In Somerville, Mass., Thursday night, the Democrat-dominated city council was scheduled to reaffirm its status as a “sanctuary city,” a story picked up by Boston media and broadcast across New England.
In Salem, Mass., on Sunday, City Councilor Kyle Davis is promising a “large rally for trans solidarity” outside Democrat U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s office to protest his recent comments about his party’s extreme stance on the issue. That protest will definitely make headlines here in New Hampshire.
And in Concord, N.H., Republicans couldn’t be happier.
During the past legislative session, Granite State Democrats made the decision to unanimously oppose a ban on sanctuary cities and support allowing boys in girls sports and private spaces. This social-policy extremism contributed to the House GOP’s majority growing from 201-199 to 222-178. It also helped Republicans win an unexpected veto-proof supermajority in the state Senate.
There were other factors, of course. The always-brilliant Ray Buckley and top Democrats foisting former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig to the top of their ticket certainly helped the GOP’s cause.
Simultaneously incompetent and uninspiring, Craig’s campaign for governor highlighted the very issues that inspired distrust about Democrats among swing voters: Dodging the “sanctuary city” issue (she supported them), double-talk about her income tax plans (she wanted one), and her absolutist stance that abortion should be legal at any time, for any reason, through the entire nine months of pregnancy.
And yes, Craig opposed legislation to protect girls-only sports teams from biological males.
That these policy positions were unpopular was hardly some GOP-held secret. Poll after poll showed Granite Staters rejected the Democrats’ far-left stances, and yet in vote after vote, Democrats reaffirmed them. Why?
Because the Democratic brain trust was convinced that Trump and abortion would be enough to carry them to victory.
At least 27 Democrats won’t be making that mistake again. Among them: Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy and two former House members from deep-blue Nashua.
Keep in mind that the Democrats’ crushing losses last week — including a 10-point rout in the governor’s race — came despite Vice President Kamala Harris carrying the state and the two congressional Democrats winning their races without breaking a sweat. On top of that, the Democratic Victory Campaign Committee raised a record $2.9 million trying to flip the New Hampshire House.
They had every advantage, and still they lost.
It doesn’t take James Carville to figure out that Democrats need to change course… though Carville has been saying exactly that.
“A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females dominating the culture of the Democratic Party,” Carville said last spring, a slap against the ‘woke’ politics and obsession with identity in his party. Challenged about that statement on CNN this week, Carville stood his ground.
“There is not a person in the world that I’ve talked to that doubts that I’m right, right now,” Carville said, adding: “We could certainly shovel the entire identity politics about 50 feet into the ground and bury it.”
If you’re looking for a New Hampshire Democrat with a shovel, alas, you’re out of luck.
New Hampshire Democrats aren’t going to be abandoning ‘woke’ politics any time soon. Certainly not under the leadership of progressives like Sen. Rebecca Perkins-Kwoka (D-Portsmouth) and House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson (D-Exeter).
So what’s the strategy? If Granite State Democrats are hoping these issues will just fade away, well, Massachusetts will make sure that doesn’t happen.
Right across the state line, Moulton is trying to make the moderate Democratic case for embracing the “normie” position that biology isn’t merely a social construct and genetics isn’t a hoax.
“No one issue lost us this election, but there is exit polling that shows that cultural issues played an outsized role,” Moulton told Newsweek. “We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many opinions held by too many voters, and that needs to stop.”
The reaction? Moulton is being ‘shamed’ by Joyce Craig’s campaign co-pilot, Gov. Maura Healey, and denounced by the Democratic Party.
More notably, the number of New Hampshire Democrats who’ve defended Moulton, or at least said he should be able to hold his views without being canceled, is currently hovering at zero.
Massachusetts Democrats are going to keep calling moms and dads who want to protect their daughters bigots and haters. They’re going to continue to demand that parents pretend biological sex doesn’t exist. The issue is going to keep generating news stories. Which means when Granite State Democrats once again vote unanimously against legislation protecting girls-only sports or spaces, that will make news, too.
And Massachusetts is going to keep re-affirming sanctuary city policies and pledging to shield illegal immigrants from deportation. If recent history is any indicator, the Bay State will also keep generating outrage-inducing stories about rapes and other violent crimes committed by migrants.
Which is why, when every New Hampshire Democrat votes yet again against a ban on sanctuary cities, it will get noticed.
Democrats can try yet again pinning their hopes on President-elect Donald Trump and a tidal wave of crazy to overcome voters’ attention. And with nominations like Matt Gaetz for attorney general, that strategy might work.
Or, like 2024, 2022, 2020, and 2016 — all years the GOP won a trifecta in Concord — it may not.
Kelly Ayotte warned New Hampshire Democrats not to “MASS Up New Hampshire.” Unfortunately, they’ve already ‘Massed Up” their own party.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Somerville City Council delayed a vote on its sanctuary city policy until November 26. This article has been updated to reflect that change.
