I love the polling for Klobuchar defeating every opponent by double digits. Hoping it’ll be Demuth after the chaos she instigated in Minneapolis last month.
It would be nice to see Lisa Demuth lose considering she admitted to helping coerce Nick Shirley to make the video that ultimately resulted in further ICE interference.
"Wes Moore Says the KKK Chased His Great-Grandfather Out of South Carolina. Historical Records Tell a Different Story.
Moore's great-grandfather preached at a South Carolina church held in high regard by the white community, before he was transferred to Jamaica to succeed a prominent pastor who had unexpectedly died" - Andrew Kerr, February 4, 2026
Even Wikipedia says that it's conservative but not fake news.
"The Free Beacon has broken stories about states using racial preferences in rationing COVID-19 drugs, exposed Columbia Law School's plans to evade the banning of consideration of race in admissions, and uncovered Yale administrators' bullying of a student, which led to personnel changes at the school.[3] The Free Beacon also reported on plagiarism accusations against Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned shortly thereafter. The Washington Post called Gay's resignation "a major win" for the Free Beacon, which it called "the rare conservative media outlet that does significant reporting of its own."[4] The website's reporting on a number of senior administrators at Columbia University exchanging text messages it considers antisemitic led three deans to resign.[5]"
Right, my reaction was “and? So what?” Every family has family stories that are shared through the generations. Politicians incorporating them into their background or using it to make a rhetorical point are pretty big nothingburgers.
They are notorious for selectively omitting facts and occasional outright fabrication. No one should trust a word that they say unless verified by other media. This reflects very poorly.
I question where you get some of your news sources if you are citing trash like the Free Beacon or media that refers to MGP as Marie “Internmentkamp” Perez.
The Hispanic Leadership Trust is effectively the PAC arm of the House Republican version of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, annoyingly similarly named the Congressional Hispanic Conference.
Really sharp analysis on the Utah redistricting case. That narrow window SCOTUS left open in Moore v Harper about courts "arrogating" powers is going to be litigated forever now. The challenge for Utah GOP is proving this judge crossed some fuzzy line versus just doing normal judicial review, which seems like a tough sell when state courts have been interpreting constitutions for literaly centuries.
I think this may have been part of why Dems went along and voted for the commission back in 2019. There was fear that the state court would strike down a Dem gerrymander anyway since the majority was confirmed by GOP legislatures. Having a commission would have been insurance against GOP taking control again in a redistricting year (they took the governor and HOD in 2021).
Sure...but in this case they were absolutely correct to do so. Because if they hadn't then the Republican legislature would have gotten to draw the maps for this decade
How would redistricting likely have gone if a commission wasn't established? A deadlock between the Republican House and Democratic Senate, sending it to the courts?
Yes, this happened in 2011, when the chambers were also split. The U.S. House delegation drew its own map, the GOP House of Delegates drew theirs and the Dem State Senate drew theirs. The problem was Dem Senate incumbents had an incorrect sense of how sturdy their personal brands were and the shifting coalitions, so "safe" Dems like Rosecoe Reynolds and Edd Houck lost, while Creigh Deeds kept more of Charlottesville than he needed.
Actually Dems would have this time due to winning the legislature in 2019 and holding the governorship. The fear was that the state SC would strike down an aggressive Dem gerrymander anyway.
Remember that especially in 2019, this state was not anywhere near safely blue (still isn’t). Having a commission would have taken potential Republican control of the process in the future if they won a trifecta off the table.
Republicans gerrymander the hell out of states much more competitive than Virginia and usually get away with it. This type of play-it-safe attitude needs to be excised from the party’s mindset.
So then if that happens we do exactly what Republicans do. We pass the law/s anyways knowing it’ll be repealed or blocked by the court. We force the court to make a ruling that upsets our base. We get our base angry enough about it to create a change of what that court looks like, by adding seats, making the judges stand for election, changing from nonpartisan to partisan etc or some other “reform” with a governing trifecta, then we pass the same law/s again with the new court that will back the law/s we passed that were blocked before.
