The votes haven’t even been counted yet, but one thing is certain: The next Congress is going to be filled with losers. Both parties are hinging their majority dreams on candidates who have recently lost races, many of them just two years ago for the very office they are seeking in 2020.
Of course, how party strategists talk about a previous loss depends on whether the candidate is in their party or not. If a candidate is from the other party, he or she is a retread or has-been who was rejected by voters. If the candidate is from the same party, he or she was a strong candidate who was a victim of outside circumstances, who learned from their previous race and just needs a little boost to get over the top.
“Minnesotans know retread candidate Dan Feehan would be nothing but a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ socialist agenda and will reject him in November,” National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Emmer said in August. “I look forward to continue working with Jim Hagedorn in Congress.” Somehow, the press release left out Hagedorn’s three previous losses for the House in 2010, 2014, and 2016 before finally getting elected to the 1st District in 2018.
That’s not the only example.
“House Democrats have been saying for years that they’re going to flip Alaska’s congressional seat,” reads an August 2020 memo from the NRCC. “It has yet to happen, and it’s definitely not going to happen with Democrats’ retread candidate Alyse Galvin running again.”
Without question, Galvin lost to GOP Rep. Don Young by 6 points in 2018. But not only was Young a loser himself before getting elected to Congress...