OPINION — Do you know what a “Dannycrat” is? Spenser Stafford does. That’s because she’s a registered Republican who is planning to vote for Danny O’Connor, the 31-year old Democrat running in Tuesday’s special election in Ohio’s 12th District. Also, she is engaged to marry O’Connor after the election.

“Somebody said, ‘Oh, are you a Democrat now?’” Stafford told CNN. “And I was like, no, I cannot identify as a Democrat. I’m a Dannycrat!”

O’Connor can’t possibly get engaged to enough Republicans to sway the election his way, but he’s going to need more Dannycrats on his side anyway — namely moderate Republicans and independents who don’t call themselves Democrats, but are willing to vote for a Democrat on Tuesday nonetheless. Whether that’s because they oppose President Donald Trump, want wholesale change in Washington, or just don’t like the way congressional Republicans are running the place, O’Connor’s only potential path to victory is by winning over those Dannycrats, including some of the Republicans who helped Trump carry the district by 11 points in 2016.

The same math applies to national Democrats’ chances of winning and maintaining majorities in the House and Senate and even taking back the White House in 2020. They might be able to increase their volume by running up their margins with progressives in blue states, but they can only increase their power in Washington by picking off areas that backed Trump in 2016.

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