In Michigan, I would 100% support Jocelyn Benson for Governor, her landslide 56% - 42% win for 2nd and final term as Secretary of State in 2022 makes her by far the most formidable possible candidate. If she picks AG Dana Nessel as her running mate, it will be an epic ticket!!
P.S. I want Sen. Gary Peters to retire and let Gov. Gretchen W…
In Michigan, I would 100% support Jocelyn Benson for Governor, her landslide 56% - 42% win for 2nd and final term as Secretary of State in 2022 makes her by far the most formidable possible candidate. If she picks AG Dana Nessel as her running mate, it will be an epic ticket!!
P.S. I want Sen. Gary Peters to retire and let Gov. Gretchen Whitmer run hard to keep the seat blue. In 2020, he UNDERPERFORMED Biden and almost lost reelection, he isn't strong enough!! 💙🇺🇲
Campaigns for that other office would be starting right after the midterms. They are not occurring in the same year but the timing does not work well for someone who already has a high enough perch to make a credible run.
She has on multiple occasions shut down chatter about running for POTUS in that she's not looking to do it. I believe this is because she was mainly interested in being dedicated for being Governor of MI. I just don't see her to have enough of an ego to want to be POTUS to begin with.
Is it worth muddying her Presidential ambitions by giving her a Senate record to defend? As opposed to being the "Washington outsider from the Midwest" that she can sell herself as now?
In the Senate you have to vote for all kinds of stuff that can be controversial and might hurt in a presidential race. That goes for Senators of both parties.
True, Senators have more acquaintance with foreign policy and other national issues, but governors do have an advantage in that they can run on their record of getting things done as executives and of not being part of the "mess in Washington" when the federal government is unpopular--which recently it almost always is. Plus Whitmer can boast of running a large, competitive state with both supportive and opposing legislatures.
Bill Clinton was the last real outsider Democratic Presidential Nominee who served as POTUS after having been Governor.
Although 1992 was a much different and by contrast more civil political environment, Clinton had the advantage of being an outsider. There was very little that Bush Sr. was able to do other than do mudslinging at Clinton. Even the mudslinging that Clinton had to deal with was nothing compared to what John Kerry had to withstand. Him being Governor of Arkansas helped him, particularly in the South.
I think we need more outsiders and less insiders in the Democratic Party running for office.
If she wants to run for President yeah avoid the Senate, plus there really isn't an opening? I don't see Gary Peters retiring and Slotkin just got elected.
Peters was the only freshman Senate Dem elected that year. He underperformed against John James in 2020, but James, while in the House now, hasn't been a particularly great vote winner himself and indeed could be vulnerable in 2026 (maybe he tries for a Senate rematch if in serious danger of losing his House seat?)
That doesn't mean that Peters is particularly weak or should be dumped, especially when he may well be helped by national trends.
John James won re-election by a wider margin against the same Democratic challenger he had in 2022, Carl Marlinga. If there's any chance to unseat him, 2026 is right now the best shot.
I'm sure someone else besides Marlinga will emerge as a Democratic challenger.
Unfortunately having the lesbian Nessel on the ticket is probably not right for the current moment. I think the backlash toward anything that might be lumped into the "DEI" category is real.
You do realize that Trump has just appointed an openly gay man as his Treasury Secretary? Scott Bessent is married to John Freeman, a New York prosecutor. Just like Pete Buggieg and his husband, Bessent & Freeman have two children.
– Ric Grenell, 58, presidential envoy for special missions. He was Trump’s Director of National Intelligence during his first term.
– Tammy Bruce, 62, the new State Department Spokesperson was a Fox News contributor.
– Jacob Helberg, 35, Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
– Bill White, 57, Ambassador to Belgium.
– Art Fisher, 49, Ambassador to Austria.
PS. Peter Thiel, of whom JD Vance has long been a protégé, is another prominent right-wing gay man. Thiel’s company Palantir earns its wealth primarily from government contracts. I very much doubt Trump is going to change that.
We do not win by surrendering to conservative ideology. If we avoid any candidate that could be called "DEI" then that requires us to only go with straight white men.
