Democratic U.S. Senate candidates say ‘bipartisan’ a lot. Trump’s Senate candidates…don’t. • Nevada Current

To paraphrase one of the more famous quips of Joe Biden’s long career, there are only three things Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen needs to make a sentence – a noun, a verb, and “bipartisan.”

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. A recent (and typical) press release from Rosen’s office contained 12 sentences, but only used the word “bipartisan” seven times. Eight if you count the release’s headline.

As she seeks reelection this year, Rosen’s TV ads and other campaign messaging have emphasized her eagerness to break with her party and vote with Republicans, and touted her ranking (from a D.C. group that ranks such things) as “one of the most bipartisan” U.S. senators.

Rosen’s opponent, Republican Sam Brown, has not similarly leaned into “bipartisan” in releases, social media, campaign materials, etc.

The same scenario seems to be playing out in the half dozen or so Democratically held seats nationally that, like the race in Nevada, feature competitive races that will determine which party controls the Senate. From the high desert to the Great Lakes, Democratic U.S. Senate candidates say “bipartisan” over and over again. Their Republican opponents don’t say it much, if at all.

In Montana, Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester is ahead of camera-ready Republican Tim Sheehy in some polls, but behind him in others. Trump won Montana by 16 points in 2020. Tester’s has always been the most vulnerable Democratically held Senate seat of the cycle. So yeah, Tester is saying “bipartisan” a lot. 

Sheehy isn’t. Appealing beyond the Trump base may not be much of a priority for Sheehy, because that base alone might be all he needs.

In the other contests for Democratically held Senate seats, including Nevada’s, Democrats have been consistently polling ahead of their Republican opponents, and Republicans don’t have the same cushion Sheehy has in Montana (assuming he has it).

Rosen and Tester might say “bipartisan” a little more than fellow Democratic senators/candidates Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), Bob Casey (Pennsylvania), Ruben Gallego (Arizona), and Elissa Slotkin (Michigan). But they all say it quite a bit.

Meanwhile, perhaps the only Republican Senate candidate in a race that is even close (barely) to competitive and who, in a rebranding for the ages, is touting himself as “bipartisan” is not a challenger but an incumbent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

There are a lot of reasons for Democrats to campaign as bipartisan-friendly.

For one thing, it might simply be who they are. Rosen could fairly be called a radical centrist, no?

There is also the simple political calculation. It’s a hallowed American tradition for voters to blame the White House, and the party that controls it, fairly or unfairly, for anything and everything that displeases them.

The pandemic and subsequent corporate price gouging/fixing combined to reset prices and costs at higher levels, which in turn rendered a significant portion of the electorate authoritarian-curious. So Democrats are saying they’re bipartisan in the hope of localizing their race and quarantining it from Great Big Things that voters don’t like. 

Another benefit of the Democrats swearing fealty to bipartisanship is it makes Trumpism look petty and morally bankrupt by comparison. One striking example: Early this year the Senate reached a bipartisan deal on an immigration bill, after substantial caving on the part of Democrats to Republican demands. But then Trump, putting his personal interest above all other concerns as usual, ordered Congress not to pass the bill, because Trump was afraid it might deprive him of his favorite issue while making Biden look good.

Holed up in the Trump base

Just as Rosen and other Democrats have sought to demonstrate independence from the White House, might Republican Senate candidates in competitive races also benefit if they were to put some space between themselves and their MAGAlomaniac at the top of the ticket? 

We may never know. Brown in Nevada, Sheehy in Montana, Bernie Moreno in Ohio, Kari Lake in Arizona – they’re all doubling down on Trump and Trumpism. 

In the weeks and months prior to Biden stepping aside from the presidential race, Rosen could barely bring herself to utter Biden’s name.

Sam Brown, by contrast, touts his Trump endorsement every day, and late last month actually got on a stage with JD Vance in Henderson. On purpose.

In addition to providing a little distancing between a candidate and their party’s standard-bearer, advertising oneself as “bipartisan” candidate is also an appeal to the nation’s fastest growing (and in Nevada, largest) category of registered voters, non-partisans.

Generally behind in polls and saddled with an old, addled, and broadly disliked person at the top of the ticket, you’d think Republican Senate candidates would like to reach beyond the Trump base.

Instead they’ve holed up in it.

That probably seemed like a good idea three weeks ago.

Then, a lot of voters who can’t stand Trump but were also sour on Biden appeared poised to just sit out the election. All the turnout energy seemed to be with Trump and his Republicans.

Now that script’s been flipped.

Brown and other Republican candidates could try to switch gears. They could try to make an attempt to reach beyond the Trump base and connect with nonpartisans and other casual voters of both parties who might be sick and tired of all the anger and hate and animosity – voters who now appear to be warming to the happy happy joy joy vibe of the Harris-Walz ticket. 

But Brown and his fellow Republican wannabe senators might have trouble pulling that off. Promising to work across the aisle, to cooperate, to compromise, could turn off the very base they’ve been relying on all along.

Trumpism is about many things. Crushing the other side in humiliating defeat. Meting out retribution to all who publicly challenge or criticize Trump. Punishing the “unhumans” who disapprove of Trump and Trumpism.

One thing that is most definitely not a hallmark of Trump’s 2024 campaign, however, is a call for working in a spirit of bipartisanship and good will.