Thanks but no thanks.
Tough elections this year have Democrats feeling uneasy about the controversial Lincoln Project, which announced several hot-button races it plans to insert itself.
“This year, the widespread authoritarian movement through the Republican Party is putting the very existence of democracy to the vote,” the organization said in a May 5 press release. “To defeat this threat, The Lincoln Project declared the race the most important to the existence of democracy in the United States.”
The statement came with a map of the goals for 2022, which included gubernatorial races in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona; Senate openings in Ohio, New Hampshire and Nevada; And one of the weakest House members of the Democrats.
“Please no,” tweeted Izzy Levy, spokesman for Democrat Tim Ryan, who is running for Senate in Ohio against GOP candidate JD Vance.
“The first rule of propaganda is do no harm and that should be the goal of every outside organization, and the Lincoln Project fails from time to time in that mission,” said a senior Democratic House staffer. ,
The Lincoln Project, a political action committee formed in 2019 by Trump-hating former Republicans, became widely beloved among “resistance” Democrats during the 2020 election for their bare-knuckle video ads that often went viral .
The group’s fortunes turned sour after John Weaver, one of their founding members, was busted for allegedly having sex with and sexually assaulting young men. PAC hired the law firm Paul Hastings LLP to conduct a review, which found that “there is no evidence that anyone in the Lincoln Project had any sexual relations with persons of any age prior to the publication of those news reports.” Was aware of inappropriate communication.” Critics called it whitewash.
The Lincoln Project found itself in more hot water during the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race, when it staged a fake white supremacist rally in an attempt to smear GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin. The plan reversed, and Youngkin was elected.
With Democratic control of the House hanging by a thread, the Lincoln Project is hoping to return to Virginia on behalf of two of the party’s most embroiled incumbents. Reps. Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger.
“We haven’t had any contact and will continue to race on the issues that matter most to Coastal Virginians.” Luria’s campaign manager, Katherine Feglie, told The Post about the Lincoln Project.
“My message to them – if I were Spanberger or Luria – please send money but get busy elsewhere,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, adding that both races were highly competitive and the controversial PAC presence. useless”
“Sending people with tiki torches was a bad idea and this year it will be a bad idea,” Sabato said.
The Lincoln Project did not respond to a request for comment.
