Nate Hochman writes for National Review Online about a powerful new Republican ad.
Two conservative advocacy organizations—the State Government Leadership Foundation (SGLF), a subsidiary of the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), and N2 America, a PR group dedicated to “supporting center-right policies and ideas that better the lives of suburban Americans”—released a devastating advertisement targeting Democrats and teachers’ unions on school closures this week. The ad, which is the latest in SGLF and N2 America’s ongoing “Let Kinds Learn” campaign, is titled “Childhood.” …
… It’s a damning indictment of the Left’s continued efforts to keep school students in masks and away from in-person instruction, policies which blatantly contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that normal school environments are safe—and that continued masking has an adverse effect on young children. Ads like these are effective because they put a human face on these policies, highlighting the real, material costs that continued Covid alarmism has on the lives of American students.
Democrats picked up traditionally Republican seats in 2018 on the backs of right-leaning suburbanites—particularly suburban women. Joe Biden won in 2020 with largely the same strategy, holding on to just enough of those suburban votes to edge out Donald Trump in crucial swing states.
Now, in the face of a burgeoning education culture war that covers both draconian school Covid policies and issues like critical race theory and gender ideology, Democrats seem to be doing everything they can to alienate suburban parents. November 8, 2022 will be a referendum on all of this. The clock is ticking; as of today, the midterms are 275 days away. If I were on Team Blue, I’d be getting pretty nervous.
The ad reminds us that the debate over new election maps in North Carolina will determine only part of the story of the 2022 election.