I would have preferred the Great Orange Mass of Wasted Protoplasm would have gotten his butt kicked a year ago, but I’ll take yesterday as a consolation prize.
Some cheering stories from Tuesday’s elections, in no particular order:
In New Jersey, Ravinder Bhalla was elected Hoboken’s first Sikh mayor. He won Tuesday night’s election just days after being targeted by flyers labeling him a terrorist.
Also in New Jersey, Democrat Ashley Bennet defeated Republican John Carman for the Atlantic County freeholder seat. Bennet decided to challenge Carman after Carman posted a meme mocking the Women’s March.
Carman posted a meme on the day of the Women’s March that featured a woman in a kitchen and the message, “Will the women’s protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?”
“Just asking?” he wrote alongside the meme.
I don’t know enough about Phil Murphy to know what kind of governor he will be, but his lopsided victory against NJ Secretary of State Kim Guadagno was an obvious repudiation of Chris Christie.
In Montana, Wilmot Collins was elected first black mayor of Helena. Collins arrived in Helena 23 years ago as a refugee from Liberia. He was part of a progressive ticket that swept city commission races.
My goodness, Virginia, you had quite a night. The single sweetest story of the evening was Danica Roem’s victory over incumbent Robert Marshall for a seat in Virginia’s statehouse. Marshall had introduced a “bathroom bill” in Virginia and called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” Roem is transgender.
“Discrimination is a disqualifier,†a jubilant Roem said Tuesday night as her margin of victory became clear. “This is about the people of the 13th District disregarding fear tactics, disregarding phobias . . . where we celebrate you because of who you are, not despite it.â€
Marshall, 73, who refused to debate Roem and referred to her with male pronouns, declined an interview request but posted a concession message on Facebook.
Also sweet – Democrat Lee Carter, a Marine veteran from Manassas who openly ran as a socialist, beat Delegate Jackson Miller, a Republican incumbent who serves as Virginia House Majority Whip.
Democrat Lee Carter, a red-haired, 30-year-old Marine veteran from Manassas, won a remarkable nine-point victory to oust Delegate Jackson Miller, a deep-pocketed Republican incumbent who serves as House Majority Whip. Carter ran openly as a socialist—he and his supporters croonedthe union anthem “Solidarity Forever†after their victory—and he won with almost no institutional support from the state Democratic Party. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Patrick Wilson reported last month that party leaders “abandoned†Carter after he declined to report campaign metrics like the number of doors he’d knocked and the amount of money he’d raised. Carter told Wilson he “ceased reporting to the House caucus after multiple information security lapses in which confidential information that we reported to the House caucus was leaked outside of the party infrastructure.†But he also said the party leaders “wanted a bit more editorial control over my messaging than I was comfortable with.†Wilson wrote that “Democratic Party leaders were not eager to discuss Carter, preferring to promote other candidates.†In fact, Wilson called Carter “the kind of rogue candidate that gives an apparatus like the Democratic Party of Virginia a fit.â€
Another winner in Virginia was Kathy Tran, a former Vietnamese refugee, who became the first Asian-American woman to join Virginia’s House of Delegates
Democrats swept statewide races in Virginia — governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general — and so far have picked up 14 seats in the state legislature. Depending on some recounts, it is possible they could take over the majority.
The only state to not fall into line was Utah, which voted to replace Jason Chaffetz with another Republican. Well, Utah is Utah.
This should fire up Dems and, I hope, inspire them to pour every resource they’ve got into Alabama, where Democrat Doug Jones is running against Grand Inquisitor Roy Moore for U.S. Senate in a December 12 special election.
Update:
A trans woman beat the guy who introduced the bathroom bill. A gun victim’s boyfriend beat a delegate with an “A” grade from the NRA. A civil rights lawyer who sued the police department just became the top prosecutor in Philadelphia.
Something’s happening here, folks.
— Charlotte Alter (@CharlotteAlter) November 8, 2017
I sure hope this isn’t just another pendulum swing symptomatic of the general citizenry’s frustration with self-serving corrupt politicians. Be nice if we could break free from these corporate/political hacks and get back to the way things were, say, back in the early 60’s, when America could actually accomplish things "because they are hard".
THIS is just the beginning …sooo don't get cocky or relax too much … we've got a Union to perfect aka the USA!
Off topic..but has to be shared.
