Four ways to think about Abbott’s and DeSantis’s 2022 prospects

Abbott and DeSantis both might lose, if Democrats take a Stacey Abrams-like approach. The new voting restrictions adopted in both states and the abysmal handling of covid-19 by Abbott and DeSantis create an opening for Democratic candidates to run as normal, pro-democracy, pro-mask-wearing politicians, avoiding the kind of liberal vs. conservative ideological battle that would be hard for Democrats to win in these two states. And Democrats have a model for flipping Florida and Texas in the state of Georgia, which went blue in 2020 in part because of the work of Abrams and other Democrats there to mobilize younger, urban and minority voters.