Democrats had a pretty good night where I live. A well-known and well-liked Democrat, Adam Bello, beat a not-well-liked Republican for Monroe County Executive, Cheryl DiNolfo. Two Democrats won judicial seats, one of them beating an incumbent Republican.
In my suburb, the politics are changing. Last night, the well-known and well-liked Republican town supervisor won, as did his deputy. But it looks like the third contested seat will be occupied by a Democrat, which means that our town council majority has flipped to the Democrats for the first time in history. And, if his massive 35 vote margin holds, we’ll have elected our first Democrat as a county legislator in a long time.
Other historically Republican suburbs are still electing Republicans–the reason we’re winning in my suburb is down to some racist flyers and pissed off women. Shortly after Trump was elected, some crude racist flyers were spread around town, and a community group formed to combat racism. That group, mainly women, also organizes GOTV campaigns, and they target other women. Here’s a postcard we received the day before the election, addressed to my wife and daughter:
My wife also received calls and texts from real people, including one from the town supervisor candidate yesterday, as well as numerous canvassing visits.
A few years ago, the accepted wisdom here was that Democrats can win federal elections, but Republicans owned the low-turnout county and town elections. Democrats didn’t sweep last night, but they did better than they’ve done in decades.
jeffreyw
The good news from last night is fractal.
HinTN
Bravo!!!
We’re a long way from that here in dead red rural Tennessee, but we’ve got folks trying so that’s a start. You’re showing us the way.
p.a.
Glad for the good news. My two headslaps: for those who switched to D: it took a Trump to get you to change? For those who have been eligible to vote previously but have not: it took a Trump to get you off your asses?
Can we count on many of these in the future? Successful attacks on gerrymandering, suppression (including foreign instigated), and caging are more reliable for future success than those for whom it took Donald Fucking Trump to cast a Democratic ballot.
CindyH
Does anyone know the name of the guy who went from red state to red state advising on voter fraud/voter ID to help voter suppression? I can’t find his name anywhere. TIA.
dr. bloor
When you’ve lost Pittsford…
WereBear
I sense a tide turning. More.
NotMax
@CindyH
Guessing the name you’re looking for is Hans von Spakovsky?
Xboxershorts
@CindyH:
Thor Hearne (A Federalist toe licker) and the American Center for Voting (LOLOL) rights front group
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Center_for_Voting_Rights
schrodingers_cat
@CindyH: Kris Kobach. He was also behind Arizona’s paper’s please law.
CindyH
@schrodingers_cat: yes, Kris KobAch is who I was looking for
Thanks!
CindyH
@CindyH: also, thanks for the other names too! so many to keep track of.
Xboxershorts
@CindyH:
Thor Hearne and the fraudulent ACVR front group are the ones who originally kicked off the BS about in person voter fraud.
Raoul
@p.a.: Can we count on many of these in the future?
Voting behaviors are not set in stone, but as I understand it, once people do vote, they have a higher tendency to vote again. One of many reasons why yesterdays turnout in states like KY may prove historic.
I posted an item in a prev thread that Bevins got something like 190,000 more votes than he did when he won previously. But he lost the governorship. So turnout was, relatively speaking, massive.
All those new (or occasional) voters will now be noted in various databases for future points of contact and GOTV, among other things!
Elizabelle
@Raoul:
I handed out lit at a suburban elementary school/polling place in Virginia. Our turnout was steady, steady, steady. And met several first-time voters, high schoolers. Also loved seeing the parents arriving with their kids in tow. All of whom walked out with “I Voted” stickers, even the infants. It was celebratory.
pika
@jeffreyw: That’s a wonderful way to put it: fractal. The emotional impact is that, too–I live in Rochester, and I pulled the lever with the awareness that I had the mood from 2016–but the 2019 result elevates my mood immensely. Thanks for showing the postcard, mistermix!
J R in WV
Obviously many, many grifters spreading the news about voter suppression, oppression, gerrymandering, etc, etc. Must have been a lot of money to be made, huh?
Which one was the North Carolinian who, after he died, his daughter found his information about working for voter suppression and provided it to an honest investigator into said scandal?
Rusty
@dr. bloor: Losing Pittsford, not quite lost there yet. Still, l don’t want to put a damper on what are good outcomes. After 75 plus years of not a single Democrat on the town board, having three is a sea change. Over 20+ years we have watched our neighborhood go from red to blue. The older neighbors are almost all white, conservative and they are dying or moving out to retirement or assisted living facilities. The buyers coming in are younger (toddlers or within a year or two having babies), much more representative of the racial mix of America and solidly blue. Now if we can rid of our awful former TV reporter NY state senator Rich Funke who a few elections ago gave away an assault weapon as a campaign fund raiser, we would make real progress. He was even in Pittsford, won the election by the rural sections of his district. Hopefully by the next election…
Stacy
Glad to hear about Pittsford! Moved from Fairport in 2011 to be expats and then to Loudoun County, VA in 2013. After the devastation of 2016 it was so cathartic, although stressful too, to vote again in 2017 and gain so many VA delegate seats. And then to boot our horrible GOP Rep. and flip the seat blue with Jennifer Wexton in 2018 and now this year. Just amazing. Sounds like Pittsford’s demographics are becoming more like NoVa. My college age daughter’s friends are all very engaged and both of us got multiple postcards for this election and for every election since 2016.