Democrats face historic headwinds that make 2022 a challenge, but they can win with smart strategy, STRIKE PAC co-founder Dr. Rachel Bitecofer explained in a wide-ranging interview with Salon.
“This situation is a dire emergency, a 10-alarm fire, because these elections are ultimately about whether we in America will live in a democracy post-November 2022 and the midterms if the Republicans win,” Bitecofer said. “The answer looks to be no, because when the Republicans seize power, they are going to use it to consolidate even more power.”
For Democrats, crushing losses in the 2022 midterm elections are not inevitable, said Bitecofer, a nationally recognized election analyst, political scientist and strategist. The political landscape isn’t as bleak as many analysts forecast. “The fact of the matter is that there is no place in 2022 that the Democrats don’t have the capability to still win in these elections — and that is even allowing for the Republican Party’s constraints,” Bitecofer said. “We have the voting power. We have everything that we need, except a strategy to effectively deploy it effectively and motivate people to go to the polls.”
Other key excerpts:
- Aggressive prosecution of Jan. 6 insurrectionists would benefit Democrats. “There is a political benefit to indicting and prosecuting these criminals and having it be on the nightly news every night. … They should want voters reminded: “Hey, these people are a total chaos party. The Democrats should want to make sure the electorate is scared to death of Republicans taking control again.”
- If Republicans seize control of the House of Representatives, they likely will install Donald Trump as speaker. The speaker does not have to be a sitting member of Congress. “I’ve always thought that Trump will ask for and receive the speaker’s gavel over Kevin McCarthy, because it’s one of the few access points for him to be back in the public spotlight. Trump being Speaker of the House is a launch pad for the 2024 nomination and the presidency.”
- To win, Democrats must deploy strategies that make voters “feel” something. “I think what Republicans understand about power is that the base condition of human psychology is highly suggestible. Humans are naturally maximized to feel emotions, especially negative emotions such as fear and threat. If you want to maximize political power, then you manipulate those emotions.”
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