If Democrats want to retake the House and maybe even the Senate, they need to listen to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Impeachment isn’t a threat to Republicans, she explained, it’s “a gift.”

“I have said over and over again that I don’t think we should be talking about impeachment,” Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing. “I’ve been very clear right from the start.” With the midterms just around the corner, her party better start listening.

The reason is obvious to anyone in a red state, particularly to Democratic incumbents in red states. Impeachment talk gets Republicans going because it conjures up thoughts of what political life will look like under a Democratic majority. It’s a badly needed cattle prod to a depressed conservative base, the sort of thing that pushes voters to the polls.

Pelosi isn’t alone in her assessment. Harry Reid, the former Democrat leader, recently shared the same message. During an NBC News interview, Reid had a simple message for anyone pushing impeachment: “Stop.”

“I’ve been through impeachment, and they’re not pleasant," the Nevada Democrat said. "And the less we talk about impeachment, the better off we are.”

Once idle impeachment talk starts, it’s hard to stop. Resistance heroes like Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., re-found relevance by tossing partisan red meat to a ravenous progressive base absolutely convinced that this president is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Can’t stop or won’t stop, it doesn’t matter though. Every impeachment screed only scares Republicans into mobilizing for November.

But there is a bigger risk than electoral considerations. If Democrats win back majorities and then don’t actually deliver impeachment, they could permanently alienate their base. On this one, Pelosi and Reid are right. Impeachment talk is counterproductive.