This is how the GOP has completely taken over the US judicial system. This is the formula to make it fairer and work better for our party. Giving up before being forced to stand down only makes our base think we don’t fight hard enough and makes them apathetic about our party. Imagine if instead we passed every law and legislation we wanted to. That the GOP sues and the judges then rule that it isn’t lawful. Where does that voter anger go that we can’t pass policies? Not to us, but to the courts!
We can rightfully and fairly say “blame the court”. This is what Republicans do all the time, tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar: “unelected radical judges are blocking the Republican angenda making unlawful rulings and we need the power from you to change that”. Or some such. We need to force the in power judges to make our supporters angry at them in order to gain enough political backing to change the court in order to win our victory on the law/s in question.
How many times have Republicans expanded state supreme courts over the last decade as just 1 example? It’s not rocket science, but it is a multi-step process that we must force the judges to initiate if we’re ever going to gain back control over the US judicial system. This is how we win permanent power in judicial America.
I was looking through the fundraising numbers and got curious about the MD-6 race between McClain Delaney and Trone. Trone has raised $0, entirely self-funding his campaign so far. He's given himself $5.4M. Seems like he *really* wants that seat back.
He definitely does, but the infuriating/gross thing is that $5.4 million is nothing to someone like him. He could drop four times that and not bat an eye.
I wouldn't be surprised, but Bezos has an incentive to keep the WaPo going at least until the next Dem Administration which will likely Eye of Sauron the soft underbellies of our disgraceful oligarchs.
By the way I canceled my WaPo subscription and you all should too. Invest your money elsewhere.
So in Salt Lake City's new district, McAdams has outraised everyone else and Bernie bro Nate Blouin seems to be the only other viable candidate.
In Iowa's Senate race, Nathan Sage’s position appears untenable. He's spent roughly twice what he's raised, has little cash on hand, and all signs point to an impending dropout. If I had to bet, I'd say he endorses Josh Turek—who's backed by the national establishment—rather than Wahls, who's is the state establishment, likely as a play for future goodwill.
It’s a pretty left-leaning district, at least from what people who live there say. Bernie cleaned up there both times. The latest bit of wishful cope from WelcomePAC and Yglesias is that Ben McAdams would be “useful” for a future statewide run a decade or more down the line, while Blouin is a "spoiled socialist" brat and would supposedly be controlled by “the (progressive) groups.” They are also lying in the fundraising emails that it's a swing district, it's dark blue. It's also majority irreligious and not Mormon.
SLC proper is basically a slightly more conservative and considerably more boring Denver, politically, in terms of its vibe, culture and aesthetic. Obviously part of its sleepy cultural/nightlife scene is downwind of the state it’s in, probably more so than any other liberal city in a conservative state
I've known Nate on social media for years, and he's the real deal. Utah Dems are much better on climate change than, for example, small state Midwestern Dems. MW Dems are likely to shy away from climate while steadfast on things like reproductive rights; Utah is probably the only state where they'd rather talk climate than even really normie-Dem cultural issues. Looking forward to chatting with Nate.
Pastor and former Rainbow PUSH leader Frederick Haynes III is the latest Justice Democrats endorsee. You may know him as the beneficiary of the Jasmine Crockett/Marc Veasey district mess.
(Before I get criticized for the Intercept source, Ryan Grim and Glenn Greenwald and the other grifters are long gone from that group.)
Oh I’m well aware. I was skeptical of his candidacy from the beginning — I just posted the story since I figured it’d be relevant given the Justice Dems’ role in progressive politics.
Begich is the best candidate to run against Dahlstrom or whoever makes it out of the GOP clown car. why would he give it up for someone that's not Peltola?
Also, Democrats *have* a ringer for AK-AL, the liberal-aligned independent, Bill Hill.
