The Midterms: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[outtheblue]

So Georgia is still red as I predicted...silver lining is that it was REALLY REALLY close (Abrams hasn't even conceded yet). So that gives me SOME hope for future elections.

[fraurosena]

Everyone should do well to remember that repugliklans only remain in power because of gerrymandering and voter suppression and faulty computers (making it impossible to vote for a Dem candidate, wtf*) and not enough ballots.

Repugliklans don't win at all. They cheat, and only by cheating to they hold on to power. They do not get the majority of votes. In a truly democratic election, they would be obliterated from politics.

I don't know if it's in any way possible, but could one of the House committees investigate this blatant cheating and could those responsible for this be held accountable?

 

*without this cheating in Texas and Georgia, I'm quite sure Beto and Stacey would have won.

[outtheblue]

3 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Everyone should do well to remember that repugliklans only remain in power because of gerrymandering and voter suppression and faulty computers (making it impossible to vote for a Dem candidate, wtf*) and not enough ballots.

Repugliklans don't win at all. They cheat, and only by cheating to they hold on to power. They do not get the majority of votes. In a truly democratic election, they would be obliterated from politics.

I don't know if it's in any way possible, but could one of the House committees investigate this blatant cheating and could those responsible for this be held accountable?

 

*without this cheating in Texas and Georgia, I'm quite sure Beto and Stacey would have won.

That is true...voting was a mess here yesterday. Kemp is another snake, no doubt in my mind.

[formergothardite]

7 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

because of gerrymandering and voter suppression

Yes. NC was not totally ungerrymandered for this election, but should be for the next one. Sadly we will then have to deal with the new voter suppression law. 

4 minutes ago, outtheblue said:

In a truly democratic election, they would be obliterated from politics.

It is going to be a fight but I think if we all get together we can eventually turn American elections into truly democratic ones. It is an uphill fight though. 

[Drala]

11 hours ago, justmissedquiver said:

My personal hero Sherod Brown is a shoo-in for senator of Ohio. ?

Can you explain how Democrat Sherrod Brown got re-elected by 6 points over Republican Renacci, but Ohioans put Republican DeWine in the governor's office by 4 points over Democrat Cordray?  I'm an Ohio D voter, and although I'm feeling great about getting back the US House of Representatives, I'm not at all happy about how Red my state went in the mid-terms.   The best thing I can say about Ohio Repugs is that most are the moderate sort.  Nevertheless, DeWine is Trump's toady.

[justmissedquiver]

11 minutes ago, Drala said:

Can you explain how Democrat Sherrod Brown got re-elected by 6 points over Republican Renacci, but Ohioans put Republican DeWine in the governor's office by 4 points over Democrat Cordray?  I'm an Ohio D voter, and although I'm feeling great about getting back the US House of Representatives, I'm not at all happy about how Red my state went in the mid-terms.   The best thing I can say about Ohio Repugs is that most are the moderate sort.  Nevertheless, DeWine is Trump's toady.

I think Sherrod Brown is out and around everyday people a lot more than the the typical R candidate.  He is freaking EVERYWHERE all.the.time. bowling allies, diners, drs. offices.  He is with the people listening and understanding. I totally think DeWine is Trump's toady, but he also understands the opioid epidemic and has made good on some promises in that area.  I'm in the southeast side of the state and the cognitive dissonance here is at unreal levels.  About Cordray, I like the guy, but think he's stiff and doesn't communicate as well.  

[CTRLZero]

We went out to eat in Nashville last night and, instead of the usual sports, all eyes were on the election results.  There were groans as Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) won handily, so we know some locals were hoping for some blue to take Tennessee.

In my home state (Washington), we kept our democratic senator and representative, kept a couple pesky republican incumbents, but nothing outlandish happened that I notice on waking up this morning.

But -- Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins - indicted and reelected.  Hmmmm.

Thanks for opening this thread.  It's so interesting to read what's happening in the various states.  Thanks for voting!  Let's keep it up!

[danvillebelle]

I am very, very encouraged by all the wins by women and LGBT candidates.  ROCK ON WITH YOUR BADASS SELVES. 

I am quite sad that Beto did not win, but happy and impressed that he only lost by a few points.  That is big progress here in TX.

I'm going to go window shopping today at my favorite stores, enjoy the Christmas decorations, and try not to think about the fact that slimy Ted is still my senator. 

[fraurosena]

American 'democracy'...

That's a difference of 9,068,236  or nine million sixty-eight thousand two hundred and thirty-six votes.

 

[Howl]

Shocking, isn't it? And this is over 9 million votes, in spite of minority voter suppression.  

59 minutes ago, danvillebelle said:

enjoy the Christmas decorations,

Yeah, I saw some modernist Christmas trees already up in the vicinity of Whole Foods yesterday.  

[keen23]

Takeaways from the election, paraphrased from CNN- the republican base has moved from white collar to blue collar, and from the urban/suburban areas to the country. Unfortunately, the way our system works, the sparsely populated country areas are now able to control politics even with fewer voters- a single vote has more weight in the counties with fewer people than the more densely populated urban/suburban areas.

The bright spot (for me) in Arizona was the No vote on Prop 305. Prop 305 would have greatly expanded the voucher system, allowing charter and religious schools to further gut the already hurting public school system.

[SassyPants]

1 minute ago, keen23 said:

Takeaways from the election, paraphrased from CNN- the republican base has moved from white collar to blue collar, and from the urban/suburban areas to the country. Unfortunately, the way our system works, the sparsely populated country areas are now able to control politics even with fewer voters- a single vote has more weight in the counties with fewer people than the more densely populated urban/suburban areas.

The bright spot (for me) in Arizona was the No vote on Prop 305. Prop 305 would have greatly expanded the voucher system, allowing charter and religious schools to further gut the already hurting public school system.

And all you have to do is look at TX- Beto wins all the urban areas and loses, not by much, put still loses.

[keen23]

Also, Nevada republicans elected a dead guy, brothel owner Dennis Hof. So county officials will get to appoint another republican for the job.

[Audrey2]

7 minutes ago, keen23 said:

Also, Nevada republicans elected a dead guy, brothel owner Dennis Hof. So county officials will get to appoint another republican for the job.

The irony of this just kills me, although I know it's rural Nevada and that's the way they would go no matter what. They're the ones screaming the loudest that the Democrats let dead people vote but they will elect dead people to office! Yes I know it's so they can put someone of their party in as a replacement, but still the principle is what makes me laugh.

[AnywhereButHere]

7 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

The irony of this just kills me, although I know it's rural Nevada and that's the way they would go no matter what. They're the ones screaming the loudest that the Democrats let dead people vote but they will elect dead people to office! Yes I know it's so they can put someone of their party in as a replacement, but still the principle is what makes me laugh.

That's something that needs to be changed. There is no way a dead guy should be able to be elected as a placeholder.  You cant really claim that you're voting for the person who represents your views when your guy is DEAD. What are you going to say? "Yeah, I really agreed with Hof. He was a great guy. Great views. Love what he would've done for my state. BROTHELS FOR LIFE MAN! But, too bad, so sad. He popped off, so yeah, I guess any old republican will do". Really, it just proves the point that people vote for the party rather than an individual, but can we at least try to keep the pretense going? 

[AlwaysExcited]

You know, growing up here (former USSR), I was taught that USA is some kind of citadel of Democracy and if we just could become more like USA we would be fine. That we should look up to the West and all the shit left by 50 years of occupation would be solved. Economy would thrive, all ethnicities would live together in harmony, Russia couldn't threaten our safety, medicine would be cheap and accessible, and there would be equality and peace for everybody. Just do what USA does.
Yeah. Haven't heard that kind of talk for years now. I personally don't consider USA a true democracy anymore yet alone a citadel of it. (Sorry, Americans.) 

[front hugs > duggs]

I personally believe that an ideal electoral college system would be the following change:

The popular vote determines electoral college votes, but would not determine the entire state's vote. Ex. California has 55 electoral votes. But maybe those 55 can be split based on the popular vote (instead of all 55 going to the winning party). So if 65% vote Dem, and 35% vote GOP, 36 electoral votes would go to the Democratic candidate, and 19 go to the Republican candidate.

I think this can better represent Americans. I think that if you get rid of the electoral college, what's kind of happening is that the liberal cities have enough popular votes to rule the whole country each time. But if you think about what a TRUE democracy should be, all the people living in the cities don't and shouldn't represent rural residents.

