What stopped the "Red Wave?"

[French G.]

Here in Ohio, Republicans dominated the state races, and JD Vabce won a much closer race for US Senate.  The Dem ran a smart race, touting himself as a centrist, who agreed with Trump on some issues.  Vance ran as "I'm a Republican.  Trump supports me."  That was enough to get elected, but not the easy slide to victory many predicted.

IMHO, Republicans keep putting up bad candidantes.  Dr. Oz for example.  Or Hershal Walker.  Why the Republicans can't get better candidates shows a weakness in the party.  Yeah, you get the votes from people who vote straight party tickets, but it's hard to sell these kind of people to independents or Reagan Dems.

Well, hard right conservatives don't want to hear this but Oz is the example. The R candidate for governor of PA was a hard righties wet dream candidate on abortion. And flaky carpetbagging Oz outperformed him by a wide margin. So with a more Brian Kempy gov candidate there may have been enough coattails for Oz to get in on or lower turnout against team Red. So maybe stop with the candidate purity tests, quit thinking who is the most tasty primary candidate and pick someone who can get elected. They won't be the champion of your pet issue when in office. But there probably won't be an opposition party monolith at all levels of government against your pet issue.

[cordex]

Well, hard right conservatives don't want to hear this but Oz is the example.

In this thread I have learned that Oz is both an example of a crappy candidate that republicans should avoid so they can get good candidates elected, and also the ideal, electable (but not elected) candidate that republicans should run more of.

Fantastic.

[zahc]

What about Kari Lake failing to win in AZ?

Another bad candidate. Why can't the republicans just run normal, boring candidates with good policies?

[French G.]

In this thread I have learned that Oz is both an example of a crappy candidate that republicans should avoid so they can get good candidates elected, and also the ideal, electable (but not elected) candidate that republicans should run more of.

Fantastic.

Pretty sure that flaky carpetbagger indicates I don't see him as the ideal candidate. But you wouldn't have Chuck Schumer if the governor hadn't been an anchor on the campaign.

[cordex]

Pretty sure that flaky carpetbagger indicates I don't see him as the ideal candidate. But you wouldn't have Chuck Schumer if the governor hadn't been an anchor on the campaign.

I won’t pretend to have the political insight or savvy to know what would have happened had a different candidate been run in a different race. 

It seems to me that “hard right conservatives” tend to compromise on candidates all the time. Hell, the fact that Republicans get votes at all from those nutso righties shows that they are willing to constantly compromise on subpar candidates.  My takeaway is that if democrats can win with a candidate like Fetterman then the issue the republicans face is not one of candidate quality or electability.

[Ben]

Here's one problem with the red wave - the old guys won't retire. I just saw on the teevee that Chuck Grassley has filed for reelection. If elected again, he would be 101 at the end of his next term.

Honestly, how about 75 and you're done as a politician? Go fishing if you're an R or go protest in Portland if you're a D and enjoy your retirement.