We all know that crime has risen nationwide, but statistics show an especially pronounced spike in swing U.S. House districts held by vulnerable Democrats.
Even before the latest numbers were published, Democratic incumbents were bracing for a potentially brutal midterm election. Now, variables such as crime trends and President Biden’s spiraling approval rating signal that is an increasingly likely possibility. (RELATED: Fox News Correspondent Gets Psaki to Admit to What Led to a Crime Surge in Dem-Run Cities)
The Washington examiner reports:
House Democrats in swing districts will have to confront voter concerns about public safety at a time when their party is shouldering the blame for embracing leftist policies that critics say have exacerbated the problem.”
Illinois 17th Congressional District is among the districts plagued by violent crime. Peoria, one of its principal cities, received the dishonor of being the 15th-deadliest city per capita in the United States last year. A hurried gerrymander by Illinois Democrats has made the seat marginally safer for the party, although the circumstances in which the race for the open seat is happening couldn’t be much worse for Democrats.
Moving across the Midwest, we come to Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Elissa Slotkin. FBI data has found the 7th District had the ninth-highest rate of violent crime — out of 435 congressional districts in 2020. Further east lies Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Centered in Hampton Roads, Rep. Elaine Luria’s newly redrawn seat includes the city of Chesapeake. The city of 240,000 witnessed a 60% jump in homicides in 2020 alone.
The surge in violent crime comes after Democrats demonized police officers and tried to defund numerous departments. (RELATED: Violent Crime Spike Linked to Defund Police Movement)
Aware of the targets on their back, many officers in cities like Baltimore aren’t as aggressive in dealing with certain infractions that sometimes result in violence.
NPR explains:
“Democrats across the country spent the last year defunding police departments, so they shouldn’t be surprised when voters hold them responsible for the spike in violent crime,” said Mike Berg, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which recruits and advises GOP congressional candidates.
NBC further elaborates:
“People are still against crime and people want to be safe,” said former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter in an interview. “You’re seeing in communities all across the country that when folks actually came to grips with the conflict of rising crime rates and an effort to quote unquote take away from policing, the public, being way ahead of the politicians as usual, figured out ‘no no no, that’s not a good idea, we want to be safe.’”
With November rapidly approaching, Democrats have precious little time to find a solution to their problems before voters decide to do what’s best for them. (RELATED: Biden’s ‘Guns First’ Approach to Violent Crime Ignores Basic Facts)
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard.