With 99% of precincts reporting, but all the votes in (don’t ask me what that means, I just have a PhD that’s joint in political science…) Democrat Andy Beshear has been declared the winner of the Kentucky gubernatorial race by a little over 5,000 votes. Governor-elect Beshear has already given his victory speech and confirmed that he will restore voting rights for over 140,000 Kentuckians who have had their civil right to vote taken away because of the legacy of Jim Crow.
Governor Bevin, gracious and classy as always (that was sarcasm), has, of course, refused to concede claiming irregularities. Those irregularities are, of course, that he lost the election.
"There have been more than a few irregularities. They have been substantiated," Gov Bevin says, explaining his decision to not concede the #KyGov election. "We want the process to be followed." ^JC
Anyhow, there is no automatic recount in Kentucky. Governor Bevin would have to request one. If he actually does so, the request is made in a petition to a state of Kentucky court and whichever judge is assigned the case will determine if a recount does or does not occur. Given Bevin’s known proclivity for being a raging asshole, I don’t expect him to go quietly, gracefully, and/or professionally into the political night. But we’ll see, so stay tuned.
In Virginia the Democrats have flipped both chambers in the Virginia state legislature giving them unified control of Virginia’s executive and legislative branches.
Virginia Democrats win majorities in both the state House and Senate, giving them control of the legislature and the governorship for the first time in 26 years. Follow our full U.S. election coverage. https://t.co/z2PXWC7DHk
Both of these results, in Kentucky and in Virginia, are exceedingly important going into the next congressional reapportionment as it will make it very hard to gerrymander Kentucky’s congressional and state legislative districts as Governor-elect Beshear will have a veto over whatever maps the Kentucky legislature produces and the Democrats control the entire process in Virginia.
That leaves the Mississippi gubernatorial race. As of right now Republican Tate Reeves is leading Democrat and incumbent Attorney General Jim Hood.
The Mississippi governor's race just narrowed considerably; Republican Tate Reeves now leads Dem Jim Hood by just 52-47 (was a 10 point gap). Most of Hinds County (Jackson, heavily Democratic) is still out. #MSelex#MSGov
Mississippi was always going to be a tough pickup, even for Hood who has won statewide four times. One of the reasons for this is that Mississippi has a Jim Crow based electoral system for all statewide races that aren’t for the US Senate. Ian Millhiser has the details:
Jim Hood is a political unicorn. A Democrat, Hood nonetheless has won four consecutive statewide elections in the red state of Mississippi — all of them for attorney general. Now he hopes to add a new line to his résumé. He’s the Democratic candidate for governor in Tuesday’s election. And the polls suggest that he’s got a real fighting chance.
But there’s a catch. Mississippi held a constitutional convention more than a century ago to, in the words of one former state governor and US senator, “eliminate the n***er from politics.” One still-remaining vestige of that convention is the unusual way the state conducts its statewide elections.
For statewide positions other than US senator, Mississippi uses a system similar to the electoral college. It’s not enough for a candidate to simply win the statewide popular vote. Rather, they must win both a majority of the popular vote and win a majority of the state’s 122 state House districts. If no candidate clears both of these hurdles, the House chooses the winner from the top two candidates.
Thus, as a practical matter, Mississippi’s system all but ensures that Reeves will win the election, even if a majority of the state’s voters prefer Hood (the incumbent, Republican Phil Bryant, cannot run again due to term limits). Republicans currently control almost 60 percent of the state’s House of Representatives. And state House districts are gerrymandered in a way that would make it very difficult for Hood to win a majority of those districts. Though there is a chance that the courts could intervene to declare Hood the winner of the election if he wins the popular vote.
Hood has his work cut out for him regardless of the Jim Crow legacy in Mississippi’s constitution. There is a lawsuit pending to overturn this racist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist portion of the Mississippi constitution. The plaintiffs are being represented by Democratic election lawyer supreme Marc Elias. And the Federal district court judge who is assigned the case has clearly stated that if Hood wins the popular vote, but loses the election because of the Jim Crow legacy constitutional provisions, that he is likely to overturn that provision and declare Hood the governor. He made it clear he wouldn’t preemptively do it because the voters who brought the suit hadn’t suffered any harm as the election hadn’t happened yet, but that he would rule if the election winds up going in Reeves’ favor despite Hood winning the statewide popular vote. Of course this would be appealed first to the extremely conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is chock full of Federalist Society extremists and then, potentially, to the Supreme Court. Where, given that Mississippi’s constitution is discriminating on the basis of race in regard to how it allows Mississippians to elect/select their governor, one wonders if Chief Justice John Roberts would side with the liberal justices to overturn this Jim Crow legacy because, as he famously stated when striking down the pre-clearance enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act, that the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. Consistency, hobgoblins, small minds…
There is some good news in the Mississippi results, even if they are tied to a Republican being elected.
REPUBLICANS TONIGHT: “A Democrat winning in Kentucky sends no message about Trump.”TRUMP LAST NIGHT: “A Democrat winning in Kentucky sends a HUGE message about me!”pic.twitter.com/Ozk6fvnz0l— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) November 6, 2019
2.
hells littlest angel
Nice. All the election news tonight seems to be either really good, or oh well, we had no chance to win that.
President Trump yesterday: "You’re sending that big message to the rest of the country, it’s so important… Because if you lose it sends a really bad message. And they will build it up. You can’t let that happen to me.” t.co/kL49dDKGEkt.co/R6VbW6VLpa
Democrats taking stage at Inn at Swarthmore to claim historic victory, taking all 3 County Council seats and an ironclad 5-0 grip on county government. The GOP's reign in Delco appears to be over. #Delcovote
Virginia just got a lot closer to being Maryland tonight.
9.
Raoul
Apparently the other statewide races were won the GOP candidates, and it seems to be inconceivable to shyster Bevin that people split ticket vote. Or, really, he’s just grasping at straws.
But what we’re seeing tonight in KY with claims of irregularities and I’m sure lots of noise about ‘fraud’ in the days ahead is going to be all over 2020.
Time to see how the first ballot drop in WA goes… and then it’s at least a week until we know how most of the votes actually go. That’s the one drawback of 100% vote by mail.
11.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: I think it is more that it is inconceivable to Bevin that he’s an asshole and people have noticed he’s an asshole and don’t like him because he’s an asshole. Candidate quality matters.
The numbers of people voting have increased greatly too.
BREAKING NEWS New numbers in from the voter registrar in Virginia Beach. As of 5pm 96,000 people have voted compared to 63,000 in 2015 when the entire General Assembly was up for election. That is 32% and climbing. @WAVY_News
@Raoul: Just what I was thinking. Challenge of the vote in Kentucky is going to be test run of challenge of the vote everywhere next year.
14.
Raoul
Mike Pence’s hometown of Columbus, IN, just elected a Democratic city council for the first time in 38 years!
15.
NYCMT
What a change from 1970! That election day, Delaware County PD raided my grandfather’s bakery on the Baltimore Pike in Springfield, destroyed a few hundred dollars worth of the day’s inventory tossing the place, and took him into custody, roughing him up on the way to the station, because he’d signed a local merchants’ petition against the eminent domain expansion of the helicopter plant in Ridley Park. Pop-pop described the DVPD as “ruder than the Gestapo on Kristallnacht” which he could judge since he spent three months in Dachau.
But what we’re seeing tonight in KY with claims of irregularities and I’m sure lots of noise about ‘fraud’ in the days ahead is going to be all over 2020.
It’s been all over previous elections. It gets the GOP exactly nowhere. Kentucky’s recount system is not friendly to Bevin. It would have to include Democrats in the process, convince courts, and the Republican Party would have to pay for it.
19.
The Lodger
@Cheryl Rofer: Delaware County government has been a sinecure for Republicans since Lincoln. (Anyone remember Faith Ryan Whittlesey and Curt Weldon?) Their county charter allows all the commissioners to be from the same party, unlike almost all the other counties in Pennsylvania. I guarantee none of the people who wrote it ever thought it would be 5-0 Dem. BWAHA HA HA
20.
SarahT
Is this good news for John McCain?
21.
Raoul
@Cheryl Rofer: Of course the “you can’t let that happen to me” framing. Of course.
Freakin’ narcissist is gonna peer into that mirror so deep.
22.
tomtofa
Whoever told T that Ky was a slam dunk, and he could claim the victory as his own by doing the rally, is going to be in a world of hurt. Unless it was T’s own idea, in which case some random person (other than T) is going to be in a world of hurt.
23.
scav
OH I am so anticipating the scenes of head-in-hand alcohol-fueled weighing of personal escape options taking place in Repub officialdom domiciles this night. Moral Greatness personified in action.
24.
Kraux Pas
A Democrat winning statewide in Kentucky!?!?
McConnell must be pissing himself right now.
25.
gene108
New Jersey had legislative elections, and a constitutional amendment on our ballot tonight.
Bevin was much more popular than McConnell, Bevin played the playbook McConnell usually uses, and Democrats do much better in Presidential election years. So… yeah, Mitch can’t be a happy camper.
27.
PsiFighter37
Hats off to Virginia Democrats. Now we can get congressional maps that may even give us some more seats in the state. Northam has a chance to redeem himself further. One has to think that Terry Mac is salivating at the chance to come back and potentially run VA with a fully Democratic legislature that he never had.
Does someone have the statewide vote count for D vs. R candidates for State House vs. State Senate? Curious if it’s even higher than Northam’s margin in 2017.
New York City passed ranked-choice voting. We have it here in Santa Fe, and I like it.
29.
Aleta
@Cheryl Rofer: A Dem was elected mayor tonight in Lewiston too (Generally Lewiston has been considered a Republican city for some time; and le Page was originally from there as well.) The former R mayor, who was supported by Collins and le Page and won a close election, had to resign last spring because of racist texts and I believe possible investigation into his corruption. The new mayor has some Republican-like leanings.
Btw, the Dem candidate, currently behind in MS though still counting, is anti-abortion, pro-gun.
30.
Yutsano
@tomtofa: Herr Drumpf cannot fail. He can only be failed.
31.
Raoul
In other (not all that surprising but still good) news: My dear friend Gary Anderson won re-election to the Duluth, MN city council. He’s an openly gay former Teamster and avowed anti-sulfide mining advocate.
Trump and Pence have been targeting Duluth with rallies — though I think it may really be as much to try to desperately shore up Wisconsin which is right across the St Louis river and shares the TV market, as it is that he has any plausible shot in MN in 2020.
But, rallies aside, Duluth just ain’t that Trumpy.
32.
catclub
@Cheryl Rofer: just remember an anagram of Swarthmore is “smart whore”
also founded 1864 as coed, by the quakers.
@gene108: We’re boring too – City council, school board, and community college board.
New Mexico installed a fully Democratic state government last year. Glad to see Virginia following along.
34.
Kelly
My water district bond measure appears to have passed 69 yes to 40 no. We can replace the 60 year old wood water tank and a few miles of water mains. Now that’s local politics.
Message to Fat Bastard: bend over and spread your cheeks. Bohica time!
38.
PsiFighter37
@Cheryl Rofer: I figured that one would pass. Unfortunately, given the mediocrities that tend to populate the ballot in NYC, I’m not sure exactly how much that helps. I still voted for it, though.
Now we can get congressional maps that may even give us some more seats in the state.
Or, say, gerrymander the hell out of the map so that no Republican has a chance at election. Since the Supreme Court determined that federal courts can’t intervene in such cases.
Btw, the Dem candidate, currently behind in MS though still counting, is anti-abortion, pro-gun.
The candidate, even a Democratic candidate, has to fit the electorate where he or she is running. Governor Hood in LA, who is a Democrat, is also anti-abortion and pro-gun. The question is would you rather have a Democratic governor in both those states that aligns with the party on about 85 to 90% of issues or would you prefer a Republican governor who will go out of his or her way to actively make life worse, to implement revanchist, white supremacist policy?
Going to Philly on Thursday for an interview. Then to Pittsburgh in four weeks. Maybe I’ll help PA get bluer.
45.
Raoul
VA and KY should, together with Sondland’s ‘refreshed’ memories, make Republican Senators very very worried.
Not that they’ll change their tune tomorrow. But there may be some heads swiveling a lot in the weeks ahead, trying desperately to find some sort of off ramp from the klown kar. I hope they skid into ditches and roll their SUVs from trying to swerve too late.
46.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I love that Trump is telling Bevin that the point of his race is what it says about Trump, and who cares what it says about Bevin? A little gratuitous bus-undering, just to stay in practice.
Returns on the local elections (Delaware County PA) looking pretty good. I just read that if one of the Democrats running for council wins, it will be a Democratic majority for the first time in history.
All three look like they have comfortable leads.
We also have a DA race, which also looks like an easy win for the Democrat.
Something I didn’t realize was at stake in VA: I saw somewhere that the flip in the state legislature means that VA will likely become the 38th state to ratify the ERA, which means it is on track to become the next amendment to the Constitution.
Holy shit. Ho-ly-shit. That is a fight that has lasted my entire adult life. This is Berlin-Wall-Falling BFD territory.
47.
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fabio and Tucker: Can California be saved? LOL. Hard to think of two people whose opinions I’d respect less. nTwitler and Pence, I guess.
48.
lollipopguild
@Ken: The minute the Dems start gerrymandering in the same way that the GOP did the Supreme Court will change it mind.
Just back from the Fairfax VA victory party. We won all the seats on the school board! We defeated the last remaining Fairfax Republican in the legislature. We picked up seats on the county board. I’m a little too brain dead to be sure after being at the polls since 5:30am, but I think one county board member is the only remaining elected Republican in Fairfax, and he only won 51-49.
51.
Adam L Silverman
Apparently Jello salad has hallucinogenic properties. Who knew?
BREAKING NEWS: Two people have been charged with distributing phony sample ballots. One of those charged is Robert Landon, the Republican candidate for Marion City Auditor. The other charged is John Matthews, a Marion Co. Republican official. #vote2019#ElectionDay2019— Ben Garbarek (@BenWSYX6) November 5, 2019
58.
PsiFighter37
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: You do realize that constitutional amendments need to be ratified within 10 years, right? The ERA is still very much dead.
As for Delco – the Democrats not only won a majority, they won every seat. 5-0 for the good guys. That long-running GOP control over the Philly suburbs is dead at last.
59.
Anne Laurie
Oval Office Occupant aides: Nobody tell him! Not tonight, anyway!
Fayette County, which is where Trump held his rally last night, voted for Andy Beshear over Matt Bevin in a 2 to 1 landslide pic.twitter.com/LF4mIZ8BxL
Virginia just got a lot closer to being Maryland tonight.
Doesn’t Maryland have a Republican governor? Just saying. Maybe VA has passed MD tonight.
63.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Redshift: I used to live in MD but didn’t pay close attention to VA politics. As I recall, NoVA leans Democratic but Fairfax is a pretty wealthy area so is it historically Republican? In other words, is this a huge historic shift in Fairfax politics?
@Ken: The minute the Dems start gerrymandering in the same way that the GOP did the Supreme Court will change it mind.
Which would be a good thing. The GOP stands to gain a whole lot more than Dems through gerrymandering because it is a much more rural party.
65.
Kelly
@Marcopolo: It’s the actual vote totals. The water district serves about ~500 households. The saying “the politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small” fits here. There was an acrimonious attempt to recall the entire 5 member board about 10 years ago.
You do realize that constitutional amendments need to be ratified within 10 years, right?
Not in general; the 27th Amendment was ratified over 200 years after it was proposed. The ERA did have a provision requiring ratification within a certain period.
67.
PsiFighter37
@Anne Laurie: I would temper my enthusiasm about Kentucky. Bevin pissed off as many people as he possibly could and barely lost. Moscow Mitch is gated by everyone in Kentucky, but he hasn’t gone out of his way to antagonize his allies. Still an uphill climb for McGrath, but you take the wins where you can get ‘em, and I’m sure her campaign has to feel better now than they did yesterday.
68.
Aleta
Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
Special election win for Dem in St Louis County
Jason Rosenbaum @jrosenbaum
Trish Gunby has flipped #HD99 from red to blue
Jason Rosenbaum @jrosenbaum
Another person excited about @TrishForMO’s win? @DebLavender. #HD99 is in #SD15. Her race versus @Koenig4MO (widely seen as one of the best campaigners in the state) could be the biggest #moleg contest of 2020.
Jason Rosenbaum @jrosenbaum
Not sure what to make of this, but here it goes: Democrat Mike Person won #HD74, but Libertarian Nick Kasoff only lost by a little more than 200 votes
Andrea Chalupa @AndreaChalupa
The Chuck Todd Industrial Complex warned us impeachment would hurt Democrats at the ballot box. Kentucky and Virginia just proved them wrong.
One of Sarah Kenzidor’s long-running themes:
Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
There should be far more attention to voting infrastructure. In 2016, before the election, Harry Reid warned that Russia sought to falsify official election results. No real audits were conducted. We need hand-marked paper ballots. It is sensible to expect the worst and prepare.
We have paper ballots; they’re so easy and clear and re-countable. For years we’ve been talking up what a good system they are.
69.
Raoul
Democrat in a very solid win against a GOP incumbent for Mayor of Wichita, KS. Not a race I was tracking, but it seems a totally false smear ad made major news (up to WaPo level). GOod for the citizens to have said FU to this extreme ratfukery.
70.
Betty Cracker
They can sour-grapes it all they want, but Trumps really needed Bevin to win; they understand how bad this looks. Remember the sparsely attended Bevin rally Trump Jr. and the former Fox News skank girlfriend held back in August?
Trump Jr mostly praising his father, criticizing detractors and Democratic presidential candidates at Bevin campaign event in Pikeville pic.twitter.com/u8jjLWWbFV
WE DID IT!!! @everytown was the largest outside donor in Virginia, outspending the @NRA 8 to 1. And @MomsDemand volunteers outmaneuvered the NRA with over 100,000 calls, door knocks and texts to voters. Tonight we beat the @NRA in their home state. #electionday#valegt.co/jY7yrvXsUN— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 6, 2019
73.
Adam L Silverman
@PsiFighter37: Apparently Virginia intends to pass it and then challenge the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional.
74.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Assholes usually know they are assholes, they just don’t care. Or they like it.
All the one’s I’ve met in life were practiced at it, like practiced every damn day, until it became so natural to them that they don’t understand that not everyone likes an asshole. Or they don’t give a damn.
Then one day they wake up to find out that everyone they have ever known or met, thinks they are an asshole. And they figure they’ve made the grade. Prime fucking asshole. It’s a low bar, but it never fails to amaze how many people think it’s the only thing in life that counts, being all asshole, all the time.
#ElectionNight Won 5 out of 6 elections in Kentucky, including 5 great candidates that I spoke for and introduced last night. @MattBevin picked up at least 15 points in last days, but perhaps not enough (Fake News will blame Trump!). Winning in Mississippi Governor race!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2019
77.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I’m no political professional, but that picture sure makes it look like they thought Fredo would be a bigger draw
Either option means you won’t be here with me in Alabama Up The Middle.
Philly and PGH both good places to live for completely different reasons.
79.
dww44
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve a brother and his family who are longtime residents there. He and his son are Republicans. His wife and daughter are Dems. Fairfax has been trending blue for some time. Given that so many federal workers live in the county, I’d be awfully surprised and dismayed if the county voted red anytime soon. Honestly, all of Northern Virginia has gotta know now on which side their bread is buttered. And, it’s not on the red side.
