I don't get the joke. I know explaining jokes risks making them less funny, but Is a particular day each year considered rapture day by some, or do they just hope for it every day?
There was a bit of stuff online about a seemingly decent sized number of people (relative to how crazy it is) who thought the rapture would be today (or tomorrow?). I didn't follow it much, but it broke through on various parts of the net.
Realistically I doubt that many people thought it was going to happen, but the internet picked up on them and decided to have a laugh at how crazy they are.
SCOOPLET | Missoula smokejumper Sam Forstag, a local union leader and wildland firefighter, is considering running against GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke in MT-01 (Trump+12, Tester+1), per 3 sources familiar. No decision expected before November.
Voters like people who are unapologetic and don't water themselves down to appeal to the middle (like Sens Ossoff and Warnock from Georgia). If Forstag wants to win, he needs to be himself. Address GOP attack points head on.
Strategic moderation on some issues always helps (for example Bernie on guns, immigration and racial inequality in 2016) and this is an urban Obama-Trump district containing 1. Missoula 2. Bozeman 3. Butte 4. Kalispell)
The last two-House elections: 49.6-46.5 and 52.3-44.6.
No, Ossoff and Warnock are quite liberal voting record and agenda wise. Not middle of the road at all unless you take into account the image they are projecting to GA voters.
Those are all mainstream Dem positions. Progressive punch puts them smack dab in the middle of the party in the Senate. Though that is a little to the left of what you'd expect from two senators in a mostly red state.
Ahhh but mainstream Democrat positions since Bernie ran in 2016 and 2020 are still quite liberal compared to how Democrats used to be pre-2015 considering what he did to push the DNC Convention to go more to the left.
Being against private prisons and against Citizens United are still liberal positions.
Both Ossoff and Warnock have quite a liberal voting record and agenda wise. Not middle of the road at all unless you take into account the image they are projecting to GA voters.
Not a fair way to truly assess whether anyone in Congress is truly liberal, especially considering liberals can have plenty of different points of view. These ratings and rankings from the sheet you are sharing sound like purity tests.
Leftist from the standpoint of the DSA sure but On the Issues in my observation has a more accurate read out of a House or Senate member. It does in fact compile stances issues wise and voting records.
Unless DSA actually wants to tell the truth, I will treat things with a grain of salt here.
I hope that the state of Paul Wellstone doesn't send the co-leader of the literal modern day DLC (Majority Dems Super PAC) to the Senate. Angie Craig recently was the only Democrat to speak at crypto summit before Don Jr and Tim Scott who thanked the barons for removing Sherrod Brown.
As an aide to Tommy Tuberville, whom he hopes to succeed, Morgan Murphy engineered the strategy of blocking senior military promotions to protest DOD abortion policies. A car enthusiast who is said to own nine Cadillacs, he has much in common with the average Alabama voter.
What results from Democrats doing exactly what Republicans do to us when we hold power? Success in dividing our opposition, a news story that lasts months not hours and a full blown civil war between Trump and those who don’t vote with him on the Epstein discharge petition about to break out in a big public way. Why haven’t Democrats been doing this since 2016?
Once the petition passes on the floor, the ball gets handed to the Senate, giving the story even longer legs and more attention by American media/voters. Winning elections and the political game in America doesn’t just happen, we need to take the fight to the GOP, corner them and force them into deciding on which bad choice to make.
They won’t make bad decisions politically until we force their hand because they only care about power and doing whatever it takes to keep it. This is how we beat them at their own game. By doing this to their party over and over again on issues that divide their party.
“I don’t think there’s too many options,” Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) told reporters when asked about the House discharge petition in late August. “I think you have to take it up, right?”
Virginia GOP are crowing about high early turnout in 11 districts, which is REALLY premature. How many of their voters are secretly voting for Spanberger and not the Youngkin acolyte with the bad hair?
In boring election news: Wu will officially be unopposed for the final ballot in Boston's mayoral race. After Kraft dropped out, the third place finisher would typically advance in his place, but that person didn't receive enough votes to qualify for the final two. I don't see any information on what is required, only that he didn't meet the mystery threshold.
I expect very low turnout, which will impact the city council seats. There are four at large spots, and 4th place got 12.6% vs 5th place at 10.8% (voters get four votes). District 7 was also close, with the top two getting 15.7% and 15%.
