What does everyone make of this broader trend of independents running in statewide races as a stand-in for Democratic candidates? On the one hand they do seem to run stronger in certain races, like Osborn in Nebraska or McMullin in Utah, but on the other hand it does run counter to the 50 state strategy that most people on here adhere to. Fewer Republicans is objectively good, but that doesn't mean it gets you any closer to some of your policy objectives that independents may not support.
Fair. I guess the problem is when an independent enters a race the Democrats have not abandoned and starts fighting for the same moderate voters, thinking of Duggan in the Michigan governor race. As far as the Senate, I just worry that things many of you want like Supreme Court expansion or federal oversight of redistricting or the end of filibuster are DOA because of a larger independent caucus.
The MI-GOV race is one where Democrats should be able to own their brand and win considering MI as a state is not a red state. I believe Duggan is formerly a Democrat but that’s also a complete 180 that certainly throws off MI Democrats.
The bluer the state, the less likely Independents will be needed to begin with. It’s the red states where they are more useful. If Independents fight for the same moderate voters in say Arkansas or Oklahoma but have bigger reach than your average Democratic Senate Candidate would, that is better providing the Independents are able to caucus with Democrats.
Yes although after Olympia Snowe retired, if Angus King did not run back in 2012, I doubt it would have been needed for an Independent to win the Senate race.
Something similar worked well in Kansas for quite a while, where moderate Republicans allied with Democrats in the state legislature against the extremists.
I think running indies and allying with moderate Republicans (if there are enough) is the key to success from a legislation and governance standpoint (not necessarily for Democratic Party itself).
Seems somewhat comparable to conservative Democrats finding success in places like Hawaii and Rhode Island. When one party has dominance, you have to find other ways to gain access to power.
From what I can tell for looking at results, even an Independent like King who caucuses with Democrats most often votes for them gets a 8-10% boost in margin just because the D is removed from the ballot line. There are many states in which that 8-10% is needed even under blue wave conditions. That’s the case in Nebraska and I think in Montana too.
So anytime a plausible leader, whether they are an anti-Trump conservative, a centrist, or a maverick, I’d be open to supporting them and not running a Democratic candidate for that office. Even if they just vote against MAGA half the time it would be a victory. It’s a tactical election by election, race by race decision.
I think the 50 state strategy is longterm. Investing in candidates with no chance of winning in state legislative, county, municipality, school board, and other downballot races. But more importantly funding local Democratic organizing and outreach between elections. Events and activities that show there are people in your own neighborhood and not just weak, out-of-touch coastal elites who look down on you. I don’t think we can break that point of view with a campaign ad. Takes being local.
Anyone in my mind, supporting Independent candidates grow the potential of the 50 state strategy.
I certainly don't mind running an Indy here or there. The main thing is that there is pushback everywhere. And no one feels abandoned. And we build infrastructure & connections.
Any 50 state strategy is doomed to fail in these states unless we figure out a way to counter the Conservative Media Machine mainlining propaganda about our party day in and day out. But I’m in favor of the strategy precisely because the Democratic Brand is so toxic in these states.
I feel like Independent candidates stand a better chance in certain states, like Arkansas, Nebraska, etc, because these states have a well established infrastructure designed just to attack Democrats and be hostile to them; talk radio, billboards, etc. There is no such infrastructure to target independents, at least not in the sense of creating long-term cultural opposition to Democrats who are painted as "pure evil" being the cultural doctrine in many of these places. Simply put, independents don't have to deal with the baggage that a Democrat would, and they are also more resistant to having their independent campaign be nationalized. This offers the Republican voters a chance to vote against a Republican, but without the associated culturally ingrained guilt of having voted for a "baby killing Democrat", for example.
Maybe the 50 state strategy should be broadened slightly to "challenge the GOP in all 50 states" instead of "Run Democrats in all 50 states". The Democratic brand is currently toxic in many ruby red places.
I have heard Dan Osborn on a Zoom with an opportunity for Q&A. He seemed genuine and committed to helping his constituents - which is more than I can say about any Republicans I can think of. Plus he seems well aligned on a lot of core principles that Dems support.
I don’t think the objective of independents should be that they are another Angus King or Bernie Sanders who vote in line with the majority of what Democrats aim to accomplish. I would certainly support Independents if they caucus with Democrats as opposed to if they only do so on occasion.
