This time last year, the Republican Party was hitting bottom. … What a difference 12 months make.
Entering a pivotal election year, a resurgent GOP is poised to reclaim one, if not both, chambers of Congress and retain its lock on dozens of state legislatures and governor’s offices. While victory is far from assured, the GOP’s confidence is fueled by President Joe Biden’s underwhelming poll numbers, a Democratic economic and social agenda that’s faltering, intensifying concerns about inflation, and deepening frustration with the pandemic, which is unleashing yet another wave of infections upon an exhausted nation. …
But at its most basic level, the Republican Party’s optimism is born of the same political headwinds that have shaped U.S. politics for decades. CONTINUED
Steve Peoples & Will Weissert, Associated Press
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