Ayanna Pressley becomes the first Black Congresswoman from Massachusetts. (Via GQ)
The 2018 US midterm elections (November 6th 2018) took place two weeks ago but only now has most of the dust settled. There are still three races too close to call and one that is headed for a run-off. No matter how they turn out, though, the Republicans will hold onto the Senate, the upper house of Congress, but lose the House of Representatives, the lower house.
The election in blue, pink, black, orange, and white:
Blue: The Blue Wave was not as big as Democrats had hoped or as apocalyptic as Republicans feared, but in the House it was the biggest Blue Wave since Watergate. Democrats will now control the House for the first time since their crushing defeat to Tea Party Republicans in 2010. It means that starting in 2019 President Trump and his Republican flying monkeys no longer completely control the US government. There will be an opposition with teeth. One that can, say, ask for his tax returns.
Pink: There will be more women than ever in Congress. Among them:
- First Native American women: Deb Haaland (New Mexico), Sharice Davids (Kansas).
- First Muslim women: Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan).
- First Black women for their state: Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), Jahana Hayes (Connecticut), and, again, Ilhan Omar (Minnesota).
- Youngest woman ever: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), who turned 29 just last month.
- Jordan Davis’s mother: Lucy McBath (Georgia), winning Newt Gingrich’s old seat.
Black: Black Democrats Andrew Gillum in Florida, Stacey Abrams in Georgia, and Mike Espy in Mississippi all came very close to winning statewide office in the South. Georgia and Mississippi are in the heart of Trumplandia. Espy still has a chance: the run-off for his Senate race is next week, November 27th. He runs against Cindy Hyde-Smith, an unrepentant White racist.
Orange: Orange County in California went blue! Democrats won every Congressional seat there. Orange County was a famously conservative suburban county of Los Angeles. It was home to President Nixon and what President Reagan once called “Republican heaven”. In suburbs across the nation Democrats made gains.
White: In 2016 Trump got 57% of the White vote. In 2018 Republicans got only 54% of their target demographic. The weakening of support has been across the board. White Evangelical Protestants went from 80% to 75%, White men without a college degree from 71% to 66%. White women and Whites under 45 have sunk below 50%. Republicans won only among Whites born before 1974.
Voter suppression: Kris Kobach, the evil genius behind voter suppression, lost his race for governor of Kansas, but Brian Kemp, junior evil genius, won his race for governor of Georgia, defeating Stacey Abrams. Voter suppression worked for Kemp – but just barely.
Florida’s Amendment #4 easily passed. It allows most people convicted of a felony to vote once they get out of prison. That affects 1.6 million people – or 10% of those of voting age in Florida, 20% of Blacks. Talk about mass incarceration! Florida is a huge swing state, so it could wind up affecting the nation as a whole. States that still do not allow ex-felons to vote: Virginia, Iowa, and Kentucky.
– Abagond, 2018.
Sources: mainly The Guardian, BBC, CNN exit polls for 2016 and 2018.
See also:
- The midterms
- voter suppression
- White Evangelical Protestants
- Donald Trump
- Jordan Davis
- mass incarceration
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Abagond 
Each election shows a blemish in the voting procedures that needs to be removed.
The Georgia vote shows how the districts are broken down so many blacks are in the same district. No matter how many vote they only get one representative.
The other procedure of removing voters from the roles needs to be challenged.
If the blacks had been on the roles would they have helped in the local elections and the federal/state elections?
All politics is local!
A near win is a no win!
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“Republican flying monkeys…” Ideal description!
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That Cindy Hyde-Smith and her quote about “having a front seat at a lynching.” She’s an evil, foul, gargoyle from Mississippi.
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I am happy for Lucy McBath turning her grief into something powerful after the murder of her son Jordan.
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Will the two Muslim women be able to wear their hijabs on the House floor?
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45 and his Republican flying monkeys is so apropos.😂🤣😂🤣😂
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“President Trump and his Republican flying monkeys.” Right, before Trump, the republicans were nice guys?
“There will be an opposition with teeth. One that can, say, ask for his tax returns.”
The democrat munchkins are going to terrify the wicked witch a/k/a Trump.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
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Reblogged this on League of Bloggers For a Better World.
