I Think That There Are Democrats Running in Midterms Today

Today there are primary elections in five different states. Apparently there are only Republican primaries, because I didn’t hear anything about Democratic primaries.

I heard about the races for governor and senator and secretary of state in Arizona, and about how Far Right (that is a euphemism in these examples) the candidates are. This is similarly true of the candidates in Missouri. These Republicans deny the results of the 2020 election, at least on the presidential line. One of them pledges to eliminate voting by machines. Another one ran an ad showing loyal MAGAs carrying assault weapons and hunting the few Republicans who are not MAGAs.

Now, this is obviously alarming, but not surprising. Even worse, is the fact that there don’t seem to be any Democrats who would run against them. I didn’t watch all of the shows, of course, but I heard almost no words about any Democrats having primaries. However, there eventually was a sentence or two mentioning Democratic candidates, but nothing about them, or any of their positions. For those viewers who do not follow politics closely, they will either think that the Democrats are not at all important; or that they have no chance to win. So we hear the news commentators go on and on about how these races are a fascinating test of the power of Trump.

Actually, there are some Democratic candidates. In Arizona, there is Katie Hobbs running for Governor, she is the Secretary of State of Arizona. For Senator, there is actually an incumbent senator, that is Mark Kelly, who won that position in 2020. So one might think that both Hobbs and Kelly are legitimate contenders in those races, even if the media currently doesn’t cover them.

Why does the media do this? Various reasons combined. Mostly, it is that they think that Trump is such a headline grabber, that the only excitement in these primaries is about whom he endorses, and how they do, and how that might affect his chance to be nominated for President again. And I will guarantee you that the reporting tomorrow will focus on that, with the Democratic candidates acting as backdrops.

There is one very important election which does not feature candidates. This is is a measure in Kansas which would throw out the State Supreme Court’s decision in 2019, guaranteeing a right to abortion. If it is overturned by the election, we can expect another draconian abortion bill coming from the state legislature. If Democratic Governor Laura Kelly is re-elected, she can stop it, but Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt is favored to recapture the governorship for Republicans.

Hopefully, Kelly and other Democrats opposing Republicans in November will get at least some media coverage after these primaries. And maybe Pro-Choice defenders will win tomorrow, although this measure was deliberately placed on the ballot by Republicans who figure that since there is no strongly contested Democratic race, less Democrats will turn out to stop it.

There is better news coming from the Democratic side. Gas prices have dropped for 48 days, albeit by pennies each day, but it is an improvement. The House passed the CHIPS and Science Act, and President Biden will sign it. The Inflation Reduction Act, which is a major step in trying to fight the climate crisis, will pass, if Kyrsten Sinema, who started her political career in the Green Party, actually votes for it. She has not deigned to favor the rest of the people with her position on the bill.

And yesterday it was announced that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a U.S. drone strike. One would hope that some of these things might turn around the narratives, and help in the midterms. It will be a struggle, though, as the media decides the narratives, even if they do not control the facts.