80.
cain
@Kraux Pas:
I’m not sure. The rest of the down races were all republicans. So this is a vote on Bevin being an asshole. Now it is possible that everyone else thinks McConnell is an asshole and we could win on that argument. In fact that might be the best argument to make. :-)
81.
frosty
@Kent A Lind: Absolutely. VA just left MD (and MA FFS) in the dust! Well done you!
Now it is possible that everyone else thinks McConnell is an asshole
McConnell is actually less popular than Bevin. Signifcantly. Like 10 points.
84.
Raoul
This amazing tidbit on KY turnout!
Angus Johnston @studentactivism
Kentucky’s Republican Governor Matt Bevin got 192,000 more votes this year than he did in 2015. That year he won by 85,000 votes.
Now it is possible that everyone else thinks McConnell is an asshole and we could win on that argument. In fact that might be the best argument to make.
That’s damn near indisputable.
86.
stinger
@Adam L Silverman: As a woman, I don’t have the luxury of shrugging about anti-abortion politicians. Does Hood just talk pro-life platitudes, or does he actively work to restrict women’s health care and control their bodies? One is understandable given his environment; the other is untenable in a Democrat.
@Ken: The minute the Dems start gerrymandering in the same way that the GOP did the Supreme Court will change it mind.
Then they should and force the Supreme Court to kill it. Say it out loud that is the goal. If not, well I guess it will be a Dem majority. In which case, make a true independent group that will stay apolitical. Their choice.
88.
craigie
I guess impeachment really is backfiring on us Dems.
89.
bluehill
Perhaps tonight’s results will be the catalyst to turn enough repub senators against Trump. Wishful thinking, I know, but deep red states turning more blue seems to be a sign that dissatisfaction with Trump and repubs is pretty broad and not just limited to “coastal elites.”
90.
frosty
@Kelly: We just went through the same thing in my tiny borough over being part of the regional police. There was a slate of insurgent Rs running against the incumbent mayor and council who beat them in the primary over the issue of transparency of council meetings. They beat them in the primary then ran both R/D today so I didn’t have to hold my nose to vote for them.
In other excellent news I voted with an optical scan paper ballot for the first time since I moved here 16 years ago!
91.
Aleta
(Post tonight) Democrats swept elections for top prosecutor in four Northern Virginia counties Tuesday, giving a nationwide movement for bold criminal justice reforms a major foothold in the state for the first time.
Candidates who labeled themselves progressives won races for commonwealth’s attorney offices in Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun counties, while a fourth pushing liberal reforms beat a Republican in Prince William County.
The candidates promised sweeping changes such as moving away from the death penalty, dropping prosecutions for marijuana possession, ending cash bail and limiting cooperation with immigration authorities.
…
The outcomes were powered to a significant degree by Democratic megadonor George Soros, whose political action committee spent nearly $2.1 million in the primary and general election on polls, mailers and advertisements for Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in Arlington, Steve T. Descano in Fairfax and Buta Biberaj in Loudoun.
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Nah, it used to be Republican, but it’s been trending blue for years. Still, the school board sweep was quite a jump.
Also, possibly a bigger local story was that Democrats won majorities on the county boards in both Loudoun and Prince William Counties (the next further out from DC, what used to be called exurbs). Those were GOP strongholds more recently; the outgoing chair of the PW county board was Corey Stewart, anti-immigrant bigot and proud Confederate patriot (despite being from Minnesota) who lost the primary for governor.
In Seattle, two of the three Amazon/Chamber of Commerce candidates are going down to defeat. Sawant the socialist, who supported Jill Stein, may or may not be reelected. On the other hand, an anti-transit initiative seems likely to make it. That is going to set the state up for decades of regret, if it does.
95.
cain
@craigie:
The media will still try to fear goad us because they want a horse race. It’ll get everyone all nervous and you have no choice but to watch them debate it on TV.
96.
cain
@Raven Onthill:
Ugh. Seattle needs good transit. It’s just not scalable what they got there. Seriously, everything from Seattle to Olympia is a parking lot on a daily basis.
@Aleta: Yeah, that, too! Especially since their opponents were “police endorsed,” and tried to run on a platform that we can’t have justice and be safe.
@cain: The initiative may not make it, but more likely not. It may also be overturned in litigation.
The Republicans have been working on gutting the regional transit system for over two decades. If this stands, in 30 years, Seattle’s traffic will be like Mexico City’s.
As of an hour ago, in Medina, Washington, home of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, the property tax initiative designed to balance the town’s budget is trailing by four votes.
Let’s hear it for civic-minded businessmen!
104.
Raoul
@craigie: I don’t doubt that a rash of pundits are tapping out stories of how tonight’s results are bad news for Elizabeth Warren and universal health care — or taxes on the rich. Pick your thing that ‘centrist’ pundits hate. Or, why pick, link both somehow to the VA and KY results. You know they will (spuriously).
You do realize that constitutional amendments need to be ratified within 10 years, right? The ERA is still very much dead.
I don’t believe that’s generally true. The 27th amendment passed the House on September 24, 1789 and the Senate the next day. It was finally ratified on May 7, 1992. The argument is that Congress has the authority to extend the deadline indefinitely and can choose to do so at any time. I cannot imagine that a bill to extend the ERA deadline wouldn’t pass both chambers if the final state legislature ratified.
I cannot imagine that a bill to extend the ERA deadline wouldn’t pass both chambers if the final state legislature ratified.
Perhaps you’re not acquainted with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell?
107.
Eolirin
@Adam L Silverman: It’ll happen as soon as we have control of the Senate, at the very least.
So it rather matters, I think.
108.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: Hope you realize that Democrat = better than Republican is obvious to everyone here, yes? Conservative Dems in conservative states are also not news to anyone (see WV, Maine, etc.) That doesn’t lessen the importance of his anti-abortion stance.
109.
Matt McIrvin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s the continuation of a decades-long trend. NoVa has been the most liberal part of Virginia for a long time but when I was a kid, Fairfax County outside the most densely populated areas was still mostly Republican. It’s not any more.
He’s not the only anti-abortion Democrat in elected office.
Yeah, but he should be. In fact, I am going to say that if there *is* a litmus test for acceptability, it has to be on that issue.
111.
Uncle Cosmo
@lollipopguild: Rather say that the minute state gerrymanders net Democrats more seats (in Congress and/or state legislatures) that the GOP, SCOTUS will strike them down. But that presumes there is no argument, no matter how implausible and convoluted, for striking down the gerrymander in Democrat-controlled states only**. The 5 Extremes on the Court would pretzelogic themselves into higher-order topologies to so rule.