New poll out, a Laura Fine internal. Here’s what it says:
- Daniel Biss - 21%
- Laura Fine - 21%
- Kat Abughazaleh - 14%
- Mike Simmons - 7%
- Bushra Amiwala - 4%
- Hoan Hunyh - 2%
- Other - 7%
- Undecided - 23%
Personal opinion - I really don’t want Fine to win due to her ties to AIPAC (plus her being less progressive than the others), plus I worry about the left field being split, and leading to a Fine victory, but Biss appears to have a commanding lead (Fine’s internal having her tied is a good sign for Biss I think).
I donated to Biss. He probably reflects the median voter of the district and is the favorite. Kat Abu, Simmons and Amiwala are further to the left while Fine and Hunyh are to his right.
Calling Huynh more conservative than Biss is true but does not emphasize just how much more conservative Fine is than the rest of them. From left to right, the candidates probably go Abughazaleh/Amiwala/Simmons/Biss/Huynh/Fine.
There are areas in that district, Niles, Skokie, Glenview, Park Ridge, etc that are far more conservative than most of the city turf. Not surprised Fine is getting the support she is. Places like Winnetka and Kenilworth are in her district.
Former NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is Hochul’s LG pick. Smart choice in my opinion - she’s a moderate Dem who nonetheless got a lot of progressive goodwill in challenging Cuomo.
Thoughts from anyone else? Curious to know what posters here think.
I mean, 2026 Hochul is already massively to the left and different from 2022 Hochul.
She wants to redistrict in 2028. She is willing to raise taxes on corporations to pay for some of Mamdani’s agenda. She endorsed a socialist for mayor. After her pick for the NY Court of Appeals (top court in the state) got rejected by Democrats, she finally realized that Cuomo lite doesn’t get base Democrats excited. She’s almost completely shed her previous moderate stances, bonafides and statements. On twitter she regularly burns and attacks Republicans from personal and Governor accounts.
Adams is the pick to appeal to independents and moderates to balance the ticket. Trust me when I say, I never thought she’d change and I never thought I’d support her, but after what she’s done so far in her first elected term? I do and if you can’t see that 2022 Hochul would never say or do any of the above, you’re not really paying enough attention.
That’s why Hochul now supports the highest approval rating she’s ever gotten. She’s winning over many skeptics and converts like myself with each day that passes. I don’t always agree with her or with every policy our trifecta passes in the state, but she’s no longer a moderate Democrat and has shifted into being a regular Democrat, which is a huge makeover for the former Lt. Gov of Cuomo.
Mamdani's favorables are up in the whole state. it's not *just* from people that that would abandon him over something like this, which are an extreme minority
I'm a progressive Democrat. The problem with this is that Delgado is a bad candidate. he's done multiple ideological flipflops and way too much obvious pandering-without-substance to the Mamdani crowd. he has no support base or recognition outside of his old Hudson Valley district, and all of his appeals to primary voters suck. (No, Hochul is not like Trump. get a grip)
I'd have been all for a challenger to Hochul that, despite the fact they'd probably have lost anyway, would maybe have ran a bit harder against her actual weak spots and made her adjust to the left. But that's not what Delgado is, he's a rank opportunist that changes his beliefs to suit his interests in the moment, he's inauthentic and has no actual qualifications for the job
Not that important, but I dig that this is I believe the first instance of a Democratic female governor choosing another woman as her running mate. All the instances of having both positions be women have been elected in separate primaries, like Kim Driscoll and Maura Healey in MA. I'd love it if we could normalize this without having an all-female ticket being seen as a statement.
this is the first state-level all female *ticket* in american history, because the Gov and Lt Gov of both Virginia and Massachusetts are elected seperately.
Gavin Newsom is termed out for re-election but the NY Post once again is more interested in focusing on his personal life than actually getting its facts straight about his election history.
According to the NY Post, Newsom married Kimberly Guifoyle when he was Mayor of San Francisco back in 2001.
FAIL. Newsom had already been married to Guifoyle before he even ran for Mayor.
And he was first elected to the office back in 2003 and took office in 2004, not 2001, when he was still District 2 Supervisor. Newsom had thereby been married to Guifoyle three years before his first year as Mayor.
