Thread by @charles_gaba

For those wondering how the hell Gary Peters can be in such danger from John James, here’s my take as a native Michigander:

1. First, Gary is a great guy, a great Senator and a pretty good candidate. 1/

2. Having said that, he’s also very low-key and a behind-the-scenes work horse type; his name isn’t always in the news, meaning he’s still unknown to a lot of Michiganders despite being in the Senate for six years.

3. In the 2014 red wave, Peters was the only bright for Senate Dems. Again, he was a good candidate but he benefited greatly by his opponent being the worst Senate candidate in the history of ever, Terri Lynn Land.

4. On the flip side, John James is an empty suit Trumpster, but he’s also young, photogenic and charismatic. He lost to Debbie Stabenow in 2018, but overperformed vs. an experienced woman in a blue wave year where other woman Dems crushed it in Michigan.

5. Since James isn’t an incumbent, he can pretend to distance himself from Trump this year even though he’s farther up Trump’s ass than some GOP incumbents. They’re also taking full advantage of the racial factor—his lawn signs have his picture on them but no party listed.

6. Since Peters is also relatively unknown AND he doesn’t list “Democrat” on his signs either, the average low-info voter likely assumes that the young black man running is the Democrat and the older white guy is the Republican. I’ve actually heard anecdotal stories about this.

7. Finally, the GOP is mostly on defense and only has 2 Senate races where they have any real hope of being on offense: Alabama and Michigan. Since everyone assumes Alabama is as good as gone, that means 100% of their offense firepower can be brought to bear on Peters.

8. Add to this the Michigan-based DeVos family fortune is flooding money into James’ campaign and it’s a perfect storm in what you’d normally expect to be an easy win for Peters.

In short, DONATE TO GARY PETERS NOW:
secure.actblue.com/donate/miforbi…

Also, read this: elle.com/culture/career…

📣 One More Thing: @GaryPeters' Trump-loving Republican opponent, @JohnJamesMI, says that the #ACA should be struck down, but that the key to covering pre-existing conditions is "Tort Reform".

No, seriously; that's his solution:
acasignups.net/20/10/14/michi…

Oh yeah...also, from the Elle article above, there's this.

In short: HELP RE-ELECT GARY PETERS:
secure.actblue.com/donate/miforbi…