I love the DownBallot -- BUT -- you should have a rule that every time you mention Andy Biggs you remind people that HIS OWN BROTHERS blame him (in part) for January 6th and have been very vocal about how bad a choice he is for any elected office. They excoriate him every time they get the chance. Yeah, families can be difficult but it's like Caroline Kennedy's comments on Worm Brain - BEFORE YOU VOTE - trust the people who know them best...
Does Governor Brian Kemp really want to be "promoted" to being a Trump acolyte in the Senate, just another Yes vote in a Republican caucus that is wholly owned by The Mad King? Perhaps not. Fingers (and toes) crossed that Kemp finds something better to do with his time.
There was a section on the DB not long ago about people not running for Senate and then President two years later. If Kemp has his eye on 2028, then 2026 might not be in his plans. And being a Senate minion of Trump seems like a bad move if he wants to maintain a little of the non cult cred he has
Yeah given the current dynamics I can't possibly see why Kemp would want to go from Governor of a fast growing, economically powerful state to just another Senator.
I have no idea how Kemp could think he could make it through a Republican primary for President, already having pissed off Trump once and then primarying his VP, Vance.
Trump's unsuccessful appeal to what he called "common-sense voters" to elect Christine Scutti as Westchester County executive solidifies "common sense" as the MAGA cliché du jour. Trump has described his flurry of cockamamie nominations and executive actions as a "revolution in common sense." It is, instead, a rejection of competence, compassion, and common sense.
The problem for #47 is that everyone else does not feel the way he does. His ratings are underwater - more than 50% disapprove of his performance and under 50% approve. He polls worse at this point in his term than any other president since Truman.
I take very little comfort indeed in such opinion polling as he continually ruins everything and threatens to become a real dictator after winning a plurality as a convicted felon. Really, fuck those voters for what they did!
Yes I said it on election night that voters are going to be kicking themselves for this own-goal for a long time.
That said, popularity does matter, even to autocrats, and IF it can consistently get below 40%, it's going to have an impact. But we have a ways to go; Spring of 2025 is going to be one of the most consequential seasons this country has faced since WWII.
If he wants to run for the Senate though this is probably his last chance. If he's really enamored by the idea of a third (or fourth) term as governor he can do that in a decade or 15 years from now. That being said, he didn't seem super excited to head back to DC in general so he more likely than not retires or stay as Gov. Seems like the next dem cabinet is a more likely landing spot for him.
He seems like he is out not a definite no but "I want to thank Tina Smith for her service and dedication to the people of Minnesota. She’s worked hard to make their lives better at every step of her career and has admirably served them in the U.S. Senate. As DFLers, we are lucky to have a deep bench of people who are guided by Paul Wellstone’s words: we all do better when we all do better. I look forward to supporting the candidate we nominate to work on behalf of Minnesotans in Washington."
Al Franken was one of our most effective and hard-hitting senators. A lot of celebratory Cognac was poured in Republican back rooms when Franken was forced to resign.
But time has passed and perhaps we need younger blood.
he'd be fine in a Trump midterm, if he wants to run and serve a term or two I really think we shouldn't over learn the lessons of the last four years. He'd be younger at the end of his first term than trump will be at the end of his, and Trump's age isn't really an issue for him.
Those two examples aren't particularly reassuring, though of course being 1 of 100 Senators isn't the same as being president.
And without reigniting the Franken debate which has been popping up seemingly every time his name has been mentioned for the past seven years, I'd prefer new blood. It's not as if in MN we have only one or two realistic winning candidates.
I maintain that warts and all, Biden was a great president, the best in the 21st century and better than all but a few in the 20th century, and considering that every incumbent party up for reelection last year lost power due to voter anger over inflation and the U.S. election results were the closest, though Trump being Trump and a felon had something to do with that, I think that calling Biden a bad president because his VP lost to a horrible rogue is incorrect.
I was thinking more about Biden’s campaign and speaking skills, especially post-2020, than his actual governance. He might well be the best president so far in the 21sr century, but there’s only one other plausible claimant for that position.
While Biden never actually pledged to stop with one term (contra to what many later claimed), we’d probably have been much better off if he had not attempted to run for a second term, or at least dropped his reelection bid sooner.
He was a much better president on policy as an elderly man than he would have been when he was younger, and looking at all the general election results around the world last year, had a Democrat won the general election, it would have been quite a feat. It should have happened, but the imponderable you bring up is far from conclusive, especially considering that a vigorous middle-aged woman ultimately ran in his place.
Was he a better president in 2020 than he would have been in 1992/2008 because he had aged, or because the world had changed and he was adapting with it?
