Conversation dies down in the aftermath of elections, up until things start to ramp up again as the next cycle starts in earnest.
I expect a lot of people are feeling as I am right now, too: depressed about the election, with all the various feelings of hopelessness and despair added in. I'm actively avoiding news about the current admin for my own mental health. The downballot (hence the name!) and more in the weeds discussions focus here are why I haven't disappeared for a while too.
Simply put, there's a lot less on-topic discussion to be had right now. Not zero, but a lot less. The adjacent discussions that we'd normally be having are ones that, at least me and I assume others, are actively avoiding having.
The only elections in before the end of the year are some red seat special elections in the house and Wisconsin supreme court. The house special elections we should lose handily, barring an extreme miracle. Wisconsin should be starting up soon-ish but usually there's less coverage, polling, etc. for us to work with to discuss for judicial elections.
The big 2025 elections will only really start to ramp up somewhere between late spring and late summer. Virginia and New Jersey governor + legislative elections, mayor of NYC, and Pennsylvania supreme court will be the marque elections of the year, and we need to wait for them to start in earnest before there's much to discuss.
I could mention that Josh Kraft announced his candidacy for mayor of Boston, but barring something unexpected happening that's merely him signing up to be pasted by Michelle Wu while the Boston Herald and its readers shake their fists in rage.
Josh Kraft is the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. He's donated to campaigns of both parties, but hasn't held elected office himself.
He donated to Wu in 2021, but in 2023 he gave to a an anti-Wu slate that had the backing of GOP financiers, even though the candidates were probably at least nominally Democratic (maybe Independent). That slate lost and there's probably not much reason to think Kraft will do much better.
Janus said it well! I too am consciously avoiding news about the new American regime. IтАЩm well aware that Trump and his Project 2025 cohorts are presently engaged in "shock and awe", following the advice of Steve Bannon: "Flood the zone with shit." Theirs is a toxic mix of vindictiveness, performative politics, and deeply undemocratic and unconstitutional power grabs. I feel no need to be a glued-to-my seat spectator in real time.
Instead, for my own mental health, IтАЩve been visiting the international news sites that I frequent, avoiding US news even there.
Importantly, I also follow the refreshingly-calm coverage and discussion here at The Downballot.
Gina, youтАЩre welcome to seek out the excitement and high-energy panic of DailyKos. Meanwhile, itтАЩs nowhere near as quiet here as you portray it. Yesterday there were 31 comments, in this weekendтАЩs Open Thread there were 49 comments. ThatтАЩs not unsubstantial. But feel free to go back to DK.
I, however, am immensely grateful for the deeply-professional and always-informative journalism of David Nir & Jeff Singer and the level-headed contributions of commenters, so I am going to stay right here.
Not uncommon for January after the election. But DKE circa 2024 wasn't as populated as it was in 2012 either. Probably a matter of expanded online election analysis supply without the corresponding growth in demand to keep all of destinations sufficiently populated.
I get it. Elections were a lot more fun when all politics wasn't national and 98% of outcomes weren't so preordained by tribalism. There's just a lot less to talk about in 2024 when Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester can't beat Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy compared to 2012 when, as one example, Heidi Heitkamp could outrun Obama by 20 points and win North Dakota.
That is true. I just thought the other day that maybe PVI actually could be relevant. I canтАЩt remember why it deserved a change as I always found it so dumb. Things line up a lot more neatly now.
Oh! ItтАЩs because going back to a previous election cycle and averaging the two seemed weird with so much ticket splitting. It could actually be useful now in explaining trends.
This is a very good point. I've always enjoyed analyzing elections where Democrats or progressive ballot measures do unexpectedly well in red states - for example, the 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was fascinating. And analyzing the 2023 abortion referenda in Kansas and Ohio was also really fun. But is a bit deflating when stuff like that doesn't seem to have any impact on presidential elections.
On that note, how many state legislators, anywhere in the country, are left who represent districts that heavily favor the other party (by a 2-1 margin or greater)? The Democrats who first come to mind are Pennsylvania's Frank Burns and Kentucky's Ashley Laferty, while the first Republican I can think of is Vermont's Rich Westman representing heavily Democratic Lamoille County.
