Crime is on the rise more in red states

Stats show that states led by Republicans have higher murder rates

Republicans like to blame crime on Democrats, but the truth is crime can be more rampant in red states.

This report by Third Way found that statewide murder rates were higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states. And at times, cities with Republican mayors had the highest homicide rates.

For example, Jacksonville, which has a Republican mayor, had 128 more murders in 2020 than San Francisco, which has a Democrat mayor. Jacksonville even had some 140,000 more people than San Francisco at 955,000 to 815,000 in 2021. San Francisco’s murder rate is also about half that of Bakersfield, Calif., a city of about 404,000 with a Republican mayor.

Moreover, Memphis, the city with the highest murder rate in 2021, is in Republican-controlled Tennessee. Of the top ten cities with the highest homicide rates, four were in so-called red states, one in a blue state, and five in mixed swing states.

Crime is a deep societal problem with factors such as income, opportunity, greed, alcohol, and drugs playing roles. There is not an easy solution. Yet, Republicans continue to harp on violent crime in cities with Democrat mayors, and Democrats’ responses are rarely as loud and persistent.

GOP campaigns to smear cities that are overseen by Democrats often contain racist overtones. I had a recent exchange with someone who claimed Baltimore crime was out of…