Even if we say it was his age, I think his history going back to the 70s in federal office, which ties directly with his age, gave him a blind spot with respect to how unrepentantly vile the republican party has become. That caused him to make mistakes with the DOJ that played a major part in getting us where we are today.
With respect to the election, I agree it's not conclusive. Unless we have time machines we'll never be able to have certain knowledge in these hypotheticals. With that in mind I do think it's worth noting that he was hugely maligned by the populace in the second half of his presidency for his age. That can be fair or unfair, but it was what happened. An incumbent Biden without that weakness, without a disastrous debate, would have been in a much better position than he was going in. Harris herself was handicapped meaningfully by needing to build everything up right on the even of the election; in many ways I think her near-loss speaks spectacularly of her as a candidate. A 65 year old Biden wouldn't have faced that problem.
I think there's a real chance he could have won; I'm not saying he would have won definitively.
"He was a much better president on policy as an elderly man than he would have been when he was younger"
I mean, younger as in 1988 Biden or 2008 Biden? I don't think the latter would've been meaningfully different than the Biden we got but just a MUCH sharper communicator and speaker (and I actually think 2008 Biden was a better communicator than 1980s Biden . . .who had adopted this odd Kennedy-esque oratory voice that a lot of Dems had in the 70s/80s)
He resigned for a reason. A decade passing doesn't change that. Should we run Menendez for senate in 2034?
I know he has his fans because he was a good communicator but we should have higher standards than that. We can get candidates that are good communicators that also don't have any issues.
Wait a minute. Are you seriously comparing Menendez to Franken? Then again, I’m sure people like Kirsten Gillibrand consider a pat on the ass worse than gold bars for political favors.
The extent of the failing doesn't have to be the same for the comparison to be relevant. X is bad and Y is bad does not require their badness to be equal for both of them to be bad. We do not forgive the arsonist simply because someone else is a murderer.
The point with the question is that Franken had good reasons to resign and disappear. Why are we pretending he's great now, ten years later? Then using Menendez, who is fresh in our minds, and using him as a theoretical of the same logic being applied ten years in the future. They do not require to be equally or comparably bad for the analogy to work.
Frankly I am bewildered that I even need to explain this.
They both resigned in disgrace, and for good reason in both cases. We can — and should — do better.
Do we know why the Senator is retiring? This will make her a one-and-a-half term senator, and she is only 66 years old – a youngster compared to some of her colleagues.
Maybe the fact that dems have no hope of getting the senate back with the loss of the remaining red state dems. Unless you just like the trappings of being in the senate it's going to suck if you're there to effect policy.
Yes, but while we can't assume that 2024 trends or patterns will carry on into the future, we'll need some realignment or other major changes to get a robust Senate majority. 48 Republican Senators represent states that Trump in 2024 won by double digits, with only 4 representing states that he won narrowly (WI, PA, NC) and 1 (Collins) from a Harris state.
Hold all our current seats, that's 47. In 2026 add NC and ME, that's 49. Add NC and WI in 2028, that's 51. Potential reach seat of Alaska in 2026 with the right candidate.
The silver lining of losing all our red state seats is that we no longer have any auto-loss seats to mar future cycles.
It's not an easy path. Of the core target seats we can only afford to lose one to get to a technical majority assuming we win the presidency in 2028. It's far better than "no hope."
A midterm with an unpopular President, not saddled by a presidential candidate from one's own party, is a good time to pick up seats in opposition territory. Like Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, Iowa, Alaska...
In early 2005 we were talking about the permanent Republican Majority and 3 years later we routed them. I'd prefer it if it didn't lead to another recession or god forbid, a depression. But it looks unavoidable at this point.
Looking at a chart of Bush's approval ratings, there's two spikes: one at 9/11 and another for early 2003 with the start of the Iraq War. Other than those spikes he had a steady decline no serious points of cratering.
Odd as it is, approval wise Katrina and even the 2008 downturn do not appear to have made any serious difference.
I remember when she was up for consideration for the appointment there was some talk she just wanted to be a placeholder but Walz wanted to appoint someone who would then run again for the full term.
She never seemed in love with the Senate to begin with.
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan (DFL-MN) just announced on Instagram that she IS running to replace Tina Smith (DFL-MN)! https://www.instagram.com/p/DGBVrSAReUK/
Which should he win would be unprecedented for the Minnesota DFL. The last DFL Governor to try for a third straight term - Rudy Perpich - failed in 1990. There wouldn't be another DFL Governor for two decades.
A decent candidate, though like many Lieutenant Governors has never won statewide in her own right (the GOV and LG are elected jointly in MN). She's a better candidate than Keith Ellison is, that's for certain.
