The Republican Party is putting Bernie Sanders at the center of every 2020 campaign, with senior GOP strategists confident the socialist front-runner for the Democratic nomination is the ticket to a November sweep, whether he is the nominee or not.
More than eight months before Election Day, vulnerable Republican Sen. Martha McSally is up with an advertisement on Arizona television tarring Democratic challenger Mark Kelly as a “Bernie Bro.” It’s a message that Republican strategists are busy replicating in tough contests across the country. Party insiders see Sanders as the perfect antidote to lingering queasiness about President Trump, especially in battlegrounds such as Arizona, where suburban swing voters are poised to decide the outcome.
“Over the course of the last three years, what the debate has been around has been President Trump — it hasn’t been around Democratic policies or Democratic personalities,” said Terry Nelson, a veteran Republican operative advising McSally. “But now, we’re in an election where that’s changing, and Democratic personalities and Democratic policies will become more relevant.”
Republicans routinely sound the alarm that electing Democrats will lead to socialism gaining a dangerous foothold in the United States. Voters typically ignore the warnings, as they did in the 2018 midterm elections that saw Democrats flip the House and pick up two competitive Senate seats. But Republicans say they have reams of polling data and information from focus groups with independent voters proving the message could be unusually potent up and down the ballot this fall.
Republicans say the difference this time is that Sanders, 78, proudly describes himself as a “democratic socialist” and proposes abolishing private healthcare and replacing it with government insurance, among other ultraliberal policies. Combined with the Vermont senator’s rise to the top of the Democratic field, Republicans are convinced that they can ride Sanders to a second Trump term plus a resurgence in the suburbs that protects endangered GOP senators and returns the party to power in the House.
“If he’s the nominee, I don’t care if you’re running for dog catcher or Senate, every Republican is going to bend over backwards to tie their Democratic opponent to Bernie Sanders socialism and all the crazy stuff he supports,” said Corry Bliss, a Republican consultant. Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP super PAC, has been tying vulnerable incumbent House Democrats to “socialist” Sanders for several months.
Trump is in a better position for reelection than he was prior to impeachment, with his job approval rating now averaging 46%. But hypothetical matchups between the president and the leading Democratic contenders remain close.
Despite the roaring economy and low jobless rate, Republicans are concerned that the 2020 campaign could become a referendum on Trump’s sometimes provocative behavior and occasionally controversial tweets. Under that scenario, Republicans worry the party would continue to lose ground in the suburbs and hemorrhage support among independents, costing them the White House, Senate seats, and a chance to improve their position in the House.
Republicans would rather have the debate be over ideology, satisfied that enough voters in key states would choose Trump and the rest of the GOP ticket. Emerging swing states, such as Arizona and Georgia, and purple states such as North Carolina, meanwhile, would be safe, Republicans insist. That’s why they are doing everything they can to make the election about Sanders and his agenda, even if he is not the Democratic nominee.
“Democrats have embraced the same policy positions as Bernie, so he will be on the ballot in all these places whether he’s the nominee or not,” said Kevin McLaughlin, the top in-house strategist at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