** NB in MD the CDs are gerrymandered to the advantage of Democrats. The state is about 60-40 Dem & one might expect 3 or at least 2 of our 8 Congresscritters to be GOP, but nope, just 1 (Andy “Anesthesiologist High On His Own Supply” Harris, who upon his first election immediately demanded his goldplated Congressional health-care package – which he was not entitled to until actually sworn in, which wouldn’t happen until the following January. Cretin.) The only reason that asshole has a seat is that the MD Democratic Party has never been able to devise district boundaries for MD-01 (today essentially everything east of the Baltimore metro area & the Chesapeake Bay plus a strip of BCo along the Mason-Dixon line connecting with the flighty-whitey Neanderthal refuge in Carroll Co) where a Democrat could regularly compete. Last Democratic Rep from MD-01 was Frank Kratovil, who in 2008 came in on Obama’s coattails (& with the help of the retiring incumbent, moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrist, who despised Harris) & was swept out in the Tea Party wave of 2010.
Either option means you won’t be here with me in Alabama Up The Middle.
I know you’re a MD transplant, but you should call it by its customary name: Pennsyltucky.
113.
Uncle Cosmo
@frosty: So long as the MD GOP can field gubernatorial candidates slightly leftward of Genghis Khan, we are probably doomed to having a string of them in the Governor’s Mansion for the rest of my natural life.
It should be noted that since the turn of the millennium MD Democrats have nominated a woman (Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend), two African-American males (Anthony Brown and Ben Jealous), and a white male (Martin O’Malley) for Governor. O’Malley won two terms; the others lost to white male GOP candidates. In fact all 62 MD Governors, from Revolutionary times to the present, have been white males.
What I would call the Free State Syndrome is that while POC hold a decisive influence over the Democratic nomination for Governor in our closed primaries, and in the last 2 statewide elections have played a crucial role in nominating a POC for the office, there is a significant fraction of registered Democrats (I’d estimate 10-20% of the electorate) who’d crawl over broken glass to vote against any POC – and that tends to flip the board in the general.
So long as there is a credible candidate of color running in the MD gubernatorial primary, it’s hard to imagine s/he will not be nominated – POC will quite naturally tend to identify with and support someone who understands their concerns and needs on a fundamental level. But the nominee will be left with an uphill battle against Republicans, independents and the DINOs.
I honestly don’t know if that would hold if the GOP nominates a Trumpista in 2022. I would hope the Democratic nominee would be a beacon of sanity by comparison & pull enough independents to prevail. There are not a lot of moderates of any stature in the MD GOP; the obvious successor to Hogan is Lt Gov Boyd Rutherford, who is African American, and there’s not a deep bench. Then again, our bench isn’t all that deep either…
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Patricia Kayden
hells littlest angel
Nice. All the election news tonight seems to be either really good, or oh well, we had no chance to win that.
Cheryl Rofer
Hahahahahaha….aaahhahahahahaha
Cheryl Rofer
Pennsylvania – Philadelphia area, I think
Mary G
It’s a happy night. Even where Rs win, their margins have shrunk. A lot. And so many Democrats won at city and county levels.
Cheryl Rofer
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer:
theinnatswat.com/
khead
Gonna repeat this from downstairs…
Virginia just got a lot closer to being Maryland tonight.
Raoul
Apparently the other statewide races were won the GOP candidates, and it seems to be inconceivable to shyster Bevin that people split ticket vote. Or, really, he’s just grasping at straws.
But what we’re seeing tonight in KY with claims of irregularities and I’m sure lots of noise about ‘fraud’ in the days ahead is going to be all over 2020.
zzyzx
Time to see how the first ballot drop in WA goes… and then it’s at least a week until we know how most of the votes actually go. That’s the one drawback of 100% vote by mail.
Adam L Silverman
@Raoul: I think it is more that it is inconceivable to Bevin that he’s an asshole and people have noticed he’s an asshole and don’t like him because he’s an asshole. Candidate quality matters.
Cheryl Rofer
The numbers of people voting have increased greatly too.
NickM
@Raoul: Just what I was thinking. Challenge of the vote in Kentucky is going to be test run of challenge of the vote everywhere next year.
Raoul
Mike Pence’s hometown of Columbus, IN, just elected a Democratic city council for the first time in 38 years!
NYCMT
What a change from 1970! That election day, Delaware County PD raided my grandfather’s bakery on the Baltimore Pike in Springfield, destroyed a few hundred dollars worth of the day’s inventory tossing the place, and took him into custody, roughing him up on the way to the station, because he’d signed a local merchants’ petition against the eminent domain expansion of the helicopter plant in Ridley Park. Pop-pop described the DVPD as “ruder than the Gestapo on Kristallnacht” which he could judge since he spent three months in Dachau.
Wow.
mrmoshpotato
@Cheryl Rofer: Wah wah wah! Me me me!
This fuckin’
guySoviet shitpile mobster conman.Jim, Foolish Literalist
Tucker has a highly qualified expert to discuss the future of California
Frankensteinbeck
@Raoul:
It’s been all over previous elections. It gets the GOP exactly nowhere. Kentucky’s recount system is not friendly to Bevin. It would have to include Democrats in the process, convince courts, and the Republican Party would have to pay for it.
The Lodger
@Cheryl Rofer: Delaware County government has been a sinecure for Republicans since Lincoln. (Anyone remember Faith Ryan Whittlesey and Curt Weldon?) Their county charter allows all the commissioners to be from the same party, unlike almost all the other counties in Pennsylvania. I guarantee none of the people who wrote it ever thought it would be 5-0 Dem. BWAHA HA HA
SarahT
Is this good news for John McCain?
Raoul
@Cheryl Rofer: Of course the “you can’t let that happen to me” framing. Of course.
Freakin’ narcissist is gonna peer into that mirror so deep.
tomtofa
Whoever told T that Ky was a slam dunk, and he could claim the victory as his own by doing the rally, is going to be in a world of hurt. Unless it was T’s own idea, in which case some random person (other than T) is going to be in a world of hurt.
scav
OH I am so anticipating the scenes of head-in-hand alcohol-fueled weighing of personal escape options taking place in Repub officialdom domiciles this night. Moral Greatness personified in action.
Kraux Pas
A Democrat winning statewide in Kentucky!?!?
McConnell must be pissing himself right now.
gene108
New Jersey had legislative elections, and a constitutional amendment on our ballot tonight.
But we’re too boring for anyone to care
Frankensteinbeck
@Kraux Pas:
Bevin was much more popular than McConnell, Bevin played the playbook McConnell usually uses, and Democrats do much better in Presidential election years. So… yeah, Mitch can’t be a happy camper.