Neither had Smith until Dayton appointed her (most Dems were expecting then-MN AG Lori Swanson to replace Franken.) There were serious doubts about Smith's ability to campaign or serve effectively on her own, which she soon proved wrong.
I wonder if Smith tipped her off about retiring some time ago, giving Flanagan time to consider, and only publicly announced it today?
If what some have said about lukewarm (at best) relations between Walz and Flanagan is true, then this is probably the best solution, with each running for a different office. They won't be tripping each other up and Walz has plenty of time to find a new running mate, assuming he does run again. He said he probably won't make an announcement about that until summer.
Sources who spoke with The Cook Political Report believe it’s likely that former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) runs for governor of Alaska, easing the reelection path of Rep. Nick Begich III (R) in #AKAL.
Unfortunate as I would prefer to have her run for senate, but also unsurprising. It's the most reasonable pathway for her to take to winning prominent office in 2026. It's an open seat and voters are generally more willing to elect off-party candidates to local offices than they are to federal offices.
(And if he does run he'll do about as well in the primary as he did in the presidential one. For one thing, his comments about Musk indicate that his poll analysis is laughably off).
Congresswoman Kelly Morrison got elected last year to represent MN-03 by roughly 18% points, which isn’t far off from the 19% margin of victory Dean Phillips had back in 2022 when winning re-election.
Manhattan’s acting U.S. attorney resigned on Thursday after the Justice Department ordered her to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
It seems to have mostly held everywhere except the very elite levels of society. I've long been critical of how vacuous and greedy American elites are though on the whole. Seeing Bob Iger, Jamie Dimon, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the tech, finance and media CEOs cave in the hope that Trump will throw contracts their way, or at least not sick his goons on them, was completely unsurprising. They opposed him in 2017 because they thought it was good for business and they're genuflecting now because they fear him. Some may have a genuine ideological commitment to conservative economic policy, but the vast majority are gold-plated weather vanes. I'm a lot more hopeful with the judiciary and run of the mill government workers, especially in the military and law enforcement. Generally, American elites don't deserve to rule over a country as fundamentally good as most Americans are imo. They'l bow down to Trump because they fucking suck, but I think we'll be alright because of people like this acting US Attorney.
sure but they're being much more deferential of Trump than in 2017, despite the downsides of his political movement only being more exacerbated this time around.
Yes to everyone re: Trump although Jamie Dimon back in May 2017 (early on in Trump’s first term as POTUS) did say Trump's economic agenda was the right one. About the only thing he's been vocal about has been on tariffs.
That could be good if she loses the primary. Would you expect someone who's struggled to win primaries at times in her district to win the nomination? I'd be surprised.
Hell no, but she's had trouble being nominated in her Minneapolis district, so she's almost certainly DOA statewide, not least because even many progressives probably realize what a risk she, and maybe only she, would pose in the general election.
Another member of Congress considering it, who would be much stronger, is Angie Craig.
While Ilhan Omar is likely not going to see smooth sailing if she jumps into the MN-SEN race, this fundraising email by Rep. Brandon Gill’a campaign is despicable.
Should be noted that Gill is the husband of Dinesh D’Souza’s daughter Danielle D’Souza and is brainwashed just like he is. In fact, Gill worked together with Dinesh on a conspiracy theory propaganda film.
I'm reluctant to click a random link. Can you say something else about it?
Surely its spam... Classic clickbait, plus nothing to do with politics.
I think so, too.
I love the DownBallot -- BUT -- you should have a rule that every time you mention Andy Biggs you remind people that HIS OWN BROTHERS blame him (in part) for January 6th and have been very vocal about how bad a choice he is for any elected office. They excoriate him every time they get the chance. Yeah, families can be difficult but it's like Caroline Kennedy's comments on Worm Brain - BEFORE YOU VOTE - trust the people who know them best...
Just a reminder that Andy Biggs political career was self-funded by money he won from winning the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes.
Crazy story. Not sure how I didn't know this before.
Does Governor Brian Kemp really want to be "promoted" to being a Trump acolyte in the Senate, just another Yes vote in a Republican caucus that is wholly owned by The Mad King? Perhaps not. Fingers (and toes) crossed that Kemp finds something better to do with his time.
Fingers and toes crossed that Georgians get over their quarter century allergy of electing Democrats as Governor.
🙏
There was a section on the DB not long ago about people not running for Senate and then President two years later. If Kemp has his eye on 2028, then 2026 might not be in his plans. And being a Senate minion of Trump seems like a bad move if he wants to maintain a little of the non cult cred he has
Yeah given the current dynamics I can't possibly see why Kemp would want to go from Governor of a fast growing, economically powerful state to just another Senator.
I have no idea how Kemp could think he could make it through a Republican primary for President, already having pissed off Trump once and then primarying his VP, Vance.
I think Kemp goes for Senate.
No-one knows what the dynamics will be in 3+ years. Certainly not a given the Republican base will just go all-in on Vance.
As a Georgian it feels he wants to run for president 2028 and if that’s the case you don’t run in 2026 for senate.
He can always drop down to face Warnock if his Prez run falters after all
Trump's unsuccessful appeal to what he called "common-sense voters" to elect Christine Scutti as Westchester County executive solidifies "common sense" as the MAGA cliché du jour. Trump has described his flurry of cockamamie nominations and executive actions as a "revolution in common sense." It is, instead, a rejection of competence, compassion, and common sense.
This is called love bombing and it’s classic pathologically narcissistic behavior. It’s manipulation and these sheep are so blind to it.
"Common sense", a phrase thrown around so much it has essentially lost all meaning except "I feel this way, and thus everyone else does too!"
The problem for #47 is that everyone else does not feel the way he does. His ratings are underwater - more than 50% disapprove of his performance and under 50% approve. He polls worse at this point in his term than any other president since Truman.
Actually, Trump I was worse.
I take very little comfort indeed in such opinion polling as he continually ruins everything and threatens to become a real dictator after winning a plurality as a convicted felon. Really, fuck those voters for what they did!
Yes I said it on election night that voters are going to be kicking themselves for this own-goal for a long time.
That said, popularity does matter, even to autocrats, and IF it can consistently get below 40%, it's going to have an impact. But we have a ways to go; Spring of 2025 is going to be one of the most consequential seasons this country has faced since WWII.
Common sense is neither common nor sense - Mark Twain, theoretically.
"Hard working Americans" as well. Consultant speak.
What did his appeal consist of?
MN Sen - Tina Smith is retiring.
Do we think Walz runs?
He can run for a third term as Governor.
Yes. Peggy Flanagan, the Lieutenant Governor might be a good pick for the US Senate.
If he wants to run for the Senate though this is probably his last chance. If he's really enamored by the idea of a third (or fourth) term as governor he can do that in a decade or 15 years from now. That being said, he didn't seem super excited to head back to DC in general so he more likely than not retires or stay as Gov. Seems like the next dem cabinet is a more likely landing spot for him.
I’m open to it - he’d be a good messenger/advocate in Congress
Time for Al to come back.
If he were 20 years younger i'd feel better about that idea.
OMG I see that Franken is already 73 . . .makes me feel ancient!!
He seems like he is out not a definite no but "I want to thank Tina Smith for her service and dedication to the people of Minnesota. She’s worked hard to make their lives better at every step of her career and has admirably served them in the U.S. Senate. As DFLers, we are lucky to have a deep bench of people who are guided by Paul Wellstone’s words: we all do better when we all do better. I look forward to supporting the candidate we nominate to work on behalf of Minnesotans in Washington."
Al Franken was one of our most effective and hard-hitting senators. A lot of celebratory Cognac was poured in Republican back rooms when Franken was forced to resign.
But time has passed and perhaps we need younger blood.
It ain't the age of the blood but how hot it is that matters.
True. But in a campaign, perception may matter.
We certainly saw that last year.
he'd be fine in a Trump midterm, if he wants to run and serve a term or two I really think we shouldn't over learn the lessons of the last four years. He'd be younger at the end of his first term than trump will be at the end of his, and Trump's age isn't really an issue for him.
I'd be ok with Al Franken
He is 73.
And? The last two presidents were older.
Those two examples aren't particularly reassuring, though of course being 1 of 100 Senators isn't the same as being president.
And without reigniting the Franken debate which has been popping up seemingly every time his name has been mentioned for the past seven years, I'd prefer new blood. It's not as if in MN we have only one or two realistic winning candidates.
I maintain that warts and all, Biden was a great president, the best in the 21st century and better than all but a few in the 20th century, and considering that every incumbent party up for reelection last year lost power due to voter anger over inflation and the U.S. election results were the closest, though Trump being Trump and a felon had something to do with that, I think that calling Biden a bad president because his VP lost to a horrible rogue is incorrect.
I was thinking more about Biden’s campaign and speaking skills, especially post-2020, than his actual governance. He might well be the best president so far in the 21sr century, but there’s only one other plausible claimant for that position.
