I don’t think it has to be lies and cheating, but there’s a pre-emptive reaction on the left of “we can’t do that, because what happens when the shoe is on the other foot?”. But then what happens? Those issues are abused anyway on the right.
IMO the first order of business ought to have been pack the courts, push the limits of gerrymandering, and anything else that guarantees easy wins until there’s a lawsuit that leads to legislation that codifies the rules for bad faith situations in law.
Basically force the grey out of grey areas and ride the easy wins. The slack in the system is the main thing that is being constantly abused. Unfortunately the electorate on our side is to interested making politicians “earn the vote” by chasing every car on the street and never catching any of them.