Election Was Better Than You Think

[WHITT]

So, Governor Murphy wins reelection in Jersey. First time a Dem governor was elected to a second term SINCE THE 1970s!

This is a HUGE WIN!

Yet, not a PEEP from the MSM in regards to this historic achievement.

~

As to Virginia, according to a former congressman from the state, down-ballot candidates who campaigned on progressive agendas of raising the minimum wage, paid leave, childcare, and more, were elected or reelected, whereas McAuliffe ran away from the progressive agenda.

Hopefully, lessons learned. No more out-of-touch, behind-the-curve, Carville-style campaigns. He was dead wrong about the 2018 midterms, and he's still wrong today.

As to Youngkin, he'll be a eunuch, put in a box by the Dem legislature.

Not that bad of an outcome after all.

[PortTack]

1. Absolutely!

[Jon King]

26. You do realize the VA house flipped and one Senator votes with Repugs right?

How is Youngkin a 'eunuch'? The house flipped and the Dems have a 1 Senator lead but only on paper. One VA state senator has almost always voted with Repugs. Other conservative to moderate Dem state senators will also go with Youngkin. So with the momentum he has, Youngkin will certainly control VA.

[MFM008]

30. he will have to answer

for those little Donald J maggot tricks he pulls
the restrictions on voting and abortion and everything else the party
of treason does until the next election.

[Busterscruggs]

2. The MSM

Is so right-wing, this really isn't a surprise. I guess this is the only place for the shining truth.. Thanks for bringing this up, the doom and gloom posts are tough to read after awhile. Maybe there will be some more good vibes our there after awhile.

[jimfields33]

3. I thought Virginia lost the statehouse to repugs.

[msongs]

4. they stilll hold a one or two seat margin in the state senate nt

[jimfields33]

5. That's thankful. We need every seat to stop youngkin.

[LymphocyteLover]

13. oh praise the lord!

[spooky3]

6. There are two bodies in the legislature. Only one had candidates up

For election last night. Dems control the other.

For the House of Delegates, NYTimes shows that Repubs will have at least an equal number of seats as the Dems; a few races are still undecided.

[rso]

7. Virginia

Regardless of what happens in the House of Delegates, the Virginia State Senate will be under democratic control at least until the end of 2023, so Youngkin cannot get anything passed without democratic agreement.

[ancianita]

15. +1000

[Jon King]

27. No because 1 Dem senator always votes with Repubs.

Youngkin has momentum with voters. Several Dem state senators will vote with him as many Dems in VA are quite conservative.

[rso]

29. Virginia

It depends on the issue. They may vote with him to eliminate sales tax on groceries for example, but will not vote with him to change election law for example.

[lagomorph777]

37. That wouldn't be so bad.

In fact, I'd be happy to see broad Dem support to repeal the sales tax.

However, it would place localities in a bad bind if not compensated by a hike on top income/corporate/capital gains taxes. Which, presumably, would not happen.

[Shermann]

8. CNN covered it nt

[ancianita]

16. Pretty sure MSNBC did, too.

[AmBlue]

9. EXACTLY

And why isn't THIS election a referendum on how badly the MAGATs are gonna get beaten in 2022 and 2024?

Not one peep from M$M to frame this election as a harbinger of doom for the Repubs.

[tritsofme]

10. How do you read yesterday's results as a "harbinger of doom" for Republicans?

Seems to strain credulity

[Beartracks]

14. He means MSM isn't framing the NJ loss as a harbinger of doom for Republicans...

... whereas they ARE framing the VA loss as a harbinger of doom for Democrats.

=========

[tritsofme]

18. The partisan swing relative to 2020 was worse in NJ than VA.

Murphy’s razor thin margin is alarming.

[uponit7771]

25. Murphy was supposed to lose and so was McA, RM said we should be alarmed by the polling that ...

... is CONSTANTLY off in America.