Does Kraft's name still appear on the ballot, even without actually campaigning? If so he should get a significant number of "not Wu" votes, though obviously not nearly enough to make it competitive, which he clearly wouldn't have even if he'd continued.
I'm not 100% sure. I would assume based on the reporting the DaRosa doesn't qualify to make it to the ballot to replace Kraft that it would mean that Kraft is fully dropped out. But that is only a guess.
According to this NBC News article, the third-place finisher Domingos DaRosa needed 3000 votes in the Top-2 election to make the ballot. He had just over 2400 votes, so he was about 600 short.
It doesn't seem like Kraft's name will be on the ballot either as the Secretary of the Commonwealth (or Secretary of State in other states) said Kraft filled out the necessary paperwork to get his name off the ballot last week. So Wu seems to be the only person on the ballot.
Cuomo + Adams is 33%, so Cuomo would still trail Mamdani if Adams drops out and Cuomo consolidates Adams's support without losing any of his own supporters to Mamdani or Silwa.
I don't know what studies have been done, but empirically, primaries are sometimes beneficial and sometimes electorally fatal to the winner, and my perception, which might be wrong, is that that depends on how rancorous the primary is, if the two or more parties to the conflict got enough support to make the difference in the general election.
If this holds with the party organizations of the national variety not actively engaging in these primaries I think they’ve done a near perfect job for setting us up for a potential miracle majority. The only misfire I can see is Mills in Maine who isn’t needed to defeat Collins. The rest has been good.
We’ve lost with all varieties of Democrats in the NC-Sen races, getting a 2 term Governor who has won Trump voters over and over again in a tough state is by far the best we could ever hope for. Ohio everyone knows the only type of Democrat who can still win there is of the populist variety, Brown is the best candidate for that race. Getting him to run again was absolutely a coup by Schumer.
The other races have no clear favourite or perceived stronger candidates where the party can realistically convince our voters they’re the best option to win. I think they aren’t just doing this out of the goodness of their hearts however. It’s a forced withdrawal because of our base.
If they endorsed, it would likely cause their candidates they prefer to lose the primary in a backlash against the party. So they’re rolling the dice and letting it play out. Our base is extremely angry at national Democrats who led us to not 1, but 2 Trump terms because they didn’t know who appealed to voters and how to reach and talk to modern America.
NC AG Jeff Jackson wanted to run in 2020, and Schumer interviewed him, but he asked him to not go to 100 counties in 100 days, instead he had to raise money for ads "from a basement" so he dropped out. And the eventual nominee's Cunningham's exposed affairs in the last leg hurt him and Thom Tillis won by a plurality of the vote.
Also, the DCCC didn't vet Mandela Barnes for his support of defund the police and open borders beforehand. Two winnable races gone in the drain.
Yes, they screwed up both those races, no question, but this cycle they haven’t done that and that’s what I was complimenting. Not even that I support those orgs or now do after their 2026 election moves (I still don’t), just as a “this is what I always want to see from our national orgs in this cycle and beyond”, I hope this continues, type of compliment of the job they’ve done in 2026 Senate races.
They still need a total overhaul from leadership on down, but at least now we’re on the same side of how our primaries should work. Get the best recruits through in tough states that are necessary to have a shot at winning and leave the rest for our voters to decide. That’s my opinion anyways, so if you disagree that’s ok.
WRT Barnes, the Dems also gave up on Wisconsin at one point and did not invest in the race, if I’m remembering correctly. Had they put more money Barnes may have pulled off a squeaker, even as a progressive. Wisconsin has elected progressives before — Russ Feingold, La Follette, etc. Hell Ben Wikler is pretty progressive himself, he was a Bernie delegate at one point and was a close friend of the late hacktivist and one of my political inspirations Aaron Swartz.
Unfortunately I suspect race played a role in Barnes losing too. Economic progressivism has had success in WI, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still a lot of racism.
There were a lot of things that played into WI-SEN 2022, but generally speaking, it's pretty difficult to topple an incumbent swing-state senator—even a loon like Ron Johnson—in a cycle that favors said incumbent's party. (And 2022 was still a mildly Republican-leaning year, even if they massively underperformed their trumped-up expectations.)
