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Democrats went into this midterm campaign cycle indicating that they would run on what theyve done for average Americansthings like passing a critical infrastructure plan and provisions aimed at slashing drug costs. But the party has since decided to take a new approach: warning that Republicans, should they retake one or both chambers of Congress, will turn the country into a fascist, apocalyptic hellscape where forced births are the norm, insurrections get a free pass, and every American will have a chip implanted into their brain that plays the words Hunter Biden laptop, Hunter Biden laptop on loop 24/7 for all eternity. Are we kidding about that last one? Uh, only kind of!

Why the vibe shift from the Dems? Well, the party out of power typically wins seats during the midterms, and Republicans only need five seats to retake the House and one to retake the Senate. And while the reversal of Roe v. Wade gave Democrats some hope that they wouldnt totally lose control of Congress, it was also a reminder that conservatives believe women should be treated like second-class citizens and the stakes of losing this election are pretty damn high.

What are those stakes, exactly, one might ask, if theyve been living under a rock? Heres a refresher: For starters, the GOP would undoubtedly block basically everything Joe Biden wants to get done in the second half of his first term. That this would happen should come as a shock to no one, given (1) the partys long history of obstructing things that could actually help Americans and (2) Mitch McConnells vow to do exactly that even after hed been relegated to Senate minority leader. (In May 2021, McConnell declared, One hundred percent of my focus is standing up to this administration.) Naturally, the blockage would include judicial nominations, including in the unlikely event a Supreme Court vacancy arises, given McConnells penchant for making up rules about when a president is allowed to fill a seat on the Supreme Court.

Elsewhere, a GOP agenda, should the GOP be in power, would include a vote on a national abortion ban. Are Republicans on the record as having said that the matter should be up to the states? Absolutely, this is all they could talk about after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Are they nevertheless the biggest bunch of hypocrites on the planet? Also yes! Last month, Senator Lindsey Graham proposed a 15-week abortion ban, and while some members of his party were quick to distance themselves from the idea presumably because it came so close to the electionits obvious that conservatives are champing at the bit to further restrict reproductive rights. What else? Well, as The Washington Post notes, theres clearly an appetite from some Republicans to require Congress to reauthorize Medicare and Social Security every five years, which fits in with their worldview that government should do jack shit for people (unless theyre billionaires.) And, obviously, we should probably expect round-the-clock hearings about Hunter Biden, and a push to impeach his father, both of which are things Republicans have already vowed to do.

Of course, the GOP only needs to retake the House, and doesnt need to control the Senate, in order to impeach the president and investigate his son. As the Post reports, another thing we can expect from a GOP-controlled House are lots of other investigationslikely including Bidens border policy, the FBIs (court-authorized!) search of Mar-a-Lago, and ones that lend credence to Trumps false election fraud claims. And, naturally, theyll no doubt move to disband the January 6 committee, which has made Donald Trump and his allies look really, really bad.

Now, what would Democrats do if they stayed in power? Per the Post, they could try again to pass more climate legislation; national protections for abortion, same-sex marriage, and voting rights; and also make it harder for any future president (*cough* Trump) to clear out any dissenting voices from the federal government.

Unfortunately, the Post notes, a situation in which Democrats retain both chambers is probably the least likely, but given the stakes national abortion bans, no consequences for insurrections, etc.you can probably understand why Democrats are taking this darker tack.

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Democrats Warn That Republicans Will Turn US Into a Fascist Hellhole If GOP Prevails in Midterm Elections - Vanity Fair

Republicans in an increasing number of crucial Senate battleground states are keying in on the issue of crime, bombarding voters with the message that electing Democrats would increase lawlessness.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are seizing on high-profile incidents in the Philadelphia area, including the recent ransacking of a Wawa store and the shooting of five students outside a high school last month.

Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman, the states lieutenant governor, has been forced to play defense by erasing statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement from his website.

In Wisconsin, Republicans are trying to link Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Democratic Senate nominee, to former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled from office in June amid growing voter frustration over rising crime and homelessness.

