Those Progressive Democrats threatening to withhold dues over California 22 are as stupid as it gets. They won making the race much more of a tighter race and now they complain. Meanwhile California 6 is a blue district that Democrats almost got shut out.
Either leave and don’t pay or stay and pay. Thus constant everyone thinking they should get everything their way is childish.
Candidates considered far left or Bernie candidates usually face plant in general elections of moderate districts.
The biggest exception is John Fetterman in 2022. He was a darling of the far left and he outperformed by a lot in both blue and red areas of Pennsylvania.
That can be attributed to circumstance and candidate I think more than policy. Fetterman was unique the club bouncer that looked that way. The authentic guy that spoke from the heart dealing with the stroke. He beat Dr. Oz a well funded but kind of weaker candidate. The attacks on Fetterman’s stroke could have been done in a legitimate sensitive way but were Trumpian, out of bounds and rebounded to Fetterman’s benefit.
I can’t think of any race where a considered further left progressive is a stronger candidate in the general but there probably are a couple of house races in this cycle that might fit that.
Not much point in voting for a party that doesn’t want you to vote. Gutting voting rights, disenfranchisement. Republicans actions are speaking very loud.
They want some people to vote. People who defend Republican voter ID laws don’t look at the details. Texas tried it by not allowing college IDs or other obvious picture IDs but they do allow gun licenses.
It’s been their playbook since 2007. Make it harder to vote in blue districts and easier in red ones. Restrict drop boxes in blue areas and make the lines as long as possible.
Congratulations. It takes real effort to write about black voters and not mention South Carolina, which just defeated redistricting (for this session, at least), had record early voting turnout for the primaries, and in which several African-American candidates won their primaries, including the Democratic nominee for governor.
The DCCC sabotaged Bernie in 2016 where Deb Wasserman Schultz as the head, along with Donna Brazile put the hit on Bernie so Hillary got the nomination. She lost and here we are today. Bernie would have won and the world would be better off today.
Bernie got his ass kicked in 2016 lost by a lot. Bernie lost by a significant margin and he wasn’t even a Democrat. There was no sabotage unless you consider telling Hillary there is a debate question about the Flint Water crisis at a debate in Flint, Michigan.
Bernie lost because of the voters not the DCCC. He lost not because of superdelegates but because of old-fashioned voting: Hillary got 55+% of the primary vote, won 34 of 57 contests and crushed him in delegates.
The DCCC could’ve been full of Tulsi Gabbards drinking Bernie’s bath water and howling at the moon. It wouldn’t have mattered.
Bernie would 100% not have won a general election in 2016. That’s fairytale “Bernie-bro” thinking. The country hadn’t even had their first dose of Trump yet. There’s no way this country was going to elect the crotchety old Jew for president. Sorry, wasn’t happening. Still wouldn’t happen today. It’s more reasonable to say that if Comey hadn’t fucked Hillary in the zero hour she (who got 3 million + more popular votes than Trump) would have won. And fuck yes, the entire world would be better off today.
Every action has an equal opposite reaction - Newton’s third law of physics. Thomas Jefferson quoted Newton and said that the same law applied in politics. The notion is that the Gerrymandering being done in the South (the action) is having a back lash (a reaction).
This could work beautifully in state government races or even for the People Not Politicians referendum in Missouri (the nightmare of St. Louis being split 3 ways should be vivid in people's minds). For federal races especially if the redistricting has been done already an additional message may be necessary such as Congress could reauthorize the VRA so that SCOTUS could not get away with it but a Republican-controlled Congress sees what SCOTUS is doing helping Republicans so will not do so.
Gerrymandering can backfire. Just because a district is no longer ‘majority Black’ doesn’t mean it automatically elects a Republican. In Illinois we have four Black House members, and guess how many come from majority-Black districts?
That’s true, but that may be a perverse side effect of the VRA’s packing of Black voters into a few districts. There are far more white liberals in the South than there were decades ago. A district with, say, 25% Black population could go blue if 40% of whites vote for the Dem.
Those Progressive Democrats threatening to withhold dues over California 22 are as stupid as it gets. They won making the race much more of a tighter race and now they complain. Meanwhile California 6 is a blue district that Democrats almost got shut out.