Unless I missed a race, Barnes was the only top tier senate race that was substantially outspent (candidate + independent) by his republican opponent in 2022. He was the only top tier dem candidate to not substantially outraise his opponent directly: $42m him to $36m Johnson. There was $50m of outside spending on his behalf vs $75m on behalf of Johnson.
That's very different from most other senate elections that year.
CCM raised $64m to Laxalt's $18m. Outside spending was about $60m each.
Kelly raised $89m to Masters' $15m. Outside spending was about $60m each.
Fetterman raised $75m to Oz' $51m. Outside spending was $120m to help Fetterman, $100m to help Oz.
Warnock raised $181m (!!) to Walker's $73m. Outside spending was about $120m to $110m.
Beasley raised $38m to Budd's $14m. Outside spending was about $24m to about $70m.
Even Tim Ryan, in a doomed senate campaign, had a $56m to $15m advantage in direct fundraising. Demings' doomed Florida campaign was $80m to $50m, too.
Beasley was the only other candidate facing a big deficit on outside spending, but her fundraising advantage made up for it, unlike Barnes.
Barnes was by far the dem who most needed money that cycle. Maybe we can argue his own flaws caused his failure to have a significant financial advantage, I would fully disagree with him having "PLENTY" of money.
Realistically I expect it's a bit of A and a bit of B. That if he was a stronger candidate he would have gotten the money anyway. But also dem leadership's lack of confidence in his campaign would have stunted his fundraising quite a bit.
I’m on team “let the voters decide”. No more coronations of flawed candidates that implode in the end. If they can survive a primary, there’s a good chance they can survive the general. Especially in MN which is quite bluer than, say, Michigan.
On that note, I fear Haley Stevens may lose the MI general. No one really likes her except the party elites, she’s an AIPAC darling (which means she can kiss Michigan’s Arab vote goodbye), and based on how everything’s been run, I fear she may end up becoming a Senator who roadblocks progress.
Went looking for articles about the Epstein discharge petition, but instead was pleasantly surprised to see Americans creatively make the story reach even more people. Every media org is covering these statues and what they say.
Good layup for before Grijalva wins the special election tonight and the next month up until when she gets signed in, to bring the GOP Congress to a screeching halt again over Epstein.
Republicans hold GA-SD-21; the GOP candidate leads 57.4%-42.6% with what appears to be the early vote reporting (56% of the expected vote in). The remaining vote appears to be more GOP-favorable than the reported vote so far; I would estimate around a 63-36 GOP result when all of the vote is in, which would be an overperformance compared to 2024 presidential election results (67-33 R), but an underperformance compared to the state senate special primary (60-40 R).
Cherokee is entirely in and it's 63.7-36.3. Fulton still has plenty left. A linear extrapolation gives a final Fulton total of 10900 votes splitting 6400 D - 4500 R. That plus Cherokee would be R 18150 D 11800, or R 60.6-D 39.4. Since E-Day has been a bit more R-friendly, call it 61-39.
Mobile, AL Mayor - Barbara Drummond (D) narrowly leads Spiro Cheriogotis (R) with about four-ninths of the vote in. The race is officially nonpartisan, but Drummond is a known Democrat, and IIRC, Spiro Cheriogotis is a Republican.
I don't know if later-counted votes skew more R or D in Alabama.
The WALA-TV results are being updated faster than the WKRG-TV results page, they have Drummond (D) leading the Mobile mayoral race by a little over 2,300 votes with 82% in.
MA-SEN: I'm all for Moulton challenging Markey. Something has to give with the octogenarians, especially after losing four Dems this year to old age and we still haven't replaced all of them months later. I know senate vacancies get filled quick but its still something we shouldn't have to worry about.
I’m not. Moulton is awful. Even ignoring him blaming trans people for the Democrats losing, he tried to get Pelosi ousted in 2018 as House Speaker without a clear alternative, and his voting record is much worse than Markey’s. I do not support this challenge.
This seems to be a common trend of mostly progressive politicians refusing to step aside and then end up being replaced by someone alot more conservative than them. Markey could always retire and set the stage for Presley or Wu or take the risk and lose his seat to a much more moderate person.
I think Sanders should have retired last year. If that doesn't qualify as supporting old progressives retiring, then I'm not sure anything qualifies.
I wish Markey would step aside too, but I'm drawing the line at a downgrade from him as substantial as Moulton or Auchincloss. They're too big of a downgrade over him in a state as blue as MA. There's smaller, more acceptable, downgrades that are available to replace him.