I'm more alarmed at how wrong the NJ polling was

[onenote]

32. Who said Murphy was supposed to lose

Yes, the historical pattern is for a NJ governor not to be re-elected but no one expected him to lose or for it even to be close.

[uponit7771]

45. History, VA and NJ odd yr after prez elections goes to opposing party of president. RM is on it now

[Lollerskates]

11. Interesting

[mcar]

12. The media, in no small part, caused VA

They completely ignored other races, knowing that VA would be close. They rarely, if ever, debunked the CRT nonsense, instead talking about Youngkin's "education" strategy.

In the meantime, Democrats cleaned up pretty handily elsewhere.

[onenote]

33. McAuliffe, not the media, was the reason McAukiffe lost

[mcar]

35. I disagree

[onenote]

36. How McAuliffe failed:

Democrats have controlled Virginia's government (statehouse and both houses of the legislature) the past two years. It's a record of progressive achievement (repeal of death penalty, increase in minimum wage, gun control measures) and pandemic recovery (lower unemployment than 3/4 of nation, lower per capita COVID deaths than states like Florida and Texas). In the past two years, Virginia's ranking in US News' "best states" list has climbed to number 7.

But would anyone know of this record of success from McAuliffe's campaign? No. And because he didn't run on a campaign that emphasized Democrats' success, he left the door open for Youngkin to depict the state as being in chaos and collapse. Even worse, McAuliffe fed that impression by emphasizing his record from 2013-2017, which implied that things had gotten worse since then, not better.

Virginia voters kicked the asses of overt racists like Corey Stewart and Ken Cuccinelli. McAuliffe should have come roaring out of the gate with ads that emphasized Democrats success and that characterized Youngkin as a clone of Stewart and Cucinelli who wants to take the state backwards and who is seeking to use a phony race issue to divide us. He should have tied Youngkin to DeSantis and Abbott and their abysmal unemployment numbers and COVID death numbers, saying that Virginia doesn't need a governor like those states have. He should have emphasized that Democrats have made Virginia an attractive location for businesses because of its educated, diverse workforce (see, e.g., Amazon's investment in Northern Virginia). None of that happened. When you're spending millions to get out your message, you can't rely on the media to tell a story that you're not telling yourself. I don't know if you live in Virginia, but those of us who do could not have been more disappointed with the flaccid McAuliffe campaign and how he ran away from the progressive agenda Democrats have successfully pursued in the past few years.

[Mysterian]

42. True

That is the obvious conclusion but many on this site don't want to accept the truth. Many voters remembered how he supported Dominion Energy over the best interests of the people, when he blindly and stridently supported the doomed Atlantic Coast pipeline project. The project would have had disastrous environmental effects and thousands of Virginians lost their land through eminent domain.
I know a retiree in Western Virginia who bought a 50-acre dream retirement home in Highland County. Dominion plotted a pipeline path directly through his property, to include the removal of a 300-year old oak. After fighting until there was no further recourse, the family decided to sell their home and leave Highland County. There are hundreds of others with similar stories. But McAuliffe was "all in" with Dominion from day one. Pathetic.
Now...since the new owners of Dominion canceled the imbecilic project, landowners are forced to fight to get their property cleared of Dominion's easements.

[Hekate]

17. Isn't MSNBC considered MSM? Rachel Maddow certainly covered it tonight. nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. For your consideration regarding the normal ebb and flow in U.S. politics:

Link to tweet

[PatrickforB]

20. Well, that's cheerful. It really is. And let's hope you're right.

Last edited Thu Nov 4, 2021, 12:03 AM - Edit history (1)

But Manchin is going around talking about how we lost the Governorship of VA because people thought the BBB plan was too expensive.

Now, we ALL know that is a lie, but he's saying it anyway. And as we know from Hitler and his son-in-spirit Trumpy, the bigger the lie, and the more often it is told, the more people believe it.

