Election Day 2021

[aparch]

If I had a nickel for every time people here took one of Drew's obviously sarcastic comments seriously...

You'd have two nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice. Right?

[SJHovey]

No. They're won and lost on fear. And Republicans have figured out how to make everyone afraid of things they shouldn't be afraid of (CRT) and not afraid of things they should be afraid of (Jan 6th). Why did "defund the police" get so much traction? Cause it made everyone afraid. Why did CRT get so much traction? Cause it made everyone afraid. Why did January 6th get zero traction? Cause no one is afraid of it.

Look, a skilled candidate like Walz is not going to get tripped up over CRT. When someone brings it up, you're going to get an answer from him like, "we have a great education system here in Minnesota, and the education of our young people is my highest priority. We've got hardworking men and women, like you folks here, sitting on school boards making the best decision possible for the students in their district, and I support them on that."

A bad candidate, someone who is deeply embedded in politics and political issues on a national level, like McAuliffe, is going to say something like, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach the children."

That's the difference between winning and losing an election.

[Drew S.]

No. They're won and lost on fear. And Republicans have figured out how to make everyone afraid of things they shouldn't be afraid of (CRT) and not afraid of things they should be afraid of (Jan 6th). Why did "defund the police" get so much traction? Cause it made everyone afraid. Why did CRT get so much traction? Cause it made everyone afraid. Why did January 6th get zero traction? Cause no one is afraid of it.

100%. You have to be incredibly naive to think otherwise.

[SJHovey]

So, the party out of power in the White House has won 11 of the last 12 Virginia Governor’s races. You think it comes down to local issues? Wouldn’t it be more likely that voter intensity of the opposite party, regardless of the issues or candidate, is powering those wins?
In one of the highest turnouts for a Virginia Governor’s race, Republicans won comfortably. Compared to 2020, 300,000 fewer Republican votes, and 800,000 fewer Democratic votes. Someone didn’t show up. You think Democrats didn’t show up over local issues?

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on Virginia politics. I don't live there and I've only visited the state a handful of times. Given the close proximity of the state's population centers to Washington, D.C., it is certainly possible that whatever is happening in the Capitol has more of a "local" impact in Virginia than it would say in Minnesota or Texas or Tennessee or someplace.

For mid-term elections, sure national issues come to the forefront and can be more of a referendum on the party in power, but I do firmly believe that for local and statewide elections, it goes back to the individual candidates and their specific positions on issues of local importance.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

In one of the highest turnouts for a Virginia Governor’s race, Republicans won comfortably. Compared to 2020, 300,000 fewer Republican votes, and 800,000 fewer Democratic votes. Someone didn’t show up. You think Democrats didn’t show up over local issues?

Sounds to me like some Dem voters need to be reminded that choosing to stick your fingers in your ears and not to vote for the lesser of two turds today, doesn't mean you're going to magically wake up in the United States of Finland tomorrow. Now, could TM have run a better campaign, tacked further to the left on an issue or two to help motivate the base? Absolutely, and that is what is so maddening about Dems' continued insistence on running bland, milquetoast Clintonistas in purple states. Their era is over.

[ScoobyDoo]

Look, a skilled candidate like Walz is not going to get tripped up over CRT. When someone brings it up, you're going to get an answer from him like, "we have a great education system here in Minnesota, and the education of our young people is my highest priority. We've got hardworking men and women, like you folks here, sitting on school boards making the best decision possible for the students in their district, and I support them on that."

A bad candidate, someone who is deeply embedded in politics and political issues on a national level, like McAuliffe, is going to say something like, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach the children."

That's the difference between winning and losing an election.

LOL. Just wait.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Murphy held NJ, that's something anyway. And apparently it's the first successful re-election bid for a D gov in NJ since 1977, so...

[ScoobyDoo]

Sounds to me like some Dem voters need to be reminded that choosing to stick your fingers in your ears and not to vote for the lesser of two turds today, doesn't mean you're going to magically wake up in the United States of Finland tomorrow. Now, could TM have run a better campaign, tacked further to the left on an issue or two to help motivate the base? Absolutely, and that is what is so maddening about Dems' continued insistence on running bland, milquetoast Clintonistas in purple states. Their era is over.

