By Jessie Seigel / October 26, 2024
In the capital of the United States, we have no vote for senator or representative. But we are getting a bellyful of the political TV advertisements coming out of Virginia and Maryland which, I reckon, are a reflection of ads in many states around the country.
In Maryland, there are numerous ads featuring a woman saying she is a Democrat and is definitely voting for Harris, but what about the races below that...maybe she'll vote for a Republican for senator or representative.
Some strong advice: if you are voting for Harris for president and you see one of those many ads trying to persuade you to split your ticket and vote for a Republican for the Senate and/or the House--don't fall for it. Don't do it for Secretaries of State or attorneys-general, or any other state offices either.
This is not a year to split your ticket. It's not the era for it.
If you are voting for Harris, presumably you believe in what she stands for. If you are not for all of her proposed economic and social policies, at the very least, hopefully, you understand the need to save the country's democracy. Neither her policies nor rescue from authoritarianism can be accomplished if she does not have a Democratic majority in the Senate and the House.
Take Maryland as an example. Its former Republican governor Larry Hogan, now candidate for the Senate in Maryland, is being billed as a "moderate" Republican despite his past statements lauding Trump's right-wing appointments to the Supreme Court. Even if Hogan were an example of that now mythical creature--the so-called moderate Republican-- electing him would give the Republican party control of the Senate, a party led by those planning to turn the nation into a dictatorship.
Any Republican who does not vote for the extremist policies and positions their party attempts to enact will find their career over. If you don't believe this, look at recent past practice. Ask Liz Cheney. Ask Adam Kinzinger. Ask the many Republicans who decided not to run again because they could not go as far right as required to win their primaries. Or better yet, think back on the example of Maine's supposedly moderate Republican senator, Susan Collins, who hypocritically voted with her party to place the duplicitous Bret Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
If Hogan was the moderate Republican he pretends to be, he would be working with the Lincoln Project and supporting Kamala Harris for president rather than running on the Republican ticket.
No president can save the country or implement their policy promises alone. A president needs a majority--as strong a majority as possible--in both the Senate and the House to aid them. If one splits the vote between the presidency and the Congress this year, at best, obstruction and stalemate will continue to rule the day. At worst, anti-democratic forces will get a boost.
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