I'm OK with getting a downgrade to replace Markey in order to avoid having an 80+ year old senator.
Moulton and Auchincloss are too much of a downgrade for me. Moulton is, bluntly, an egotistical asshole and would be end up being a pain in the ass for us if he ever made it to the senate. This is the guy that flew to Afghanistan in the middle of our withdrawal despite DOD requests not to, creating a giant security distraction at a time when security was stretched tight. Auchincloss would not be a pain in the ass on a legislative front but he would dedicate more of his time to fighting progressives than to fighting republicans.
Pressley would be just as good as Markey, probably even an upgrade. Same for Wu. Clark hasn't been great this year but I was impressed with her in the past, I suspect she'd be about as good as him. Healey would a downgrade. Trahan and Campbell would be a bit more of a downgrade than Healey. DiZoglio could be good or awful, I never got a good read of if she's got some political crazy to her or not. Driscoll I have no idea.
Wu and Clark won't run, so they ultimately won't matter. Driscoll doesn't have the name recognition now and I suspect would be considered too old by the time she has it. DiZoglio, for good or ill, will be strongly opposed by the establishment and is unlikely to ever have a chance.
That leaves us with Pressley, Healey, Trahan, and Campbell as viable replacements, with three of them being likely downgrades, but acceptable downgrades.
Shanah Tovah everyone!
Happy Rapture to some?
I'm Greek Orthodox, that Rapture nonsense is made up evangelical BS.
That part was sarcasm, sorry that it didn't translate.
You don't need to apologize, it was obvious lol
Ayyy another in the wild!
I’m just mad I didn’t think of that grift of selling pet insurance to people who think they’re going to get raptured first
I don't get the joke. I know explaining jokes risks making them less funny, but Is a particular day each year considered rapture day by some, or do they just hope for it every day?
There was a bit of stuff online about a seemingly decent sized number of people (relative to how crazy it is) who thought the rapture would be today (or tomorrow?). I didn't follow it much, but it broke through on various parts of the net.
Realistically I doubt that many people thought it was going to happen, but the internet picked up on them and decided to have a laugh at how crazy they are.
Quite reasonably so. Thanks for the explanation.
Janus covered most of it, there was a South African pastor that announced the rapture would be today and it made the rounds on the social internet.
SCOOPLET | Missoula smokejumper Sam Forstag, a local union leader and wildland firefighter, is considering running against GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke in MT-01 (Trump+12, Tester+1), per 3 sources familiar. No decision expected before November.
Forstag spoke at a Bernie rally this year.
https://x.com/JacobRubashkin/status/1970186539394031952
He has the vibes but his platform needs to be moderate imo.
Voters like people who are unapologetic and don't water themselves down to appeal to the middle (like Sens Ossoff and Warnock from Georgia). If Forstag wants to win, he needs to be himself. Address GOP attack points head on.
Strategic moderation on some issues always helps (for example Bernie on guns, immigration and racial inequality in 2016) and this is an urban Obama-Trump district containing 1. Missoula 2. Bozeman 3. Butte 4. Kalispell)
The last two-House elections: 49.6-46.5 and 52.3-44.6.
Both of those guys are in the center of the party.
They are both middle of the road Democrats, neither neoliberals nor leftists.
Right. How do we know they are authentically like that and not "watering themselves down"?
They are watering themselves down, it's politics. Tim Walz used to be a Blue dog when he was in a swing seat.
No, Ossoff and Warnock are quite liberal voting record and agenda wise. Not middle of the road at all unless you take into account the image they are projecting to GA voters.
https://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Jon_Ossoff.htm
https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Raphael_Warnock.htm
Those are all mainstream Dem positions. Progressive punch puts them smack dab in the middle of the party in the Senate. Though that is a little to the left of what you'd expect from two senators in a mostly red state.
Ahhh but mainstream Democrat positions since Bernie ran in 2016 and 2020 are still quite liberal compared to how Democrats used to be pre-2015 considering what he did to push the DNC Convention to go more to the left.
Being against private prisons and against Citizens United are still liberal positions.
