The Hill Insider: Democrats could use leaked SCOTUS draft to mobilize voters

The leaked draft opinion showing that the Supreme Court may vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision could help Democrats mobilize their voters leading into the November midterm elections, speakers at The Hill’s Insider event this week said.   

“The one positive for Democrats is that this lights a fire under voters who might otherwise have stayed home and sat on their hands and that is the critical test for every party in a midterm election,” Reid Wilson, national correspondent for The Hill, said during the May Insider event on Thursday. 

“When you already control the White House, what’s your motivation for showing up and voting in a midterm election?” he added.  

Wilson said Democrats can use this to their advantage in ways they haven’t in the past. 

“Suddenly the Democrats have that motivation and as we get to a more polarized environment where there are fewer and fewer people, you know, persuadable independents in the middle and the two parties focus more on a mobilization strategy than a persuasion strategy, well that can work for Democrats more this time than it might have in midterms past,” Wilson said.  

Wilson said through his conversations with Democrats he has not seen a clear message about their platform heading into the midterm elections. 

“There is not a crystal-clear message about what Democrats are running on aside from we’ve done good things, we’re going to keep doing good things. That’s not a crisp message in an area in which people want to know what you’ve done,” Wilson said. 

“I think we have a clear answer now of what Democrats will make the midterm elections about,” he said. 

Wilson said the Democratic win in the 74th Michigan House District, against a controversial Republican candidate in a GOP stronghold, could signal another Democratic strategy heading into the midterms. 

“I think Democrats hope to run against a lot of those Republican candidates come November. They plan to turn every Republican they’re running against into this sort of MAGA QAnon crowd,” he said. 

“Whether that shoe fits or not is going to determine how successful they are, but certainly the abortion stuff has already made its way into a lot of Democratic messaging,” Wilson added. 

Some Democrats have already used the abortion debate in their campaigns, including Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for reelection, Wilson said. 

“The Dems have embraced this in a way that I haven’t seen them embrace anything else as a crystal message in a clear contrast with Republicans,” he said.