Either leave and don’t pay or stay and pay. Thus constant everyone thinking they should get everything their way is childish.
How many of Bernie Sanders endorsed candidates win their November election in close districts? How many upset a Republican incumbent?
Candidates considered far left or Bernie candidates usually face plant in general elections of moderate districts.
The biggest exception is John Fetterman in 2022. He was a darling of the far left and he outperformed by a lot in both blue and red areas of Pennsylvania.
That can be attributed to circumstance and candidate I think more than policy. Fetterman was unique the club bouncer that looked that way. The authentic guy that spoke from the heart dealing with the stroke. He beat Dr. Oz a well funded but kind of weaker candidate. The attacks on Fetterman’s stroke could have been done in a legitimate sensitive way but were Trumpian, out of bounds and rebounded to Fetterman’s benefit.
I can’t think of any race where a considered further left progressive is a stronger candidate in the general but there probably are a couple of house races in this cycle that might fit that.
Not much point in voting for a party that doesn’t want you to vote. Gutting voting rights, disenfranchisement. Republicans actions are speaking very loud.
They want some people to vote. People who defend Republican voter ID laws don’t look at the details. Texas tried it by not allowing college IDs or other obvious picture IDs but they do allow gun licenses.
It’s been their playbook since 2007. Make it harder to vote in blue districts and easier in red ones. Restrict drop boxes in blue areas and make the lines as long as possible.
Congratulations. It takes real effort to write about black voters and not mention South Carolina, which just defeated redistricting (for this session, at least), had record early voting turnout for the primaries, and in which several African-American candidates won their primaries, including the Democratic nominee for governor.
The DCCC sabotaged Bernie in 2016 where Deb Wasserman Schultz as the head, along with Donna Brazile put the hit on Bernie so Hillary got the nomination. She lost and here we are today. Bernie would have won and the world would be better off today.
Bernie got his ass kicked in 2016 lost by a lot. Bernie lost by a significant margin and he wasn’t even a Democrat. There was no sabotage unless you consider telling Hillary there is a debate question about the Flint Water crisis at a debate in Flint, Michigan.
Bernie lost because of the voters not the DCCC. He lost not because of superdelegates but because of old-fashioned voting: Hillary got 55+% of the primary vote, won 34 of 57 contests and crushed him in delegates.
The DCCC could’ve been full of Tulsi Gabbards drinking Bernie’s bath water and howling at the moon. It wouldn’t have mattered.
Bernie would 100% not have won a general election in 2016. That’s fairytale “Bernie-bro” thinking. The country hadn’t even had their first dose of Trump yet. There’s no way this country was going to elect the crotchety old Jew for president. Sorry, wasn’t happening. Still wouldn’t happen today. It’s more reasonable to say that if Comey hadn’t fucked Hillary in the zero hour she (who got 3 million + more popular votes than Trump) would have won. And fuck yes, the entire world would be better off today.
Newtons Laws of Physics playing out in politics. Great piece!!
Hmm, I need more explanation re Newtonian physics. I’m a Humanities gal.
Every action has an equal opposite reaction - Newton’s third law of physics. Thomas Jefferson quoted Newton and said that the same law applied in politics. The notion is that the Gerrymandering being done in the South (the action) is having a back lash (a reaction).
Thx. Got it.
This could work beautifully in state government races or even for the People Not Politicians referendum in Missouri (the nightmare of St. Louis being split 3 ways should be vivid in people's minds). For federal races especially if the redistricting has been done already an additional message may be necessary such as Congress could reauthorize the VRA so that SCOTUS could not get away with it but a Republican-controlled Congress sees what SCOTUS is doing helping Republicans so will not do so.
Gerrymandering can backfire. Just because a district is no longer ‘majority Black’ doesn’t mean it automatically elects a Republican. In Illinois we have four Black House members, and guess how many come from majority-Black districts?
Zero.
That’s true, but that may be a perverse side effect of the VRA’s packing of Black voters into a few districts. There are far more white liberals in the South than there were decades ago. A district with, say, 25% Black population could go blue if 40% of whites vote for the Dem.
That's true but in the Southern states that will redistrict to help Republicans almost all the Democrats in the entire state are Black.
Excellent and timely report. Let's hope all Dems are very incentived to vote this November