In the case of Independent SD-SEN candidate Brian Bengs, he’s a former Democrat who became an Independent last year in his Senate race against Senator Mike Rounds. Everything in his campaign website makes it obvious he would caucus with Democrats and the majority of his platform makes him aligned with the Democratic Party agenda. Even when I saw Bengs being interviewed, he acts and talks like a hard core Democrat.
For other Independents, I would like to see how the ID-SEN race could be put to the test.
LOL about Abbott turning Harris County "dark red". The actual voters there don't seem to have gotten the message, since 65% of them voted in the Democratic primary this week.
Even Beto only won Harris County 58-41 in 2018, and that's the high-water mark for Democrats in the recent era. A Democrat who actually got 65% in Harris in a statewide election would most likely win.
Because Fetterman ran as a progressive outsider with working-class appeal who would demand real change, and Lamb ran as a centrist establishment type. Seemed a pretty clear choice at the time.
Well, that is the way the corporate media portrayed them, which was in love with the idea of Fetterman as working class because of how he dressed, even though he wasn't working class. Lamb's competency was interpreted as "boring."
this is simply not an accurate recollection of the 2022 Senate race.
Fetterman genuinely supported progressive causes while Lt. Governor, such as marijuana legalization, abortion rights, and trans rights. I remember watching his speech the night of the election and still think it was pretty good
Fetterman has changed since then, markedly for the worse. It's obvious to everyone, even the people around him, that the stroke and subsequent bouts of depression changed him. And those are valid struggle to have, just maybe not when you're a massively important US Senator.
He also appears to have become a completely different person after his stroke, so you can be forgiven for thinking he was a progressive. That or he was lying the whole time, in which case all of us were fooled. Either way, his career is 100% over after 2028. We only have to worry about him defecting between now and then.
I think we’re all taking the wrong lessons from Fetterman here when the man literally had a stroke that caused brain damage. I don’t think he was lying, I just think the stroke affected him more than we’d like to admit.
I think about how in the wake of 2024, if Fetterman wasn't so needlessly antagonistic that he was would probably be at the height of presidential leaderboards. But he'd torched himself so completely in his first two years as a senator by then that pretty much no serious person even mentioned his name then, let alone now.
I expect Phil Berger to do everything he can to throw out enough votes to be declared a winner. As people know, he has three nepo babies in office. The first one is Junior, who is an associate justice on the NC Supreme Court (refuses to recuse from any cases involving the GOP). Second one I think works at the Rockingham Co Board of Elections office. Third one is a sheriff.
So, expect shenanigans. I don't know if it will go to federal court like the Griffin v. Riggs case did in 2024.
True although given Ras Baraka is running for a 4th term, I would hope he could get a chance to shoot for higher office or greater leadership abilities than just serving as Mayor. I was impressed with his fearlessness as a gubernatorial candidate last year, especially towards ICE.
So the incumbent AR state Senate leader that lost his seat in the primary, is the winner a more moderate (or less crazy) Republican? The incumbent was endorsed by Sarah Huckabee Slanders.
idk the actual answer but these days, I fully expect any Republican incumbent that's ousted in a primary to be less crazy than the person that beat them.
Sam Page on paper is more MAGA than Phil Berger. But unlike Berger, he seems to be open to working with moderates and Democrats on some issues (ie the budget that Berger refuses to pass).
"In the Democratic primary for Governor, 35% support former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, 13% former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and 7% former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. A plurality (39%) are undecided."
He’s launching a 7 figure ad buy starting today. His main thing is getting his name ID up. Once he does that I think he’ll begin to shoot up in the polls
Good news: crypto backer Ian Calderon has dropped out of CA-Gov race. Former Asm Majority Leader, known mostly for a plastic straw ban that is now wholly ignored across California, never rose above one percent in the polls, hence his nickname I-One Calderon. Still in: Betty Three and Tony Two.
Paul Mitchell's Simulator now has the chance of an R v R election in November at 25.7%. Insane. Thank you Tony and Betty. And Matt. In fact, thank you Xavier and Antonio.
