ARLINGTON, VA— Emily Seidel, president and CEO of Americans for Prosperity and senior advisor to AFP Action, joined the Wall Street Journal podcast “All Things with Kim Strassel,” where she broke down the midterm landscape, the battle between freedom and control, and the kind of messages that can break through in a “cost-of-living” election.
To watch the interview, here’s the video link.
Key excerpts:
On the rise of big government and the opportunity for AFP Action endorsed candidates: “Big government is bad policy no matter where it comes from on the political spectrum, whether it’s from the left or the right. And the Republican Party has drifted in ways that we are genuinely concerned about. But here’s the thing, so are the American people. They’re looking for solutions to the challenges that are facing them in their everyday lives and big government is not the answer. And so there’s an opportunity, a real opportunity, especially with the rise of socialism for Republicans to start talking about limited government solutions again more consistently. And that’s what we’re encouraging them to do.”
On the DSA litmus test and why candidates should have to answer for the platform: “I think you’re seeing it in the way that people get elected and then show up in state legislatures or in Congress here in Washington DC and start to play a team sport. This is happening on both the left and the right. It’s one of the reasons why we think all Democratic candidates in this election cycle should have to answer the question how they feel about the Democratic Socialists of America platform as well.”
On the importance of countering bad ideas with a credible plan: “Our message to candidates who want to earn these people’s vote is you have to show up with a plan like we were talking about earlier of how you’re going to solve for the cost of living. And it needs to be specific. It needs to be the center of your campaign, and you need to have a real sense of urgency around how you’re talking about it. The candidates who are doing that are running ahead of the generic ballot, and they’re keeping some of the closest races in the country as tight as they can heading into the fall.”
On taking on rhetoric that is “cloaked in compassion:” “You have to name the policies. It’s not enough to just call out the affiliation of a candidate to the DSA or attack him or her personally. You have to say, ‘This is what the DSA platform would do.’ You named them, rent control, single payer healthcare, wealth tax, all of these things. The challenge for politicians out there is all of these things are cloaked in compassion. … You have to explain that rent control, yeah, they’re offering it because the rent is too high, but it’s just going to limit the supply of housing. And you have to bring the facts to show how that will work. And then you need to offer your alternative, reforming housing regulations that will unleash housing supply in the country and bring the rent down through that mechanism instead. It’s that contrast, which frankly, it’s the silver lining of the rise of socialism, because it gives candidates out there a much better opportunity to draw a very, very sharp contrast.”
On what actually moves voters: “To end perhaps on a positive note, AFP and AFP Actions activists both have been out there talking to these two groups of voters [swing and at-risk GOP] at scale across the country in races, large and small. And as we talk with them, what we have found is that when we share the choice that they have on the ballot … 60% of the time when we have that one-on-one conversation with somebody at their doorstep, they move in the direction of the candidate that we’re there to support. And so that is the power of what grassroots advocacy can do, but that’s also the recipe that we’re sharing with candidates. If you want to win, that’s the message that voters are craving.”
To listen to the interview click here.
Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. AFP recruits and unites activists in all 50 states behind a common goal of advancing policies that will help people improve their lives. For more information, visit www.AmericansForProsperity.org
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