PsiFighter37
Hats off to Virginia Democrats. Now we can get congressional maps that may even give us some more seats in the state. Northam has a chance to redeem himself further. One has to think that Terry Mac is salivating at the chance to come back and potentially run VA with a fully Democratic legislature that he never had.
Does someone have the statewide vote count for D vs. R candidates for State House vs. State Senate? Curious if it’s even higher than Northam’s margin in 2017.
Cheryl Rofer
New York City passed ranked-choice voting. We have it here in Santa Fe, and I like it.
Aleta
@Cheryl Rofer: A Dem was elected mayor tonight in Lewiston too (Generally Lewiston has been considered a Republican city for some time; and le Page was originally from there as well.) The former R mayor, who was supported by Collins and le Page and won a close election, had to resign last spring because of racist texts and I believe possible investigation into his corruption. The new mayor has some Republican-like leanings.
Btw, the Dem candidate, currently behind in MS though still counting, is anti-abortion, pro-gun.
Yutsano
@tomtofa: Herr Drumpf cannot fail. He can only be failed.
Raoul
In other (not all that surprising but still good) news: My dear friend Gary Anderson won re-election to the Duluth, MN city council. He’s an openly gay former Teamster and avowed anti-sulfide mining advocate.
Trump and Pence have been targeting Duluth with rallies — though I think it may really be as much to try to desperately shore up Wisconsin which is right across the St Louis river and shares the TV market, as it is that he has any plausible shot in MN in 2020.
But, rallies aside, Duluth just ain’t that Trumpy.
catclub
@Cheryl Rofer: just remember an anagram of Swarthmore is “smart whore”
also founded 1864 as coed, by the quakers.
Cheryl Rofer
@gene108: We’re boring too – City council, school board, and community college board.
New Mexico installed a fully Democratic state government last year. Glad to see Virginia following along.
Kelly
My water district bond measure appears to have passed 69 yes to 40 no. We can replace the 60 year old wood water tank and a few miles of water mains. Now that’s local politics.
Cheryl Rofer
Cheryl Rofer
Mike in NC
Message to Fat Bastard: bend over and spread your cheeks. Bohica time!
PsiFighter37
@Cheryl Rofer: I figured that one would pass. Unfortunately, given the mediocrities that tend to populate the ballot in NYC, I’m not sure exactly how much that helps. I still voted for it, though.
gene108
@Aleta:
Being a Big Tent Party means there will be members you strongly disagree with.
He’s not the only anti-abortion Democrat in elected office.
Ken
@PsiFighter37:
Or, say, gerrymander the hell out of the map so that no Republican has a chance at election. Since the Supreme Court determined that federal courts can’t intervene in such cases.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta:
The candidate, even a Democratic candidate, has to fit the electorate where he or she is running. Governor Hood in LA, who is a Democrat, is also anti-abortion and pro-gun. The question is would you rather have a Democratic governor in both those states that aligns with the party on about 85 to 90% of issues or would you prefer a Republican governor who will go out of his or her way to actively make life worse, to implement revanchist, white supremacist policy?
lollipopguild
@SarahT: Everything is good for John McCain!
Cheryl Rofer
Suzanne
This is so awesome. Woohoo!
Going to Philly on Thursday for an interview. Then to Pittsburgh in four weeks. Maybe I’ll help PA get bluer.
Raoul
VA and KY should, together with Sondland’s ‘refreshed’ memories, make Republican Senators very very worried.
Not that they’ll change their tune tomorrow. But there may be some heads swiveling a lot in the weeks ahead, trying desperately to find some sort of off ramp from the klown kar. I hope they skid into ditches and roll their SUVs from trying to swerve too late.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I love that Trump is telling Bevin that the point of his race is what it says about Trump, and who cares what it says about Bevin? A little gratuitous bus-undering, just to stay in practice.
Returns on the local elections (Delaware County PA) looking pretty good. I just read that if one of the Democrats running for council wins, it will be a Democratic majority for the first time in history.
All three look like they have comfortable leads.
We also have a DA race, which also looks like an easy win for the Democrat.
Something I didn’t realize was at stake in VA: I saw somewhere that the flip in the state legislature means that VA will likely become the 38th state to ratify the ERA, which means it is on track to become the next amendment to the Constitution.
Holy shit. Ho-ly-shit. That is a fight that has lasted my entire adult life. This is Berlin-Wall-Falling BFD territory.
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fabio and Tucker: Can California be saved? LOL. Hard to think of two people whose opinions I’d respect less. nTwitler and Pence, I guess.
lollipopguild
@Ken: The minute the Dems start gerrymandering in the same way that the GOP did the Supreme Court will change it mind.
Adam L Silverman
Redshift
Just back from the Fairfax VA victory party. We won all the seats on the school board! We defeated the last remaining Fairfax Republican in the legislature. We picked up seats on the county board. I’m a little too brain dead to be sure after being at the polls since 5:30am, but I think one county board member is the only remaining elected Republican in Fairfax, and he only won 51-49.
Adam L Silverman
Apparently Jello salad has hallucinogenic properties. Who knew?
gene108
@Ken:
NJ has a nonpartisan redistricting commission.
NJ legislature toyed with the idea of doing away with it, and setting up Democratic friendly gerrymandering.
Democratic voters told them to fuck off. Dem voters in NJ want fair districts.
Not sure about the feeling of Dem voters in other states.
Just a recent anecdote on the issue
Marcopolo
@Kelly:
Is that the actual vote total? If it is percentages I think it is highly possible your area is experiencing some voting irregularities.
Cheryl Rofer
Oh, and we mustn’t forget this –
Adam L Silverman
@Redshift: Well done! Sleep in tomorrow.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The ERA discussion was on CNN’s page and was also tweeted by George Takei (quoted on that page).
Mary G
Some irregularities in Ohio:
PsiFighter37
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: You do realize that constitutional amendments need to be ratified within 10 years, right? The ERA is still very much dead.
As for Delco – the Democrats not only won a majority, they won every seat. 5-0 for the good guys. That long-running GOP control over the Philly suburbs is dead at last.
Anne Laurie
Oval Office Occupant aides: Nobody tell him! Not tonight, anyway!
I hope McConnell is taking note. And also that it’s making his broken shoulder act up, out of sheer terror.
Ken
@lollipopguild: Of course, but as per LBJ’s famous quote, the point is to make the SOBs deny it.
Redshift
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Yup! And it was definitely a Dem campaign issue, not just something that might happen.
