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With the red trickle behind us and the 2024 general election less than two years away, Republican voters will be faced with three options, like it, or not. The option a majority of GOP voters choose will be pivotal in both congressional elections and the election of the next president of the United States, as well.

Those options are:

1. Continue to focus on election day only, which historically determined the outcome of all elections.
2. Continue to whine about “massive fraud” and “stolen” elections as the reason your candidate(s) lost.
3. Realize that election day has given way to election season, and a substantial increase in early voting.

The correct option is #3, of course, whether we like that, or not. Republicans can continue to claim voter fraud and rigged elections until the proverbial cows come home. But the reality remains, as we’ve seen countless times, claiming massive fraud and proving massive fraud are entirely different propositions.

And here’s an extra tip, free of charge: If you hate the explosion of early voting — you shouldn’t — and the growing number of mail-in ballots, you must win a majority of seats in a majority of state legislatures before you can change anything about it. Otherwise, you remain stuck with option #2.

As reported by Just the News, new Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming has said in a number of interviews over the past week that he wants to focus on early voting and raising money ahead of the spring ’23 election. Wait a minute. Does Schimming sound like a Democrat? Yes. Does sounding like a Democrat make Schimming wrong? No. Why not? Because if the Republican Party doesn’t learn to play the Democrats’ election season game, Republicans will continue to lose close elections. Reality bites, huh?

Schimming, unanimously elected as Republican Party Chairman on December 10, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he’s focused on building Republican infrastructure and looking ahead to the April election.

I don’t do change just for change’s sake. I don’t go to knock over furniture just for the heck of it. But I’m sending the signal not only internally but externally that if it works we enhance it. If it doesn’t work, it goes.

In another interview, Schimming made a similar pledge about his motto as GOP chairman:

I’m not here to milk sacred cows. And, if it’s working, we enhance it. If it’s not working, it goes out to the curb.

In reference to doing a better job of getting early votes, Schimming said:

We can’t keep walking into Election Day 100,000-200,000 votes down and expect we’re going to make it up in 13 hours between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Exactly. As Albert Einstein wisely admonished, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. I might add that if you continue to play stupid games when new games work better, you continue to win stupid prizes.

The Bottom Line

As I reported in a Christmas Day article, Republican political strategist Karl Rove argued in a Wall Street Journal column that it’s time for a generational leadership change in both parties. Brian Schimming is a perfect example of what new leadership — and new ideas — should look like in the Republican Party.

Needless to say, the usual crowd chose to attack Rove in the comment section, rather than objectively debating his argument. That kind of thinking is not dissimilar to the Titanic band continuing to play, after the “unsinkable” ship hit an iceberg and began to slip beneath the waves.

Let us hope that the same band isn’t playing on the deck of the USS 2024 Presidential Election on November 5, 2024, as the one we have now.