Normally I don't reference gossip and the NY Post but as someone who lived in SF when Newsom was Mayor, I'm pretty sure I know more about Newsom's election history than a tabloid publication does.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom admits he was a cold, distant husband to first wife Kimberly Guilfoyle — writing in his forthcoming memoir that he was “just going through the motions.”
Newsom said he married Guilfoyle at a time when he became “skilled at repressing my feelings,” according to an excerpt of the memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” which drops Feb. 24.
“Kimberly allowed me this emotional distance,” the Democratic governor wrote in the memoir, according to the New York Times.
The pair, once considered “the New Kennedys,” were married in 2001 when Newsom was serving as the mayor of San Francisco.
I love the polling for Klobuchar defeating every opponent by double digits. Hoping it’ll be Demuth after the chaos she instigated in Minneapolis last month.
I want it to be Mike Pillow just for the lolz.
It would be nice to see Lisa Demuth lose considering she admitted to helping coerce Nick Shirley to make the video that ultimately resulted in further ICE interference.
Anything to help the turnout for Democrats.
It would also be great if Lindell ran for POTUS in 2028.
"Wes Moore Says the KKK Chased His Great-Grandfather Out of South Carolina. Historical Records Tell a Different Story.
Moore's great-grandfather preached at a South Carolina church held in high regard by the white community, before he was transferred to Jamaica to succeed a prominent pastor who had unexpectedly died" - Andrew Kerr, February 4, 2026
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/wes-moore-says-the-kkk-chased-his-great-grandfather-out-of-south-carolina-historical-records-tell-a-different-story/
Google the source.
Even Wikipedia says that it's conservative but not fake news.
"The Free Beacon has broken stories about states using racial preferences in rationing COVID-19 drugs, exposed Columbia Law School's plans to evade the banning of consideration of race in admissions, and uncovered Yale administrators' bullying of a student, which led to personnel changes at the school.[3] The Free Beacon also reported on plagiarism accusations against Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned shortly thereafter. The Washington Post called Gay's resignation "a major win" for the Free Beacon, which it called "the rare conservative media outlet that does significant reporting of its own."[4] The website's reporting on a number of senior administrators at Columbia University exchanging text messages it considers antisemitic led three deans to resign.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Free_Beacon
https://adfontesmedia.com/washington-free-beacon-bias-and-reliability/
Yeah. Free Beacon is as partisan as BizPac.
Washington Free Beacon of Bullshit in other words.
Who cares really? Even if true, I don't see it hurting much.
Right, my reaction was “and? So what?” Every family has family stories that are shared through the generations. Politicians incorporating them into their background or using it to make a rhetorical point are pretty big nothingburgers.
Take the "Free Beacon" crap somewhere else.
Dismissing a report just because you don't like the outlet isn’t how reality works. If the facts are wrong, show it.
I am not a conservative but the reporting seems pretty solid to me.
They are notorious for selectively omitting facts and occasional outright fabrication. No one should trust a word that they say unless verified by other media. This reflects very poorly.
I don't even have an opinion on Moore, but this doesn't seem to be fabricated especially with the historical documents quoted.
I question where you get some of your news sources if you are citing trash like the Free Beacon or media that refers to MGP as Marie “Internmentkamp” Perez.
Move on.
Susan Collins held a MAGA hat in hand at the Oval Office yesterday.
<Insert pointed finger emoticon. Not index finger…>
Are there pictures?
It was televised so I imagine so
Yes sir!
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2018845979420582147
That is a brutal unforced error by her and we should be all over it...
The Hispanic Leadership Trust is effectively the PAC arm of the House Republican version of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, annoyingly similarly named the Congressional Hispanic Conference.
https://rollcall.com/2022/05/17/house-republicans-announce-fundraising-effort-to-boost-latino-members/
Really sharp analysis on the Utah redistricting case. That narrow window SCOTUS left open in Moore v Harper about courts "arrogating" powers is going to be litigated forever now. The challenge for Utah GOP is proving this judge crossed some fuzzy line versus just doing normal judicial review, which seems like a tough sell when state courts have been interpreting constitutions for literaly centuries.
