DeSantis is definitely worlds better than Kemp and Abbott on actual policy but my point is that all three incumbent sunbelt governors have managed to keep good optics even when pushing controversial policies.

Ron DeSantis sent illegal aliens to Marthas' Vineyard and still managed to outright win the Hispanic vote. That is seriously an impressive feat in Florida.

Abbott and Kemp pushed stringent abortion bans and still won re-election by a decent margin against opponents who had a actual Dem cult behind them: Beto O'Rourke and Stacey Abrams. That takes some skill to pull off.

The lesson here is that populist candidates don't need to water down all of their policies to win. They just need to learn to not foster terrible optics.

Maricopa county is the home of what we call squishy RINOs. A lot of McCain fans in that county. Blake definitely lost some of them over the ad about Trump being the real winner of 2020. Some of these voters might have even voted for Biden in 2020. Him talking about social security spooked much of the elderly to vote Mark Kelly.

In terms of 2016, I think Rubio could have maybe won 2016 with a different electoral map than Trump. I think Rubio could win Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Nevada but lose Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Rubio was not as hated as Cruz and he didn't have Jeb Bush's GWB baggage and he wasn't a boring loser like Kasich. Rubio might have pulled it off if he was the R nominee.

Rubio has become a populist lite Senator these days. It has been a surprise how much he has changed for the better from 2013 when he was part of the Gang of 8 disaster amnesty bill in the Senate.

He recently said that amnesty is a terrible idea. Rubio might actually be learning what policies works for the base and what keeps him employed.

Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and John Kasich would all have definitively lost 2016 to Hillary Clinton.

Trump pulled it off in 2016 and Rubio might have done it. But no one else besides these two had any hope of winning against Hillary.

DeSantis is definitely worlds better than Kemp and Abbott on actual policy but my point is that all three incumbent sunbelt governors have managed to keep good optics even when pushing controversial policies.

Ron DeSantis sent illegal aliens to Marthas' Vineyard and still managed to outright win the Hispanic vote. That is seriously an impressive feat in Florida.

Abbott and Kemp pushed stringent abortion bans and still won re-election by a decent margin against opponents who had a actual Dem cult behind them: Beto O'Rourke and Stacey Abrams. That takes some skill to pull off.

The lesson is that populist candidates doesn't need to water down all of their policies to win. They just need to learn to not foster terrible optics.

Maricopa county is the home of what we call squishy RINOs. A lot of McCain fans in that county. Blake definitely lost some of them over the ad about Trump being the real winner of 2020. Some of these voters might have even voted for Biden in 2020. Him talking about social security spooked much of the elderly to vote Mark Kelly.

In terms of 2016, I think Rubio could have maybe won 2016 with a different electoral map than Trump. I think Rubio could win Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Nevada but lose Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Rubio was not as hated as Cruz and he didn't have Jeb Bush's GWB baggage and he wasn't a boring loser like Kasich. Rubio might have pulled it off if he was the R nominee.

Rubio has become a populist lite Senator these days. It has been a surprise how much he has changed for the better from 2013 when he was part of the Gang of 8 disaster amnesty bill in the Senate.

He recently said that amnesty is a terrible idea. Rubio might actually be learning what policies works for the base and what keeps him employed.

Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and John Kasich would all have definitively lost 2016 to Hillary Clinton.

Trump pulled it off in 2016 and Rubio might have done it. But no one else besides these two had any hope of winning against Hillary.