Primary elections in Florida on Tuesday provided yet another illustration of how the parties differ when it comes to dealing with their cranks (and worse): Republicans seem to be more tolerant than Democrats.
Before I get to that, it’s also worth mentioning the two special elections for House vacancies in New York, which also held primaries Tuesday. In both cases, Democrats did better than expected given the results of the 2020 presidential election in those districts. That makes four House special elections that have gone well for Democrats since the Supreme Court ended the right to abortion. And that’s not counting one in Alaska where the votes are still being counted, which certainly appears to be another good result for the party.
Yes, it’s dangerous to put too much weight on special elections as a predictor of midterm results. And it’s hard to believe that a party with an unpopular president won’t pay the price in the midterms. But there are a lot of very confusing and contradictory signs out there.