Hey Virginia how about you make sure you win that appeal first ! Still haven’t heard on this which has me nervous 😡
I think this may have been part of why Dems went along and voted for the commission back in 2019. There was fear that the state court would strike down a Dem gerrymander anyway since the majority was confirmed by GOP legislatures. Having a commission would have been insurance against GOP taking control again in a redistricting year (they took the governor and HOD in 2021).
Sounds about right. Democrats fearing to use their newfound power while Republicans play by a different set of rules.
Sure...but in this case they were absolutely correct to do so. Because if they hadn't then the Republican legislature would have gotten to draw the maps for this decade
No they weren’t? Democrats held the state senate all throughout the Youngkin years.
Oh you're right! My bad!
How would redistricting likely have gone if a commission wasn't established? A deadlock between the Republican House and Democratic Senate, sending it to the courts?
Yes, this happened in 2011, when the chambers were also split. The U.S. House delegation drew its own map, the GOP House of Delegates drew theirs and the Dem State Senate drew theirs. The problem was Dem Senate incumbents had an incorrect sense of how sturdy their personal brands were and the shifting coalitions, so "safe" Dems like Rosecoe Reynolds and Edd Houck lost, while Creigh Deeds kept more of Charlottesville than he needed.
Actually Dems would have this time due to winning the legislature in 2019 and holding the governorship. The fear was that the state SC would strike down an aggressive Dem gerrymander anyway.
Remember that especially in 2019, this state was not anywhere near safely blue (still isn’t). Having a commission would have taken potential Republican control of the process in the future if they won a trifecta off the table.
Republicans gerrymander the hell out of states much more competitive than Virginia and usually get away with it. This type of play-it-safe attitude needs to be excised from the party’s mindset.
Because they’ve got state Supreme Courts that will back them up (see NC and GA).
So then if that happens we do exactly what Republicans do. We pass the law/s anyways knowing it’ll be repealed or blocked by the court. We force the court to make a ruling that upsets our base. We get our base angry enough about it to create a change of what that court looks like, by adding seats, making the judges stand for election, changing from nonpartisan to partisan etc or some other “reform” with a governing trifecta, then we pass the same law/s again with the new court that will back the law/s we passed that were blocked before.
This is how the GOP has completely taken over the US judicial system. This is the formula to make it fairer and work better for our party. Giving up before being forced to stand down only makes our base think we don’t fight hard enough and makes them apathetic about our party. Imagine if instead we passed every law and legislation we wanted to. That the GOP sues and the judges then rule that it isn’t lawful. Where does that voter anger go that we can’t pass policies? Not to us, but to the courts!
We can rightfully and fairly say “blame the court”. This is what Republicans do all the time, tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar: “unelected radical judges are blocking the Republican angenda making unlawful rulings and we need the power from you to change that”. Or some such. We need to force the in power judges to make our supporters angry at them in order to gain enough political backing to change the court in order to win our victory on the law/s in question.
How many times have Republicans expanded state supreme courts over the last decade as just 1 example? It’s not rocket science, but it is a multi-step process that we must force the judges to initiate if we’re ever going to gain back control over the US judicial system. This is how we win permanent power in judicial America.
Thanks for the feedback ! So what’s your prediction on the appeal ?
The people drawing the map and the people running the lawsuit are not the same people. They can/will happen at the same time.
"The Last Ride of Big Bad John
John Cornyn is a modern master of the Senate. That may be the political kiss of death."
https://archive.ph/x6XM4
TexasMonthly profile on Cornyn, Paxton and the 2026 Texas Senate race
It's a good read.
Still hope Cornyn AND Paxton lose.
I was looking through the fundraising numbers and got curious about the MD-6 race between McClain Delaney and Trone. Trone has raised $0, entirely self-funding his campaign so far. He's given himself $5.4M. Seems like he *really* wants that seat back.