I know that's not perfect either. but I do think it would be an improvement over the current system we have in place.

And I agree @AlwaysExcited, as an American, I don't consider the US to be a thriving democracy. I feel like we were taught that a democracy should take care of each one of the members that encompass it. Whether it's voter suppression, racism, or the fact that certain areas in our country have been described as "third world" by the WHO, while others are affluent, or that there isn't clean and available drinking water in other places, we are not taking care of each other.

[Destiny]

[mention=11277]Destiny[/mention], Steve King is being projected winner of district 4 in Iowa. We are also stuck with the heinous Kim Reynolds as our governor again. So my night has definitely ended on a sour note. 

God dammit. Dammit universe. I needed that one thing.

Twitter is telling me that Dana Russiabacher is out

Really?????? I didn’t dare hope for that.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

One bright spot of news is we had a gun referendum in our county:

Quote

Should the State of Illinois strengthen penalties for the illegal trafficking of firearms and require all gun dealers to be certified by the State?[2]

91.41% went yes...restored some of my faith in humanity.

The fact that the holocaust denier with ties to neo-nazis got 35k votes (despite losing in a landslide) scares me.  Who are those people?

[47of74]

And some better news. Ol Scottie Wanker isn’t getting a third term in Wisconsin.

[onekidanddone]

3 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

And some better news. Ol Scottie Wanker isn’t getting a third term in Wisconsin.

Yea Wisconsin and Kansas both flipped blue for Governor and yet Maryland my Maryland retained the color red in Annapolis. 

[keen23]

32 minutes ago, front hugs > duggs said:

I personally believe that an ideal electoral college system would be the following change:

The popular vote determines electoral college votes, but would not determine the entire state's vote. Ex. California has 55 electoral votes. But maybe those 55 can be split based on the popular vote (instead of all 55 going to the winning party). So if 65% vote Dem, and 35% vote GOP, 36 electoral votes would go to the Democratic candidate, and 19 go to the Republican candidate.

I think this can better represent Americans. I think that if you get rid of the electoral college, what's kind of happening is that the liberal cities have enough popular votes to rule the whole country each time. But if you think about what a TRUE democracy should be, all the people living in the cities don't and shouldn't represent rural residents.

I know that's not perfect either. but I do think it would be an improvement over the current system we have in place.

And I agree @AlwaysExcited, as an American, I don't consider the US to be a thriving democracy. I feel like we were taught that a democracy should take care of each one of the members that encompass it. Whether it's voter suppression, racism, or the fact that certain areas in our country have been described as "third world" by the WHO, while others are affluent, or that there isn't clean and available drinking water in other places, we are not taking care of each other.

The electoral college is totally broken. But sadly, it means that the less populous states and areas actually have MORE voting power than the populous states and cities. A rural vote carries more weight than an urban vote.

[WiseGirl]

3 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Duncan Hunter 

Not going to lie. I read that quickly as Duncan Hines and then went on to think "cake."

CT has a Democrat for governor.  Close race though.

[47of74]

What's even better about Scottie Wanker getting the boot is that he got burned by something he signed in to law;

Quote

With the unofficial count substantially complete, Evers led by about 31,000 votes, or 1.15 percentage points, which is just outside the margin at which a losing candidate may request a recount.

The Walker loss comes after three previous wins — including a recall in 2012 — and Trump's narrow victory in 2016, just shy of 23,000 votes.

After a recount in that race, Walker signed a state law allowing future recounts only when the loser is within 1 percentage point of the winner.

 

[Satan'sFortress]

12 hours ago, FloraKitty35 said:

Sadly, I am not surprised by the Senate, but the House is nice and winning some state and local offices across the country is good. Also, I am happy to see that Floridians voted to restore voting rights to felons and here in Delaware, Ken Simpler (state treasurer & arrogant poor little rich boy) lost to Colleen Davis, the Dems won the Auditor's office,  Scott Walker (slumlord extraordinaire) is not a our Congressman, & the number 2 R in the state senate lost his seat (Greg Lavalle).  

Hello fellow Delawarean   It was a good day here, for sure.  Still, I cannot believe that almost 125,000 vote for (our) Scott Walker.