Look, I'm not going to say that there are no opportunities to moderate and win more voters on various issues. Whether that's worth it is a complex discussion. What I am saying is that voluntarily removing all elements of diversity from our tickets to appease conservatives will not help us in the slightest and will in fact harm us.
Baldwin winning in a Trump won-swing state in probably what was the "peak woke backlash"national environment shows sexual orientation isn't really an issue.
No, it doesn't show that. It shows that voters are willing to vote for what they consider a "good" LGB candidate downballot, and notice I left off the T, because trans people are a designated target for bullying right now.
I agree with you, but unfortunately, it's clear that feminist women are not yet going to win a presidential election in the U.S. That may change if one is running during a near-depression, the way Obama won in 2008.
I've told this story before, but I'm going to repeat it now. After Senator Obama won the Iowa caucuses, I asked my father what he thought of him. He said white people are too racist to elect a Black man for president, and he knew that because he remembered how things were in Baton Rouge when he was Artist in Residence at LSU from 1966-67 and didn't think their attitudes had really changed. I asked him again after Senator Obama won the New Hampshire primary. His answer hadn't changed. So I asked him: "When New York has its primary, who will you vote for?" And he answered "Obama, of course! Because if I do anything else, I'd be letting the racists control me." He didn't believe Obama would really win until Ohio was called on Election Day, but he didn't let that determine his vote. And if the American voters want to continue destroying the country due to bigotry, that's on them, but we must never vote against a candidate because of what they are, rather than how qualified, wise and judicious they are.
In Michigan, I would 100% support Jocelyn Benson for Governor, her landslide 56% - 42% win for 2nd and final term as Secretary of State in 2022 makes her by far the most formidable possible candidate. If she picks AG Dana Nessel as her running mate, it will be an epic ticket!!
P.S. I want Sen. Gary Peters to retire and let Gov. Gretchen Whitmer run hard to keep the seat blue. In 2020, he UNDERPERFORMED Biden and almost lost reelection, he isn't strong enough!! 💙🇺🇲
Gretchen Whitmer would make a formidable senator! Right now, Democrats have all too many representatives whose voices are soft or silent.
I certainly agree with the last part.
Whitmer should be our nominee for President.
I am fond of the idea but that's not a topic we should go into here.
A way to get at the same idea while staying within permissive topics: she's unlikely to run for senate in 2026 due to having conflicting ambitions.
I cannot imagine her primarying Peters for that matter, and there's no reasons I know of to expect him to retire, either.
she's running for 1 office and that office is not up in 2026
Campaigns for that other office would be starting right after the midterms. They are not occurring in the same year but the timing does not work well for someone who already has a high enough perch to make a credible run.
I'll give credit for Whitmer:
She has on multiple occasions shut down chatter about running for POTUS in that she's not looking to do it. I believe this is because she was mainly interested in being dedicated for being Governor of MI. I just don't see her to have enough of an ego to want to be POTUS to begin with.
I'll just say in general I hope we have at least one spot on the ticket reserved for someone from MI, PA or WI and leave it at that.
Is it worth muddying her Presidential ambitions by giving her a Senate record to defend? As opposed to being the "Washington outsider from the Midwest" that she can sell herself as now?
Why do you assume Whitmer would become muddied by serving as a senator?
In the Senate you have to vote for all kinds of stuff that can be controversial and might hurt in a presidential race. That goes for Senators of both parties.
True, Senators have more acquaintance with foreign policy and other national issues, but governors do have an advantage in that they can run on their record of getting things done as executives and of not being part of the "mess in Washington" when the federal government is unpopular--which recently it almost always is. Plus Whitmer can boast of running a large, competitive state with both supportive and opposing legislatures.
I’ll buy that. Makes a lot of sense.
Bill Clinton was the last real outsider Democratic Presidential Nominee who served as POTUS after having been Governor.
Although 1992 was a much different and by contrast more civil political environment, Clinton had the advantage of being an outsider. There was very little that Bush Sr. was able to do other than do mudslinging at Clinton. Even the mudslinging that Clinton had to deal with was nothing compared to what John Kerry had to withstand. Him being Governor of Arkansas helped him, particularly in the South.