He definitely does, but the infuriating/gross thing is that $5.4 million is nothing to someone like him. He could drop four times that and not bat an eye.
I wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Are there any successful campaigns people remember that were entirely self-funded?
Frank Lautenberg and Rick Scott are two that come to mind.
if only senator scott was more like world war II hero senator lautenberg
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
that was 100% self-funded!?
I’d say more than 90 percent from what I know.
Donald Trump! (jk)
thanks you actually made me snort at my desk
he dropped a shit ton of money just to lose to Alsobrooks so that's probably going to happen again
Do you think that WaPo will eventually have to close shop?
I wouldn't be surprised, but Bezos has an incentive to keep the WaPo going at least until the next Dem Administration which will likely Eye of Sauron the soft underbellies of our disgraceful oligarchs.
By the way I canceled my WaPo subscription and you all should too. Invest your money elsewhere.
I canceled mine back in 2023.
https://www.the-downballot.com/p/the-downballots-4q-2025-senate-and?
So in Salt Lake City's new district, McAdams has outraised everyone else and Bernie bro Nate Blouin seems to be the only other viable candidate.
In Iowa's Senate race, Nathan Sage’s position appears untenable. He's spent roughly twice what he's raised, has little cash on hand, and all signs point to an impending dropout. If I had to bet, I'd say he endorses Josh Turek—who's backed by the national establishment—rather than Wahls, who's is the state establishment, likely as a play for future goodwill.
I mean, I’d rather have Blouin than anti-abortion McAdams. Do also note the involvement of PACs like WelcomePAC here.
Also isn’t Salt Lake City pretty lefty?
It’s a pretty left-leaning district, at least from what people who live there say. Bernie cleaned up there both times. The latest bit of wishful cope from WelcomePAC and Yglesias is that Ben McAdams would be “useful” for a future statewide run a decade or more down the line, while Blouin is a "spoiled socialist" brat and would supposedly be controlled by “the (progressive) groups.” They are also lying in the fundraising emails that it's a swing district, it's dark blue. It's also majority irreligious and not Mormon.
Note: Blouin is not a socialist.
Unsurprising. It being a Bernie district in this environment is a good sign for Blouin though.
Typical of those types - a hypothetical race 10-15 years from now, instead of a house majority this time next year.
SLC proper is basically a slightly more conservative and considerably more boring Denver, politically, in terms of its vibe, culture and aesthetic. Obviously part of its sleepy cultural/nightlife scene is downwind of the state it’s in, probably more so than any other liberal city in a conservative state
SLC sure is liberal. Notoriously anti-war Rocky Anderson served for years as Mayor back in the 2000’s.
I've known Nate on social media for years, and he's the real deal. Utah Dems are much better on climate change than, for example, small state Midwestern Dems. MW Dems are likely to shy away from climate while steadfast on things like reproductive rights; Utah is probably the only state where they'd rather talk climate than even really normie-Dem cultural issues. Looking forward to chatting with Nate.
Turek has a considerable amount of state establishment support. About as much as Wahls. Tom Miller and a number of state legislators have backed him.
I'm not sure "Bernie bro" is a useful descriptor of Nate Blouin.
MD-05:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/us/politics/harry-dunn-maryland-house.html
Harry Dunn, Jan 6 cop and MD-03 candidate last time, is in.
We should elect him to Congress this time especially with the Trump Regime wanting to see their own Munich Beer Hall Putsch from start to finish.
AIPAC will spend huge in this primary, MMW. They might break Bowman and Bush's records.
Who will be their favored candidate?
Adrian Boafo, Steny Hoyer's chosen successor.
TX-30:
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/04/texas-jasmine-crockett-house-primary-frederick-haynes/
Pastor and former Rainbow PUSH leader Frederick Haynes III is the latest Justice Democrats endorsee. You may know him as the beneficiary of the Jasmine Crockett/Marc Veasey district mess.