Republicans see the issue as one of their best opportunities to drive base voters to the polls and as a wedge between Democrats and suburban swing voters, especially in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina, according to GOP strategists.

There are few issues that unite the concerns of Republicans, independents and Democrats in this environment quite like crime, especially in Pennsylvania, said a Senate Republican strategist.

The party sees crime as the antidote to its vulnerability on the issue of abortion rights, which has revved up Democrats and pushed swing voters away from the GOP in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision this summer overturning Roe v. Wade.

Some Senate Democrats saw rising crime rates as a potential political liability months ago, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) privately pressed the White House to come up with a plan to address the issue.

Its a huge problem. Lets face it, this guy is repeatedly on film talking about how he wants to release as many people as possible from prisons and end life sentences for murderers. Its so far outside the mainstream, retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), whose seat is up for grabs in November, said of Fetterman.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has paid for ads highlighting Fettermans support for sanctuary cities, eliminating life sentences for murders and reducing prison populations.

Fetterman responded last week with his own ad featuring Montgomery County Sheriff Sean Kilkenny defending the Democratic candidate and asserted that Fetterman, Pennsylvanias lieutenant governor, supports giving second chances to people who deserve it and non-violent marijuana offenders.

Republicans are also attacking Fetterman for supporting clemency for Lee and Dennis Horton, brothers who served 27 years in prison after being convicted for robbery and a fatal shooting. Fetterman, who chairs the state board of pardons, advocated for their release and hired them to serve as field organizers for his campaign.

The Republican National Committee has tweeted out a near-daily update of crimes and crime statistics in the Philadelphia area. On Tuesday it shared footage of a car-jacking at a Philadelphia gas station and highlighted that there have been more than 1,000 car-jackings in the city this year.

The strategy appears to be paying off as the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz, has gained some ground in the polls over the last two weeks. On Tuesday, the Cook Political Report, which in August shifted the race from toss up to lead Democratic, moved it back to its toss up column.

Democrats say that Republicans are trying to distract attention from abortion and other issues where Democratic candidates have an advantage.

False ads will not distract voters from Republicans unpopular agenda: making abortion illegal, ending Medicare and Social Security and raising tax on working families, said David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In Wisconsin, Republicans are circulating a photo of Boudin, San Franciscos controversial former district attorney, attending a fundraiser for Barnes a year ago.

Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and the NRSC have labeled Barnes as dangerously liberal on crime and highlighted Milwaukees rising crime rate. More specifically, they have emphasized Barness support for eliminating cash bail.

The Wesleyan Media Project found that ads about the Wisconsin Senate race have airedmore than 14,000 times in just the past two weeks and that 90 percent of the ads aimed at helping Johnson have focused solely on attacking Barnes.

Like Fetterman, Barnes has tried to push back by criticizing Johnson for voting against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which he says promoted and supported public safety, and accused Johnson of being sympathetic to the mob of supporters of former President Trump that invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6 of last year.

A Democratic strategist pointed out that the American Rescue Plan included $350 billion in funding that state and local governments could use to hire new police officers.

Drumming on the issue of crime has been a tried-and-true Republican strategy in midterm elections, when voter turnout tends to be smaller and the electorate tends to be older than in presidential election years.

In the off-presidential year, voters are much more intent on crime and education, Brandon Scholz, a Republican-based Wisconsin strategist, said.

In the U.S. Senate race and to some extent the gubernatorial race, there are some contemporary events that have driven this issue and kept it at the forefront of the minds of voters, he added, citing an attack by a man who drove a sports utility truck into the Christmas parade in Waukesha last year after being freed two days earlier on $1000 bail for a domestic violence charge.

Milwaukee is surging in crime and murders, he added. That has elevated crime as an issue. The Johnson is working on Barness statements and record on bail and reducing prison populations.

The NRSC launched a television and digital ad late last month that hammered Barnes for saying that he wants to reduce the prison population and criticized Democratic Gov. Tony Everss administration for paroling more than 800 convicted criminals.

Senate Republicans are now trying to expand the debate on crime to other Senate battlegrounds, including Nevada and Wisconsin.

