National Republicans have settled on a blunt midterm message in recent weeks, casting the election as a showdown between “common sense” and “communist crazy.” Dozens of speakers repeated the phrase at last week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas.
The slogan was crafted by House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, a Michigan Republican, who circulated it in messaging guidance to GOP offices, The Post has learned.
“For months leading into the convention, I worked with our team to build a clear, consistent message around the contrast at the heart of this election: common sense versus communist crazy,” McClain told The Post.
“My goal was simple: put our record side-by-side with their agenda and make sure Republicans were telling that story with one voice.”
The strategy followed President Trump’s repeated decision in late June to describe Democrats as communists, as the Democratic Socialists of America gained ground in several closely watched primary contests.
Trump later delivered an emphatic warning about communists during his Independence Day address to the nation.
McClain built on the effort, opting to characterize the far left as communist rather than socialist and introducing the phrase “common sense vs. communist crazy” as the party’s countermessage.
Her team poll-tested the slogan last month before rolling it out more broadly. Republicans were urged to use it at House GOP conference meetings, in August recess materials and in communications guidance prepared for lawmakers’ directors.
The wording soon spread through House Republican leadership press briefings and became a recurring feature of McClain’s television appearances.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, went a step further, chastising reporters who referred to the Democratic Socialists of America by its formal name instead of calling its members “communists.”
“The left-wing corrupt media want us to call them democratic socialists. It’s another lie,” Emmer said during his convention speech. “Do not let them do it. There is absolutely nothing democratic about socialism. By the way, these people aren’t even socialists.”
“They’re communists, and they’re anarchists, and they hate our country.”
Since at least the Biden administration, Democrats have similarly worked to paint Republicans as radicals, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) frequently calling them “extreme MAGA Republicans.”
But Republicans are hoping that their messaging effort to spotlight the far-left will be more effective.
“Our record is small government with big results,” McClain said. “We slammed the border shut, made our cities and streets safer, and delivered what we’ve called the largest tax cut for working and middle-class families in American history.”
“Now contrast that with the Democrats’ agenda: reopening the border, defunding the police, allowing men and boys in girls’ locker rooms, and taking more money out of Americans’ pockets.”
In reflecting on how last week’s GOP midterm convention went, McClain praised the “consistency of the message throughout” the gathering by Republican speakers.
Republicans are widely seen as the underdogs in the battle for control of the House, with Kalshi giving them a roughly 15% shot of holding onto it and bleak polling on the generic congressional ballot question.
Still, top Republicans, including McClain and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have been adamant that the GOP will defy expectations.
