Hey Democrats: Let’s Stop Running Losers

What do Beto O’Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Charlie Crist all have in common? All three of them ran for governor of their states in 2022 — those states being Texas, Georgia, and Florida respectively. All three of them also lost, and two of them have had no success in statewide races despite competing in multiple of them.

Of the three, Abrams is the one I have the most sympathy for. The former Georgia House Minority Leader ran for Governor against Brian Kemp — then Secretary of State — in 2018, and lost by only fifty thousand votes. Most political scientists agree that voter suppression of some form occurred, albeit the opinions on if this cost her the election have been mixed. I also want to note that, either way, Democrats should have known that this election was going to be a hard one to win — especially given the authoritarian voting laws Georgia implemented in 2021 — and should have put up a strong candidate.

However, in 2022 Abrams ended up doing worse and Kemp ended up doing better. Although not all of the votes for 2022 have been counted at time of writing, the estimates say that Abrams got 1,809,522 in 2022 compared to her 1,923,685 in 2018. On the other hand, Kemp was able to win 2,109,105 in 2022 compared to his 1,978,408 in 2018. It should also be noted that, on that same night, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock was able to get more votes…