest to determine whether the U.S. seeks to continue to help seniors maintain a high standard of living, or whether food is taken off their tables and prescriptions are swept from their medicine cabinets.

Fortunately for voters, the sides are clearly defined.

Rep. Val Demings is a Democrat with a voting record of proven commitment to expanding and protecting the American Safety Net for seniors. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, not only has his own history of plotting to gut benefits, but he finds himself running amid a GOP Senate platform with a dangerous gimmick that would wipe out the crucial health care and retirement benefits that Floridians depend on.

It’s all documented.

The Republican Party no longer whispers its intention to burn a hole in the American Safety Net; it shouts it out load with no regard for who suffers while in total servitude to the wealthiest Americans who don’t want to pay a fair share to keep America growing. Led by Florida’s two MAGA-driven senators, the GOP blatantly flaunts its agenda for gutting Social Security and Medicare for its current recipients and outright eliminating the benefits for the next generations that are paying into the system and expect it to be there for them.

“Social Security is a sacred promise and it’s one that we must fulfill,” Rep. Demings said when she unveiled legislation called Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust, which would ensure America keeps its promises to Florida seniors. “Without our legislation, Social Security is on a path towards future cuts. That is unacceptable.”

Rep. Demings history of fighting for Social Security and Medicare recently earned her the endorsement, among others, from the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), a grassroots advocacy organization with more than 200,000 members across Florida.

“Rep. Demings has already proven as a member of the U.S. House that she will look out for older people in Washington. She has earned a lifetime score of 100% in the Alliance’s annual Congressional Voting Record,” said Florida ARA President Bill Sauers. “We trust her to work to expand and preserve our hard earned Social Security and Medicare benefits in the U.S. Senate. She knows that many seniors in Florida rely on those benefits, and she’s working to protect all of our retirement security.”

Florida ARA also saluted Rep. Demings votes in Congress to lower drug costs by requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors, cap out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year and cap insulin copays at $35 per month – measures the majority of Republicans in Congress consistently have rejected.

For his part, Rubio’s most recent scheme would force parents to choose between paid family leave to care for new babies or whether to get all their future Social Security benefits – that’s Rubio’s idea of family values. As described by Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Under the Rubio proposal, parents opting for parental leave would face permanent cuts to their Social Security retirement benefits that ultimately would far exceed their parental leave benefits.”

It’s appalling that Rubio would resort to a choice that amounts to a subtle form of blackmail for middle class parents, but it’s not surprising for anyone who knows how Rubio operates. Since 2010, Rubio has tried every scam possible to take away Social Security and Medicare benefits, beginning with raising the retirement age for benefits and reducing cost-of-living increases for recipients.

It doesn’t stop there. Rubio has pushed for Republican plans to privatize Social Security, which as we have seen the past three years are no longer epic failures just in theory; they are a bad investment in reality. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the volatility of the global financial markets, triggering trillion-dollar gyrations that threatened 401ks and private pension funds, which Rubio would model his privatization plans after.

Floridians just saw first hand how little control over their private retirement funds they have in a crisis. Social Security, however, was immune to the financial markets covid-driven crash, and payments to retirees continued without interruption or reductions. Yet Rubio would gladly line the pockets of fat-cat investment banks at the cost of gambling away middle class livelihoods.

How much is enough for Rubio’s wealthy patrons? Rubio already gave billionaires and corporations a free cash bonanza when he voted for the Trump tax cuts, which even Republicans say laid the foundation for the rampant inflation Floridians are now enduring. Rubio was also an ardent backer of the Trump tariffs that many of the same economists say set in motion the supply chain problems gripping America. When he shows up for work, Rubio appears unable to balance the federal checkbook let alone show he can be trusted to keep benefits flowing to Floridians, who already paid into the system.

As if Rubio’s record of maintaining a red ledger balance sheet in the Senate isn’t tough enough on Floridians, his partner in the Senate, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, has upped the ante on ending Social Security and Medicare with an even more blatant path to killing the benefits programs.

