Here’s part of what my friend wrote::
At this point, elections are all about turning out the occasional voter. That's, literally, how Trump won.
With info sources so dispersed, messaging, etc, doesn't work as well these days.
Turnout is everything. The Dems seem to have learned that. I hate to say it, but the odds of CT's GOP figuring that out and also executing are pretty darn slim.
And here are some excerpts from a much longer essay, saying essentially the same thing:
RedState, Cliff Maloney:
If GOP Does Not Address Low Propensity Voter Problem, We Risk Another Trump Impeachment or Worse
Most voters don’t realize we just had several local elections over the last few weeks, and those elections were critical in securing the America First agenda.
The New York City mayoral race, which was won by Zohran Mamdani, was the most prominent, but there were many other, less prominent but equally important elections across the country.
Unfortunately, we lost all but the smallest of those elections.
…. We charged into enemy territory, knowing the odds were against us, going into states such as New Jersey to support gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. I was optimistic that Trump's blowout victory in 2024 would drag Republicans to the polls. His administration’s wins, such as securing the border with millions deported, criminals locked up instead of coddled, DOGE slashing $175 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse, that's the America First rocket fuel we promised. Yet, too many patriots stayed home, complacent or convinced "easy wins" would fall in our lap.
In New Jersey, losses hit harder than expected, with Democrat E-Day turnout exploding (Sherrill roughly +440k over Murphy's 2021 haul) while our side ghosted. Pennsylvania's "vote no to retain" on COVID-era judges? Tanked, leaving the same lockdown-loving benchwarmers to sabotage liberty. We didn't show up — we got crushed.
This isn't just a blip; it's a preview of the Democrats' endgame if we snooze.
….
The truth is that Democrats have a well-oiled machine when it comes to elections. They’ve spent decades building powerful networks of activists — in many cases, using taxpayer funds to do so, but that’s a topic for another day. They have massive email lists, and they leverage social media like a passionate insurgent group. They vote early and use mail-in ballots to maximize their votes. And most of all, they show up consistently and move in lockstep.
In short, they do everything that we need to be doing, but are not.
And if we don’t change that, they will eat our lunch and destroy America in the process.
While presidential and congressional elections tend to get most of the attention, there are thousands of smaller local elections in between that can have just as much, if not more, impact.
That’s why these elections are so critical.
We can’t just match the Democrats’ efforts — we need to surpass them.
The energy, discipline, and focus that carried us through the presidential campaign must now be directed toward state and local battles.
….Local elections play a key role in what happens locally, but they also have a national impact.
…. We failed this time, and the margins weren’t even close. This was devastating, but there’s a silver lining here, and it’s that this could be the wake-up call that Republicans need to see that we absolutely need to be all in.
…. New York City was once the financial capital of the world, and it’s now turning into yet another socialist hellscape where it’s nearly impossible to do business or for the average resident to even afford a modest lifestyle. The long-running exodus from New York City highlights the failures of socialism, and yet the left keeps doubling down on this ideology that has failed literally everywhere it’s ever been implemented. In fact, Mamdani recently cited Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party founder, during an interview, attempting to justify his policies. New York's exodus is already in motion, and it’s going to get a lot worse.
…. These upcoming midterms are absolutely ours to lose. If Republicans sleepwalk and hand Congress back, mark my words, the impeachment circus restarts. Trump on trial, us scrambling from a position of defense in 2028. The unleashed Democrats crave retaliation: more witch hunts, open borders, $36.2 trillion debt bombs.
We've got low-propensity voter turnout as our Achilles' heel, but it's fixable. Democrats' machine— taxpayer-funded activists, endless mail-in chases, lockstep obedience — built their electoral cartel over decades.
We need to respond with people power. Groups like Citizens Alliance, Turning Point Action, America First Works, Heritage Action, Early Vote Action, and many more have already proven what can happen when we invest in grassroots organizing.
When Republicans knock on doors and collect ballots, we win.
It’s that simple.
Personally, I’m pessimistic that is that simple, because voters seem to turn out when they have a specific issue that’s excited them, and otherwise stay home. The Blue’s have abortion, global warming/extinction in 12 6 years, the end of welfare as they like it, etc., while we have more general issues: overregulation, free enterprise, national security, and the like.
Can anyone convince stay-at-homes that the birth of the regulatory era, symbolized by the increase of pages of the Code of Federal regulations from 20,000 pages annually in 1970 to 100,000 in 2025, has been a primary cause of the “unaffordability crisis” of today? That it’s the forced expenditures by energy providers to “invest” in “Green Energy” boondoggles that has cause electricity prices to treble? Not when there are simple slogans that can be rallied around without having to sit down and think them through: “socialism!”; “greedy capitalists!”; “Magic!”
The 80/20 rule says that 8 out of 10 newspaper readers don’t go beyond the headlines, and a similar percentage is found among FaceBook users. An intelligent conversation with these people is impossible.
Which doesn’t mean, I suppose, that we shouldn’t try, but my money’s on bread and circuses bringing down the republic, rather than careful thought preserving it.
