Larry Elder's voter fraud messaging depressed Republican turnout, GOP consultant charges

[Demovictory9]

Recall candidate Larry Elder – with an assist from former President Donald Trump – depressed GOP turnout in California’s recall race by raising the prospect of voter fraud before the election, a Republican consultant said Wednesday.

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Ron Nehring, a former chair of the California GOP and adviser to Faulconer, pointed to a page on Elder’s website that, prior to the election, presumed that Newsom won the recall because of an influx of voter fraud. It asked voters to sign a petition asking for a special session of the Legislature to investigate. Nehring said such a suggestion was “astonishing” and discouraged Republicans from voting.

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“We can’t have an evidence-based party if we are bull-----ing people in advance that this election was stolen when it was not,” Nehring said Wednesday. “One way not to have Republicans win is by telling Republican voters that their votes don’t matter.... Lying to Republicans claiming an election was stolen, before a single vote or result had been published, is grossly irresponsible.”

Nehring accused Elder of acting as a “life preserver” for Newsom’s campaign. Early polls showed support for the recall almost evenly split, but that changed with Elder’s entry to the race, Nehring argued, and Newsom was able to pull out a huge victory.

“The overwhelming majority of Californians were not happy with the alternative, if that alternative was Larry Elder,” Nehring said. “It is very unfortunate that a governor who has run out of ideas, Gavin Newsom, was provided a vector, was assisted in his effort to make someone else the issue.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254265763.html

[Demsrule86]

1. No Republican should be acceptable to any Democrat period. Look at my governor

DeWine from Ohio; he has done a reasonably good job on the pandemic but has signed some dreadful anti-choice bills...some that impact contraception as well. If a woman has complications from an abortion, she is forbidden to seek treatment at a public hospital...I guess she should just bleed to death. And miscarriages must be investigated in order to make sure they are not actually abortions before any treatment. I would have died if such laws had been in place when I suffered my last miscarriage. I came close to dying anyway. No Republican can ever be acceptable to any Democrat. Those in 16 who opined that Trump was the same or better than Hillary Clinton were completely wrong and anyone who makes such a claim is wrong period. Stein, Sarandon, Turner, and Brianna whatever the hell the rest of her name is have blood on their hands...of course none of them are Democrats. I mean GREEN equals get Republicans elected every November.

[JohnSJ]

2. Bullshit. The reason elder lead the pack of alternatives was because that is what republicans

wanted

Even if Elder wasn’t there, and you took the so-called moderate republican alternatives, they were not that moderate

What is always missing from Republican narratives is the full context

There have been three attempt to recall Newsom, and all failed because they could not get enough signatures, even with our low threshold. The only reason it succeeded this time is because they found a judge to extend the timeline to get more signatures

Newsom is NOT as unpopular as republicans and some in the media would like you to believe

and unfortunately for republicans, California goes out of their way to try and give the opportunity so everyone can vote, including same day registration, and postage paid mail-in ballots, unlike those states where republicans control their legislatures where they have been going out of their way to make it difficult to vote

[Sibelius Fan]

3. This! And let's not forget that we Californians had the experience of getting stuck

with Ah-nold as gov when Grey Davis was recalled. Ah-nold was terrible as gov, not to mention his personal scandal with having a second family out of wedlock with his maid that ended up in Maria Shriver divorcing his ass.

[JohnSJ]

5. Yes, and financially Schwarzenegger was a disaster for our state, and when the general election came

up Schwarzenegger lost handily to Brown, who cleaned up the mess Arnold created

[Retrograde]

14. Schwarzenegger never ran against Brown

He ran against Phil Angelides in 2006 and won with about 55% of the vote. Brown defeated Meg Whitman in 2010, much to the relief of Californians who were tired of hearing her endless commercials. Since CA elects the lieutenant governor independent of the governor, Schwarzenegger had Democratic seconds-in-command for most of his terms.

