There’s No Choice in the Midterms. The Democrats Are the Only Side Defending Democracy | Opinion – Newsweek

As we get closer and closer to November's midterm elections, doomsday predictions about a bloodbath for Democrats have come to dominate the news. It seems like you can't turn on your TV or scroll through Twitter for five minutes without being informed by some pundit or otheron both sides of the political spectrumabout the dire situation the Democrats face in races across the country.

These naysayers are missing the robust record that the Democrats have to run onone that includes the not insignificant line item of being the only side standing up for Democracy itself.

Republicans have shown their laissez faire attitude toward democracy in numerous ways, starting with passing bills across the country restricting the right to vote. Then there's their penchant for denying the results of the 2020 election, or opposing the bipartisan commission to investigate the storming of the Capitol on January 6, an effort designed to undermine the electoral process altogether.

Most recently, leaked tapes revealed how Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy really felt about Trump's role in inciting the January 6 attack, going so far as to say that Trump should resign immediately. In another recently released tape, McCarthy accused some GOP lawmakers of putting people in jeopardy.

McCarthy was telling the truth: GOP lawmakers put their colleagues in jeopardy and Trump should've resigned. But instead of admitting this, McCarthy attacked the press, accusing them of spreading lies.

Of course, he had to deny his condemnation of Trump; he has done nothing but defend him since January 6, fighting the creation of an inquiry into that ugly day. Meanwhile, it's been the Democrats (and two exiled Republicans) who have worked overtime to expose Republicans' corruption and sedition.

But while the work of the January 6 Committee is crucial to stabilizing our democracy, it's only the first in a long list of accomplishments that Democrats can tout to their constituents.

President Biden's infrastructure bill is already delivering: The bill has created jobs and is already fixing roads, bridges and railways. It's already bringing clean drinking water to some of the poorest communities and building access to high-speed internet across the country.

Democrats should be speaking nationally about these accomplishments while showing the specific locations that are being improved in their states or congressional districts. This is nothing short of a home run for candidates running on the blue ticket.

Another huge victory for Democrats to tout is the American Rescue Plan, which helped put money directly in the pockets of the American people, helped protect them from COVID-19 and gave money directly to working families. Democrats should remind voters of thisand of the fact that most Republicans voted against the plan.

Democrats also swiftly pushed through Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination, a historic victory that made Judge Jackson the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, another thing most Republicans opposed. Reminding voters of this accomplishment, and that it happened under the most diverse administration in American history, should remind folks that diversity in leadership matters.

Then there's the fact that Biden helped unite the western world against Russia together with the leadership shown by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats.

Finally, we must remind Americans what Republicans stand for: a whole lot of nothing. Nothing good, at least. The Republicans are the party of January 6, of banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools where it's not taught, and of anti-gay legislation that addresses "problems" that don't exist.

So as Democrats move into the midterm elections, they must remember one key thing: This is their election to lose. They have the record to run on and theirs is the only party defending democracy.

If the Democratic Party can focus on a clear, cohesive and united message that just tells the American people the truth, they will prove to be unbeatable.

Scott Dworkin is an author, and serves as Executive Director of The Democratic Coalition. He is the host of The Dworkin Report podcast and co-hosts The Report Card podcast. He was a deputy director for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee and the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and a senior adviser to the Draft Biden and Run Warren Run campaigns. Follow him on Twitter: @funder.

The views in this article are the writer's own.

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There's No Choice in the Midterms. The Democrats Are the Only Side Defending Democracy | Opinion - Newsweek