Democrats May Be Testing New Attacks on GOP Opponents
Democratic House Speaker Chris Welch speaks to the crowd on Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday.
When Governor JB Pritzker’s campaign attacked Sen. Darren Bailey for receiving federal farm subsidies it may have showed Democrats’ hand in messages they’re testing against multiple Republican opponents across the state.
Top Republican operatives tell The Illinoize Democrats have been polling in their district to test negative messages against GOP candidates on issues related to hypocritical spending, like farm subsidies. Dems then point out Republicans refused to support a handful of legislative reform packages aimed at helping working families.
The operative said they tested the same attacks Democrats were looking into and showed the GOP may be vulnerable on the topics.
In fact, outside of gun issues, which Republicans are losing terribly on poll tests, the operative said the issues worked very well for Democrat candidates with voters.
The operative says it may provide a new lane for Democrats, even if gun issues quiet down as fury over the Highland Park shooting diminishes.
“What do you talk about if you’re a Democrat? You can’t talk about jobs, you can’t talk about the economy, you can’t talk about inflation, because you’re weak on those issues Voters trust Republicans,” the GOP operative said. “If you want to talk about economic issues, it leaves you with this class warfare concept of being for workers and Republicans aren’t for workers. And that’s a natural lane for their union base anyway.”
So, expect to hear a lot about farm subsidies, federal pandemic business loans, known as PPP, or any number of government dollars a candidate has received for their work.
A Democratic operative says the line of questioning makes sense.
“Republicans are so hypocritical voting against COVID aid to states and crop insurance that it should be easy for us to point out the disconnect,” a top Democratic operative said. “They may think they’ve got the angle on working families because of Trump and his blue collar appeal, but these are still Democratic voters, sometimes for generations.
But Republicans think Democrats are trying to find a boogeyman.
“Trying to paint Darren Bailey as a rich guy probably isn’t going to play,” the Republican said. “They’ve created this whole impression that if you’re from downstate, you’re a hick. You can’t then say that he’s wealthy. The challenge is, you don’t have a Rauner at the top of the ticket to be that wealthy fat cat. Ken Griffin leaving the state means you can’t blame it all on Griffin. It’s a message in search of a villain.”
House Democrats declined to comment on this story. Senate Democrats and the Governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.