It probably should, but Mahan has enough rich backers that he will stay in. Some of the others will run out of money before the primary. Betty, Tony T. and Antonio might look at that situation. I finally saw one of Antonio's ads and it wasn't very interesting. I have as much chance of being elected Governor as Antonio (or Tony or Betty) and I am not running. If I were going to run for anything it would be the Board of Equalization. At least I am younger than Mike Schaefer, lol...
I heard one from Mahan. It was on TV but I wasn't looking at the screen. I honestly can't remember anything about it except his name. Steyer's are OK but I am already tired of political spots, though the season has hardly begun.
Mahan isn’t gaining at all but I think he could find he’ll end up being a lame duck Mayor if he loses the primary. San Jose has a host of problems right now with affordability and homelessness and Mahan’s ignoring this with his gubernatorial bid.
When you've been to a country like Malaysia where formerly clean beaches and riversides are strewn with plastic straws all over the place, you might feel differently.
They're busy holding the line on combustion and chemical pollution. I don't think they will dispatch CA EPA agents to write up restaurants who use plastic straws. It's penny wise and pound foolish. Especially since I wouldn't be shocked if the current national EPA tries to squash smog regulations in and around LA (if they haven't already).
It's a good start, but we need to also hammer the candidates on issues that include AI data centers, AI regulation, and the age verification crap they're trying to force into every OS in the name of "protecting kids." CA passed a bill for age verification that had near unanimous support in the state assembly, as did Colorado. Can't say for sure if it's Peter Thiel behind this tech fascism nonsense, but now beyond a doubt it's certain that even the leftwing has been bought out.
TX-33 is in Dallas County and thus impacted by the confusion of switching from county wide polling places during early voting to precinct level polling places on Election Day.
Anyone know how the run-off will go as regards to polling places?
Anyone hear what Allred or Johnson has said about the uncounted provisional ballots?
At our Somerville (MA) Democratic Caucus, various candidates for office gave short speeches, including the "some dude" who's running against Ed Markey from the left. What he didn't anticipate is that Sen. Markey himself also gave a speech at our caucus, and a much better one, at that. He was clearly very nervous to have to follow him.
Massachusetts ballot access laws make it hard for minor candidates to get nominated for Statewide office. You need not only 10,000 signatures, but also 15% of the state convention delegates, a threshold he's unlikely to clear with two major candidates competing. (It's within the realm of possibility that Moulton could fail to get 15%, though I think that's unlikely.)
Rikleen is from Acton. Acton is within the 495 area but near the edge of it. Somerville is part of the core urban area for Boston. Which is presumably the reason candidates want to show up and speak at Somerville's events.
The House officially reprimanded Illinois Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García for pulling a stunt similar to what Sen. Steve Daines just did in Montana - withdraw from reelection at the very last minute, allowing no one but his chosen successor time to enter the race.
It's nice but useless. I wonder if there's any sort of old state law that it violates (doubtful, but MT had a populist streak when it became a state). And if either the Dem or Indy won't withdraw, absolutely no chance we win.
2018: D primary 1.04m, R primary 1.55m, general R 50.9 - D 48.3
2020: D primary 1.87m, R primary 1.93m, general R 53.5 - D 43.9
2024: D primary 0.97m, R primary 2.24m, general R 53.1 - D 44.6
2026: D primary 2.25m, R primary 2.16m
On the surface the 2026 primary figures look like 2020, but the caveat is that in 2020 the D primary was competitive and the R primary wasn't. In 2018 and 2024 neither primary was competitive.
The infamous Bob Rucho is resigning from the NC State Board of Elections after an emergency meeting. GOP hack Dave Boliek has nominated Angela Hopkins from the Wake Co Board of Elections to fill the vacancy.
Typo: Bodnar "should he unseat Sheehy"
Fixed, thank you!
Tester should have run again, then dropped out after he won the primary....
What does everyone make of this broader trend of independents running in statewide races as a stand-in for Democratic candidates? On the one hand they do seem to run stronger in certain races, like Osborn in Nebraska or McMullin in Utah, but on the other hand it does run counter to the 50 state strategy that most people on here adhere to. Fewer Republicans is objectively good, but that doesn't mean it gets you any closer to some of your policy objectives that independents may not support.
I’m not a big fan of Angus King, but I’d trade any single Republican in the Senate for a King clone in a heartbeat.