Scott, currently the richest serving U.S. senator and former CEO whose company engaged in one of the largest Medicare fraud scandals in U.S. history (the company he headed was fined $1.7 billion), is using his position as chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) to wage what many people believe is a personal vendetta against the American Safety Net, some say it‘s payback because the company he headed got caught with its hands stealing from the Medicare cookie jar.

As chairman of the NRSC Scott is charged with winning back the GOP majority in the Senate, so his agenda is meant to be gospel to the GOP. He pulls no punches, either, calling for putting sunsets on Social Security and Medicare within five years. He’s since resorted to double talk to try to hide the pain and suffering his multi-point agenda written for Senate GOP candidates would cause nearly 25 percent of Floridians. But the experts know the truth.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher for seniors. We need Val Demings in the Senate fighting against any Republican plan to cut or ‘sunset’ Social Security and Medicare,” said Sauers, speaking for his retirees’ organization. “Under the plan of Sen. Rick Scott (FL), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Social Security and Medicare would be automatically terminated within five years unless renewed by legislative action.”

Written by Ken Bazinet. Ken is a respected, longtime national political reporter and freelance writer based in rural Maryland.

Holding the House in ’22: Let’s Get to Work Now

Katherine Clark, assistant speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, offered insights on the 2022 midterm elections. Representative Clark provided reasons for hope but also cautioned that hope can only be realized if we do the work now to elect Democrats in November. “We are the ones who are going to have to fight for this majority,” she said. “These are the days that matter.”

Clark spoke with more than 180 people at a special virtual event organized by Together We Elect, a project of Left of Center PAC. 

Congressional Democrats need to deliver legislation to gain voters’ support. Clark said, “We’ve got to do the most good we can to help the most people.” There is widespread agreement on improving access to childcare and universal pre-K. Even the business community supports these issues since they are crucial to the country’s economic recovery. Clark added that Democrats can’t give up on climate change legislation either, “despite Joe Manchin.”

The Democratic Party also must keep the Republican failures in sharp focus, voting against middle class tax cuts, for example. We need to pressure media and social media outlets to counter the lies – including the Big Lie – that Republicans tout. “We have to push back and correct the record,” she said. “This is going to be a very difficult cycle, but we have a lot to tell the American people. Not only what they stand to gain and protect our democracy, but what they stand to lose if they vote Republican.”

People should remember what has been accomplished since Biden became President. “We talked, we organized, and we drove out the vitriol of the previous administration,” she said. The Biden administration made huge investments in infrastructure, which helped in every district in the country. “We need to tell these stories,” she said.

And, although Republicans have engineered new, unfair Congressional districts, the work done by Democrats, including independent commissions and legal challenges, has meant that the results are much better than expected. She pointed to specific recent events, such federal judges ruling that the Republican-drawn maps in Alabama violate the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn. 

Congresswoman Clark also predicted that the assault on reproductive rights will mean that abortion will be a leading issue in the midterms.

Clark answered questions posed by those who attended. One person asked her to talk about which are the most critical House races. Some redistricting has shored up support for certain Democratic incumbents, but other newly drawn districts spell trouble for Democratic incumbents, Clark said. She mentioned the following as now more vulnerable: Daniel Kildee, Michigan 5th district; Dina Titus, Nevada 1st; Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey 5th, and Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey 11th. Cong. Tom Malinowski, New Jersey 7th, is going to have a particularly hard race now because of redistricting, Clark said. 

Answering a question about the possibility of breaking out portions of the Build Back Better or Voting Act bills, Clark said that would not be as easy as some might think. Better options may include using reconciliation and Executive Orders, she said. 

Clark also said the political arm of the Democratic Party — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) — will meet in February to formulate a united strategy for the coming election cycle. New Frontline and Red 2 Blue lists will be released shortly, Clark said. The DCCC operates Frontline and Red to Blue programs to provide additional support to Democratic candidates in competitive races. Clark was vice-chair of the DCCC’s recruitment subcommittee, which oversaw the highly effective Red 2 Blue program in 2018. The Red 2 Blue program worked to flip red states blue.

“All our Frontliners need our support. We can’t afford to lose any of them,” Clark said. “What we know is all of these races are going to be close. It’s going to be (about) turnout. It’s going to be (about) how we can connect with people.”

