Shut out of power in Washington, Republicans are using their
dominance in state houses across the country to oppose Democratic President Joe
Biden’s agenda and appease the diehard supporters of his Republican
predecessor, Donald Trump.
اضافة اعلان
In Texas, Republican lawmakers are pushing for legislation
that would allow citizens to carry a handgun without a permit or any training.
In Florida, Oklahoma, and Iowa, Republican legislators
passed bills granting immunity to drivers who hit protesters, part of a wave of
Republican-led legislation aimed at cracking down on public protests of the
kind that followed the police killing of George Floyd.
And Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping new reform bill that limits mail-in voting and ballot drop
boxes, making the state the latest to restrict voting access in the aftermath
of Trump’s false claims that he lost the November election due to widespread
fraud.
These actions have made for a stark contrast with the first
few months of the Biden administration, which has pursued a sweeping liberal
agenda on civil rights, police reform, gun control and voting rights.
Although Democrats control the White House and both chambers
of Congress, Republicans dominate the nation’s statehouses. After a dismal
showing by Democrats on the state level in the 2020 elections, Republicans now
control the legislatures of 30 states and also hold the governor’s office in 23
of those states.
Republicans are using that power to serve as “counterweight
to the Democratic trifecta” in Washington, said Dee Duncan, president of the
Republican State Leadership Committee, an arm of the party that supports state
legislative candidates.
But civil rights groups, Democrats, and even some
Republicans say the party is doubling down on a host of hot-button social and
cultural issues to only appeal to the party’s activist base.
“It’s a toxic combination of grievance politics and the
traditional culture wars,” said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman
from Florida who left the party over Trump.
The trend signifies that the Republican Party, after its
surprising performance on the state level in November’s election despite
Trump’s own loss, continues to believe that it must play to the former
president’s base in order to win, says Jacob Rubashkin, a nonpartisan elections
analyst in Washington.
“They are going to run — not so much on Trump’s policies —
but on his issues, on his grievances,” he said.
The risk, he said, is that Trump’s voters end up staying
home when he isn’t on the ballot next year, while Republican policies undermine
the party’s push to woo back the suburban, women, and independent voters it has
lost to the Democrats, both in Senate elections next year and in 2024.
Duncan contended that voters largely support election reform
and anti-protest laws, saying they serve election integrity and public safety.
The party also hopes to point to Republican-run states like Texas and Florida,
where the economies are swiftly recovering from the pandemic and schools are
open to draw a contrast with Democratic states.
“We are proud to run on the things that we have done,” he
said.
‘Stoke outrage’
Darrell West, director of governance studies at the
non-partisan Brookings Institution, said Republicans have no choice but to
exploit divisive cultural issues because they will not be able to run on the US
economy, which is poised to grow dramatically in the coming year with Biden in
the White House.
“They want to stoke outrage,” West said. “The side that’s
angriest is most likely to show up in the midterms.”
Florida, with DeSantis at the helm, is leading the way in
advancing right-wing legislation.
Beyond the election measure, Florida passed bills prohibiting businesses from requiring proof of COVID-19
vaccination in the state and social media companies from silencing
conservatives on their platforms.
Florida’s new anti-riot law, which DeSantis called “the
strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement measure in the country”, creates
new offenses with which authorities can charge protesters, enhances other
penalties and immunizes drivers from liability if they drive their car into a
crowded street.
The office of DeSantis, a close ally of Trump and who has
been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, did not respond to
a request for comment.
Ray Rodrigues, a Republican state senator from southwest
Florida, said the legislative agenda reflects the fact that “Florida is
becoming a more conservative state.”
After edging Democrat
Hillary Clinton in the state by just
over one percentage point in 2016, Trump won Florida by more than three points
last year. Former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, had twice won the state.
Lurch to the right
In
Texas, the debate over “permitless carry”, which would
residents to carry a handgun in public without a permit or training, is
illustrative of the lurch to the right among state
Republicans.
A divided Texas Senate approved the bill on a
party-line vote, returning it to the House for review. Governor Greg Abbott has
promised to sign it into law, even though most Texans and major law enforcement
associations oppose it. National opinion polls consistently show a sizeable
majority of Americans favor tighter gun laws in the wake of mass shootings.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Elsewhere in the country, seven states this year have
enacted so-called second amendment sanctuary laws prohibiting local officials
from enforcing any new federal gun control regulation, bringing the total
number of states with such legislation to 11, said Erich Pratt, senior vice
president at Gun Owners of America, a gun advocacy group.
Jolly, the former Republican congressman, said the
Republican legislative strategy is less concerned with aligning with public
opinion and more focused on galvanizing an activist minority of voters.
“They’re doing it so they can have high-profile fights,” he
said. “You always have to have an enemy.”
Read more opinions
.jpg)
.jpg)
