Accurate assessments and excellent proposal we all should follow (volunteering for 2026 — the sooner the better). In my area, State/local Republicans are invisible at election time, with barely known candidates and little or nothing to get loyalists to turn out and vote.
The 2025 elections in VA, NJ, and TN, confirm what we already know: People turn out to vote when they have a sense of crisis. Without it, they sit it out (due to laziness and avoidance of responsibility). Dems see Trump and MAGA as a crisis, so they turn out in droves to block reform. Reps feel more secure, believing (pretending) Trump and MAGA are rolling back the threats to American life and values, so they skip the by-elections until crisis is back in their faces. To get turnout, R’s need to convey that elections are always a crisis, with much lost or much gained. They could start with strong candidates and those already in office supporting a clear agenda.
Or it could be that most normal Republican voters don’t live for politics and have normal lives.
The democrats are chicken little screaming “this is the end of the world”.