• News by AUN News correspondent
• Sunday, October 16, 2022.
• AUN News – ISSN: 2949-8090

Summary:

• The Democrat who spoke first, Representative Tim Ryan, called it “extremism” and said more specifically that his opponent, J. D. Vance, lacks the strength to oppose his party or “anybody.” 

• Due to Republican retirements, there are also open seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Mehmet Oz, the TV doctor who supports Trump, and John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor who wears a hoodie, are in a close race.

• Similar circumstances can be found in North Carolina, where Democrat Cheri Beasley is challenging Representative Ted Budd.

• Senator Mark Kelly has maintained a small but steady lead in Arizona over Trump supporter Blake Masters, who gets money from internet billionaire Peter Thiel.

• With Trump’s team, the Republicans are vying for the Senate and don’t care what it takes to win.

There are many dangers to democracy this election year, and two U.S. Senate candidates were asked what they saw as the biggest threat to it at a discussion last week in Ohio. The Democrat who spoke first, Representative Tim Ryan, called it “extremism” and said more specifically that his opponent, J. D. Vance, lacks the strength to oppose his party or “anybody.” “J.D. is licking my ass.” ” He wants my support,” Donald Trump boasted during a recent rally in Youngstown. Ryan found Vance’s response when he joined Trump on stage and “shook his hand, taking pictures” even more distressing. I don’t know anyone I went to high school with or who I grew up with who would permit someone to remove their dignity in such a way, Ryan remarked.

With the midterm elections just a few weeks away, you shouldn’t expect a lot of respect in any of the roughly half-dozen states, like Ohio, where Senate seats are up for grabs. Vance, who became famous as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” is a supporter of MAGA. At the meeting, he said that Ryan doesn’t look like an Ohioan because he likes yoga. Also, Vance made it sound like President Joe Biden was letting fentanyl cross the border to punish Republican voters, which GOP candidates all over the country agreed with. Ryan and Vance are currently polling within a few points, although Trump won the state by more than eight points in 2020.

Impact, a research firm, thinks that 138 million dollars will be spent advertising the Ohio election in the media. It is expected that almost $250 million will be spent on ads in the Senate elections in Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. The Georgia race, expected to cost $276 million, is expected to be the most expensive. These expenditures have an obvious purpose. Most of the time, the president’s party loses seats in midterm elections. Since the Democrats only have an eight-seat majority in the House right now, this seems likely to happen. Kevin McCarthy, not Nancy Pelosi, will be Speaker in January, barring a blue tsunami. But given that the Senate is currently evenly divided, the Democrats stand a good chance of keeping their majority and perhaps even adding a few seats.

Twenty-one of the thirty-five seats up for grabs are held by Republicans, which helps. Due to Republican retirements, there are also open seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Mehmet Oz, the TV doctor who supports Trump, and John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor who wears a hoodie, are in a close race. Similar circumstances can be found in North Carolina, where Democrat Cheri Beasley is challenging Representative Ted Budd. Beasley would be the state’s first black female senator; Budd has stated that the January 6th attack was “just patriots standing up.”

Budd co-sponsored a bill in the House that would outlaw abortion after about six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The public’s ire at the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade this summer appears to be helping Democrats across the country pass legislation like Budd’s. On the other hand, Republicans have focused their criticism on the rate of inflation and on how poorly crime and immigration are being dealt with. In Wisconsin, Ron Johnson’s ads show his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, as someone who wants to stir up crowds and cause chaos on the streets. Johnson is the most vulnerable G.O.P. Senate incumbent. The committee’s report from January 6 linked Johnson to Trump’s “fake elector” operation. The senator called the claim a smear and said he was involved for “a couple of seconds.”

However, Pennsylvania has been viewed as the Democrats’ best opportunity to gain support. The Fetterman campaign won support by making Oz look like a con man whose natural home is in New Jersey. The condition of Fetterman is under dispute. He suffered a stroke in May, just a few days before the primary, from which he claims he is still recovering. Although he has spoken at certain rallies, his auditory processing is still problematic. During interviews, he reacts to what was said to him after reading it on transcription software. The most important test of this technical workaround will be the debate between the candidates on October 25. The health debate has shown how bad Oz’s campaign was. At one point, Oz said that Fetterman could “raise his hand and yell “bathroom break!”” to get out of a debate. More recently, Oz has concentrated on labelling Fetterman “Free-Them-All Fetterman” and accusing him of being weak on crime.

Additionally, the Democrats must keep their current seats. Senator Mark Kelly has maintained a small but steady lead in Arizona over Trump supporter Blake Masters, who gets money from internet billionaire Peter Thiel. (Thiel is supporting Vance as well.) Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is trailing Adam Laxalt, the grandson of the late Nevada senator Paul Laxalt, in certain polls in Nevada, though. At a rally earlier this month, Laxalt joined Trump, who claimed that American cities are “soaked” in blood due to Democrats.

But the most concentrated area of GOP humiliation is in the Georgia race between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who won a special election in 2020, and Herschel Walker, whose close relationship with Trump dates back to his time working for the New Jersey Generals in the 1990s, a team that Trump briefly owned (in the ill-fated United States Football League). A woman told reporters that Walker pushed her to get an abortion and paid for it. This is just the latest scandal in a campaign that has been full of them. (She also gave birth to one of his kids.) Walker has given confusingly worded denials, which he does a lot, and he supports a total abortion ban. The Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is still sticking behind Walker. Senators Rick Scott of Florida and Tom Cotton of Arkansas joined Walker at a campaign stop last week.

Cotton claimed that Walker’s dominance over Razorbacks supporters while he was a member of the University of Georgia Bulldogs was still fresh in the minds of Razorbacks supporters. However, according to Cotton, “they bear no ill will because they want Republicans back in power in Washington.” GOP voters are being told to think of themselves as indulgent Razorback supporters. With Trump’s team, the Republicans are vying for the Senate and don’t care what it takes to win.

Analysis by: Advocacy Unified Network