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Sorry to bring on the doom and gloom, but the deepened Republican control of the Senate does not augur good. This will ensure a rubber stamp of Trump’s reactionary appointments to the U.S. Circuit courts, jack-booted judges we’ll be looking at for the next 30, 40 years. Sure, the House can put Trump on the hot seat, but it won’t be able to curtail the long-term damage he, or perhaps Pence, can do. Still, if your enemy is coming at you with a broadsword, you can be thankful if you can get your hands on a dagger.
Regardless, have a happy Thanksgiving everyone. Esp., give thanks for Hope.
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The states where all of the congressional districts went blue were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Each of those states borders an ocean and/or another country. Greetings from Edgelandia?
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Read somewhere that by 2040(?) 70% of the population will reside in just 15 states. That means that just 30% of the population (i.e., 35 states) will control 70% of the Senate. You know, the big empty–read, red–states. Bet the framers of our “democracy” didn’t see that one coming.
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I hope that the new US Congress will investigate voter suppression (and invalidate the myth of widespread voter fraud)
Why American voter registrations are disappearing
(https://youtu.be/HG3GD5am-UQ)
AND
reinstate the Voting Rights Act or even strengthen it.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/voting-rights-act-of-1965/
Does anyone believe in using National ID cards to verify our identity?
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@richard_iii
That was from a Wall Street Journal column referring to data from David Birdsell . University of Virginia population projections has the 15 most populous states will be home to 67% of the population which is consistent with how it has been since the founding of the United States.
The House of Representatives is population based. The Senate is based in the number of states and Senators we’re originally selected by state legislatures, not by voters. The founders saw this coming because it was that way back then. It has not been changing.
http://wapo.st/2i0II5q?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.61b43a3d10cd
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@jefe what happens when they suspend or revoke your ‘one id’ card
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@ v8driver
I can’t remember what thread it was on, but Afrofem recently observed that if the U.S. instituted single-payer universal healthcare, everyone would have a medical i.d. card, which presumably they could also use for voting. That kind of card would never be suspended or revoked.
I suppose if we instituted a national identification card not linked to healthcare, it would be similar to the current non-driver’s i.d. card. I’ve never heard of one of those being revoked.
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@v8driver,
I live in Hong Kong now. Every resident is required to carry a government issued photo ID card (which also includes our fingerprints). It is required for any service or interaction with the government or institutions (even to use the public library or book a court to play tennis). Most private institutions (eg, banks) require it do business with them.
This ID is required to enter and leave Hong Kong, including going to Macau.
AND, we need this ID card to vote. No other form of ID is allowed. If your name is spelled incorrectly on some roster, then that is irrelevant as the ID proves your identity. Your ID number must be exact.
You can change your name, use legal aliases, etc. and still use the same ID card.
If you are a permanent resident (permanent right of abode), then your government issued ID can never be suspended or revoked for any reason, as you are required to carry it at all times. If it is lost, it must be replaced.
Occasionally, some voter fraud does creep in, eg, someone using the ID card of a deceased person or someone outside of HK to vote, but it is not common. No one is disenfranchised from voting (eg, because they changed their name or haven’t voted for years or served a prison sentence).
Having said that, the voting system in HK is rigged, but that is another separate matter.
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@ jefe
It seems that the PRC is advancing its use of modern technology to “oversee its subjects”.
Hum.. can you show some evidence of that?
I thought that such manipulations of electoral processes were more typical of the part of world where I reside! It seems that we are exporting that behavior for the rest of world: Asia, the Americas, Europe, etc. This is progress!
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@ munubantu
I think it is just human nature, the world over. Elections in the U.S. have never been free of identity fraud, vote-buying, ballot-box stuffing, and other ways to cheat.
In the 1800s, election days often were raucous affairs involving a lot of strong drink and arguments and cheating and occasionally a shooting or two. One argument against women’s suffrage was that the polling places were too violent and unsafe for women. (The suffragists countered that if women got the right to vote, they would stop all that drunken nonsense.)
I think rigging elections has probably happened in most places at least once. Some people are never willing to take their chances honestly.
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I love the Freshman Congresswomen, AyannaPressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. Better known as “The Squad.” Love their energy and boldness when addressing the xenophobia of the current occupant of the White House.
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Trump telling those women to go back to their countries and fix what’s wrong. Those ladies are in their country the USA, trying to fix what’s wrong.
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