In Nevada, former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) on Tuesday released a new ad titled Dangerous in which Nevada police groups say they have switched their endorsement from incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) to the Republican challenger.

The ad featured testimonials by local law enforcement officials who attack Cortez Masto for rubber stamp[ing] radical officials, including activists who refuse to prosecute drug dealers.

In North Carolina, Republicans have put the spotlight on Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasleys record as a state Supreme Court justice.

The NRSC spent over $1 million on an ad in May seeking to define Beasley early in the race by calling attention to her ruling vacating the death sentence of a man who shot a boy in the face and another man convicted of assaulting a young woman. FactCheck.org, however, concluded the ad lacked context.

The Democrat-allied Senate Majority PAC responded with its own ad buy defending Beasley.

More recently, the NRSC has pursued Beasleys vote to vacate a mans habitual felon conviction, which would have resulted in a lighter criminal sentence. The Senate GOP campaign arm says decisions such as these are at odds with her pledge to keep North Carolina communities safe.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is working to flip Toomeys seat to Democratic control, says while Republicans talk tough on crime, they have also voted against legislation to make communities safer.

Its an issue that Republicans go to all the time even though they have a pathetic voting record on crime. They voted against the COPS program, they wanted to defund the COPS program, they voted against the Byrd justice grants, he said, referring to community policing programs.

He said Fetterman had to withstand a carpet bombardment over the past several weeks, and that as long as Democrats punch back, theyll survive.

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Republicans see crime as issue that could win them the Senate - The Hill

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LETTER: Republicans offer no solutions | Letters to the Editor - Ashland Daily Press

For weeks, Republicans have been telling voters across the country that President Joe Biden and Democrats will be sending an army of 87,000 IRS agents to audit everyday Americans, to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for unfunded liberal programs like student loan forgiveness. Leading up to the midterm elections, GOP candidates are running campaign ads featuring the claim and vowing to stop the IRS, once Republicans control Congress again. Where did this idea originate and is there any truth to it? Here's what to know about whether the tax men cometh.

The 87,000 figure comes from a Treasury report released in May 2021, which evaluated a proposal to provide the IRS with an additional $80 billion in funding. That amount of money has since been approved, courtesy of the climate, health care and tax law passed earlier this year.

The analysis showed that over 10 years, the IRS could add nearly 87,000 full-time employees. But nowhere does it say how many employees would be auditors versus other kinds of IRS employees, like customer service staff who can help taxpayers process their payments and receive refunds. The figure also represents the gross number of employees that could potentially be hired, not the net total as the agency faces attrition over the next decade.

It varies. On social media, some are saying the IRS agents will be armed. Others, like Washington GOP Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley, are capitalizing on the sheer size of the number. It's "insane that Joe Biden and Patty Murray are sending a stadium full or IRS agents to force families making less than $75,000 to pay for someone else's law degree," she says in one ad.

North Carolina Senate candidate Ted Budd complains in another ad that Mr. Biden has "spent recklessly," and "now he wants 87,000 more IRS agents to cover his tab." Meanwhile, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is vowing to repeal the 87,000 agents in Republicans' first bill if they win the majority.

No, the claims are outdated and misleading. While the IRS will be getting $80 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August, the IRS has not yet released a plan for the money. In August, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a memo to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig directing the agency to deliver a plan within six months on how the funding will be used over the next decade. Yellen also had another directive for the agency regarding new personnel and which Americans shouldn't see more audits.

"Any additional resourcesincluding any new personnel or auditors that are hiredshall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels," she wrote in a letter. In a separate letter to the Senate, Rettig, a Trump appointee, also stated the resources are "absolutely not about increasing audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans."

The IRS proposal for the money is due in February.

Of the $80 billion in funding nearly $46 billion was allocated to go toward enhanced enforcement as the IRS looks to close the so-called "tax gap," which currently stands at an estimated $600 billion annually and $7.5 trillion over the next ten years. Apart from enforcement, the money is also being used for improving taxpayers services and technology.

"The resources to modernize the IRS will be used to improve taxpayer services from answering the phones to improving IT systems and to crack down on high-income and corporate tax evaders who cost the American people hundreds of billions of dollars each year," a Treasury official said.