Conversation dies down in the aftermath of elections, up until things start to ramp up again as the next cycle starts in earnest.
I expect a lot of people are feeling as I am right now, too: depressed about the election, with all the various feelings of hopelessness and despair added in. I'm actively avoiding news about the current admin for my own mental health. The downballot (hence the name!) and more in the weeds discussions focus here are why I haven't disappeared for a while too.
Simply put, there's a lot less on-topic discussion to be had right now. Not zero, but a lot less. The adjacent discussions that we'd normally be having are ones that, at least me and I assume others, are actively avoiding having.
The only elections in before the end of the year are some red seat special elections in the house and Wisconsin supreme court. The house special elections we should lose handily, barring an extreme miracle. Wisconsin should be starting up soon-ish but usually there's less coverage, polling, etc. for us to work with to discuss for judicial elections.
The big 2025 elections will only really start to ramp up somewhere between late spring and late summer. Virginia and New Jersey governor + legislative elections, mayor of NYC, and Pennsylvania supreme court will be the marque elections of the year, and we need to wait for them to start in earnest before there's much to discuss.
I could mention that Josh Kraft announced his candidacy for mayor of Boston, but barring something unexpected happening that's merely him signing up to be pasted by Michelle Wu while the Boston Herald and its readers shake their fists in rage.
Josh Kraft is the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. He's donated to campaigns of both parties, but hasn't held elected office himself.
He donated to Wu in 2021, but in 2023 he gave to a an anti-Wu slate that had the backing of GOP financiers, even though the candidates were probably at least nominally Democratic (maybe Independent). That slate lost and there's probably not much reason to think Kraft will do much better.
Bob Kraft will give coupons good for free happy endings to all donors to his sonтАЩs campaign.
Janus said it well! I too am consciously avoiding news about the new American regime. IтАЩm well aware that Trump and his Project 2025 cohorts are presently engaged in "shock and awe", following the advice of Steve Bannon: "Flood the zone with shit." Theirs is a toxic mix of vindictiveness, performative politics, and deeply undemocratic and unconstitutional power grabs. I feel no need to be a glued-to-my seat spectator in real time.
Instead, for my own mental health, IтАЩve been visiting the international news sites that I frequent, avoiding US news even there.
Importantly, I also follow the refreshingly-calm coverage and discussion here at The Downballot.
Gina, youтАЩre welcome to seek out the excitement and high-energy panic of DailyKos. Meanwhile, itтАЩs nowhere near as quiet here as you portray it. Yesterday there were 31 comments, in this weekendтАЩs Open Thread there were 49 comments. ThatтАЩs not unsubstantial. But feel free to go back to DK.
I, however, am immensely grateful for the deeply-professional and always-informative journalism of David Nir & Jeff Singer and the level-headed contributions of commenters, so I am going to stay right here.
Not uncommon for January after the election. But DKE circa 2024 wasn't as populated as it was in 2012 either. Probably a matter of expanded online election analysis supply without the corresponding growth in demand to keep all of destinations sufficiently populated.
I get it. Elections were a lot more fun when all politics wasn't national and 98% of outcomes weren't so preordained by tribalism. There's just a lot less to talk about in 2024 when Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester can't beat Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy compared to 2012 when, as one example, Heidi Heitkamp could outrun Obama by 20 points and win North Dakota.
That is true. I just thought the other day that maybe PVI actually could be relevant. I canтАЩt remember why it deserved a change as I always found it so dumb. Things line up a lot more neatly now.
Oh! ItтАЩs because going back to a previous election cycle and averaging the two seemed weird with so much ticket splitting. It could actually be useful now in explaining trends.
This is a very good point. I've always enjoyed analyzing elections where Democrats or progressive ballot measures do unexpectedly well in red states - for example, the 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was fascinating. And analyzing the 2023 abortion referenda in Kansas and Ohio was also really fun. But is a bit deflating when stuff like that doesn't seem to have any impact on presidential elections.
On that note, how many state legislators, anywhere in the country, are left who represent districts that heavily favor the other party (by a 2-1 margin or greater)? The Democrats who first come to mind are Pennsylvania's Frank Burns and Kentucky's Ashley Laferty, while the first Republican I can think of is Vermont's Rich Westman representing heavily Democratic Lamoille County.