Democrats see risks in focus on Trump convictions

Vulnerable Democrats are avoiding talking about former President Trump’s shocking conviction last week on 34 felony counts, fearing political backlash in their base states and districts.

Frontline Democrats representing battleground states where trust in the criminal justice system is low and Trump’s legal problems have only galvanized their base have warned that focusing on New York’s convictions could backfire politically.

“I try to stay away from anything that isn’t a unifying topic,” Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska, a top Democrat, said when asked if she worried talking about the conviction would alienate some voters.

Lawmakers’ reactions on their first day back at the Capitol after the jury convicted Trump underscored both Trump’s extraordinary ability to navigate scandal and the delicate maneuvering Democrats are trying to do in approaching his felony conviction, particularly the tricky question of whether a major party’s presidential nominee should serve time in prison.

The Democratic response, of course, is clear. Throughout the trial, they unanimously maintained that they trusted the justice system, respected the verdict, and that no one is above the law, not even a former president. Now that Trump has been convicted, they are once again submitting to the justice system.

Asked whether Trump should go to prison, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said “that’s for someone else to decide.”

Sen. Bob Casey (R-PA) echoed his battleground state colleagues.

“That’s up to the judge,” Casey said. “I have no opinion on that.”

Meanwhile, the guilty verdict creates a dilemma for Democrats, who must decide whether to emphasize the felony crimes as the focus of their campaign messaging or pivot from the case to focus on other issues, such as the economy, that more directly affect voters.

“If candidates in battleground states want to talk about Trump right now, they don’t want to talk about the New York courts,” said a Democratic activist in a battleground state. “They want to talk about how it would affect their lives if Trump were president again.”

In some states, campaigns are competing for the smallest base of voters, many of whom aren’t necessarily interested in politics.

“If I were running in a battleground state, I would say Trump is going to repeal Obamacare and kick you off your health insurance, and Democrats aren’t going to do that,” the party official continued. “Anyone who’s committed to the fight for democracy already knows who they’re going to vote for… In battleground states, [candidate] “It’s a waste of time to talk about it.”

“The friends who talk the least about politics, who are the least interested in politics,” the operative continued. “That’s the voters we’re going after. They don’t care about this. What they care about is rent, food, access to health care.”

Another Democratic activist in a battleground state added that while past polling data suggests the guilty verdict would be a positive for the party, he doesn’t think battleground candidates necessarily need to be direct communicators on the issue.

“Obviously, we’re in the presidential election. [ticket] “It’s our mission to do well in the state, but litigation is not necessarily our battle,” the strategist said.

But there are plenty of signs that Democratic strategists see opportunity in Trump’s legal troubles. On the House side, Democratic campaign organizers wasted no time after the conviction, sending out an email blast highlighting 23 vulnerable Republican incumbents as having “endorsed convicted felons.”

A third Democrat specifically cited Rep. Marc Molinaro (N.Y.) and Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (N.J.), who represent two of the Democratic Party’s most targeted districts, noting that the New Jersey Republican announced he would vote for Trump just hours before the verdict.

“All of these people should hold themselves accountable for whether they are willing to support a convicted felon for president,” they said.

Some Democrats said the conviction gave the party an opportunity to draw a moral contrast between Trump and Biden and highlighted Republican attacks on the U.S. justice system.

“I want to put this in the context of how shameful it is that Republicans have so little faith in the judiciary,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif.

But Berra also stressed that after nearly a decade in politics, voters have a clear idea of ​​who Trump is and what he has done, and Democrats would be better off focusing on specific issues.

“The guilty verdict doesn’t reveal anything about Trump’s character that we don’t already know, so I think a lot of that is already factored in,” Bera said. “There are a ton of positive issues to campaign on.”

Michael Schnell contributed.