Both Ossoff and Warnock have quite a liberal voting record and agenda wise. Not middle of the road at all unless you take into account the image they are projecting to GA voters.
https://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Jon_Ossoff.htm
https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Raphael_Warnock.htm
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gPBdBrqVCbtuy7f1bjOdCDUzEv5RqbbU1yYAr3KoHYE/edit?gid=686052829&pli=1#gid=686052829
Congressional Left Tracker
Not a fair way to truly assess whether anyone in Congress is truly liberal, especially considering liberals can have plenty of different points of view. These ratings and rankings from the sheet you are sharing sound like purity tests.
Leftist from the standpoint of the DSA sure but On the Issues in my observation has a more accurate read out of a House or Senate member. It does in fact compile stances issues wise and voting records.
Unless DSA actually wants to tell the truth, I will treat things with a grain of salt here.
Ossoff and Warnock got elected to the Senate by less than 3% points. I don’t think it’s so black and white.
We have that item in the very Digest you're commenting in!
Peggy Flanagan endorsed by a majority of members of the House DFL Caucus.
https://x.com/peggyflanagan/status/1970134186070581312
I hope that the state of Paul Wellstone doesn't send the co-leader of the literal modern day DLC (Majority Dems Super PAC) to the Senate. Angie Craig recently was the only Democrat to speak at crypto summit before Don Jr and Tim Scott who thanked the barons for removing Sherrod Brown.
Other than Dean Phillips (ymmv), it's crazy how little in-state support Craig has.
As an aide to Tommy Tuberville, whom he hopes to succeed, Morgan Murphy engineered the strategy of blocking senior military promotions to protest DOD abortion policies. A car enthusiast who is said to own nine Cadillacs, he has much in common with the average Alabama voter.
And yet, He'll still win by 20.
No he won’t.
Because I bet he isn’t going to be the nominee,
Former MN state Senator Nicole Mitchell sentenced to six months in jail, with work release conditions.
What results from Democrats doing exactly what Republicans do to us when we hold power? Success in dividing our opposition, a news story that lasts months not hours and a full blown civil war between Trump and those who don’t vote with him on the Epstein discharge petition about to break out in a big public way. Why haven’t Democrats been doing this since 2016?
Once the petition passes on the floor, the ball gets handed to the Senate, giving the story even longer legs and more attention by American media/voters. Winning elections and the political game in America doesn’t just happen, we need to take the fight to the GOP, corner them and force them into deciding on which bad choice to make.
They won’t make bad decisions politically until we force their hand because they only care about power and doing whatever it takes to keep it. This is how we beat them at their own game. By doing this to their party over and over again on issues that divide their party.
https://archive.ph/ZA9wn
“I don’t think there’s too many options,” Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) told reporters when asked about the House discharge petition in late August. “I think you have to take it up, right?”
Virginia GOP are crowing about high early turnout in 11 districts, which is REALLY premature. How many of their voters are secretly voting for Spanberger and not the Youngkin acolyte with the bad hair?
https://virginiamercury.com/2025/09/23/gop-districts-take-early-lead-in-virginias-first-week-of-early-voting/
"This is delusional but you don’t have to read the whole thing.
Boils down to: he’s shutting down the government because he thinks he’s a king."
https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1970493739186761916
In boring election news: Wu will officially be unopposed for the final ballot in Boston's mayoral race. After Kraft dropped out, the third place finisher would typically advance in his place, but that person didn't receive enough votes to qualify for the final two. I don't see any information on what is required, only that he didn't meet the mystery threshold.
https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/09/22/boston-mayor-wu-will-run-unopposed-reelection
I expect very low turnout, which will impact the city council seats. There are four at large spots, and 4th place got 12.6% vs 5th place at 10.8% (voters get four votes). District 7 was also close, with the top two getting 15.7% and 15%.
Does Kraft's name still appear on the ballot, even without actually campaigning? If so he should get a significant number of "not Wu" votes, though obviously not nearly enough to make it competitive, which he clearly wouldn't have even if he'd continued.
I'm not 100% sure. I would assume based on the reporting the DaRosa doesn't qualify to make it to the ballot to replace Kraft that it would mean that Kraft is fully dropped out. But that is only a guess.
According to this NBC News article, the third-place finisher Domingos DaRosa needed 3000 votes in the Top-2 election to make the ballot. He had just over 2400 votes, so he was about 600 short.
