Longtime Political Observer Identifies Most Pressing Questions Midterms Will Answer
Fox News contributor and former President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter Marc Thiessen identified some key questions Tuesday’s midterm elections will answer.
Thiessen wrote in The Washington Post that one of the interesting ones will be if the Trump-backed U.S. Senate candidates — including Hershel Walker in Georgia, J.D. Vance in Ohio, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Blake Masters in Arizona — win their races.
The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Walker, Vance, Oz and Masters ahead, while Bolduc trails by 1 percentage point. The races in Georgia and Pennsylvania are also extremely tight.
A related question Thiessen asked is, “Will Republicans reach 54 seats in the Senate, which would put them in striking distance of a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in 2024?”
That would mean the GOP would pretty much be running the table, likely taking the four long-identified toss-ups of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, along with perhaps New Hampshire, Colorado or Washington state.
This election cycle Republicans are defending 21 Senate seats and Democrats 14, but in 2024 the tables will be turned, with the GOP defending just 10 seats and the Democrats 23.
Another interesting question Thiessen raised is what became of the voter suppression President Joe Biden and Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams claimed the GOP was trying to implement in the Peach State. Biden went so far as to call Georgia’s election reform laws “Jim Crow 2.0.”
WRDW-TV reported last month that there were record early voting numbers among African-Americans in Georgia.
“Black voters account for nearly 36 percent of early voters so far, despite only making up less than 30 percent of active voters in the state,” the outlet reported.
A Saturday news release from Georgia’s secretary of state’s office said that a record-breaking nearly 2.5 million participated in early voting in the state, compared to 1.8 million in the 2018 midterms. The total tally is not far behind the level seen in the 2020 presidential election when 2.6 million voted early.
Thiessen argued on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Monday that Major League Baseball owes Georgians an apology.
The MLB decided to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta in the summer of 2021 due to the voter reform legislation.
“That cost $100 million in lost revenue to the people of Georgia, including minority-owned businesses. … Major League Baseball owes the city of Atlanta a lot,” Thiessen said.
STORM WARNING: In August, Democrats thought things were looking up. “What they didn’t realize is that they were just in the eye of the storm. And now the storm is hitting.“ @MarcThiessen @DanaPerino @BillHemmer pic.twitter.com/dV22dvK9s4
— America’s Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) November 7, 2022
Another question Thiessen raised is, “How did the Democrat-backed MAGA candidates do?”
The Democrats spent approximately $19 million supporting Republican candidates in their primary races, including $3.2 million for Bolduc.
Other interesting questions the journalist put out there are whether a double-digit win by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would position him to be the 2024 presidential nominee instead of former President Donald Trump, and whether any stars emerge Tuesday night — like Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake — who could be a potential GOP 2024 running mate.
Concerning the overall prospects for the GOP on Tuesday, Thiessen said, “We’ve been hearing, ‘Is it going to be a red wave? Is it going to be a red tsunami?’ I think it’s going to be a red hurricane.”
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
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