Democrats know they are facing a terrible environment in the midterm elections, and they also know many Democratic positions are indefensible and out of touch with voters’ concerns.
Therefore, some Democrats have decided not to show up.
Several Democratic candidates in competitive races have decided to skip out on debates against their GOP opponents, hoping instead to run out the clock in races in which they hold (or once held) the lead. The biggest offender is Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor. Hobbs’s campaign has been losing ground fast to GOP nominee Kari Lake. A confident candidate would agree to a debate and show voters that Lake is the “election denier” who “doesn’t live in fact,” as Hobbs has claimed.
SOME DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WARY OF FACING GOP OPPONENTS ON DEBATE STAGE
But Hobbs is not confident, in part because she has the charisma of a chair. Lake, on the other hand, has spent her entire adult life in the television industry, including 22 years as a news anchor. Combine that with the fact that Hobbs is in lockstep with far-left Democrats on issues such as abortion, and she would rather take her chances hiding from Lake while Lake gains momentum in the polls.
Hobbs isn’t alone. In the Pennsylvania Senate race, John Fetterman has put off a debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz until Tuesday, just two weeks before the election, as Fetterman has tried to protect his crumbling poll lead through the mail-in period.
By the time Fetterman finally steps on a debate stage, early voting will have been going on for more than a month.
That’s outrageous. https://t.co/lzIhODQlU9
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 14, 2022
IMO Fetterman is in serious trouble. Their campaign strategy was to basically hide him and build up enough of a lead in early voting so that the inevitable disaster at the debate (which was intentionally scheduled for late Oct) won’t change the outcome. But now the race is tight.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 21, 2022
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) ducked out of a debate with GOP challenger Yesli Vega in a swing district that got more Democratic in redistricting. Rudy Salas is also skipping debates with Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) in a district that backed President Joe Biden by 13 points, where Valadao has beaten the political gravity before.
On paper, a generic Democrat should win these races, but these Democrats are worried because they are not good enough candidates to stave off Republican momentum in a debate. Salas and Spanberger are hoping that their Democratic districts are enough to beat out the GOP wave year. Fetterman wants to build enough of a lead in mail-in voting that his campaign won’t crash and burn when he loses the debate. Hobbs is such a bad candidate that she doesn’t want to debate even though she is currently losing.
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These Democrats have no confidence they can defend themselves or the positions of the Democratic Party. After all, unified Democratic control of the federal government has been a clear disaster. Democrats can’t talk about issues that voters care about, such as inflation or crime. Instead, many are choosing to simply stop talking at all.