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/boston-mayor-michelle-wu-reelection/3813942/
It doesn't seem like Kraft's name will be on the ballot either as the Secretary of the Commonwealth (or Secretary of State in other states) said Kraft filled out the necessary paperwork to get his name off the ballot last week. So Wu seems to be the only person on the ballot.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/josh-kraft-officially-off-bostons-mayoral-ballot/KZFSWXSPXRCHXK6CQGBYYWBWVM/
Thanks for finding and sharing that! I was curious what the threshold in question was.
2026 TX Senate GOP Primary poll by Pro-Wesley Hunt group
Ken Paxton: 38%
John Cornyn: 28%
Wesley Hunt: 23%
——
H2H
Wesley Hunt: 39%
Ken Paxton: 38%
—
Wesley Hunt: 46%
John Cornyn: 37%
——
"Hunt is inching closer to launching Senate bid" - Punchbowl news
https://punchbowl.news/newsletter/
https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/1968625710668357878
Did they test Cornyn/Paxton?
So the race is Ken Paxton vs Wesley Hunt in a race to decide who unseats John Cornyn in next year’s primary.
Fascinating race!
NYC Mayor Suffolk:
Mamdani (45%) leads Cuomo (25%), followed by Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa (9%), and
incumbent Mayor Eric Adams (8%).
https://www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suffolk/documents/academics/research-at-suffolk/suprc/polls/city-view/2025/9_23_2025_nyc_mayor_press_release.pdf
Cuomo + Adams is 33%, so Cuomo would still trail Mamdani if Adams drops out and Cuomo consolidates Adams's support without losing any of his own supporters to Mamdani or Silwa.
"https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/tough-primaries-complicate-democrats-bid-182152638.html by Semafor
Tough primaries complicate Democrats' bid to retake US Senate"
Many updates plus Andy Kim (who endorsed Craig) and Tina Smith ask the establishment who prefer Angie Craig to stay out of Minnesota.
Although it's strange that Bernie is not yet endorsing Flanagan despite her seeking his endorsement as soon as she entered the race.
On balance, contested primaries are good. They create voter interest and toughen up the winner for the general.
Also, this may the simple yet unsaid solution to our voter registration woes. 2016 and 2020 primaries brought in many new voters.
I don't know what studies have been done, but empirically, primaries are sometimes beneficial and sometimes electorally fatal to the winner, and my perception, which might be wrong, is that that depends on how rancorous the primary is, if the two or more parties to the conflict got enough support to make the difference in the general election.
Bernie may. He’s been endorsing many candidates this year. I could see him backing Flanagan.
If this holds with the party organizations of the national variety not actively engaging in these primaries I think they’ve done a near perfect job for setting us up for a potential miracle majority. The only misfire I can see is Mills in Maine who isn’t needed to defeat Collins. The rest has been good.
We’ve lost with all varieties of Democrats in the NC-Sen races, getting a 2 term Governor who has won Trump voters over and over again in a tough state is by far the best we could ever hope for. Ohio everyone knows the only type of Democrat who can still win there is of the populist variety, Brown is the best candidate for that race. Getting him to run again was absolutely a coup by Schumer.
The other races have no clear favourite or perceived stronger candidates where the party can realistically convince our voters they’re the best option to win. I think they aren’t just doing this out of the goodness of their hearts however. It’s a forced withdrawal because of our base.
If they endorsed, it would likely cause their candidates they prefer to lose the primary in a backlash against the party. So they’re rolling the dice and letting it play out. Our base is extremely angry at national Democrats who led us to not 1, but 2 Trump terms because they didn’t know who appealed to voters and how to reach and talk to modern America.
NC AG Jeff Jackson wanted to run in 2020, and Schumer interviewed him, but he asked him to not go to 100 counties in 100 days, instead he had to raise money for ads "from a basement" so he dropped out. And the eventual nominee's Cunningham's exposed affairs in the last leg hurt him and Thom Tillis won by a plurality of the vote.
Also, the DCCC didn't vet Mandela Barnes for his support of defund the police and open borders beforehand. Two winnable races gone in the drain.
Yes, they screwed up both those races, no question, but this cycle they haven’t done that and that’s what I was complimenting. Not even that I support those orgs or now do after their 2026 election moves (I still don’t), just as a “this is what I always want to see from our national orgs in this cycle and beyond”, I hope this continues, type of compliment of the job they’ve done in 2026 Senate races.