Kent A Lind
@khead:
Doesn’t Maryland have a Republican governor? Just saying. Maybe VA has passed MD tonight.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Redshift: I used to live in MD but didn’t pay close attention to VA politics. As I recall, NoVA leans Democratic but Fairfax is a pretty wealthy area so is it historically Republican? In other words, is this a huge historic shift in Fairfax politics?
Kent
@lollipopguild:
Which would be a good thing. The GOP stands to gain a whole lot more than Dems through gerrymandering because it is a much more rural party.
Kelly
@Marcopolo: It’s the actual vote totals. The water district serves about ~500 households. The saying “the politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small” fits here. There was an acrimonious attempt to recall the entire 5 member board about 10 years ago.
Ken
@PsiFighter37:
Not in general; the 27th Amendment was ratified over 200 years after it was proposed. The ERA did have a provision requiring ratification within a certain period.
PsiFighter37
@Anne Laurie: I would temper my enthusiasm about Kentucky. Bevin pissed off as many people as he possibly could and barely lost. Moscow Mitch is gated by everyone in Kentucky, but he hasn’t gone out of his way to antagonize his allies. Still an uphill climb for McGrath, but you take the wins where you can get ‘em, and I’m sure her campaign has to feel better now than they did yesterday.
Aleta
One of Sarah Kenzidor’s long-running themes:
We have paper ballots; they’re so easy and clear and re-countable. For years we’ve been talking up what a good system they are.
Raoul
Democrat in a very solid win against a GOP incumbent for Mayor of Wichita, KS. Not a race I was tracking, but it seems a totally false smear ad made major news (up to WaPo level). GOod for the citizens to have said FU to this extreme ratfukery.
Betty Cracker
They can sour-grapes it all they want, but Trumps really needed Bevin to win; they understand how bad this looks. Remember the sparsely attended Bevin rally Trump Jr. and the former Fox News skank girlfriend held back in August?
They nationalized it. They made it about Trump. They lost.
Mary G
@Redshift: Great work!
Mary G
Adam L Silverman
@PsiFighter37: Apparently Virginia intends to pass it and then challenge the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Assholes usually know they are assholes, they just don’t care. Or they like it.
All the one’s I’ve met in life were practiced at it, like practiced every damn day, until it became so natural to them that they don’t understand that not everyone likes an asshole. Or they don’t give a damn.
Then one day they wake up to find out that everyone they have ever known or met, thinks they are an asshole. And they figure they’ve made the grade. Prime fucking asshole. It’s a low bar, but it never fails to amaze how many people think it’s the only thing in life that counts, being all asshole, all the time.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: She’s not the only one:
arkvalleyvoice.com/thinking-security-political-warfare-and-the-2020-us-elections-what-can-be-done/
Mary G
The new spin:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I’m no political professional, but that picture sure makes it look like they thought Fredo would be a bigger draw
frosty
@Suzanne: If you do end up in PA, welcome!!
Either option means you won’t be here with me in Alabama Up The Middle.
Philly and PGH both good places to live for completely different reasons.
dww44
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve a brother and his family who are longtime residents there. He and his son are Republicans. His wife and daughter are Dems. Fairfax has been trending blue for some time. Given that so many federal workers live in the county, I’d be awfully surprised and dismayed if the county voted red anytime soon. Honestly, all of Northern Virginia has gotta know now on which side their bread is buttered. And, it’s not on the red side.
cain
@Kraux Pas:
I’m not sure. The rest of the down races were all republicans. So this is a vote on Bevin being an asshole. Now it is possible that everyone else thinks McConnell is an asshole and we could win on that argument. In fact that might be the best argument to make. :-)
frosty
@Kent A Lind: Absolutely. VA just left MD (and MA FFS) in the dust! Well done you!
Ken
@Raoul:
At the very least, they’re all trying to figure out how to tell Trump to stay the hell away from their campaign events.
Frankensteinbeck
@cain:
McConnell is actually less popular than Bevin. Signifcantly. Like 10 points.
Raoul
This amazing tidbit on KY turnout!
Kraux Pas
@cain:
That’s damn near indisputable.
stinger
@Adam L Silverman: As a woman, I don’t have the luxury of shrugging about anti-abortion politicians. Does Hood just talk pro-life platitudes, or does he actively work to restrict women’s health care and control their bodies? One is understandable given his environment; the other is untenable in a Democrat.
cain
@lollipopguild:
Then they should and force the Supreme Court to kill it. Say it out loud that is the goal. If not, well I guess it will be a Dem majority. In which case, make a true independent group that will stay apolitical. Their choice.
craigie
I guess impeachment really is backfiring on us Dems.
bluehill
Perhaps tonight’s results will be the catalyst to turn enough repub senators against Trump. Wishful thinking, I know, but deep red states turning more blue seems to be a sign that dissatisfaction with Trump and repubs is pretty broad and not just limited to “coastal elites.”
frosty
@Kelly: We just went through the same thing in my tiny borough over being part of the regional police. There was a slate of insurgent Rs running against the incumbent mayor and council who beat them in the primary over the issue of transparency of council meetings. They beat them in the primary then ran both R/D today so I didn’t have to hold my nose to vote for them.
In other excellent news I voted with an optical scan paper ballot for the first time since I moved here 16 years ago!
Aleta
(Post tonight) Democrats swept elections for top prosecutor in four Northern Virginia counties Tuesday, giving a nationwide movement for bold criminal justice reforms a major foothold in the state for the first time.
Candidates who labeled themselves progressives won races for commonwealth’s attorney offices in Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun counties, while a fourth pushing liberal reforms beat a Republican in Prince William County.
The candidates promised sweeping changes such as moving away from the death penalty, dropping prosecutions for marijuana possession, ending cash bail and limiting cooperation with immigration authorities.
…
The outcomes were powered to a significant degree by Democratic megadonor George Soros, whose political action committee spent nearly $2.1 million in the primary and general election on polls, mailers and advertisements for Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in Arlington, Steve T. Descano in Fairfax and Buta Biberaj in Loudoun.
The fourth winner, Amy Ashworth in Prince William, did not receive in-kind contributions from Soros.
The spending was unprecedented in prosecutors’ races in Virginia, part of an effort by Soros to tip prosecutors’ offices to progressive candidates across the country.
washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/a-sea-change-for-prosecutors-in-northern-virginia-as-libe…
Mandalay
Trump tweeted this a couple of minutes ago:
It’s as though Trump’s house is on fire, and he’s saying it’s nice and warm.
Redshift
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Nah, it used to be Republican, but it’s been trending blue for years. Still, the school board sweep was quite a jump.
