(Danny Tarkanian) – New Republican Base: Blue Collar Workers
From the time I was young, all I heard was that the Democratic Party represented the working class and the Republican Party catered to the wealthy. Well, the roles have reversed now. Today’s Republicans are the party of the working class, and the Democrats are the party of the woke elite, which is everything hard-working Americans despise.
The America First principles resonate with hardworking, America-loving, police-supporting, personal responsibility-accepting people. There has been a lot of criticism concerning Donald Trump, but seldom has it related to his policies.
The Democrat party has abandoned the working class. Their policies are handouts instead of a hand-up. Democrats want guaranteed universal income, Obama phones, government-paid housing, and government-paid health care, whether a person works or not.
Blue Collar workers are offended and enraged by this. They love America because it rewards hard work and personal responsibility. They do not want government taking their money and giving it to people who don’t work. Blue Collar workers want a safe environment for their families. They want the police funded and criminals in jail.
Minorities:
The Democrat messaging has been constant. It is class warfare. They want people to identify themselves based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, and age and then make these people feel that they are being victimized or discriminated against.
However, minorities are turning away from this messaging. Many left their previous countries to escape the same policies the Democrats are promulgating. They have seen the failures of socialism and despise government handouts. They came to America to achieve the American dream. They want the rewards of hard work and personal responsibility.
The Republican Party has made great gains with minorities over the past decade, and it is terrifying Democrats. Comparing the 2012 election to the 2022 election, 33% more Hispanics voted for Republicans (39% from 29%), 100% more Blacks voted for Republicans (6% to 12%), and 40% more Asians voted for Republicans (40% from 25%). Although these numbers still aren’t great, the movement is significant nonetheless, and the movement is even greater with younger minorities.
Republicans will continue to make gains with minorities if they keep the focus on Republican policies that help and reward the American working class, that create a fair environment for American businesses, and that keeps our communities and country safe. Hard working Americans of all colors, gender, sex, and age desperately want this.
Keep Focus on Policy Results:
Republicans do not need to ridicule and demean their adversaries. This conduct turns off voters, especially independents, and diverts attention away from the incredible results created by our policies. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis showed that America First principles implemented by a statesman are tough to beat.
Abortion as an Election Issue:
Democrats used abortion as a critical issue to win over voters in 2022. No one is more Pro-life than me. Because of my religious beliefs, I do not believe that any unborn child should be terminated. However, these are my beliefs based upon my faith, not everyone else’s. I should not impose my religious beliefs on others.
Instead, we should focus on indisputable science. We all agree that life ends when the heartbeat stops. Then we should all agree that life begins when the heartbeat starts, and an unborn child who has a heartbeat should not be terminated. I believe far more voters would agree with this premise.
Big Tent Party
Candidates have the best chance to win when they represent a larger number of voters. Therefore, you would think both parties would work hard to attract more voters. However, in some states, this has not been the case for Republicans.
Shortly before election day in Arizona, Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told a crowd of Republicans that they should leave if they were John McCain supporters. In Nevada, the State Republican Party and some County Parties kicked out any Republican they disagreed with. Washoe County Chair, Bruce Parks, was quoted in the Reno Gazette Journal as stating, “Those are not Republicans. We disavowed them.” How did that work out, Mr. Parks?
Republicans have policies that attract a wide range of people. We should do everything we can to bring them under the Republican tent, not ban them for personal reasons or disagreements.
State Parties
In many states, the officials running the State Republican Party are dysfunctional and inept at best and corrupt at worst. The state party’s job requirements are simple: raise money to support their candidates, identify their supporters, register additional supporters, and get these supporters to vote.
In Nevada, the Democrats have done a tremendous job in this department. Unfortunately, Republicans have not. Republicans need to either remove the officials in the state party and put new people in charge or it needs Governor-elect Lombardo to create a Republican machine as Harry Reid did for the Democrats, rendering the state party irrelevant. Only the leader of the party who has great resources at his disposal can get this done.
Fundraising
As mentioned in my last blog, the Democrats started a program called Act Blue which receives small-dollar donations from millions of donors and directs that money to candidates in critical races without any effort from the candidates themselves.
In 2020, the Republicans created a program called Win Red which has not been nearly as successful. Most of the money collected has gone to PACs or Leadership Funds instead of the candidates themselves. As a result, Republicans have been at a substantial financial disparity for several elections. Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto received $40 million from Act Blue alone, more than the total amount raised by Republican candidate Adam Laxalt from all sources.
The Republican Party must invest heavily in Win Red and make it the juggernaut Act Blue is and the money received must go directly to the candidates.
Media
There is very little journalism integrity in America anymore. Many in the media don’t report the facts, but rather spins the facts to get their viewership to feel a certain way.
Some go even further. They use information provided by a specific campaign to create a story demonizing the campaign’s opponent. Everything is always confidential and usually false. Nevertheless, the campaign will later cite this story to establish credibility in a future attack ad against its opponent.
This is all very deceitful and unethical but, nevertheless, a regular occurrence in politics. A candidate cannot sit back and let their opponent and the media falsely brand them. I unfortunately allowed that to happen to me and have paid the price. Candidates must fight back. Trump paid a big price by fighting with the press, but the alternative is to lose the election.
Mr. Tarkanian is a Republican Douglas County (NV) commissioner.
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