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2025 May 7, 6:47pm
Another all too common one is to have someone/anyone press charges for a bogus reason, have the media do a full on smear campaign (the media will do this for any incumbent) and voila the new guy drops out.
But the next tactic is to "Plethora of Alternatives".
Shady groups affiliated with the DNC or Koch brothers get 3-4 candidates to run, each with a popular position but a very unpopular one.
For instance, anti-LGTBQ, but also anti-Tariff. Anti-Abortion, but also Pro-Immigration. Isolationist, but pro-unlimited "Guest" workers and H1Bs
Make sure at least two of the challengers are popular enough that the incumbent squeaks in, whereas if he ran against a more balanced candidate OR really just one alternative candidate, he'd lose.
A variant is to also insure there is an Establishment friendly distant 3rd or 4th, so if the incumbent does suck, there's a reserve Establishment candidate to be the other challengers. Typically he'll be vague about any hard or controversial stances and pretend to be middle ground.
This tactic was actually employed on Trump in 2016.
A final tactic is to start pumping up the opposite party challenger if the state is lean Republican and have them run as a very moderate, even conservative member of their own party. "OMG we can't lose one seat! Endorse the incumbent!"