RNC Women

Nearly all of the pundits and prognosticators agree that 2010 is setting up to be a good year for Republican candidates.  What they don’t say is that the reason our Party’s electoral prospects are so good in 2010 is because of the gains we made in 2009. 

Experienced Members of Congress will tell you that the most important part of their job is more often than not stopping bad legislation from becoming law.  Nancy Pelosi and President Obama first promised that a health care overhaul would be done by last August.  Republicans blocked their takeover efforts until the August recess and gave millions of people the opportunity to have their voices heard at town meetings and tea parties.  

The last year also saw the GOP make significant progress in the off year elections in Virginia and New Jersey.  The gains made in critical demographic groups, especially with women voters, propelled GOP candidates to wins in gubernatorial races that saw significant investment from the national Democrats, including travel by President Obama and Administration headliners. 

The polling data over the course of 2009 shows how much progress we made.  According to Rasmussen Reports, Democrats held a generic ballot advantage over Republicans of 42-36.  At the end of December that had flipped into the GOP’s favor with Republicans leading 45-36.  Also according to Rasmussen, in the same 12 month time frame President Obama’s approval dropped by more than 14 points and voters calling themselves Republican went up almost six percent. 

There is no single reason that Republicans are on the rise.  Our Party and our candidates are right on the issues, and we are focusing more on the grassroots and reaching out aggressively to female voters.  That was a recipe for success in 2009, and it will serve as a road map to reclaim Republican majorities in Congress in 2010.