Any suggestions or strategies for the (Democrats) in this upcoming 2022 midterm election?

Eight states begin early, in-person voting this week, per the National Conference of State Legislatures, including the battlegrounds of Arizona and Ohio.

The other states with early voting starting this week include Maine, California, Montana, Nebraska, Indiana, and New Mexico. Early voting is already underway in at least seven states: Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont, Michigan and Illinois.

Each state has different rules on where and when people can vote early, as well as for when to begin mailing out absentee ballots. But with Election Day drawing nearer and nearer, more and more voters will be voting each day.

It was one of the biggest wins in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act: For the first time, Medicare will be empowered to negotiate the cost of some of the most expensive prescription medications with the pharmaceutical industry. Democrats have worked on this issue for nearly three decades, but Big Pharma’s lobbyists successfully stood in the way. This year, Democrats succeeded anyway.

Republicans have effectively nothing to say about health care policy, with one big exception: GOP officials and candidates are eager to undo what Democrats did on drug costs.

As we discussed two weeks ago, many House Republicans haven’t just condemned the Democratic policy breakthrough, they’ve also vowed to repeal the policy at their earliest possible opportunity. In an interesting twist, some Senate Republicans are thinking along the same lines. The Washington Post reported on Friday:

"Four Republican senators, including three up for reelection, have introduced a bill that would reverse a popular provision of the Inflation Reduction Act — a means to cut drug prices for Americans. Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Mike Lee (Utah), James Lankford (Okla.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) are backing a measure that could end Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower prescription drug costs and would limit Medicare recipients’ annual drug expenses at $2,000."

The bill itself is basically just a one-page proposal: These GOP senators want to simply roll back the clock, erasing the part of the Inflation Reduction Act that would empower the Medicare program to negotiate lower prices. The Republicans are calling their measure the “Protect Drug Innovation Act” — as if the only way to protect medicinal innovation is to keep prescription drug costs higher.

In a written statement, Rubio characterized the Democratic measure as "price controls," which he believes will "hurt" his constituents.

At face value, this isn’t altogether surprising. Indeed, one of the reasons the effort to lower costs has taken so long is that GOP officials have so consistently stood with the pharmaceutical industry against reforms.

What I do find surprising, however, are the electoral circumstances.

Wyoming’s Lummis won’t face voters again until 2026, and her re-election in one of the nation’s reddest states is all but assured. Utah’s Lee and Oklahoma’s Lankford are both up this year, but given their state’s partisan leanings, both are heavily favored.

But Rubio offers a qualitatively different kind of story. He represents Florida, after all, and the last time I checked, there are quite a few seniors in the Sunshine State who’ll benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s measures related to prescription drug costs.

Rubio didn’t have to endorse this, at least not before the election. There is exactly zero chance this bill will be considered in this Congress, so he had no real incentive to attach himself as a co-sponsor. It would’ve been politically smart to simply ignore this bill in the short term, while pursuing his regressive goals next year.

The Florida Republican nevertheless wants it to be known: Rubio is a conservative incumbent who, if re-elected, will side with pharmaceutical companies against a popular measure designed to help consumers afford their prescription medications.

It’s a bold gamble four weeks ahead of Election Day in a state filled with retirees.

" I say look at what we voted for. You know, the C.H.I.P.S Act has helped us land $100 billion investment from Intel to Manufacture semiconductors in Ohio. 7,000 Union construction jobs to build it. 5,000 Union construction jobs for the next ten years. Look at the Infrastructure bill. Bipartisan, I was able, working with Sherrod Brown and others to get significant (buy American) language into that bill. It's going to create 6,000 jobs in Ohio. And get the bridge we have been trying to get built in Cincinnati for a long time. You look at the (Inflation Reduction Act), all in on natural gas which is going be huge for Ohio. And we saw a stream of investments happen after that. General Motors puts hundreds of millions of dollars into their transmission facility in Toledo. They are going all in on Electric vehicles. They know the government is significantly behind them. The Lordstown Plant I talked about my whole career was empty. They just announced a fourth vehicle. There's a truck, two cars, and a tractor that are going to be manufactured in the old General Motors Lordstown. We're talking about thousands of jobs."

I am reiterating a post I made almost 1 year ago.
This is my message to the Democratic party.

Tim Ryan is providing the blueprint on how the democrats can keep both
the Senate and the House in the upcoming midterm elections.