LANSING — In case you missed it, this weekend, the Boston Globe reported on the vital role state parties are playing in this year’s election – and nowhere is the contrast between Democratic and Republican state parties more stark than here in Michigan.
As the piece notes, while Michigan Democrats and the Biden campaign are already on the ground with over 30 offices opened across the state and countless national surrogate visits already in the books, the MAGA MIGOP has managed to… get control of their own website.
Let’s be clear, Michigan Democrats have been building our ground game for months while the MIGOP has been embroiled in disaster after disaster — the months-long Chair battle, supporting racist conspiracy theorists, and their steadfast support of Trump’s MAGA extremism. Simply put, the MAGA MIGOP is too busy with right-wing in-fighting to deliver for Michiganders.
Across the country, state Democratic parties are connecting with voters and showing them why, from the bottom to the top of the ballot, the all-too-common extremism in the GOP is wrong for them and their families. Here in Michigan, our state party is once again proving to be the foundation that will deliver this election for Democrats, because as our Chair Lavora Barnes always says, “I don’t worry, I work.”
Read more about this stunning contrast below:
Boston Globe: State parties play a critical role in elections— are Democrats or Republicans best positioned in 2024?
- As both political parties look for every advantage they can find in the lead up to the high-stakes November election, Democrats appear to be gaining on less-noticed turf: state party organization…
- In interviews with more than a dozen political observers and players — including several state party chairs in key swing states — a striking contrast emerged in the way state parties have reacted since Donald Trump rose to power. And in an election year that is likely going to be decided on the margins, the ground game those state parties are responsible for overseeing could be one of the deciding factors…
- But the difference between Democrats’ and Republicans’ state parties is also playing out in their finances. A Globe review of Federal Election Commission records showed that as of March 31, Democratic state parties in Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada — key battleground states — are outraising Republicans…
- Perhaps no battleground state better encapsulates all of the dynamics at play with state parties than Michigan. As the Michigan Democratic Party and the Biden campaign celebrated the opening of new joint campaign offices throughout the spring, the Michigan Republican Party was also setting up some critical campaign infrastructure: Its website.
- After the former state party chair, Kristina Karamo, was ousted amid financial struggles and internal party drama, the new state party administration struggled “to regain access” to the old website, said Michigan GOP finance chairman Warren Carpenter.
- Michigan Democrats, in contrast, have made gains in recent years, taking over the state legislature and governor’s mansion. And President Biden won there in 2020 by just under three percentage points. This year, they’re hoping for a repeat.
- “Our team organized our volunteers to do door-to-door, to do phone calls, text messaging, long before the Biden campaign had anyone on the ground, and then … we were able to work with them to supplement those conversations and continue growing,” said state Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. “It’s vital, not just in Michigan, but in all of our states that we have strong state parties that can take on that responsibility.”
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