But yeah, it was a decent result. I admit, though, that I freaked out a bit this morning. I had this nagging thought that we don't really deserve this Republic, you know, because the American people are generally too lazy and stupid to dig for the real truth, pay attention to policies that affect (or will affect) them, and vote accordingly.

My conclusion? The Democrats aren't messaging very well. What they should be saying is,

"When is the last time the Republican Party has done anything that has materially benefitted you and your family? They wasted $4.2 trillion on forever wars that Biden finally got us out of after 20 years, and another $3 trillion on an irresponsible tax cut for billionaires and corporations. Where is your healthcare? Where is the debt-free college for your kids? Where is expanded Social Security for your parents? If you would rather have these things than more lies, death and treason, then vote Democratic across the board."

Say that, and maybe people will vote our folks in - but then those Democrats need to come through and not let people like Manchin or Sinema hold up everything.

[niyad]

22. You might want to change that 4,2 billion on forever wars to trillions.

[PatrickforB]

23. Geez. Good catch.

Sigh. I knew you know. It was just a typo...

[niyad]

31. I knew that you did.

[PatrickforB]

34. It is ironic, really, that I fire off what I think is a good post, and a typo immediately

drains some of its credibility. I have had a two-part career. Three really. When I was a kid I was in construction. Then I became a vocational counselor in a workforce center, and now I've morphed into being an economist. I often present to groups, sometimes fairly large ones, and I know that if you have a typo on a slide, the best thing to do is actually point it out, explain it and then no one minds.

The thing that will actually 'get' you, though, is if you don't know the material well enough to answer hard questions. Fail to be able to answer a hard question and you might find your whole presentation, everything you're trying to say loses credibility. I tell younger professionals that when I coach or instruct them.

Funny story: Once, in the way-back-when, my cousin G had a new girlfriend who had just moved into his place. So we invited them over for dinner. Now, I tend to like to make an entrance, so I was upstairs when they arrived. When I came down, everyone laughed, because I had a length of toilet paper hanging out of my zipper. LOL, yep. I really made an entrance! Somehow, this situation has reminded me of that event.

Anyway, thanks for pointing out the typo!

[niyad]

39. Ordinarily, I would just send a pm for what is obviously a typo. However, my

Last edited Thu Nov 4, 2021, 03:26 PM - Edit history (1)

pos computer has some weird glitches in it, and I cannot even originate a pm. The former editor in my brain sees typos, etc., almost before anything else.

[PatrickforB]

40. No worries! I actually appreciated the heads-up.

Thanks again!

[Qutzupalotl]

44. Correcting Manchin:

We lost the VA governor’s race because MANCHIN thought the BBB plan was too expensive.

[ColinC]

21. Probably by a pretty comfortable margin, even

...once all the votes are counted

[Jon King]

24. The VA house flipped to Repugs, and the 1 Senate majority is a swing voter.

The VA house flipped. Dems have a 1 person margin in the state senate but one Dem votes with Repugs on almost everything.

So yeah, Repugs took control of VA.

[Drunken Irishman]

28. lol in other words: only two Democratic governors have lost reelection in 44 years.

It's easy to take a silly stat and exploit it to fit your point.

It's just as correct to say only two New Jersey Democrats have lost reelection in a span of 44 years - Jon Corzine and James Florio.

That doesn't sound nearly as impressive, right?

[Buckeyeblue]

38. Younger voters are further left than I was at their age

And they don't care if they are labeled socialist. As my 18 year old says, capitalism only works for the rich. I think a lot of people in her age group believe that. And to be honest, they really aren't wrong.

If someone younger, with more charisma, came along and gave the Bernie message, she/he would be a rock star.

[PatrickforB]

41. We've got a bunch already. Jayapal, Porter, Ocasio-Cortez and others.

They aren't going away, and their message, if you can get beyond the massive corporate-funded criticism of each one, really makes sense.

[Buckeyeblue]

43. The irony is Trump America would benefit more from them than him