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Democrats drew criticism from both sides of the aisle for spending resources to elevate Republicans in primaries who had a history of casting doubt on the 2020 election.
They argued the strategy was aimed at boosting candidates general election voters would deem to be too extreme, helping Democratic chances in November.
And in six high-profile races, the strategy appears to have paid off, as the NBC News Decision Desk projects Democrats to win all six of them.
In the Illinois governor’s race, the party spent more than $19.5 million to undercut the GOP primary frontrunner, Richard Irvin, and pave the way for GOP state Sen. Darren Bailey’s surprise victory. (During a live stream on Jan. 6, 2021, Bailey said” that Trump and his allies contesting the election weren’t “going rogue,” adding that it was “wrong” to be “denied the right to contest what we know, that there was rampant fraud.”)
Democrats also won the Maryland governor’s race after elevating state Del. Dan Cox — who called then-Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor” while traveling to the D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. They won New Hampshire’s Senate race after boosting retired Army brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc, who emphasized during his primary his belief Biden didn’t legitimately win the 2020 race.
And they won Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, where Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s campaign ran ads emphasizing state Sen. Doug Mastriano’s conservative bonafides while he was trying to close out his GOP primary.
The tactic was also successful in New Hampshire’s 2nd District, as well as Michigan’s 3rd District, where Democrats helped boost a Republican challenging GOP Rep. Peter Meijer, who had voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.
