How bad guys used cynicism to fool electorate

AND SOME BATTLES THE DEMS DID WIN

From the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
 

First off, you know we’re not afraid to be blunt. So we’ll just come out and say it: last night was rough. We registered more voters, and made more phone calls, and knocked on more doors than ever before. But we were still left with heartbreaking losses.

Although make no mistake: last night’s results were no accident. It was the result of Republicans’ cynical political strategy that put hurting President Obama before helping the American people. The President put it best just a few months ago:

There has been a certain cynical genius to what some of these folks have done in Washington. What they’ve realized is, if we don’t get anything done, then people are going to get cynical about government and its possibilities of doing good for everybody. And since they don’t believe in government, that’s a pretty good thing. And the more cynical people get, the less they vote. And if turnout is low and people don’t vote, that pretty much benefits those who benefit from the status quo. -- President Barack Obama (August 29, 2014)

In other words, the Republicans broke Washington. Then, they spent millions of dollars of secret money running against a broken Washington.

So yeah, last night was rough. It’s infuriating that Republicans’ cynical strategy worked. But we refuse to give in to them. We refuse to give in to the cynicism. As President Obama always says, “hope is a better choice.”

And believe it or not, there were some bright spots last night that give us hope. Here are just a few examples:

FLORIDA

Republican Congressman Steve Southerland is the poster-child for Republicans’ anti-woman agenda.
He opposed the Violence Against Women Act. He voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He even held an all-male fundraiser where the invite actually said, “Tell the Misses not to wait up […] because the after dinner whiskey and cigars will be smooth & the issues to discuss are many.”

WHAT YOU MADE POSSIBLE: We registered 9,958 new Democratic voters in the district.
For the first time in our history, we supplemented our field program with a voter registration program. In addition, our larger, more targeted field program knocked on 75,000 doors.

THE RESULT: We defeated Rep. Southerland by 2,193 votes.
We’re so glad you gave us the chance to execute that voter registration program -- it made all the difference. And we’re so happy to welcome CongressWOMAN-elect Gwen Graham.

NEBRASKA

Republican Congressman Lee Terry voted to shut down the government.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, when Congressman Terry wouldn’t give up his government paycheck during the shutdown, he replied, “Dang straight… I've got a nice house and a kid in college.”

WHAT YOU MADE POSSIBLE: We launched a massive early vote program that gave Democrats a 5,262 vote advantage.
When we told you we could beat Boehner’s Republicans -- even in deep-red states, we weren’t kidding. We personally reached out to nearly 40,000 voters on the ground. And when the Republicans ran an attack that was called “unspeakably racist,” we got on the air and fought back.

THE RESULT: We defeated Rep. Terry by 4,132 votes.
Because of the work you made possible, Congressman Terry is going to have a lot more time to spend in that “nice house” of his.

ARIZONA

Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin was a chief architect of SB 1062, better known as the “No Gays Allowed” bill.
Under Tobin’s bill, businesses could deny service to customers simply because they’re gay.

WHAT YOU MADE POSSIBLE: We invested in community organizers early and often.
We knew defeating Tobin was going to be tough, so we made a huge investment on the ground. We put field staffers on the ground earlier than ever before. In particular, we focused on organizing tribal communities.

THE RESULT: We defeated Speaker Tobin by 9,346 votes.
None of this would have been possible without your support. You broke every grassroots fundraising record we have -- and then some. And each one of those $5 and $50 donations allowed us to pull off these upsets -- even in a tough year.

So now the question is: what’s next?

Let’s start with the obvious: Republicans have won control of Congress -- so now they have no excuses. They can’t just sit back and blame Democrats like President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. They’ll have to stand up and try to convince people that the Republican agenda is better than the Democratic agenda.

That’s a fight we’re looking forward to.