Education, traditionally a strength, has Democrats on their heels

Minutes after Democrat Stacey Abrams announced her candidacy for Georgia governor, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp made clear he would put education at the center of his campaign to keep his job.

“With Stacey Abrams in control, Georgia would have shut down, students would have been barred from their classrooms, and woke politics would be the law of the land and the lesson plan in our schools,” Kemp, a Republican, said on Twitter.

Education has long been a strength for Democrats, an issue they dominated even when Republicans had the edge on other matters. But this year, Democrats are being tested like never before as the party confronts a multipronged attack from Republicans in a challenging election year. They disagree about the best response.

“Everybody has had it with this thing. You don’t need a poll or focus group to tell you that. They’re fed up, they’re fatigued — and that includes yours truly,” said Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.), who recently won a close reelection campaign and is the vice chairman of the National Governors Association. “But, and this is the complicated part: You can’t make your decisions on covid based on fatigue. You have to make it on science and data.”

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