It really should not matter who they pick. January 6th really should have been enough to remove the party out of existence. But, alas, no. The Dems could not be bothered to come out and vote for democracy. They like autocracy better.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Not great news if you live in VA though, their House is gonna flip 52R-48D after the correction of a reporting error flipped another seat.

[ScoobyDoo]

Cheap narratives continue to succeed at convincing Americans to vote against their own self interest. As Alabama’s Coach Saban tells his team after a loss: you never want to feel this way again. For Dems, there can be positivity in the loss if they figure out the problems.

https://mobile.twitter.com/JoyceWhit...85629762457600

Yeah, but they NEVER figure it out. So it keeps happening over and over and over again.

[dxmnkd316]

Sounds to me like some Dem voters need to be reminded that choosing to stick your fingers in your ears and not to vote for the lesser of two turds today, doesn't mean you're going to magically wake up in the United States of Finland tomorrow. Now, could TM have run a better campaign, tacked further to the left on an issue or two to help motivate the base? Absolutely, and that is what is so maddening about Dems' continued insistence on running bland, milquetoast Clintonistas in purple states. Their era is over.

Both candidates got more votes than any candidate in history for governor. And by a wide margin. The previous high was Northam in 2017 with 1.4 to gillespie's 1.18. These guys got 1.61 and 1.68. 500,000 more people voted for Youngkin than Gillespie. An almost 50% bump.

Hillary Clinton, a literal Clinton, got just short of 2M. Biden got 2.4 because of his opponent. Otherwise going back to even the first Obama run, the Dems have gotten 1.9-2M on a presidential year. The GOP nearly turned out a presidential vote total. Was Youngkin really that special?

[psych]

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on Virginia politics. I don't live there and I've only visited the state a handful of times. Given the close proximity of the state's population centers to Washington, D.C., it is certainly possible that whatever is happening in the Capitol has more of a "local" impact in Virginia than it would say in Minnesota or Texas or Tennessee or someplace.

For mid-term elections, sure national issues come to the forefront and can be more of a referendum on the party in power, but I do firmly believe that for local and statewide elections, it goes back to the individual candidates and their specific positions on issues of local importance.

I’m not an expert either, which is why I listen to the experts, especially ones on Virginia politics. They agree with you that Youngkin outmaneuvered McAuliffe on the issues, but said the overarching, dominating issue was the GOP-leaning environment, thanks to Biden’s sh-tty approval rating, the perceived inaction in Congress, the continuity of the covid pandemic, which is now being blamed on Biden, the uneven recovery of the economy, etc. Nationalized stuff.

[Handyman]

Look, a skilled candidate like Walz is not going to get tripped up over CRT. When someone brings it up, you're going to get an answer from him like, "we have a great education system here in Minnesota, and the education of our young people is my highest priority. We've got hardworking men and women, like you folks here, sitting on school boards making the best decision possible for the students in their district, and I support them on that."

A bad candidate, someone who is deeply embedded in politics and political issues on a national level, like McAuliffe, is going to say something like, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach the children."

That's the difference between winning and losing an election.

Walz is a former teacher who almost never speaks on race issues controversially. Trying to tie him to CRT would fail. They will tie him to mask mandates, vaccine passports and The Floyd Riots. (with some election integrity thrown in for good measure) It will work in the Red areas and fail miserably in the Blue and he will be re-elected easily since the MNGOP is dumber than Congressional Progressives. It has zero to do with how good he is just like Jacob Frey in Minneapolis.

McAuliffe is a mediocre candidate but all signs point to the National Dems dragging him down along with Youngkin's fear mongering as reasons he lost. (as psyche said)

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

So how are Dems supposed to get out in front of the RWNJ media's ridiculous fearmongering and smear campaigns about CRT, trans people, vaccines, defund the police, etc.?

[MissThundercat]

So how are Dems supposed to get out in front of the RWNJ media's ridiculous fearmongering and smear campaigns about CRT, trans people, vaccines, defund the police, etc.?

Start playing dirty like Republicans. Stop expecting Republicans to still treat this like a gentleman's fight and start acting like it's Hell In The Cell.