The IRS has been facing growing challenges over decades which were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the technology used by the agency dates back to the 1960s. In both reports and testimony before Congress, Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins has described IRS employees having to manually enter information line by line from paper returns. She has called paper returns "kryptonite" in numerous warnings to Congress. Her midyear report in June stated the agency had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed paper tax returns at the end of May. That number has come down, though. The IRS recently said it had 6.2 million unprocessed individual returns as of Sept. 23, including 4.6 million paper returns to be reviewed and processed.

The IRS has also struggled with its customer service load. Its workforce remains at similar levels to the 1970s despite a growing population and additional responsibilities. In the last tax filing season, the agency was only able to pick up about 10% of calls an issue that frustrated both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Filling vacant positions, mostly. The IRS is on the verge of losing more than 50,000 employees who are set to retire over the next five years.

"The majority of new employees will replace the standard level of staff departures over the next few years," said an Treasury official, adding that new staff will be hired to "to improve taxpayer services and experienced auditors who can take on corporate and high-end tax evaders, without increasing audit rates relative to historical norms for people earning under $400,000 each year."

On the enforcement side, the IRS has lost 40% of the complex revenue agents needed to go after high-end tax evaders over the past decade. The agency is working with the same number of auditors dealing with complex work as it had in World War II.

Just a fraction of employees across the entire IRS are armed. The criminal investigation unit is a small division within the agency with less than 2,000 employees less than 3% of total workforce. And within that unit, only special agents are armed, so even fewer than the 2,000 employees working there. The unit deals in matters such as narcotics and money laundering. Recently, it's been part of the task force tracking Russian oligarchs' assets.

CBS News reporter covering economic policy.

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Weeks before midterm elections, Republicans warn of an army of 87,000 IRS agents that will harass Americans - CBS News

The first big hint came in February. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., unveiled a controversial policy agenda in February, which touched on practically every issue under the sun, but it didnt say a word about repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act.

Soon after, Sen. Ron Johnson briefly suggested he wanted to put ACA repeal back on the table. When Democrats pounced, the Wisconsin Republican scrambled to walk it back.

In the months that followed, as regular readers know, GOP officials at the state and federal level, up and down the ballot steered clear of health care altogether. Obamacare was a staple of Republican attack ads for years, but in 2022, GOP politicians not only removed the arrow from their rhetorical quiver, they also started editing their websites, erasing their previous criticisms.

When House GOP leaders unveiled their Commitment to America blueprint two weeks ago, it too ignored the Affordable Care Act altogether.

Following up on our months of coverage, NBC News confirmed this week that Republicans are abandoning their long crusade to repeal the Affordable Care Act, adding some unexpected quotes from key GOP officials.

I think its probably here to stay, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a former chair of the GOPs campaign arm. ... Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., a member of the Republican Study Committee, was ... asked whether he expects a new Republican House majority to pursue ACA repeal. I dont think thats on the table, he said.

As we recently discussed, in the not-too-distant past, this wouldve been tough to predict. Indeed, for those of us who covered the political fight over the Affordable Care Act closely, this day seemed highly implausible. Before Barack Obama signed the reform package into law, Republicans condemned it as an economy-destroying attack on free enterprise and the American way of life. After the ACA became law, Republicans spent years not only denouncing the reforms, but also voting several dozen times to repeal it.

The idea of Cornyn saying on the record that the reform law is probably here to stay was a fantasy. And yet, here we are.

But as important as these developments are, this need not end the conversation. Theres a very real chance that Republicans will control at least one chamber of Congress early next year, and whether the party wants to talk about the issue or not, voters deserve to know what the GOP agenda is when it comes to the health care policy.

Aside from vowing to undo Democratic measures to reduce the cost of prescription medications a top Republican priority what should American families expect from GOP majorities? The public can take comfort in the fact that repeal and replace has been dropped from the Republicans to-do list, but has it been replaced by something new?

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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On the ACA, Republicans acknowledge reality, wave the white flag - MSNBC