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Opinion: What the Democrats Should Do to Win in 2018

The momentum appears to be in the Democrats' favor, right now, as murmurs of a "wave election" bubble through the political commetariet.
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This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The momentum appears to be in the Democrats' favor, right now, as murmurs of a "wave election" bubble through the political commetariet. The leader of the opposition is not widely liked nor trusted, their single major legislative achievement (tax bill) is viewed negatively by most voters. Most of the special elections since 2016 have gone to the Democrats, and a rash of Republican retirements means more open seats. All of this forebodes well, but should not be taken as evidence that voters are ready to embrace whatever agenda the Democrats put forward.

And whatever agenda the Democrats put forward is part of the problem; the party is split on what to push as evidenced by past policy initiatives that quickly fizzled (remember, "A Better Deal"? Of course you don't, no one does). There are also still heavy cultural headwinds for the Democrats as they struggle to not look like the urban elitist for which they are so easily painted.

So what should the Democrats do to not blunder this opportunity in November?

1. Keep it local: Tip O'Neil, the venerable House Majority Leader for the Democrats during the Reagan years once said that "all politics are local." The Democrats would be wise to heed that advice and not try to nationalize the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. With a few exceptions, the Democrats that won special elections since 2016 focused their campaigns on local issues and not made them a referendum on Trump or the Republican agenda. This is how midterm campaigns are typically run and the Dems should stick with that tried and true tactic and resist the temptation to make everyone run as an anti-Trump ticket.

2. Minimize Trump as an issue: when asked about Trump, Dems in districts that Trump won in 2016 should massage their approach as needed based on the political winds in their district. Say you are open to working with him. If you are in a district not at risk, say you can't wait to submit articles of impeachment.

3. Focus on the House: For a while it was assumed the Senate would be more in play, but that was always a stretch with so many Democratic Senate seats up for a vote in this cycle. And with so many retirements by House Republicans leaving open seats in the House, combined with several electoral maps that may need to be redone in time for November due to over partisan gerrymandering, the Dems should focus their monies and energies on flipping House seats and just defending the current Senate numbers. Anything else would be gravy, but the House matters more right now in terms of addressing immigration, infrastructure, and other issues, as well as keeping the pressure on Trump as to whether his campaign colluded with Russia in 2016 and the subsequent more damming possibilities that he obstructed justice.

Will the Democrats listen? They almost never fail to disappoint and one can only hope they learned their lessons from 2016 and not squander this one. The republic is depending upon it.

This is an opinion piece that was submitted to the Longmont Observer. It does not, necessarily, represent the views of the Longmont Observer. Have an opinion piece you would like us to publish? Send it to [email protected].