This past Tuesday, September 10 2019 North Carolina had 2 special elections to elect 2 vacant seats in the house. As the title of this post suggests, this piece aims to answer the question, what do these victories mean for Trump and the Republicans going into the 2020 election. This special election can be seen as a continuation of the 2018 midterms and the last of that election cycle. The first New York Times article argues that while it is definitely a positive that the Republicans won, it is not truly indicative of a Republican victory in 2020. The victory was very close and could have gone to the Democrats, not a landslide victory, however could be more indicative of the kind of results we'll see in 2020. The narrow win may have kept a few lawmakers from retiring but the fact is, the victory in North Carolina will not be much help for the Republicans in 2020. However, when it comes down to it, it is evident that the Democrats should not underestimate Trump's power or ability to rally his support and win close elections.
Questions:
- How should Democrats be concerned with the results of this election?
- What can Republicans attribute this win to?
- What can the Republicans next steps be if they want to regain control of the house?
Democrats should have little to no concern after Republican Dan Bishop won the special election since North Carolina is known to be a Conservative leaning state. Even though the state of North Carolina, more specifically its ninth Congressional district, has been a Republican stronghold for close to five decades, the race ended up being much closer than most anticipated. In addition, Dan Bishop needed $5 million from outside Republican groups and the support of President Trump to narrowly edge his opponent, Dan Mcready.
ReplyDeleteI think that the era of trump has incited a lot of political extremism. so the win in North Carolina is probably a backlash left extremism. North Carolina is a great place for this to happen because it's a mostly red state where conservatives can thrive. I think it goes to that the media is controlled by liberals, Republicans tend to lean more right as a reaction
ReplyDeleteRepublicans can attribute this win to loyal Trump supporters votes and even more so, Donald Trumps ability to rial up a crowed and win over their support. The atmosphere and energy of Donald Trumps rally, is what won Republicans another seat.
ReplyDelete-Alana Howley
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ReplyDelete2. North Carolina is more Republican than Democrat, and has voted for the Republican presidential candidate 9 out of the last 10 elections. North Carolina is also attributed to being one of the most gerrymandered states in America, and did have to create a new map for the 2020 election. Finally, Trump supporters are well known for being very supportive and fervent, and have high political efficacy. This makes them very likely to turn out for the vote, while Democratic candidates traditionally struggle with turning out a good population of their constituents.
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