PoliticoPro | Morning Score
January 25, 2023
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-score
It may be an off-year, but big spending could be on the horizon in some unexpected races. Over 100 prosecutor elections are happening in places like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Mississippi — races that have the potential to draw in sums that dwarf typical raising and spending at the local level, thanks to outside groups and rising interest in these races.
“It’s one of the most important offices in this entire country you never hear about,” said Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. “We’ve seen how this can really, almost overnight, change the dynamic of public safety.”
Miyares is the honorary chair of Protecting Americans Project Action Fund, a group launched last year that works to “elect common-sense prosecutors.” Miyares describes the group as nonpartisan, but it backs conservative candidates.
Last year, the group had a hand in more than a dozen races in states including Arizona, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas, and says it had a 70 percent win rate. Miyares said the group is still in the preliminary stages of deciding which races to target this year, but doesn’t foresee getting involved in any primaries.
Last year, PAAF and its affiliated nonprofit Protecting Americans Project raised a combined $4 million. GOP megadonor Ken Griffin donated $2.5 million to PAAF in October.
Down-ballot races rarely receive the financial support statewide and federal races get. But Miyares said he’s confident the momentum from last year will continue, as frustration with crime increases among business leaders, moderate Democrats and independents.
“We’ve had an enormous amount of interest in our organization because so many in so many different communities are so frustrated with what they see,” he said. “They see these prosecutors that view themselves more as social workers than prosecutors.”
Groups affiliated with billionaire George Soros, a prominent donor to liberal causes, played a big role in local district attorney races in recent years, backing candidates who support criminal justice reform.
…
Crime messaging saturated ads and campaigns nationally last cycle — particularly with Republican candidates targeting Democratic opponents. It was a line of attack that severely hurt Democrats in places like New York, leading to losses in critical House races that ultimately decided the House majority. Miyares said that moving forward, he hopes crime messaging could bridge a partisan divide.
“Sometimes when we get in this criminal justice debate, that word ‘victims’ is lost in the shuffle,” he said. “If there’s anything that I would wish and I would desire, it would be that the media and even public officials would spend a lot more time talking about the victims, because the criminal justice system is also their path to healing.”