Fair. I guess the problem is when an independent enters a race the Democrats have not abandoned and starts fighting for the same moderate voters, thinking of Duggan in the Michigan governor race. As far as the Senate, I just worry that things many of you want like Supreme Court expansion or federal oversight of redistricting or the end of filibuster are DOA because of a larger independent caucus.
The MI-GOV race is one where Democrats should be able to own their brand and win considering MI as a state is not a red state. I believe Duggan is formerly a Democrat but that’s also a complete 180 that certainly throws off MI Democrats.
The bluer the state, the less likely Independents will be needed to begin with. It’s the red states where they are more useful. If Independents fight for the same moderate voters in say Arkansas or Oklahoma but have bigger reach than your average Democratic Senate Candidate would, that is better providing the Independents are able to caucus with Democrats.
Precisely. I'm only a fan of the strategy in a race that a D cannot win...
Yes although after Olympia Snowe retired, if Angus King did not run back in 2012, I doubt it would have been needed for an Independent to win the Senate race.
It has worked well in Alaska.
I think it is a temporary solution where the Dem brand is so tarnished by GOP propaganda that D candidates cannot win.
As a tactical move for short term electoral gain, fine. As a long term strategy, it is a loser.
There's never been an independent senator from Alaska, though. Unless you're talking about Gov. Bill Walker.
Alyse Galvin ran two competitive races for AK-AL as an Independent, and Al Gross got some traction as a Senate candidate as well.
There is a group of independents in the leg that form a coalition with Dems & moderate Rs. In the House. That is the majority coalition.
Something similar worked well in Kansas for quite a while, where moderate Republicans allied with Democrats in the state legislature against the extremists.
I think running indies and allying with moderate Republicans (if there are enough) is the key to success from a legislation and governance standpoint (not necessarily for Democratic Party itself).
Seems somewhat comparable to conservative Democrats finding success in places like Hawaii and Rhode Island. When one party has dominance, you have to find other ways to gain access to power.
From what I can tell for looking at results, even an Independent like King who caucuses with Democrats most often votes for them gets a 8-10% boost in margin just because the D is removed from the ballot line. There are many states in which that 8-10% is needed even under blue wave conditions. That’s the case in Nebraska and I think in Montana too.
So anytime a plausible leader, whether they are an anti-Trump conservative, a centrist, or a maverick, I’d be open to supporting them and not running a Democratic candidate for that office. Even if they just vote against MAGA half the time it would be a victory. It’s a tactical election by election, race by race decision.
I think the 50 state strategy is longterm. Investing in candidates with no chance of winning in state legislative, county, municipality, school board, and other downballot races. But more importantly funding local Democratic organizing and outreach between elections. Events and activities that show there are people in your own neighborhood and not just weak, out-of-touch coastal elites who look down on you. I don’t think we can break that point of view with a campaign ad. Takes being local.
Anyone in my mind, supporting Independent candidates grow the potential of the 50 state strategy.
Good post.
It should be both/and rather than either/or.
I certainly don't mind running an Indy here or there. The main thing is that there is pushback everywhere. And no one feels abandoned. And we build infrastructure & connections.
Any 50 state strategy is doomed to fail in these states unless we figure out a way to counter the Conservative Media Machine mainlining propaganda about our party day in and day out. But I’m in favor of the strategy precisely because the Democratic Brand is so toxic in these states.
I feel like Independent candidates stand a better chance in certain states, like Arkansas, Nebraska, etc, because these states have a well established infrastructure designed just to attack Democrats and be hostile to them; talk radio, billboards, etc. There is no such infrastructure to target independents, at least not in the sense of creating long-term cultural opposition to Democrats who are painted as "pure evil" being the cultural doctrine in many of these places. Simply put, independents don't have to deal with the baggage that a Democrat would, and they are also more resistant to having their independent campaign be nationalized. This offers the Republican voters a chance to vote against a Republican, but without the associated culturally ingrained guilt of having voted for a "baby killing Democrat", for example.
Maybe the 50 state strategy should be broadened slightly to "challenge the GOP in all 50 states" instead of "Run Democrats in all 50 states". The Democratic brand is currently toxic in many ruby red places.
I have heard Dan Osborn on a Zoom with an opportunity for Q&A. He seemed genuine and committed to helping his constituents - which is more than I can say about any Republicans I can think of. Plus he seems well aligned on a lot of core principles that Dems support.