I think we need more outsiders and less insiders in the Democratic Party running for office.
she's not running for Senate
If she wants to run for President yeah avoid the Senate, plus there really isn't an opening? I don't see Gary Peters retiring and Slotkin just got elected.
Peters had a landslide himself in 2014 of all years.
Mainly because his opponent was weak and melted down in front of the media.
Right but that wouldn't matter in the Trump era. 2014 was the last election cycle where a swing-state landslide was possible in a federal race.
Peters was the only freshman Senate Dem elected that year. He underperformed against John James in 2020, but James, while in the House now, hasn't been a particularly great vote winner himself and indeed could be vulnerable in 2026 (maybe he tries for a Senate rematch if in serious danger of losing his House seat?)
That doesn't mean that Peters is particularly weak or should be dumped, especially when he may well be helped by national trends.
John James won re-election by a wider margin against the same Democratic challenger he had in 2022, Carl Marlinga. If there's any chance to unseat him, 2026 is right now the best shot.
I'm sure someone else besides Marlinga will emerge as a Democratic challenger.
Unfortunately having the lesbian Nessel on the ticket is probably not right for the current moment. I think the backlash toward anything that might be lumped into the "DEI" category is real.
You do realize that Trump has just appointed an openly gay man as his Treasury Secretary? Scott Bessent is married to John Freeman, a New York prosecutor. Just like Pete Buggieg and his husband, Bessent & Freeman have two children.
Other openly gay Trump appointees include:
– Ric Grenell, 58, presidential envoy for special missions. He was Trump’s Director of National Intelligence during his first term.
– Tammy Bruce, 62, the new State Department Spokesperson was a Fox News contributor.
– Jacob Helberg, 35, Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
– Bill White, 57, Ambassador to Belgium.
– Art Fisher, 49, Ambassador to Austria.
PS. Peter Thiel, of whom JD Vance has long been a protégé, is another prominent right-wing gay man. Thiel’s company Palantir earns its wealth primarily from government contracts. I very much doubt Trump is going to change that.
IOKIYAR
We do not win by surrendering to conservative ideology. If we avoid any candidate that could be called "DEI" then that requires us to only go with straight white men.
Look, I'm not going to say that there are no opportunities to moderate and win more voters on various issues. Whether that's worth it is a complex discussion. What I am saying is that voluntarily removing all elements of diversity from our tickets to appease conservatives will not help us in the slightest and will in fact harm us.
Baldwin winning in a Trump won-swing state in probably what was the "peak woke backlash"national environment shows sexual orientation isn't really an issue.
No, it doesn't show that. It shows that voters are willing to vote for what they consider a "good" LGB candidate downballot, and notice I left off the T, because trans people are a designated target for bullying right now.
Baldwin was an exceptionally good campaigner and now is entrenched for life(if that's her ambition)
Baldwin was an exceptionally good campaigner and now is entrenched for life(if that's her ambition)
I hope this is never a reason for any democratic slate to be altered; fuck the Republicans and their bigotry
I agree with you, but unfortunately, it's clear that feminist women are not yet going to win a presidential election in the U.S. That may change if one is running during a near-depression, the way Obama won in 2008.
I've told this story before, but I'm going to repeat it now. After Senator Obama won the Iowa caucuses, I asked my father what he thought of him. He said white people are too racist to elect a Black man for president, and he knew that because he remembered how things were in Baton Rouge when he was Artist in Residence at LSU from 1966-67 and didn't think their attitudes had really changed. I asked him again after Senator Obama won the New Hampshire primary. His answer hadn't changed. So I asked him: "When New York has its primary, who will you vote for?" And he answered "Obama, of course! Because if I do anything else, I'd be letting the racists control me." He didn't believe Obama would really win until Ohio was called on Election Day, but he didn't let that determine his vote. And if the American voters want to continue destroying the country due to bigotry, that's on them, but we must never vote against a candidate because of what they are, rather than how qualified, wise and judicious they are.
Great post
Does AG have term limits? Bc the whole conversation seems kind of moot if she can run for a third term. Going from AG to Lt Gov would suck.
Agreed.. LG is only good if running for another office.. AG is the better job, second only to Gov
I don't think anyone would care that Nessel is gay. She codes as a normie, and if the GOP brought it up it would turn swing voters off.