Obama’s Ex-Campaign Manager: Friends ‘Call Me Panicking’ About State of the Race

However the final voting numbers turn out, the early results have Democrats on edge.

That was the message on Sunday when veteran Democratic campaign operative Jim Messina appeared on MSNBC with news his party didn’t want to hear.

And it was delivered on former White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s own show.

Rare moment of truthtelling on MSNBC.

If Jim Messina and Jen Psaki are panicked, it’s not good.pic.twitter.com/juzeODzi4b

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 4, 2024

“Early vote numbers are a little scary,” Messina said. “Republicans do have an advantage in early vote numbers. When the early vote [numbers]come in, it’s going to look a little bit different than 2020, and that’s scary.”

(Don’t know what to look out for on Election Day? Become a Western Journal Member for access to our exclusive Election Guide.)

The GOP early voting has risen — in swing states in particular, according to the New York Post.

Citing numbers it obtained from former President Donald Trump’s campaign, the Post reported that Republican early voting is up by 9 points in Arizona and North Carolina, 4 points in Nevada, and a massive 22 points in the all-important state of Pennsylvania.

The Post noted that some early voting numbers favor Democrats in that female voters make up 55 percent of those who’ve already cast ballots, and women have been more supportive of Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign’s relentless focus on abortion as an issue.

However, the number of swing-state women casting early votes is down sharply from 2020, according to the Post, “by about 170,011 in Arizona, 46,732 in Georgia, 204,856 in Michigan, 154,459 in North Carolina, 126,112 in Nevada, 450,802 in Pennsylvania and 238,452 in Wisconsin, relative to this point in the 2020 cycle.”

In more bad news for Harris, the Post also noted that early voting turnout is down in urban areas — which favor Democrats — in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in comparison to 2020.

That doesn’t bode well for Harris’ hopes. Messina, who in 2011 and 2012 was the campaign manager for then-President Barack Obama’s re-election, has to know it.

Social media commenters had no problem emphasizing the point:

Yep. Reality is hitting soon.

— Thomas Sanders (@ThomasVSanders) November 4, 2024

Reality is scary

— Matthew Becker (@MatthewGBecker) November 4, 2024

Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager says early vote numbers are scary.

If we show up we win. Show up en masse. pic.twitter.com/ci0t91a0h9

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 4, 2024

When your own strategist fears the early vote, it’s because the people have decided without your permission.

— Jacob (@jacob_w_palmer) November 4, 2024

Of course, early voting alone isn’t going to decide the election. Tens of millions of Americans are going to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots for the 47th president of the United States.

But considering the overwhelming advantage Democrats enjoy from a biased establishment media and the entertainment world (see “Saturday Night Live” and its 11th-hour assistance to the Harris campaign), the fact that even a Democratic insider is looking at the early trends with some trepidation says a lot.

The numbers, Messina told Psaki, according to the Post, have his friends “call[ing] me panicking.”

They might have good reason to be.

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