Democrats Forced to Abandon Key House Races

With less than a month to go, the Democrats have run into some very bad trouble that even Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros, stuffed ballot boxes, and the mainstream press can’t save them from.

They are short of money. This works in the Republican’s favor, as they seem to have plenty. Television advertising is crucial leading up to an election and the Democrats need to decide which races to continue to fund and which ones to give up on.

Whining to The Washington Post (DCCC) Executive Director Tim Persico said:

(There) “are places that I don’t know if we are going to be able to get to” in order to help Democrats. “We are just getting outspent everywhere, so it is just a question of how much can we withstand.”

That makes the  Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that “lack the funds needed to fully contest all of their potentially winnable House races this cycle,” leading to “tough decisions about where to spend on television ads”.

Dem groups say:

“The relative shortfall in outside spending is likely to leave some Democratic incumbents in contested races at sharp advertising disadvantages while restricting the party’s ability to compete in open seats or to unseat Republican incumbents.”

The Post’s reporting outlines the Democrats’ money problems:

Democrats pointed to a TV ad spending advantage by Republican outside groups, which have the flexibility to move money around the House landscape strategically in the final weeks. That edge has become more alarming as a recent shift in the national mood has put more seats in contention for Democrats, who find themselves hamstrung by the Republican advantage in donors on the GOP side.

Another House Democratic strategist said the inability to fully fund key races could prove to be the difference between winning and losing control of Congress, or between keeping Republicans to a five-seat majority and a 15-seat majority. “I don’t think it is hyperbole to say at this point that money is going to make the difference,” said this person, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk more freely about strategy.

In what could be even worse news for the Democrats is the admission that they will no longer be able to afford to fight for seats that have long been controlled by Democrats with Republicans closing in on them.

So much for Nancy Pelosi’s prediction that not only would Democrats hold the House but that they will actually pick up seats. I don’t think she even believes that crock of horse hooey.

The Democrats are hoping to squeeze more money out of Democrats in safe seats so that they can put up more of a fight against the Republican wave. My guess is that they will not hand over their remaining campaign cash, but that they will kick in some bucks.

From Townhall

Warning that they’re out of money in the final stretch of the midterm cycle — and pointing to ad buy data showing that “some long-held Democratic seats are no longer being contested by national Democratic groups at comparable levels to Republican groups” — is something of a fundraising scheme itself. The hope is that Chicken Little sky-is-falling doom can have the effect of shaking more money out of Democrats across the country to bolster the party’s late-in-the-game efforts to stem losses and make the GOP spend more defending their incumbents. 

The Post’s reporting also points out that House Democrats were bad at predicting their party’s performance in the 2020 election, based on overconfidence that, if not remedied in the last two years, could prove problematic again