After Clark, members of Together We Elect spoke about the effective actions that volunteers can access in order to join the struggle to hold the U.S. House and Senate. These included a Volunteer to Volunteer (V2V) program that asks volunteers to reach out to other volunteers to inspire them to re-engage. Another option for volunteers is to become an Action Coach, helping others find effective actions that suit the individual volunteer. 

Nearly 100 people responded to a poll held during the Zoom event, saying that they want to get involved in volunteering with Together We Elect or its actions.

Event emcee Michael Ansara of Together We Elect advised that the road to Democratic success in the midterms will require a unified effort. “Yes, it will be harder than it was in 2020, but it is possible – if we do the work.”

At the conclusion of Clark’s presentation, Ansara asked what gives the congresswoman the most hope. After admitting it might sound corny, Clark said, “It’s all of you – people that continue to take their time and remain active.”

Access to a video recording of “Holding the House in ‘22” is available here.


Written by guest contributor Angela Carbone. Angela is a retired journalist and freelance writer based in Massachusetts. She is one of many Together We Elect volunteers sharing their professional skills to help elect Democrats.

Marco Rubio is vulnerable. Val Demings can send him packing.

Politically divided Florida has long frustrated Democrats, and Marco Rubio is a testament to that. He has managed to win two Senate elections with relatively small shares of the vote: 49% in 2010 and 52% in 2016. 

August polls suggest Rubio, after 11 years in office, has not broadened his base of support ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The right candidate in the right political conditions will be able to pick him off. While we can’t know yet what the conditions will be, we do know that Rep. Demings is the right candidate.

Quinnipiac found that Rubio holds a 49 percent job approval rating, with only 47 percent saying he deserves re-election. Three other polls tested a Rubio-Demings match, with two showing a close race: Future Majority shows Rubio leading 47 to 44 percent, and St. Pete Polls has an even smaller lead of 48 to 46 percent. 

Moreover, at this early point in the race, Demings almost certainly trails Rubio in name identification, as the Orlando-area congresswoman has never before run for statewide office. As she becomes better known over the course of her Senate primary campaign, she has a great opportunity to overcome that narrow deficit for the general election, in large part because her background is a great fit for Florida.

Central Florida’s “I-4 Corridor” is known as the key swing area, and Demings represents Orange County inside the corridor. The county is the bluest part of Central Florida, but nevertheless, as a three-term congresswoman Demings is a familiar figure in the region. Furthermore, Demings was born and raised in Jacksonville, in the more Republican northern part of the state. (In 2020 Duval County, where Jacksonville is located, voted Democrat for president for the first time since 1976.) Demings will be able to campaign up north as a homegrown success story, not an unfamiliar outsider.

Demings’ experience as Orlando’s former police chief should also help her connect with Florida’s swing voters, while maintaining support from the Democratic base. As New York City’s Eric Adams showed this summer, when we won the Democratic mayoral primary, an African-American candidate with background in law enforcement can credibly campaign as tough on crime and tough on police brutality. And such a candidate is harder for Republicans to caricature as outside the mainstream.

Rubio, meanwhile, after 11 years has failed to live up to the hype. He used to be breathlessly hailed as the “savior” of the Republican Party. But instead he’s been a bystander as his party descended into bigotry and conspiracy-mongering. In 2013, he flinched when anti-immigrant voices in hi party rebelled against bipartisan immigration reform. After voting for it in the Senate, Rubio abandoned it and argued against a House vote. After getting steamrolled by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, he re-styled himself as a Trump loyalist. Now that Trump is no longer in office, Rubio continues to operate of fear of his party’s base. Rubio claimed to be supportive of an infrastructure bill, but couldn’t bring himself to support the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure the came before the Senate and passed with the help of 19 other Republicans. 

Of course, there are plenty of Trump loyalists in Florida. Trump did win the state twice, albeit narrowly. But if swing voters start to turn against Trumpism, Rubio won’t have any safe harbor. This summer’s spike in Florida COVID-19 cases is seriously damaging the standing of Trump’s favorite governor, Ron DeSantis, who won narrowly in 2018 and is also up for re-election in 2022. The fates of Rubio and DeSantis may be intertwined. 

