Amanpour & Company: Election Night Analysis: Why the GOP Is Losing Winnable Races

Source:Amanpour & Company- New York Times national political reporter Astead Herndon.

"In the U.S., Democrats defied the pollsters, holding their ground in last night’s elections. In Virginia, the party gained full control over the state legislature, while Democrat Gabe Amo made history as Rhode Island’s first Black congressman. Astead Herndon, New York Times national politics reporter, joins the show to discuss what these results could mean for next year’s presidential race." 

From Amanpour & Company

If I had to sum up the Republican Party's underperformance in 2023, I would say this: it's the culture war, stupid. Stupid being the MAGA wing, which is the Far-Right of the Republican Party,. Which actually isn't very religious, (at least not in any traditional, classical, or American sense) but who base their politics around region, culture, class, and unfortunately, even race and ethnicity. 

When MAGA candidates run in general elections, they run their campaigns as if they're in some ruby red state or district, when the fact is, they might be running in a district or state that's actually more 50-50 as far as Republican and Democrats, or perhaps even leans Democratic, but maybe leans Republican, but is more of a white-collar, center-right community. Communities where the people there, including the Republicans, don't push the culture and social issues, but instead are more interested in the economics, crime, and national security. Not whether there are gays in schools, or too much non-Northern European immigration, too many Democrats voting, too many people who are voting, period, etc.

Yes, Virginia leans more Democratic now because the state is more urban and suburban now. But urban and suburban voters are the voters than even Ronald Reagan was competitive and won over back in the 1960s and 70s as Governor of California and in the 1980s as President of the United States. They used to be solid, center-right, Republican voters. 

And when you have Republican candidates thinking they can just win elections with rural voters, in rural communities, and just win with blue-collar, Anglo-Saxon-Protestant, male and older female voters, they're going to lose in states like Virginia and even Kentucky today, where half of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, lives in Louisville, which is one of the biggest cities in America today. 

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