I don't really care about the 50-state strategy if it runs counter to supporting the furthest left reasonable, qualified candidate who can win.
I don’t think the objective of independents should be that they are another Angus King or Bernie Sanders who vote in line with the majority of what Democrats aim to accomplish. I would certainly support Independents if they caucus with Democrats as opposed to if they only do so on occasion.
In the case of Independent SD-SEN candidate Brian Bengs, he’s a former Democrat who became an Independent last year in his Senate race against Senator Mike Rounds. Everything in his campaign website makes it obvious he would caucus with Democrats and the majority of his platform makes him aligned with the Democratic Party agenda. Even when I saw Bengs being interviewed, he acts and talks like a hard core Democrat.
For other Independents, I would like to see how the ID-SEN race could be put to the test.
No Kyrsten Sinema types please.
LOL about Abbott turning Harris County "dark red". The actual voters there don't seem to have gotten the message, since 65% of them voted in the Democratic primary this week.
Even Beto only won Harris County 58-41 in 2018, and that's the high-water mark for Democrats in the recent era. A Democrat who actually got 65% in Harris in a statewide election would most likely win.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-blocks-restrictions-trump-using-military-iran-war-rcna261680
Senate decides to let Iran war continue as is mostly on party lines. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against their parties.
i'll admit i donated heavily to that man from pa, but in my defense his opponent was dr oz
I will never understand why Pennsylvania Democratic voters chose Fetterman rather than Connor Lamb in the primary.
Because Fetterman ran as a progressive outsider with working-class appeal who would demand real change, and Lamb ran as a centrist establishment type. Seemed a pretty clear choice at the time.
Well, that is the way the corporate media portrayed them, which was in love with the idea of Fetterman as working class because of how he dressed, even though he wasn't working class. Lamb's competency was interpreted as "boring."
Sounds like another primary on the horizon.
To be fair, progressives also embraced him for that exact same reason, and because he was blessed by Sanders.
this is simply not an accurate recollection of the 2022 Senate race.
Fetterman genuinely supported progressive causes while Lt. Governor, such as marijuana legalization, abortion rights, and trans rights. I remember watching his speech the night of the election and still think it was pretty good
Fetterman has changed since then, markedly for the worse. It's obvious to everyone, even the people around him, that the stroke and subsequent bouts of depression changed him. And those are valid struggle to have, just maybe not when you're a massively important US Senator.
Ha! Yeah, a clear choice to choose Lamb!
He also appears to have become a completely different person after his stroke, so you can be forgiven for thinking he was a progressive. That or he was lying the whole time, in which case all of us were fooled. Either way, his career is 100% over after 2028. We only have to worry about him defecting between now and then.
I think we’re all taking the wrong lessons from Fetterman here when the man literally had a stroke that caused brain damage. I don’t think he was lying, I just think the stroke affected him more than we’d like to admit.
He's obviously wayyyyy worse now, bit he was clearly a fake, unprofessional ass long before the stroke.
I think about how in the wake of 2024, if Fetterman wasn't so needlessly antagonistic that he was would probably be at the height of presidential leaderboards. But he'd torched himself so completely in his first two years as a senator by then that pretty much no serious person even mentioned his name then, let alone now.
Not surprising Rand Paul cast his vote the way he did. He’s consistently been Libertarian and non-interventionist since being in the Senate.
However, it’s a sad state of affairs when Paul is better on the issue of war than Fetterman is.
I expect Phil Berger to do everything he can to throw out enough votes to be declared a winner. As people know, he has three nepo babies in office. The first one is Junior, who is an associate justice on the NC Supreme Court (refuses to recuse from any cases involving the GOP). Second one I think works at the Rockingham Co Board of Elections office. Third one is a sheriff.
So, expect shenanigans. I don't know if it will go to federal court like the Griffin v. Riggs case did in 2024.
This is the kind of nepo-machine you’d have expected in 1946 North Carolina not 2026 North Carolina
you get outside the urban and suburban areas and its 1946 effectively, although in 46 more people hated nazis
But more white people liked the KKK, right?
Well, if Phil is out at the end of this mess, we have our eyes set on Junior. We're going to hang his daddy's nepotism around his neck in two years.
