Press: In 2022, only one issue matters: Democracy!

Many years ago, I learned one of the most important lessons in politics: Single-issue politics is wrong.

As a campaign manager in California, I was stunned when a leading environmental organization refused to endorse my candidate because, even though he was a leader in efforts to save San Francisco Bay, the California coastline and the Point Reyes National Seashore, he had not, in their opinion, done enough to save Lake Tahoe. That was their only issue, and for that reason alone they refused to endorse him.

Whereupon I resolved never to countenance single-issue politics. Surely, our vote should be determined on the entirety of a candidate’s stand on issues, not on one issue alone. And, with few exceptions, I‘ve held that position — until now.

2022 is different. This year, there is, in fact, only one issue that matters. It’s not inflation, abortion, gun control, climate change, health care, education, nuclear weapons or any of the other issues we care so passionately about. This year, one issue trumps all others. Only one issue matters. And that issue is democracy. Our democracy itself is threatened like it’s never been since the Civil War. 

Let’s start with the facts. In the presidential election of Nov. 3, 2020, Joe Biden won hands down. In the popular vote, he crushed Donald Trump by over 7 million votes. In the Electoral College, Biden got 306 votes, Trump got 232. It wasn’t even close.

There is no doubt about the outcome of that election. And yet, to this day, almost two years later, Trump still refuses to acknowledge that he lost and Biden won. He insists the election was stolen. 

Wake up, America! Think about what that means. We can’t just dismiss his complaints as just another Trump temper tantrum, not to be taken seriously. Because this has never happened before. I repeat: To this day, Trump refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election. No former president has ever done that. And, in so doing, Trump is leading a direct assault on the fundamental tenet of our democracy: the power of the American people to choose our own leaders and the duty of everyone to accept the will of the people. 

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Trump has recruited a slew of MAGA candidates for state and federal office who, in return for his endorsement, also deny the 2020 results. And he’s supporting legislation in several states enabling state legislatures to send competing slates of electors to Washington in future presidential elections if they’re not happy with results in their states. All of this, of course,  is absent one shred of evidence of the massive voter fraud Trump also continues to lie about.

Fortunately, there are signs that the American people finally realize what’s at stake in this election. In the latest NBC News survey, conducted by Hart Research, most voters identified “threats to democracy” as the “most important issue facing the country” — ahead of such basic issues as cost of living, jobs and the economy, immigration, climate change, guns and abortion. As a result of the Jan. 6 hearings and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Jeff Horwitt, Hart Research partner, told me: “What was once considered theoretical has suddenly become very real to people.” 

Again, this is a single-issue election. As Americans, our duty is first and foremost to reject any candidate for any office who refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election. Let’s save our democracy first. Then we can get around to solving other problems. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”