Democratic super PACs and outside groups, after losing their chief bogeyman of the last four years, are slowly grinding into gear on a new role: defenders of the Biden agenda and the Democratic majorities in Congress.
Guy Cecil, chairman of the super PAC Priorities USA, said they need to get moving early or risk a wipeout in next year’s midterm elections, which happened to former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton after they took office.
“If Democrats don’t spend significant resources online communicating to new Biden voters, we will lose in 2022,” Mr. Cecil said. “We will lose the House, we will lose the Senate, we will lose governor seats.”
Mr. Cecil said for both sides, down-ballot races often depend on what presidential campaigns are doing, which won’t be an issue in 2022.
He cited new polling from his group that showed 72% of “new” Biden voters said they were very or extremely likely to vote in nonpresidential elections, compared to 63% of new Trump voters who said the same.
“Coming out of the American Rescue Plan and looking forward into infrastructure and other economic policies that the administration is focused on, we have an opportunity to zero in here specifically on these persuadable voters and to make this economic case,” he said.
The party that wins the White House historically loses seats in Congress in the midterm elections, partly because of complacency among their voters.
The party that loses the White House also tends to respond with stronger turnout in the midterms.
“What we’re seeing right now is Republicans trying to gin up the grievance machine,” he said. “We’ve got Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss and whatnot all as a way to distract from the progress that we’re making.”
Priorities USA recently announced a pair of ads touting the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as part of a two-year, multimillion-dollar ad campaign across the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
President Biden and members of his administration have scheduled or made trips this month to tout the relief package in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio — all states where there will be competitive Senate races next year.
Republicans are skeptical that Democrats will be able to stay on message given Mr. Biden and his party’s lurch to the left and the growing chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jim McLaughlin, a pollster who has done work for the Trump campaign, said Mr. Biden’s approval ratings are hovering in the low 50s at a time when the president should be having a “honeymoon” and that voters who thought they were picking a moderate are having buyer’s remorse.
“They might as well have Bernie Sanders,” he said. “He’s basically governing like a socialist in a suit right now.”
Mr. McLaughlin said the Republican Party will have the edge on who benefits more from former President Donald Trump’s name not being on the ballot next year.
“The truth is, no one who’s not in office is ever on the ballot,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “So they’re going to get all the benefits of Donald Trump without the baggage.”
Some liberal groups are going to significant lengths to remind voters which party is responsible for “shots in arms and money in pockets,” as Mr. Biden said recently.
The group Tax March announced a multimillion-dollar campaign touting the relief package that includes ads that will be displayed at COVID-19 vaccination sites and will be timed to air as checks from an expanded child tax credit are distributed.
Dana Bye, the group’s campaign director, said Americans are no longer interested in “small government” ideas.
“With Republican hacks and lawmakers spreading disinformation about what this relief package will mean for our country’s recovery, it’s crucial that Americans understand the truth of what’s in the American Rescue Plan and who made it happen: Democrats,” Ms. Bye said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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