By Paul King
Candidate for U.S. Congress, NY5

For years, I cringed when newscasters and politicians declared, “This year’s election is the most important election in the history of the republic.” That’s why I was a little uncomfortable two years ago when I said the 2022 elections were a stepping stone to 2024… which will be the most important election since 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected.

Well, that has proven to be an understatement.

This year’s elections are far more important. If the Democrats hold onto the White House and retake the House of Representative, they will drag America into an abyss. The damage will last for decades.

Think I am exaggerating? Consider these five long-term tumors:

Migrant Crisis – Things are bad now. Imagine if another 8 million people enter illegally during Biden-Harris 2? Consider the strain from the hundreds of thousands in NY that came because of our sanctuary city status and at the behest of Mayor Adams, who now admits “will destroy” the city and cost NYC $12 billion by mid-2025.

$34 Trillion in Debt – This is an enormous weight on future generations and the American Dream. Biden, Meeks and Jeffries just want to borrow, borrow, borrow so they can spend, spend, spend. Economies cannot long survive when debt is far in excess of 100% of GDP. NY public authorities hold $329 billion in public debt – 97% of the state’s total according to Reinvent Albany.

Military Wokeness/Weakness – America has a shortage of soldiers, sailors and ships. Four more years of a DEI focus at the DoD will only further embolden our enemies. Speaking of which…

China’s Ascension – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is working on many fronts toward supplanting America as the world leader this century. Four more years of Biden pussyfooting with China (and Iran) will leave America weak and at risk of a kinetic war. NY has been home to “police stations” run by Chinese nationals. Thousands of military age men, many identified as members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the armed wing of the CCP, are entering the U.S. open borders.

Green Obsession – The irrational progressive dash to an all-electric world will create an enormous economic burden for everyday citizens and leave America extremely vulnerable to a debilitating attack on a singular source of energy. Gov. Hochul doubled down on former Gov. Cuomo’s Climate Action Plan with her expanded zero-emissions plan that would force New Yorkers at minimum to replace their gas stoves with electric ones and pay exorbitant utilities bills.

So, how do we win this most important election of our lives?

Coalesce to Create a Real Red Wave – In 2022, New York delivered the House to Republicans. The Democrats want to steal those seats back through any means necessary (i.e., gerrymandering). We need to hold serve, and flip more blue seats by sending people like Alison Esposito, Tom Zmich and me to Congress. That starts with keeping the George Santos seat in the red column. Some people are understandably uncertain about Mazi Pilip. Well, we need to put aside the intramural fighting this year. Next year, we can get back to arguing about the future of our party after we save our country.

Overcome Cheating – The most shocking lesson from my 2022 run is that Democrat cheating is not just pervasive, it’s blatant. People can rightfully point to how Tom Sullivan had his victory taken away or the dirty voter rolls, but while good people combat those structural issues, we need to take our fight to the point of attack. By that, I mean we need hundreds of Republicans to step up and be poll workers or poll watchers. Democrats managed to win about 100% of the votes in nursing homes. They distribute materials for Democratic candidates inside polling places! They instruct immigrants and first-time voters that since they are registered as Democrats, they should fill in all the circles in Column A. They get away with it –brazenly– because no one is watching. YOU can stop them. Commit now to being a poll worker or poll watcher.

Turnout – Every election is about turnout, but in the post-COVID world –where the Democrat ballot harvesting machine works on steroids– the old rules of turnout do not apply. Republicans need to:

1) Get many of our most reliable Republicans to vote early. (Check out ny.bankyourvote.com.) If our most loyal citizens put their votes “in the bank” in October, then candidates can focus GOTV on occasional Republican voters in the home stretch.

2) Start working NOW to educate and motivate citizens who usually stay on the sidelines in November. We all have friends and family members who say things like, “Why vote? It does not change anything.” Or “I only have one vote. I can’t make a difference.” We need to get those Americans in the game. It’s not going to happen by dropping off campaign material in the fall. It’s not going to happen because candidates like me (or even Donald Trump) give a great speech. It will happen because of YOU! Start educating your fellow citizens now so they do the right thing in November

This year, I will spend months deep inside the darkest blue areas of Southeast Queens, explaining to fellow citizens that Republicans are not their enemy, that their values are actually the same as our conservative values, and that they should give us a chance rather than supporting the same old, same old Democratic Party failures.

It is hard work, but I’m happy to do it – not because I want to be a congressman, but because we Republicans are going to save America. Please join me in that fight throughout 2024. If we all go all-in over the next 10 months then we will preserve the last best hope of man on earth. Our children and grandchildren will be forever grateful.