Psaki says Democrats know they’re doomed if midterms are a vote about Biden

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said Democrats know that if the 2022 midterm election is about President Joe Biden’s record, they will lose.

Ms Psaki, who left the Biden administration earlier this year, is now a contributor to NBC and will soon be a host for MSNBC. Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, she said that Democrats feel that if the election is about who is more extreme, then they can win, specifically citing Republican Representativer Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

“If it is a referendum on the president, they will lose and they know that,” she told host Chuck Todd. Typically, the president’s party loses control of at least one chamber of Congress in the midterm election since voters see it as a chance to voice dissatisfaction with the president’s party.

She also said that Democrats know that crime is a major issue. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that Republicans have a 22-point advantage against Democrats when it comes to handling crime.

Ms Psaki pointed out how in Pennsylvania, Republicans are hammering Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman for being soft on crime. Former president Donald Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre earlier this month where he accused Mr Fetterman without any evidence of taking illegal drugs.

Similarly, Mr Fetterman’s Republican opponent Mehmet Oz has criticised the Democrat for hiring two men on his campaign who had previously been convicted for murder but whose sentences Mr Fetterman had helped commute due to flimsy evidence.

In Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson and Republicans have attacked Democratic nominee Mandela Barnes for being weak on crime and supposedly supporting defunding the police, which Mr Barnes has denied.

“So yes, the economy is hanging over everything, but you do have to look at state by state factors and crime is a huge issue in the Pennsylvania. I'm not sure how that's done,” she said.