Matt Taibbi has an article posted over at Rolling Stone about Trump's first year in office. He begins the article with this sentence: Exactly one year ago today, Donald Trump was elected president. For many Democrats, it was a trauma surpassed in their lifetimes only by 9/11.
He nailed it!
Of all of the great stories, "The single sweetest story of the evening was Danica Roem’s victory over incumbent Robert Marshall for a seat in Virginia’s statehouse. Marshall had introduced a “bathroom bill” in Virginia and called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” Roem is transgender."
Not only was she victorious, in victory she showed more class than all of the conservatives and Republicans combined have shown in their lives.
And she proved it when she was given the opportunity to criticize or put Marshall in his place after the results came in, she said the following:
“I don’t attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now.
THAT probably hurt that ancient homophobe more than her mocking him.
As for the rest of the results, now is not the time to think that to win in 2018, all Democratic candidates need to do is run against Donaldski Trumpovich.
No, we've got to give people MORE than just voting against that bigoted bloviating narcissistic sociopathic orange slug.
One idea:
Take the hundred of pages of Hillary's plans she had in case she won – and she had a lot of very good ones – and condense them down to sound-bite size.
And then have candidates tailor them to their potential voters.
And their jobs will be to repeat, repeat, REPEAT!!!
Yesterday’s election results confirms pretty much what I have suspected about the mood of the country:
That last point is the best news of all for the democrats, or should be. I can't give them much credit for it because they rarely if ever make that point when given the chance, or at least I haven't seen it. But hopefully they will recognize it and start tying Trump around the collective neck of the GOP like an anvil.
This also says voters are not scared off by democratic candidates telling the unvarnished truth about the republicans and how they’re responsible for the state of affairs of working folk and the middle class.
Democrats have to stop being scared of bold candidates who’re not afraid of telling the truth, who don’t fit the preferred mold of watered down GOP lite establishmentarians the dems like to have. They need to openly and aggressively support gun control, declare climate change real, call GOP tax cuts the trickle down useless BS it is (and cite Kansas!) and affordable health care for all.
Clearly, the voters prefer candidates who speak their minds, rather than the usual, timid democratic approach of being quiet and/or running as a republican lite and hoping no one will notice. Voters were like this in 2016, unfortunately the democrats gave them the opposite of what they were looking for and
What I have been harping on for a long time is that the corporatist tendencies of the DNC can be neutered (as in balls-cut-off) by electing candidates who reject the control of the party leaders. The DNC wants to hand-pick the candidates we will choose in the general – but we can give them the finger in the primary.
Women were HUGE winners in Virginia – if I remember right, 11 of 14 confirmed winners in the Assembly are women.
Two battles have been joined – first for a democratic majority in the US House in 2018 and second, for control of the agenda of the democratic party – which will be different from the agenda of the DNC. Democrats, won big yesterday – including democrats who make the DNC nervous.
Trump needs a good kick in the groin.
"I alone can fix it"… I mean, really! He needs his grapes crushed.
After Bob Dylan:
Well you know that something is happening
but you don't know what it is.
Do you, Mister Trump?
I am so glad to see a whole state ,Maine, vote for Medicaid expansion. Wish we all could have that referendum. It shows what people care about.
Awesome news for a change, right? What is really important is that the legislature will have to deal with a Democratic governor in Virginia when Congressional and legislative reapportionment occurs.
On the Lee Carter thing, he got a ton of support from Democrats and Democratic affiliated groups. He got $13,000 from the Democratic Party of Virginia and $40,000 from Forward Majority, a Democratic PAC. One of his volunteers in the District was critical of the Richmond Times-Dispatch story framing and some of the twitter assertions based around it. Here's his take:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ZachWahls/status/928254002868998144
His point is Carter won because Democrats and other people worked together to make it happen. I care not either way, I am just happy the guy won!
No doubt the Republicans are feeling considerable anguish about the drumming they took in the elections. All that time and money down the drain. Then the rejection. That probably hurts the worst. Fortunately there is a promise of a new election version of an app that can aid in helping them get over their situation. As it is in prototype form, only the previous version's ad is available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXrB7Y6gVN8&feature=youtu.be
Swami,
Between his age, and what nature gave him – or, rather, didn't – I think you meant to say "He needs his Raisinets crushed!"
Local races only here in CT, but still good news for Dems. My town had been trending R until recently, but GOP got spanked bad this year. Dems swept Town Council, which was previously 8-1 R. 42 Democrats ran for office; only one lost.