Fun fact; Newark, NJ, the largest city in the State, is having an election next month. All city council seats and the Mayor.
Newark, NJ, a major city, is having an election next month: https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/baraka-draws-seven-opponents-in-newark-mayoral-race-none-of-them-credible/
lol I'm kinda shocked at how there's been such incredibly little press
True although given Ras Baraka is running for a 4th term, I would hope he could get a chance to shoot for higher office or greater leadership abilities than just serving as Mayor. I was impressed with his fearlessness as a gubernatorial candidate last year, especially towards ICE.
Me too, and as a sometime visitor to Newark, it looks to me like he's done an excellent job helping to rehabilitate the city.
He could have ran for congress in 2024, but chose to continuing running for governor
I could see Baraka being excellent in the House.
NJ.com is a shell of it's former self, and nothing else has emerged as the state newspaper of record
So the incumbent AR state Senate leader that lost his seat in the primary, is the winner a more moderate (or less crazy) Republican? The incumbent was endorsed by Sarah Huckabee Slanders.
idk the actual answer but these days, I fully expect any Republican incumbent that's ousted in a primary to be less crazy than the person that beat them.
Sam Page on paper is more MAGA than Phil Berger. But unlike Berger, he seems to be open to working with moderates and Democrats on some issues (ie the budget that Berger refuses to pass).
GA Senator Emerson:
Ossoff up 3, 5 and 8 against Carter, Collins and Dooley.
https://emersoncollegepolling.com/georgia-2026-poll-senator-ossoff-starts-re-election-near-50-and-outpaces-gop-field/
Graphic for Georgia D Gov primary isn’t loading for me, what’s the full split?
Really hope Esteves can get it going shortly
Not for me either.
"In the Democratic primary for Governor, 35% support former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, 13% former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and 7% former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. A plurality (39%) are undecided."
Yeah, but looks like there’s a space there for a graph with all the candidates. Maybe they screwed up.
For you or anyone else:
Ossoff vs Carter 47-44
Ossoff vs Collins 48-43
Ossoff vs Dooley 49-41
Wrong race, but thank you in case others were looking for this one
He’s launching a 7 figure ad buy starting today. His main thing is getting his name ID up. Once he does that I think he’ll begin to shoot up in the polls
Lean Democrat race at this point but the odds are against Ossoff losing.
Good news: crypto backer Ian Calderon has dropped out of CA-Gov race. Former Asm Majority Leader, known mostly for a plastic straw ban that is now wholly ignored across California, never rose above one percent in the polls, hence his nickname I-One Calderon. Still in: Betty Three and Tony Two.
Paul Mitchell's Simulator now has the chance of an R v R election in November at 25.7%. Insane. Thank you Tony and Betty. And Matt. In fact, thank you Xavier and Antonio.
The top two fears weren't quite so plausible until Steyer and Mahan got in. I'd blame them before everyone else.
Steyer got in before Swalwell though and, of eight major Democrats, is third in polling. I agree on Mahan and seriously blame those I listed.
Still, although not as good as dropping out now, IF candidates end their campaigns well before June, we will probably be OK.
It should dwindle down to just Swalwell, Steyer and Porter.
It probably should, but Mahan has enough rich backers that he will stay in. Some of the others will run out of money before the primary. Betty, Tony T. and Antonio might look at that situation. I finally saw one of Antonio's ads and it wasn't very interesting. I have as much chance of being elected Governor as Antonio (or Tony or Betty) and I am not running. If I were going to run for anything it would be the Board of Equalization. At least I am younger than Mike Schaefer, lol...
So far 90% of the ads I've seen have been from Steyer, 10% from Tony V.
I heard one from Mahan. It was on TV but I wasn't looking at the screen. I honestly can't remember anything about it except his name. Steyer's are OK but I am already tired of political spots, though the season has hardly begun.
Mahan isn’t gaining at all but I think he could find he’ll end up being a lame duck Mayor if he loses the primary. San Jose has a host of problems right now with affordability and homelessness and Mahan’s ignoring this with his gubernatorial bid.
it will
There is literally no reason for Steyer to be running besides the fact he has money.
If he dropped out and endorsed one of the other two, then we might even get an all Dem top 2, and we'd be extremely unlikely to see Dems locked out.