(Before I get criticized for the Intercept source, Ryan Grim and Glenn Greenwald and the other grifters are long gone from that group.)
Some pieces on his brief time at Rainbow PUSH:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2024/04/18/jesse-jackson-rainbow-push-frederick-haynes-resignation
https://chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/2024/04/22/rainbow-push-frederick-haynes-successor-jesse-jackson-finances-michael-eric-dyson
Oh I’m well aware. I was skeptical of his candidacy from the beginning — I just posted the story since I figured it’d be relevant given the Justice Dems’ role in progressive politics.
Was sharing more for the message board at large haha.
Ah, got it.
AK-Gov:
https://alaskabeacon.com/2026/02/04/alaskas-governor-race-picks-up-16th-candidate-a-former-state-legislator-from-sitka/
Former State Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is running as a Dem for this seat.
So three serious Dems now and a million on the R side? This jungle primary is going to be wild.
I wonder if Tom Begich drops out like he was indicating he would if Peltola ran. Now we just need a ringer for AK-AL, like Scott Kawasaki.
Tom Begich seems to be the Dem establishment favorite in a Peltolaless race. Kawasaki and most the state legislators endorsed him.
Begich could always run against his nephew. A brother and sister just did for a Florida state senate seat.
Begich is the best candidate to run against Dahlstrom or whoever makes it out of the GOP clown car. why would he give it up for someone that's not Peltola?
Also, Democrats *have* a ringer for AK-AL, the liberal-aligned independent, Bill Hill.
IL-09:
https://evanstonnow.com/new-fine-poll-shows-her-tied-with-biss/
New poll out, a Laura Fine internal. Here’s what it says:
- Daniel Biss - 21%
- Laura Fine - 21%
- Kat Abughazaleh - 14%
- Mike Simmons - 7%
- Bushra Amiwala - 4%
- Hoan Hunyh - 2%
- Other - 7%
- Undecided - 23%
Personal opinion - I really don’t want Fine to win due to her ties to AIPAC (plus her being less progressive than the others), plus I worry about the left field being split, and leading to a Fine victory, but Biss appears to have a commanding lead (Fine’s internal having her tied is a good sign for Biss I think).
I donated to Biss. He probably reflects the median voter of the district and is the favorite. Kat Abu, Simmons and Amiwala are further to the left while Fine and Hunyh are to his right.
Calling Huynh more conservative than Biss is true but does not emphasize just how much more conservative Fine is than the rest of them. From left to right, the candidates probably go Abughazaleh/Amiwala/Simmons/Biss/Huynh/Fine.
There are areas in that district, Niles, Skokie, Glenview, Park Ridge, etc that are far more conservative than most of the city turf. Not surprised Fine is getting the support she is. Places like Winnetka and Kenilworth are in her district.
The AIPAC money is probably helping.
what's more important, reflecting the 'median voter' of the district, or having an actually good representative, regardless of ideology?
NY-LG:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/nyregion/kathy-hochul-adrienne-adams-lieutenant-governor.html
Former NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is Hochul’s LG pick. Smart choice in my opinion - she’s a moderate Dem who nonetheless got a lot of progressive goodwill in challenging Cuomo.
Thoughts from anyone else? Curious to know what posters here think.
That’s a pretty astute pick on Hochul’s part, IMO
Great pick.
She obviously feels as though she doesn't need to appeal to progressive Democrats and independents.
I mean, 2026 Hochul is already massively to the left and different from 2022 Hochul.
She wants to redistrict in 2028. She is willing to raise taxes on corporations to pay for some of Mamdani’s agenda. She endorsed a socialist for mayor. After her pick for the NY Court of Appeals (top court in the state) got rejected by Democrats, she finally realized that Cuomo lite doesn’t get base Democrats excited. She’s almost completely shed her previous moderate stances, bonafides and statements. On twitter she regularly burns and attacks Republicans from personal and Governor accounts.
