Could be worse
The elections haven’t been the bloodbath that was predicted.
It’s not that there were no disappointments. There were some painful losses for Democrats: the odious Peter Thiel acolyte JD Vance has won a Senate seat in Ohio; candidates that perennially capture the imagination and hope of national democrats, like Beto O’Rourke and Stacey Abrams, lost.
Beto O’Rourke doesn’t capture my imagination, but losing Stacey Abrams is a bitter pill.
The much-watched state of Georgia provided perhaps the most embarrassing result for Trump: Brian Kemp, the candidate he campaigned hardest against, was comfortably re-elected governor, while Herschel Walker, his hand-picked Senate candidate, polled almost 5% behind Kemp and is probably facing a highly uncertain runoff against Raphael Warnock.
I hope Trump is lurching around Maralago screaming and throwing things and breaking windows.
Some good news from MI. Abortion, contraception and other reproductive rights are now protected in our state Constitution. Ditto for strong voting rights protection including early voting and the prohibition of denialist shenanigans. And our stringent term limits have been lengthened (two cheers for that one).
Gov. Whitmer (aka That Woman from Michigan, and affectionately Big Gretch) won as did Sec. of State Jocelyn Benson. Our Dem AG Dana Nessel is unfortunately neck and neck with a rabid MAGA election denier Matt DePerno.
This was our first non-gerrymandered election. MI is typically closely divided in terms of the popular vote. It will be interesting to see if the election results move in that direction vs. lopsided Republican domination in the ledge.
I yelled “Go Michigan” on Twitter first thing.
Minnesota didn’t elect a quack covid-denier for governor, nor an election denying Secretary of State.
Still waiting for the vote on retaining Ellison for AG.
Nebraska selected the candidate hand-chosen by our current governor. He beat the Trumpista easily in the primary, but it’s not much consolation since he is anti-abortion, pro-theocracy, and anti-public education.
I knew his challenger wouldn’t win. 1: Democrat 2: Woman (we did have one woman governor, in 1987) 3: Pro-life 4: Pro-woman 5: I voted for her
Pity. If she had won, I could tell everyone I had a play produced that was directed by the Nebraska Lieutenant Governor. How many people can say that? (If I’m the only one, I guess it’s none. Sigh.)
In the good news, though, three of the four candidates I voted for won the school board election, so we didn’t have a sweep of anti-CRT, anti-sex education members. But my City Council choice lost (and he was incumbent, but apparently the city voters decided the most important thing was to elect the weirdos who wanted to protect the viaduct, voted against protecting the viaduct, screamed at the city council for following the vote not to protect the viaduct, and ran for city council solely to protect a structure that has already been removed). ,
Voters are weird.
Some good news from MI. Abortion, contraception and other reproductive rights are now protected in our state Constitution. Ditto for strong voting rights protection including early voting and the prohibition of denialist shenanigans; and stringent term limits have been lengthened and financial disclosure requirements increased (two cheers for that one–term limits are stupid IMO).
Gov. Whitmer (aka That Woman from Michigan, and affectionately Big Gretch) won as did incumbent Dem Sec. of State Jocelyn Benson and AG Dana Nessel.
This was our first non-gerrymandered election. Rs have dominated Fed and State lege elections despite the votes being nearly 50/50. We’ll see if that changes.
Not much going on here in northern Virginia. No statewide elections or referendums, so we just had a few county races, all won easily by Dems, and bond issues, all passed easily. Elsewhere in the Commonwealth the Dems lost one congressional seat in a swing district, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. The one seat they lost was in Norfolk, a heavily military area, a race that featured two female navy vets running against each other. The incumbent Dem Elaine Luria is on the Jan. 6 committee; her opponent was coy about the 2020 election (all she would say is that Biden “lives in the White House”), and capitalized on the trans issue.
Michigan update: Dems narrowly took the state House and Senate. The new districts drawn by the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission are credited as a major factor.
Just learned the Nebraska minimum wage question was a winner – big winner. Surprise, but I’ll accept it. All our state questions passed – the two I voted for, and the one I voted against (voter ID).
Voter ID won’t change a thing where I live; too white, and most of our non-Anglo population is Hispanic, and a lot of them are upwardly mobile business owners. They’ll have ID. I suspect this is directed at Omaha as much as anything else.
Honestly think the Dems should bend on voter ID… But also use it as an opportunity to get some kind of national ID system that is accessible to all citizens. The reds probably still wouldn’t bite, but it would defang the argument somewhat.
Pleased that the loonies mostly had a bad night.
@bruce coppola
Minnnesota Democrats also have the governor, legislature, and senate. I think this would be an ideal time for us to institute an independent redistricting council, too. Wisconsin’s public is similar to Minnesota, but their legislature is solidly Republican due to gerrymandering, and it could happen here. I don’t want the districts to favor either party, I just want it done scientifically and demographically.