As governor, Arnold wasn't IMHO any worse than Deukmeijian or Pete Wilson in the 1990s

[JohnSJ]

15. Thanks, you are right of course, but it was Brown who cleaned up the financial mess Arnold

left the state in. From a deficit to a surplus

We had a huge shortfall when Arnold left office

Deukmeijian and Pete Wilson was a different time, and did not leave the state in financial straits

I also doubt they would have been accepted by today’s Republican Party

[greenjar_01]

4. Excuses excuses

They got their asses kicked even more than expected. They have to blame something. Did his message "suppress" GOP voters to the tune of 10% of the vote? Like, a million people? Come on, now.

[Midnight Writer]

6. If Elder is so poisonous to the GOP, why did he shoot straight to the top in their polls?

A more traditional candidate would have done much worse. The voters had plenty of other candidates to consider, and they went overwhelmingly for Elder.

The GOP is the Party of Cranks.

[ZonkerHarris]

19. he had a radio show. RW radio runs the GOP

[Johnny2X2X]

7. The GOP has had this strategy forced on them by Trump

It's not something they would have chosen as a strategy, but they're at the mercy of Trump's whims.

They're stuck with Trump and whatever he decides. I hope it sinks them.

[The Magistrate]

8. Mr. Nehring May Well Be Right, Sir

But it won't do him a damned bit of good. That elections are rigged against them is now established dogma among the Republican electorate, and will be for the foreseeable future. It's the only way they can explain their frequent defeats at the ballot box. I enjoy how this article of faith among them becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For in the face of such a widespread, deeply rooted and efficient conspiracy working against them in every single election, why should anyone bother going to the polls?

[mopinko]

11. hoist on their own petard.

ya gotta love it.

[StarfishSaver]

9. Larry elder got confused and thought he was white

I wonder when, if ever, he'll figure out that he is not going to be given the same passes by the Republican powers that be that the white guys and gals get when they screw up.

Under the bus he goes ...

[Brother Buzz]

16. That, and republican voters got confused because they always vote "No"

[StarfishSaver]

17. LOL!

[lagomorph777]

10. The Big Lie is the core message of the Reptilian Party now.

Silly to blame one candidate for it; the entire party is pushing a message that is guaranteed to depress turnout. That, and killing off their voters with COVID.

[SunSeeker]

20. THIS

[SunSeeker]

21. The Big Lie is all they have. nt

[awesomerwb1]

12. Big lie or not

Elder still would've lost handily.

[Xolodno]

13. He's grasping at straws.

The GOP registration is less than 25% in the state. Half of Democrats would have to not vote and Independents either mostly sit out or suddenly break hard right, the latter being they were smoking too much weed in that strategy meeting.

The first few failed attempts to get enough signatures should have said something to them.

And the early polls were skewed, of course the GOP base was energized at a possible recall. And the Democratic Party was a bit apathetic...as in, "not this shit again". In the end, it was how they picked their sample.

And he's also just crying sour grapes, there wasn't much energy behind the so called moderate Republicans. Elder energized their base...only now that base is full of Trump fruit loops and the party is controlled by them.

They were trying to find an easy way to get rid of Newsom and get a GOP stooge in charge and grossly misunderstood everyone's frustration. Is everyone sick of wearing masks, restrictions, COVID, etc. Of course, that's what they wanted to hear. But is everyone willing to relax the restrictions before we get a handle on COVID....oh hell no.

Now, there sneaky way in is going to get overhauled and will be dead in the water.

The GOP in California is going to be gone for awhile unless they dump Trumpism and start from scratch.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. TFG supporters are idiots

[Deminpenn]

22. A little bit of sour grapes

Remember, he worked for Falconer's campaign. He was on with Hayes last night making the same argument. Hayes pointed out that the recall supporters wanted Elder as shown by him being the top "Yes" candidate. Nehring didn't seem to want to believe that the "yes" voters preferred Elder to Falconer.

Mike Murphy, another R political strategist, was on MSNBC, too discussing the recall results. He blamed the loss on CA being a very Dem state and the results just reflecting the partisan make-up of the state.

Both probably have one foot in the State of Denial.