I have never won elected office so I guess I’m not one to offer advice to former state Rep. Mike France, in his repeat challenge this year to U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, even if I wanted him to win, which I most certainly don’t.

Still, I can’t help but wonder at France’s scary decision making so early in the 2024 election season, whistling in the Trumpers.

France, who already leans crazily to the far right of Connecticut’s Republican spectrum, announced he has hired as his chief campaign strategist Justin Clark, a Connecticut-grown lawyer who did Donald Trump’s bidding, first in the White House, where he helped shepherd abortion-denying Justice Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court, and then the Trump reelection campaign, in the end helping in the unsuccessful effort to challenge the 2020 voting in court.

Clark, according to reporting by ABC news, is on a witness list for the prosecution in Georgia of Trump and his associates accused of a racketeering scheme to overthrow the 2020 election.

One of the more worrisome stories about France’s new campaign guru comes from Associated Press reporting that Clark was recorded telling a prominent group of Wisconsin Republicans, before the start of Trump’s 2020 reelection, that the GOP has “traditionally” relied on voter suppression to win in battleground states.

Clark was lobbying at the time for more aggressive use of poll monitoring.

“Traditionally, it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places,” AP quoted Clark as saying in the video. “Let’s start protecting our voters. We know where they are … Let’s start playing offense a little bit.

“That’s what you are going to see in 2020. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program.”

Watch out, voters of eastern Connecticut; aggressive, well-funded “monitoring” might be rolling out in a polling place near you.

Clark, by the way, told AP that his remarks were misinterpreted, that he was referring to frequent and false accusations that Republicans employ voter suppression tactics.

Before he jumped on the Trump train, like so many other once traditional Republicans, Clark’s electioneering in Connecticut included roles in the losing campaigns of Tom Foley, running for governor, and Linda McMahon, running for Senate.

France, in announcing his choice of Clark, said that the political consulting firm run by Clark and former Trump campaign chairman Bill Stepien has been chalking up victories around the country.

I think they are known mostly for the big 2020 Trump loss, which neither lawsuits, gross lies nor even an insurrection in Washington were able to overturn.

I guess no one should be surprised that France, who lost his first challenge to Courtney, would turn to two of the big losers from the 2020 Trump campaign to run his 2024 rematch in the Second District.

Trump World is coming for us.

I get it that Connecticut Republicans don’t want to renounce Trump because his followers are a huge part of the GOP base, even here in Connecticut, especially in rural eastern Connecticut.

It’s alarming to me how many towns in mostly blue Connecticut went for Trump in 2020. The town I live in, Stonington, went for Biden over Trump, 7453 to 4,240, not close but not quite the overwhelming landslide town Democrats might have expected.

Still, it doesn’t seem to be very politically savvy in 2024, as so many Independents and even moderate Republicans are repulsed by Trumpism ― the denial of election results, the refusal to help for the death of innocent Ukranians at the hand of Trump pal Vladimir Putin and promises to go after political enemies and round up immigrants ― to so openly embrace it.

France took a swipe in his press release about Biden for border problems.

I guess he just considers us all stupid, that we don’t understand that it is the MAGA Republicans in the House, whom he wants to join, who rejected a measure crafted by conservative Senate Republicans to fund border security and allow the president to close it down.

Even if you think the bipartisan border measure from the Senate was not enough, why wouldn’t you at least take that much more border security and work for more? Not France, who has cheered on X the Trump-backed MAGA obstinance to securing the border.

Those MAGA Republicans, following orders from Trump to keep the border campaign issue alive, are now the ones allowing fentanyl to flow into the country and kill innocent addicts.

France can hire all the Trump insiders he wants and a keep honoring the MAGA base and its hugely unpopular priorities, but I don’t see how that is going to help him beat the plain-speaking and moderate Joe Courtney.

But what do I know? I’ve never won an election.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com