Also, Steyer could easily retire and go do whatever the hell else he wants with his life. He'd have the easiest time dropping out of all of them.
Plastic straw bans are good. Why can it be ignored with impunity?
You’re bringing up the plastic straw man argument?
/s
Hah!
It's very far down the priority list, presumably just above restrictions on zoot suits.
When you've been to a country like Malaysia where formerly clean beaches and riversides are strewn with plastic straws all over the place, you might feel differently.
Nobody is arguing with you on this.
Weird comment.
They're busy holding the line on combustion and chemical pollution. I don't think they will dispatch CA EPA agents to write up restaurants who use plastic straws. It's penny wise and pound foolish. Especially since I wouldn't be shocked if the current national EPA tries to squash smog regulations in and around LA (if they haven't already).
I understand, but that seems like something restaurant inspectors could check in cities that have restaurant inspectors.
It's a good start, but we need to also hammer the candidates on issues that include AI data centers, AI regulation, and the age verification crap they're trying to force into every OS in the name of "protecting kids." CA passed a bill for age verification that had near unanimous support in the state assembly, as did Colorado. Can't say for sure if it's Peter Thiel behind this tech fascism nonsense, but now beyond a doubt it's certain that even the leftwing has been bought out.
And tech regulation in general, especially with social media.
Just say no to crypto. Thank you Ian Calderon.
TX-33 is in Dallas County and thus impacted by the confusion of switching from county wide polling places during early voting to precinct level polling places on Election Day.
Anyone know how the run-off will go as regards to polling places?
Anyone hear what Allred or Johnson has said about the uncounted provisional ballots?
At our Somerville (MA) Democratic Caucus, various candidates for office gave short speeches, including the "some dude" who's running against Ed Markey from the left. What he didn't anticipate is that Sen. Markey himself also gave a speech at our caucus, and a much better one, at that. He was clearly very nervous to have to follow him.
Massachusetts ballot access laws make it hard for minor candidates to get nominated for Statewide office. You need not only 10,000 signatures, but also 15% of the state convention delegates, a threshold he's unlikely to clear with two major candidates competing. (It's within the realm of possibility that Moulton could fail to get 15%, though I think that's unlikely.)
I know Markey is a lifelong Malden resident - is his challenger from Somerville?
Rikleen is from Acton. Acton is within the 495 area but near the edge of it. Somerville is part of the core urban area for Boston. Which is presumably the reason candidates want to show up and speak at Somerville's events.
The House officially reprimanded Illinois Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García for pulling a stunt similar to what Sen. Steve Daines just did in Montana - withdraw from reelection at the very last minute, allowing no one but his chosen successor time to enter the race.
That's good, but the Senate should also do that to Daines in return.
Actually that’d be brilliant. Show people the Dems, at least in theory, are willing to oppose such moves.
It's nice but useless. I wonder if there's any sort of old state law that it violates (doubtful, but MT had a populist streak when it became a state). And if either the Dem or Indy won't withdraw, absolutely no chance we win.
IOKIYAR
Comparison of recent Texas US Senate races.
2018: D primary 1.04m, R primary 1.55m, general R 50.9 - D 48.3
2020: D primary 1.87m, R primary 1.93m, general R 53.5 - D 43.9
2024: D primary 0.97m, R primary 2.24m, general R 53.1 - D 44.6
2026: D primary 2.25m, R primary 2.16m
On the surface the 2026 primary figures look like 2020, but the caveat is that in 2020 the D primary was competitive and the R primary wasn't. In 2018 and 2024 neither primary was competitive.
This data tells me that primary turnout does not translate to general election results.
However, the increased turnout on both sides for 2026 is notable. People are much more politically engaged in Texas than they were 8 years ago.
The infamous Bob Rucho is resigning from the NC State Board of Elections after an emergency meeting. GOP hack Dave Boliek has nominated Angela Hopkins from the Wake Co Board of Elections to fill the vacancy.
https://nitter.net/BryanRAnderson/status/2029603550309847454#m
Rucho resigned because he made illegal campaign donations and made comments about the Berger-Page race late last year.
https://nitter.net/BryanRAnderson/status/2029638980958872035#m
https://nitter.net/BryanRAnderson/status/2029637727897923908#m
I jus realized this is THE Rucho from Rucho v Common Cause.