Is John James a good canidate for MI senate?

[ProgressiveModerate]

I see a lot of Republicans on this forum getting really excited about this race, citing John James as a rising star who did pretty well against Debbie Stabenow in 2018 despite the circumstances. Democrats are saying that some on the right are getting too overhyped about this race. Which is it? I personally think he's good, I'm actually endorsing him, and think he has a good balance of populism and fiscal conservatism in his values, but I don't think it'll be enough to put him over the edge as Peters is also quite a strong canidate, and Trump is likely to lose MI by a least a few points at this point.

[Alben Barkley]

Dude called Obamacare a “monstrosity” and abortion “genocide.” Compared himself favorably to Ted Cruz. He’s no better than the rest of the Senate Republicans and had he won in 2018 he would be just as complicit in their cowardly defense of Trump.

You’re endorsing him why, exactly? I don’t see how he’s “populist” in any good sense whatsoever, just now typical GOP xenophobia.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

There arent many good Rs in the midwest, that's why Johnson and Toomey and their seats are gone in 2022

[Water Hazard]

By and large, yes. He may be down in recent polling, but so would any Michigan Republican right now.

[SnowLabrador]

By and large, yes. He may be down in recent polling, but so would any Michigan Republican right now.

[For Trump, everything. For immigrants, the law]

My own feelings about him aside, he's a decent candidate, but he probably won't win unless Trump wins Michigan.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

He's decent

[The Mamdani Virus]

He's a good candidate, people just severely underrated Peters, and just assumed that he wouldn't take the race seriously, which is why expectations were so high for Republicans in Michigan. But his surprising 2018 showing means that Democrats can't take the race for granted and should continue to invest there. The Republicans bizarre "Jerry Peters" strategy is also backfiring and seems to have been ineffective. All of these factors give us a Lean D race, about where the Presidential race is.

[Suburbia]

He's decent. Has he spoken about the Floyd police murder?

[W]

Strong in background, alienating in beliefs. Decent.

[ProgressiveModerate]

He's a good candidate, people just severely underrated Peters, and just assumed that he wouldn't take the race seriously, which is why expectations were so high for Republicans in Michigan. But his surprising 2018 showing means that Democrats can't take the race for granted and should continue to invest there. The Republicans bizarre "Jerry Peters" strategy is also backfiring and seems to have been ineffective. All of these factors give us a Lean D race, about where the Presidential race is.

Yep pretty much agree with this. Just because James is good, it doesn't make Peters a bad canidate, and Peters has incumbency advanatge, and Biden is likely to carry MI by a few points.

[Non Swing Voter]

he's decent enough I guess.  If it was a Republican wave year like 2010 or 2014 then maybe he could just barely pull it off.  But Trump's probably gonna lose the state by more than 5 points so I'd expect him to lose too.

[Galeel]

He's fine. I doubt he'll do much better or worse than Trump.

[Blair]

As I've said before republicans like him for the same reason that Democrats like Amy McGrath or Wesley Clark.

[Pericles]

If you keep on supporting James, then you should delete the 'Progressive' from your username.

[DaWN]

Frankly? He's just Generic R

[Panda Express]

No, John James is currently a loser (because he lost fairly easily in 2018) and once he loses again this year he becomes what is known in the trade as a total loser. Regardless of political party, once you lose twice you become a total loser. Once you become a total loser, there is no coming back. Ask Dino Rossi.

[dotard]

He’s pretty much a standard Republican in beliefs and is a decent candidate

[Kevin Graham]

He's an alright candidate but a lot of his hype is rooted in tokenism.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

He’s pretty much a standard Republican in beliefs and is a decent candidate

[MT Treasurer]

This might change, but so far James clearly hasn’t lived up to the hype. This is one of the very few Senate races where the Republican Senate candidate had the potential to outperform Trump, but so far he’s not only run a lazy campaign but has also allowed Peters to define himself and James early. I get that the FL-SEN 2018 comparisons are tempting, but Lord Voldemort was already burying Bill Nelson at this point in 2018.

That said, Republicans might find solace in the fact that even a competent candidate probably couldn’t have won a Senate race in MI in this environment.

[eax]

Not a great candidate by any means, but he's about the best the Michigan gop has to offer at this point.

[ProgressiveModerate]

If you keep on supporting James, then you should delete the 'Progressive' from your username.

Lol, the second word after my name is moderate. I have some more progressive values, and a few conservative values, but I believe that they should be carried out through comprimise and getting everyone on board. As for supporting James, that might change as he develops himself as a canidate but I have several reasons for endorsing him for now. First off, MI is a swing state, and Stabenow is already much further to the left of the median voting Michigander. I feel like James would balance out Stabenow well, and give a new voice to the other 46% of MI. Furthrmore, I think he brings a very imortant voice to the table. Instead of treating African-Americans as a victim group, he acknowledges the problems the community faces, but at the end of the day people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps; we just need to ensure they have bootstraps. I recognise that he and I have disagreements on fundemental issues, but at the end of the day, he brings a new conversation to the table that deserves to be heard. I may very well withdraw my endorsement and endorse Peters if he totally binds himself to Trump, who has very different ideals than him. Look, I hate McConnel as much as you do, but I endorse based on the canidate, not the party. Only endorsing people from the side you agree with more often than not is very dangerous for our Democracy, since that's what leads to tibalism, and elections being treated like a sports game.

[Drop Billionaires, Not Bombs]

If you keep on supporting James, then you should delete the 'Progressive' from your username.

Lol, the second word after my name is moderate. I have some more progressive values, and a few conservative values, but I believe that they should be carried out through comprimise and getting everyone on board. As for supporting James, that might change as he develops himself as a canidate but I have several reasons for endorsing him for now. First off, MI is a swing state, and Stabenow is already much further to the left of the median voting Michigander. I feel like James would balance out Stabenow well, and give a new voice to the other 46% of MI. Furthrmore, I think he brings a very imortant voice to the table. Instead of treating African-Americans as a victim group, he acknowledges the problems the community faces, but at the end of the day people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps; we just need to ensure they have bootstraps. I recognise that he and I have disagreements on fundemental issues, but at the end of the day, he brings a new conversation to the table that deserves to be heard. I may very well withdraw my endorsement and endorse Peters if he totally binds himself to Trump, who has very different ideals than him. Look, I hate McConnel as much as you do, but I endorse based on the canidate, not the party. Only endorsing people from the side you agree with more often than not is very dangerous for our Democracy, since that's what leads to tibalism, and elections being treated like a sports game.

Jesus Christ.  Leave it to an Atlas blogger to decide who they support based on how someone would vote relative to their state.  Hey buddy, how is Debbie Stabenow more ideologically out of step for Michigan than a f#cking Ted Cruz clone?  Literally no one would even think of deciding who to support based on what the other 46% or what the "median voter" wants besides a) American leftists and b) Atlas bloggers.  So good on you for fitting the profile perfectly, I guess.  And it doesn't matter what kind of Republican you support, moderate or conservative (and John James is no moderate!); if the Republicans keep the Senate, McConnell stays as leader.  Period.  Zip.  End of.

F#ck.  This post is so hideously bad I'm going to print it out and use it to wipe my ass.

[SnowLabrador]

If you keep on supporting James, then you should delete the 'Progressive' from your username.