Democrats have made inroads by courting electorates in purple states that absolutely LOATHE the rest of the state, many of them transplants from elsewhere. Dems caught hating on their own states may have lost last night, but they didn't implode.
I've seen this process play out in Florida. It begins with arrivals from blue states complaining about the crapholes they fled, then lecturing the locals about how "you people do everything wrong down here," sometimes within a few breaths. This is very amusing to locals at first.
The thing is, many of the new blue-state arrivals have money. In Florida you get well-heeled retirees. In other states you get entrepreneurs fleeing oppressive business environments. They get plugged into Dem politics and start making big donations.
You might ask yourself, "Why the heck would rich businessmen fleeing Democrat dumpster fires vote for Dems in their new state? Why vote for the policies you ran away from?"
Two big reasons. 1 = culture; they come from places where Republicans are considered evil, immoral, unthinkable.
2 = corruption; they think Dem policies failed in their state due to corruption. Their new home offers a fresh start to implement socialism with Good People.
2 = corruption; they think Dem policies failed in their state due to corruption. Their new home offers a fresh start to implement socialism with Good People.
If you've spent any time on a college campus at all, you know Number 2 is the big reason socialism endures. It's a great system that has never been properly implemented by the Right People. It will work GREAT if kept clean of corruption. Corruption is the only reason it fails.
So the new arrivals get organized, start making donations, latch on to highly moralistic Dem campaigns in red/purple states. They link up with longtime Dems who felt marginalized until now, but suddenly there is serious money behind Dem campaigns.
At which point the new blue-state arrivals begin inheriting the prejudices of bitter longtime left-wing residents. The only reason the state has been red for so long is all the crackers, hillbillies, greedy old white guys, heavily armed hayseeds, Religious Right fanatics, etc.
Also, burgeoning left-wing movements in purple/red states begin receiving logistical support, money, and craploads of media muscle from national Dems and Dem machines in big cities. This inevitably spreads the sneering condescension of the elites like a virus.
The Dem electorate in these states sees itself as Other, superior to the local right-leaning voter. The Left's tendency to see themselves as "progressives" marching forth from Year Zero is a big part of it. The growing resentment of urban lefties for rural voters is too.
So if you're a Republican strategist in one of those states, you really want to be thinking about how to assimilate new arrivals politically. Link conservative policies to the state's success. Do NOT take the survival of the goose that lays the golden eggs for granted /end
