Panel: How concerned should Democrats be ahead of midterm elections?
Karl Rove, Harold Ford Jr. and Jennifer Griffin say Democrats need to walk alongside everyday Americans.
Joe DiSano, a Democratic consultant, told The Washington Post in a piece published Monday that the education issue is "going to get Democrats' clocks cleaned" in November.
"Democrats are giving away one of their greatest assets, and that’s being associated with public education. And giving away that advantage is going to get Democrats’ clocks cleaned this fall," DiSano told the Post. "We are letting the conservative crazies run ragged on us. We have the ammo to fight back, and we don’t."
The piece, headlined, "Education, traditionally a strength, has Democrats on their heels," outlines the Republican focus on the importance of education, an issue Democrats have usually "dominated."
KARL ROVE: DEMS ARE GOING TO FACE CONSEQUENCES AT THE POLLS FOR EMBRACING WOKE GOVERNMENT
The WaPo piece says that Democrats are being "tested." One Democratic strategist told the Post that if the election were held today, education would be a huge issue and "would probably net out against" Democrats.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-VA., won Virginia's gubernatorial race on a platform focused on education and getting kids back to school.
Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin arrives to speak at an election night party in Chantilly, Virginia, on Nov. 3, 2021, after he defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT YOUNGKIN SAYS CAMPAIGN BECAME 'A MOVEMENT LED BY PARENTS'
Youngkin pushed to end mask mandates and vowed to ban critical race theory. He put a focus on "empowering parents" when it came to masking their kids.
WaPo's report noted that education would be "particularly relevant" in the gubernatorial elections across the country. The piece opened by noting Gov. Brian Kemp's, R-Ga., education stance.
"With Stacey Abrams in control, Georgia would have shut down, students would have been barred from their classrooms, and woke politics would be the law of the land and the lesson plan in our schools," Kemp said in a December tweet after Stacey Abrams announced her bid for governor.
Stacey Abrams speaks to the media about the U.S. Senate runoff elections outside St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 5, 2021. (Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo)
A Republican strategist, Robert Blizzard, said the party's focus on parental control "has legs." He said that voters think kids fell behind in school and that an emphasis on social justice during the pandemic "was frustrating for a lot of parents."
"So far, the focus of the attacks, strategists in both parties say, centers on the pandemic and parental frustration that it took too long to reopen schools — and keep them open," the WaPo piece reads.
Three school board members in San Francisco were voted out on Feb. 15, which many in the media saw as a wake-up call for Democrats. "Morning Joe" panelist Donny Deutsch said the Democrats have to step away from the "super wokeness."
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Co-founders of the Recall SF School Board campaign said Saturday that the vote was about "incompetence."
A column from the LA Times said it was a "three-alarm warning for Democrats." A headline out of Newsweek read "San Francisco school board recall is a wake-up call for progressives."