Demings is well suited to seize any opportunity created by Republican incompetence and intransigence. For Democrats to keep the Senate, they need to not only play defense to protect their incumbents, they must also play offense wherever pickup opportunities exist. One exists in Florida and Demings is the candidate best prepared to take advantage. 

Written by guest contributor Bill Scher. Bill is a contributing editor at Politico magazine. He is the author of the book, “Wait! Don’t Move to Canada.” His writing has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic and several other outlets.

Finding the Best Way to Talk About Doing the Right Thing

One of Twitter’s more lucid and pragmatic tweeters, @SimonWDC delivered two extraordinarily thought provoking questions in the last 24 hours: how do we Democrats deal with President Biden’s declining numbers despite doing just about everything right and what words best describe today’s @GOP?

It seems September is our time to have deep thoughts about what to do as a party. Here are two of mine. We have to get out of letting our expressions of dismay at how awful Republicans are dominate our emotional spectrum. There is a place for that but it is overwhelming us as a party and that isn’t good. We need to express our joy and celebrate all the good things we do. It feels good to be a Democrat! We’re happy! We need to show that! Second, we are losing on propaganda. Misinformation is our bigger problem. We must get in front of it with a much more robust and assertive communications campaign. Jen Psaaki is great, but she isn’t enough. We need coordinated, positive, informative messaging EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. 

That’s it. Maybe a little early in the day and too soon after vacation, but I saw Simon Rosenberg’s tweets and writing and they had a tone I haven’t seen before. He’s right that we need some massive shifting, so I thought about it. It isn’t right that we aren’t doing better in the polls. And it strikes me that the best counterpoint to the depths to which the once honorable opposition has sunk is to be loud and proud of being honorable in response. We need those two things and we need them fast.

Written by Left of Center Co-founder Mara Dolan

Finally, Republicans in Congress stopped saying no.

We finally have a Covid relief package and the reason is clear: Republicans finally stopped saying no. Chuck Schumer made it very clear from the floor of the Senate last night, saying the delay “was caused by a Republican majority that didn’t want to vote the monies desperately needed by the American people.” Yet even on MSNBC this morning, the narrative was unchanged. “Congress” finally made a deal, and there was speculating about what finally motivated Nancy Pelosi.

The Biden Administration continues to build a balanced, talented, and patriotic team to begin governing on January 20, 2021. There is another important change coming along to Democratic politics in America, The election of a new Democratic National Committee chair is imminent. Whoever the incoming DNC Chair is, he or she must actively smash the narrative that Democrats are responsible for Republican conduct. 

While Americans were going hungry and the clock ticked on the federal evictions moratorium, Republicans in the Senate did nothing. Democrats went to the table repeatedly, only to have Republicans just say no, while the press reported both Parties were equally at fault. Republicans have been on message, and on brand for years. No matter which media outlet you turned into on any given day, no matter which Republican was speaking, they were all saying the same things, and it worked. Democrats must do the same. 

Regardless of where a Democrat lies on the political spectrum, the facts remain unchanged. It is Democrats in Congress who consistently work on behalf of the American people, and for what most Americans support: sensible gun safety, jobs that pay a living wage, quality public schools, affordable, quality healthcare, and Covid relief to help the millions of Americans who have lost work, can’t afford to feed their families and pay their bills, and who are facing eviction while Republicans refuse to do anything until they’re finally worried in the 11th hour, not about the American people. What they’re worried about is the outcome of the election in Georgia.

Americans deserve a government that works, and a free press that practices ethical journalism as the framers of our constitution intended. Access journalism is upending our democracy on a daily basis. It is time to hold the media accountable. No platform for lies, innuendo or extremes with no basis in reason or fact. We are are duty bound as Democrats, and as citizens, to speak the truth about who the Republicans are and what they are doing to the American people. One more time, and a little louder for our Democratic colleagues in the back. 

JOB ONE: TELL AMERICA WHO THE REPUBLICANS ARE.

We can all agree on that.