They still need a total overhaul from leadership on down, but at least now we’re on the same side of how our primaries should work. Get the best recruits through in tough states that are necessary to have a shot at winning and leave the rest for our voters to decide. That’s my opinion anyways, so if you disagree that’s ok.
WRT Barnes, the Dems also gave up on Wisconsin at one point and did not invest in the race, if I’m remembering correctly. Had they put more money Barnes may have pulled off a squeaker, even as a progressive. Wisconsin has elected progressives before — Russ Feingold, La Follette, etc. Hell Ben Wikler is pretty progressive himself, he was a Bernie delegate at one point and was a close friend of the late hacktivist and one of my political inspirations Aaron Swartz.
Unfortunately I suspect race played a role in Barnes losing too. Economic progressivism has had success in WI, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still a lot of racism.
There were a lot of things that played into WI-SEN 2022, but generally speaking, it's pretty difficult to topple an incumbent swing-state senator—even a loon like Ron Johnson—in a cycle that favors said incumbent's party. (And 2022 was still a mildly Republican-leaning year, even if they massively underperformed their trumped-up expectations.)
Barnes had PLENTY of money. He just wasn't a good candidate for that cycle.
Unless I missed a race, Barnes was the only top tier senate race that was substantially outspent (candidate + independent) by his republican opponent in 2022. He was the only top tier dem candidate to not substantially outraise his opponent directly: $42m him to $36m Johnson. There was $50m of outside spending on his behalf vs $75m on behalf of Johnson.
That's very different from most other senate elections that year.
CCM raised $64m to Laxalt's $18m. Outside spending was about $60m each.
Kelly raised $89m to Masters' $15m. Outside spending was about $60m each.
Fetterman raised $75m to Oz' $51m. Outside spending was $120m to help Fetterman, $100m to help Oz.
Warnock raised $181m (!!) to Walker's $73m. Outside spending was about $120m to $110m.
Beasley raised $38m to Budd's $14m. Outside spending was about $24m to about $70m.
Even Tim Ryan, in a doomed senate campaign, had a $56m to $15m advantage in direct fundraising. Demings' doomed Florida campaign was $80m to $50m, too.
Beasley was the only other candidate facing a big deficit on outside spending, but her fundraising advantage made up for it, unlike Barnes.
Barnes was by far the dem who most needed money that cycle. Maybe we can argue his own flaws caused his failure to have a significant financial advantage, I would fully disagree with him having "PLENTY" of money.
Realistically I expect it's a bit of A and a bit of B. That if he was a stronger candidate he would have gotten the money anyway. But also dem leadership's lack of confidence in his campaign would have stunted his fundraising quite a bit.
I’m on team “let the voters decide”. No more coronations of flawed candidates that implode in the end. If they can survive a primary, there’s a good chance they can survive the general. Especially in MN which is quite bluer than, say, Michigan.
On that note, I fear Haley Stevens may lose the MI general. No one really likes her except the party elites, she’s an AIPAC darling (which means she can kiss Michigan’s Arab vote goodbye), and based on how everything’s been run, I fear she may end up becoming a Senator who roadblocks progress.
If we lose Arab voters to repugs after what Trump and Netanyahoo are doing in Gaza then there's no winning them back.
I’d respond, but there’s an I-P topic ban and I’d rather not go there.
I don’t think Haley will win the primary. As McMorrow gains momentum she’s going to be hard to beat.
I really, really like McMorrow.
I hope so.
Inshallah
Went looking for articles about the Epstein discharge petition, but instead was pleasantly surprised to see Americans creatively make the story reach even more people. Every media org is covering these statues and what they say.
Good layup for before Grijalva wins the special election tonight and the next month up until when she gets signed in, to bring the GOP Congress to a screeching halt again over Epstein.
https://newrepublic.com/post/200825/trump-reaction-statue-jeffrey-epstein-holding-hands
Republicans hold GA-SD-21; the GOP candidate leads 57.4%-42.6% with what appears to be the early vote reporting (56% of the expected vote in). The remaining vote appears to be more GOP-favorable than the reported vote so far; I would estimate around a 63-36 GOP result when all of the vote is in, which would be an overperformance compared to 2024 presidential election results (67-33 R), but an underperformance compared to the state senate special primary (60-40 R).
https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/09/23/live-results-georgia-voters-settle-state-senate-runoff-that-has-drawn-national-attention/
Polls in the Mobile, Alabama mayoral election close at the top of the hour (7 PM CT).
