Dems wonder: Should we change our culture-war strategy?

Enter MALLORY MCMORROW, who is turning that conventional wisdom on its head this week.

On Tuesday, the little-known Democratic state senator from suburban Michigan took on a GOP colleague who accused her in a fundraising email of wanting to “groom and sexualize kindergarteners” and teach “that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery” — just because McMorrow criticized the “Don’t Say Gay”-style proposals gaining steam with the GOP, and backs a robust curriculum on the history of slavery in America.

McMorrow was (understandably) deeply offended by suggestions that she was a “groomer.” (“Groomer,” for those of you who don’t speak 2022, is an adult who befriends children and abuses them sexually.) Her takedown on the chamber floor dripped with righteous indignation as she — speaking as a mother, a Christian and a woman who cares about the mental health of children — defended discussing the history of slavery in schools and ensuring LGBTQ kids don’t feel more marginalized than they already do…

Back in D.C., McMorrow’s speech has triggered a conversation among Democratic strategists about whether it’s a model for how the party can hit back on “culture war” issues. There’s a sense that the right has overreached on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights, and that in doing so, they’ve provided Dems with an opening in an otherwise grim midterm cycle. Even Democrats who have long argued that the party should avoid hotly partisan culture issues altogether — or focus its energy on pocketbook issues — are starting to see the outlines of a new approach using McMorrow’s playbook.