Adams is the pick to appeal to independents and moderates to balance the ticket. Trust me when I say, I never thought she’d change and I never thought I’d support her, but after what she’s done so far in her first elected term? I do and if you can’t see that 2022 Hochul would never say or do any of the above, you’re not really paying enough attention.
That’s why Hochul now supports the highest approval rating she’s ever gotten. She’s winning over many skeptics and converts like myself with each day that passes. I don’t always agree with her or with every policy our trifecta passes in the state, but she’s no longer a moderate Democrat and has shifted into being a regular Democrat, which is a huge makeover for the former Lt. Gov of Cuomo.
Well, she is about to get Mamdani's endorsement, which is going to go a long way for her.
Also, RIP to Mamdani's favorables, lol. He's just endorsed Hochul, and "become the establishment" /s
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/new-york-city-mayor-zohran-mamdani-to-endorse-gov-kathy-hochul-00764997
Mamdani's favorables are up in the whole state. it's not *just* from people that that would abandon him over something like this, which are an extreme minority
paleo, I think we may be alone on this one. Wish delgado had gained more traction
Count me in.
I agree on that.
I'm a progressive Democrat. The problem with this is that Delgado is a bad candidate. he's done multiple ideological flipflops and way too much obvious pandering-without-substance to the Mamdani crowd. he has no support base or recognition outside of his old Hudson Valley district, and all of his appeals to primary voters suck. (No, Hochul is not like Trump. get a grip)
I'd have been all for a challenger to Hochul that, despite the fact they'd probably have lost anyway, would maybe have ran a bit harder against her actual weak spots and made her adjust to the left. But that's not what Delgado is, he's a rank opportunist that changes his beliefs to suit his interests in the moment, he's inauthentic and has no actual qualifications for the job
I thought Adrienne Adams was pretty liberal. No? Didn't she clash with Mayor Adams from the left?
Choosing the black woman former NYC council speaker that was the WFP's endorsee for NYC mayor is.... not appealing to progressive Democrats? what?
Who SHOULD she have picked, from the progressive perspective?
Not that important, but I dig that this is I believe the first instance of a Democratic female governor choosing another woman as her running mate. All the instances of having both positions be women have been elected in separate primaries, like Kim Driscoll and Maura Healey in MA. I'd love it if we could normalize this without having an all-female ticket being seen as a statement.
Kind of a surprise pick for me since as you may know I predicted Eric Gonzalez would get it. I like Adams.
Who do we think Blakeman will pick?
How often (ever?) have two women been Gov/LG nominees? Pretty cool
Gov and Lt. Gov of MA are both women, but they aren't a joint ticket.
this is the first state-level all female *ticket* in american history, because the Gov and Lt Gov of both Virginia and Massachusetts are elected seperately.
That could be good for the city.
CA-GOV:
Gavin Newsom is termed out for re-election but the NY Post once again is more interested in focusing on his personal life than actually getting its facts straight about his election history.
According to the NY Post, Newsom married Kimberly Guifoyle when he was Mayor of San Francisco back in 2001.
FAIL. Newsom had already been married to Guifoyle before he even ran for Mayor.
And he was first elected to the office back in 2003 and took office in 2004, not 2001, when he was still District 2 Supervisor. Newsom had thereby been married to Guifoyle three years before his first year as Mayor.
Normally I don't reference gossip and the NY Post but as someone who lived in SF when Newsom was Mayor, I'm pretty sure I know more about Newsom's election history than a tabloid publication does.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/03/us-news/gavin-newsom-was-just-going-through-the-motions-in-marriage-to-kimberly-guilfoyle/
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom admits he was a cold, distant husband to first wife Kimberly Guilfoyle — writing in his forthcoming memoir that he was “just going through the motions.”
Newsom said he married Guilfoyle at a time when he became “skilled at repressing my feelings,” according to an excerpt of the memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” which drops Feb. 24.
“Kimberly allowed me this emotional distance,” the Democratic governor wrote in the memoir, according to the New York Times.
The pair, once considered “the New Kennedys,” were married in 2001 when Newsom was serving as the mayor of San Francisco.