Are there any E-Day votes to compare, yet?
Based on the E-Day votes from Cherokee only pushing things a bit to the right, I'd guess this one ends up more like 61-39 vs 63-36.
Cherokee is entirely in and it's 63.7-36.3. Fulton still has plenty left. A linear extrapolation gives a final Fulton total of 10900 votes splitting 6400 D - 4500 R. That plus Cherokee would be R 18150 D 11800, or R 60.6-D 39.4. Since E-Day has been a bit more R-friendly, call it 61-39.
Mobile, AL Mayor - Barbara Drummond (D) narrowly leads Spiro Cheriogotis (R) with about four-ninths of the vote in. The race is officially nonpartisan, but Drummond is a known Democrat, and IIRC, Spiro Cheriogotis is a Republican.
I don't know if later-counted votes skew more R or D in Alabama.
https://www.wkrg.com/elections/election-results-gulf-coast-runoff-2025/
The WALA-TV results are being updated faster than the WKRG-TV results page, they have Drummond (D) leading the Mobile mayoral race by a little over 2,300 votes with 82% in.
https://www.fox10tv.com/
Down to about a 1,400 vote lead; still 82% in for some reason.
Wow now it is ONE VOTE difference https://x.com/taniel/status/1970659297362354239?s=61&t=5copDbz1aPl7ASsRCUclLg
MA-SEN: I'm all for Moulton challenging Markey. Something has to give with the octogenarians, especially after losing four Dems this year to old age and we still haven't replaced all of them months later. I know senate vacancies get filled quick but its still something we shouldn't have to worry about.
I’m not. Moulton is awful. Even ignoring him blaming trans people for the Democrats losing, he tried to get Pelosi ousted in 2018 as House Speaker without a clear alternative, and his voting record is much worse than Markey’s. I do not support this challenge.
This seems to be a common trend of mostly progressive politicians refusing to step aside and then end up being replaced by someone alot more conservative than them. Markey could always retire and set the stage for Presley or Wu or take the risk and lose his seat to a much more moderate person.
That doesn’t mean Moulton should be supported if he does try. What if Markey doesn’t listen to pressure and Moulton wins anyway?
Don't ya know, "yer old, get out!" only applies to liberals not extreme left.
Please tell me you are not seriously implying Ed Markey is “extreme left”.
Something tells me that’s the real reason you want him gone.
I think Sanders should have retired last year. If that doesn't qualify as supporting old progressives retiring, then I'm not sure anything qualifies.
I wish Markey would step aside too, but I'm drawing the line at a downgrade from him as substantial as Moulton or Auchincloss. They're too big of a downgrade over him in a state as blue as MA. There's smaller, more acceptable, downgrades that are available to replace him.
I'm OK with getting a downgrade to replace Markey in order to avoid having an 80+ year old senator.
Moulton and Auchincloss are too much of a downgrade for me. Moulton is, bluntly, an egotistical asshole and would be end up being a pain in the ass for us if he ever made it to the senate. This is the guy that flew to Afghanistan in the middle of our withdrawal despite DOD requests not to, creating a giant security distraction at a time when security was stretched tight. Auchincloss would not be a pain in the ass on a legislative front but he would dedicate more of his time to fighting progressives than to fighting republicans.
Pressley would be just as good as Markey, probably even an upgrade. Same for Wu. Clark hasn't been great this year but I was impressed with her in the past, I suspect she'd be about as good as him. Healey would a downgrade. Trahan and Campbell would be a bit more of a downgrade than Healey. DiZoglio could be good or awful, I never got a good read of if she's got some political crazy to her or not. Driscoll I have no idea.
Wu and Clark won't run, so they ultimately won't matter. Driscoll doesn't have the name recognition now and I suspect would be considered too old by the time she has it. DiZoglio, for good or ill, will be strongly opposed by the establishment and is unlikely to ever have a chance.
That leaves us with Pressley, Healey, Trahan, and Campbell as viable replacements, with three of them being likely downgrades, but acceptable downgrades.
Even a 90-year-old would be better than a AIPAC hawk TERF.