Also, possibly a bigger local story was that Democrats won majorities on the county boards in both Loudoun and Prince William Counties (the next further out from DC, what used to be called exurbs). Those were GOP strongholds more recently; the outgoing chair of the PW county board was Corey Stewart, anti-immigrant bigot and proud Confederate patriot (despite being from Minnesota) who lost the primary for governor.
Raven Onthill
In Seattle, two of the three Amazon/Chamber of Commerce candidates are going down to defeat. Sawant the socialist, who supported Jill Stein, may or may not be reelected. On the other hand, an anti-transit initiative seems likely to make it. That is going to set the state up for decades of regret, if it does.
cain
@craigie:
The media will still try to fear goad us because they want a horse race. It’ll get everyone all nervous and you have no choice but to watch them debate it on TV.
cain
@Raven Onthill:
Ugh. Seattle needs good transit. It’s just not scalable what they got there. Seriously, everything from Seattle to Olympia is a parking lot on a daily basis.
Redshift
@Aleta: Yeah, that, too! Especially since their opponents were “police endorsed,” and tried to run on a platform that we can’t have justice and be safe.
Raven Onthill
@cain: The initiative may not make it, but more likely not. It may also be overturned in litigation.
The Republicans have been working on gutting the regional transit system for over two decades. If this stands, in 30 years, Seattle’s traffic will be like Mexico City’s.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@PsiFighter37: The 27th Amendment was passed by Congress in 1789 and ratified in 1992.
ETA: The ERA had a deadline written into the law passed by Congress, and it was also extended.
prostratedragon
@Cheryl Rofer:
“You can’t let that happen to me.”
Christ, what an asshole! May this be just the first of many, to include KY Senate next year.
Adam L Silverman
@stinger: I understand and do not know. But it doesn’t matter as he lost by about 8 percent to this goober, who will definitely do so.
Also, those are the newest, just off the rack hunting clothes I’ve ever seen including those hanging on the rack in the store.
Mandalay
RNC Chair Ronna McNotRomney bravely tries to put some lipstick on the disgusting pig:
Whatever, dipshit. You lost.
Raven Onthill
As of an hour ago, in Medina, Washington, home of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, the property tax initiative designed to balance the town’s budget is trailing by four votes.
Let’s hear it for civic-minded businessmen!
Raoul
@craigie: I don’t doubt that a rash of pundits are tapping out stories of how tonight’s results are bad news for Elizabeth Warren and universal health care — or taxes on the rich. Pick your thing that ‘centrist’ pundits hate. Or, why pick, link both somehow to the VA and KY results. You know they will (spuriously).
Martin
@PsiFighter37:
I don’t believe that’s generally true. The 27th amendment passed the House on September 24, 1789 and the Senate the next day. It was finally ratified on May 7, 1992. The argument is that Congress has the authority to extend the deadline indefinitely and can choose to do so at any time. I cannot imagine that a bill to extend the ERA deadline wouldn’t pass both chambers if the final state legislature ratified.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin:
Perhaps you’re not acquainted with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell?
Eolirin
@Adam L Silverman: It’ll happen as soon as we have control of the Senate, at the very least.
So it rather matters, I think.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: Hope you realize that Democrat = better than Republican is obvious to everyone here, yes? Conservative Dems in conservative states are also not news to anyone (see WV, Maine, etc.) That doesn’t lessen the importance of his anti-abortion stance.
Matt McIrvin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s the continuation of a decades-long trend. NoVa has been the most liberal part of Virginia for a long time but when I was a kid, Fairfax County outside the most densely populated areas was still mostly Republican. It’s not any more.
Miss Bianca
@gene108:
Yeah, but he should be. In fact, I am going to say that if there *is* a litmus test for acceptability, it has to be on that issue.
Uncle Cosmo
@lollipopguild: Rather say that the minute state gerrymanders net Democrats more seats (in Congress and/or state legislatures) that the GOP, SCOTUS will strike them down. But that presumes there is no argument, no matter how implausible and convoluted, for striking down the gerrymander in Democrat-controlled states only**. The 5 Extremes on the Court would pretzelogic themselves into higher-order topologies to so rule.
** NB in MD the CDs are gerrymandered to the advantage of Democrats. The state is about 60-40 Dem & one might expect 3 or at least 2 of our 8 Congresscritters to be GOP, but nope, just 1 (Andy “Anesthesiologist High On His Own Supply” Harris, who upon his first election immediately demanded his goldplated Congressional health-care package – which he was not entitled to until actually sworn in, which wouldn’t happen until the following January. Cretin.) The only reason that asshole has a seat is that the MD Democratic Party has never been able to devise district boundaries for MD-01 (today essentially everything east of the Baltimore metro area & the Chesapeake Bay plus a strip of BCo along the Mason-Dixon line connecting with the flighty-whitey Neanderthal refuge in Carroll Co) where a Democrat could regularly compete. Last Democratic Rep from MD-01 was Frank Kratovil, who in 2008 came in on Obama’s coattails (& with the help of the retiring incumbent, moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrist, who despised Harris) & was swept out in the Tea Party wave of 2010.
Uncle Cosmo
@frosty:
I know you’re a MD transplant, but you should call it by its customary name: Pennsyltucky.
Uncle Cosmo
@frosty: So long as the MD GOP can field gubernatorial candidates slightly leftward of Genghis Khan, we are probably doomed to having a string of them in the Governor’s Mansion for the rest of my natural life.
It should be noted that since the turn of the millennium MD Democrats have nominated a woman (Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend), two African-American males (Anthony Brown and Ben Jealous), and a white male (Martin O’Malley) for Governor. O’Malley won two terms; the others lost to white male GOP candidates. In fact all 62 MD Governors, from Revolutionary times to the present, have been white males.
What I would call the Free State Syndrome is that while POC hold a decisive influence over the Democratic nomination for Governor in our closed primaries, and in the last 2 statewide elections have played a crucial role in nominating a POC for the office, there is a significant fraction of registered Democrats (I’d estimate 10-20% of the electorate) who’d crawl over broken glass to vote against any POC – and that tends to flip the board in the general.
So long as there is a credible candidate of color running in the MD gubernatorial primary, it’s hard to imagine s/he will not be nominated – POC will quite naturally tend to identify with and support someone who understands their concerns and needs on a fundamental level. But the nominee will be left with an uphill battle against Republicans, independents and the DINOs.
I honestly don’t know if that would hold if the GOP nominates a Trumpista in 2022. I would hope the Democratic nominee would be a beacon of sanity by comparison & pull enough independents to prevail. There are not a lot of moderates of any stature in the MD GOP; the obvious successor to Hogan is Lt Gov Boyd Rutherford, who is African American, and there’s not a deep bench. Then again, our bench isn’t all that deep either…