It is hard to believe that the midterm election is here once again.
Since President Joe Biden has been in office, there has been historic legislation passed including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, student loan forgiveness and the Inflation Reduction Act that will, and has, impacted millions of lives all over the country.
However, it should not be overlooked that the ability for Biden to even pass these bills has been based on the Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. With the highest levels of polarization in our nation’s history, Republicans refuse to entertain any ideas of big government or increased government spending.
Mitch McConnell, Republican senate majority leader, has stated time and time again that “One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration.” The stakes could not be higher for Democrats going into this midterm season, with several Senate and House races still up for grabs.
In order to address this, one might ask — what is the Democrats solution to this issue, and what is the current state of the Democratic Party?
Nationally, we have begun to see a divide amongst the Democratic Party, especially over this midterm season. Across the nation there are progressive and more moderate splits seen in the candidates all over the country.
In Pennsylvania, we see candidates like John Fetterman, who are more progressive, even while running in a swing state. Fetterman has mentioned abolishing the filibuster, increasing minimum wage and staying true to his progressivism, despite the partisan split between Pennsylvania voters.
Looking at more moderate candidates, such as Senator Mark Kelly, who is running in Arizona, we see a different messaging strategy.
Kelly is a centrist Democrat who is also running in a swing state. Kelly is focusing on key issues such as the economy and job creation, which are more mainstream Democratic views, a nonpartisan issue that all Americans care about. Kelly also maintains a large voting bloc and is leading in the polls in Arizona.
These two trends showcase the vastly different ways Democrats are running their elections this season.
However, there is also unity amongst most Democrats.
Democrats are fighting for key issues such as abortion access, which has been seen in various campaigns during the election season. They have been able to mobilize around this issue ever since the Supreme Court voted to overturn the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision this summer.
We have seen this in national and state politics. In Michigan’s 8th district House race, Rep. Elissa Stolkin is running on abortion rights which is believed to be one of the deciding factors in the race.
Related to this note, House Democrats have spent a fortune on abortion-related campaign ads.
Politico reports that “Democratic candidates, their party’s campaign arm and allied super PACs have spent nearly $18 million to air more than 100 abortion-centered broadcast TV ads in some four dozen battleground seats as of the end of September.”
Democrats are clearly aware that abortion rights is an issue that the majority of people care about and believe in. Discussing the importance of this issue has been vital to campaigns all across the country and will impact this election season heavily for Democrats.
Biden himself has highlighted the importance of the midterms in his recent speech. “We can’t take democracy for granted any longer,” he said when referencing the importance of electing Democrats this Nov. 8. Just a few days ago, Vice President Kamala Harris came to Boston to touch on the importance of electing Democrats in the state.
The salience of this issue has been raised by the presidency and other prominent individuals across the country. These figures realize the importance of the upcoming election everywhere and are not taking deep blue states for granted.
Partisanship and high polarization means that Democrats must be elected everywhere if we are going to protect our democracy and the progress we have made so far.