It wasn’t so long ago when Missouri was a purple state, up for grabs by whichever party did the best job capturing voters’ imaginations. The state was split down the middle politically as recently as 2000, and even in 2016 Democrats held a U.S. Senate seat and the offices of governor, attorney general and state auditor. While Democrats watched helplessly, Republicans went for the political jugular by focusing on hot-button inspirational issues like gun control and abortion rights.
That’s not the Republicans’ fault. Responsibility for Democratic failures lies entirely with their own ineffective policies and messaging. The culmination of the party’s failures came last week with a U.S. Supreme Court draft ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade.
Democrats have yet to come up with a workable strategy to chip away at Republican solidarity around that party’s beloved candidates and bedrock issues. Liberals stomp and protest at each new Republican outrage, yet they repeatedly fail to mobilize liberals and moderates the way Republicans rally their own faithful behind the conservative mission.