While Biden never actually pledged to stop with one term (contra to what many later claimed), we’d probably have been much better off if he had not attempted to run for a second term, or at least dropped his reelection bid sooner.
No, I wouldn’t call him a bad president just because of that.
How well did that work out for us?
Maybe if Biden had been 65 he could have run a solid reelection campaign and won, instead of hat we've ended up with.
He was a much better president on policy as an elderly man than he would have been when he was younger, and looking at all the general election results around the world last year, had a Democrat won the general election, it would have been quite a feat. It should have happened, but the imponderable you bring up is far from conclusive, especially considering that a vigorous middle-aged woman ultimately ran in his place.
Was he a better president in 2020 than he would have been in 1992/2008 because he had aged, or because the world had changed and he was adapting with it?
Even if we say it was his age, I think his history going back to the 70s in federal office, which ties directly with his age, gave him a blind spot with respect to how unrepentantly vile the republican party has become. That caused him to make mistakes with the DOJ that played a major part in getting us where we are today.
With respect to the election, I agree it's not conclusive. Unless we have time machines we'll never be able to have certain knowledge in these hypotheticals. With that in mind I do think it's worth noting that he was hugely maligned by the populace in the second half of his presidency for his age. That can be fair or unfair, but it was what happened. An incumbent Biden without that weakness, without a disastrous debate, would have been in a much better position than he was going in. Harris herself was handicapped meaningfully by needing to build everything up right on the even of the election; in many ways I think her near-loss speaks spectacularly of her as a candidate. A 65 year old Biden wouldn't have faced that problem.
I think there's a real chance he could have won; I'm not saying he would have won definitively.
"He was a much better president on policy as an elderly man than he would have been when he was younger"
I mean, younger as in 1988 Biden or 2008 Biden? I don't think the latter would've been meaningfully different than the Biden we got but just a MUCH sharper communicator and speaker (and I actually think 2008 Biden was a better communicator than 1980s Biden . . .who had adopted this odd Kennedy-esque oratory voice that a lot of Dems had in the 70s/80s)
He resigned for a reason. A decade passing doesn't change that. Should we run Menendez for senate in 2034?
I know he has his fans because he was a good communicator but we should have higher standards than that. We can get candidates that are good communicators that also don't have any issues.
Wait a minute. Are you seriously comparing Menendez to Franken? Then again, I’m sure people like Kirsten Gillibrand consider a pat on the ass worse than gold bars for political favors.
The extent of the failing doesn't have to be the same for the comparison to be relevant. X is bad and Y is bad does not require their badness to be equal for both of them to be bad. We do not forgive the arsonist simply because someone else is a murderer.
The point with the question is that Franken had good reasons to resign and disappear. Why are we pretending he's great now, ten years later? Then using Menendez, who is fresh in our minds, and using him as a theoretical of the same logic being applied ten years in the future. They do not require to be equally or comparably bad for the analogy to work.
Frankly I am bewildered that I even need to explain this.
They both resigned in disgrace, and for good reason in both cases. We can — and should — do better.
Franken never should have resigned or been forced to resign. What he did was a parking ticket in political terms.
How many parking tickets? The problem was that an increasing number of women were going public. That looked like it would mushroom further.
I think harassing a bunch of women is different from parking tickets but we're in a brave new world now.
Do we know why the Senator is retiring? This will make her a one-and-a-half term senator, and she is only 66 years old – a youngster compared to some of her colleagues.
Maybe not looking forward to a third campaign in 8 years and all that goes with it. She's been fairly low profile. Certainly compared to Franken.
Some people just want to call it a day and enjoy their later years
Most Americans at retirement age retire from their jobs, especially the ones that require multiple plane trips a month.
Maybe the fact that dems have no hope of getting the senate back with the loss of the remaining red state dems. Unless you just like the trappings of being in the senate it's going to suck if you're there to effect policy.
No hope?
And you have a lot more influence being in the minority in the senate than you do in the house.
I would assume for the next decade yes there's probably no hope, we'll have to wait for some realignment
I disagree. If it's a bad year for Republicans, I could see the Democrats picking up 3 seats in 2026. Then they'd only need 1 in 2028
I'm curious where those 3 seats are? I guess Collins in Maine but voters there seem to give her the benefit of the doubt
Yes, but while we can't assume that 2024 trends or patterns will carry on into the future, we'll need some realignment or other major changes to get a robust Senate majority. 48 Republican Senators represent states that Trump in 2024 won by double digits, with only 4 representing states that he won narrowly (WI, PA, NC) and 1 (Collins) from a Harris state.
There's a pathway to 50+ between 2026 and 2028.
Hold all our current seats, that's 47. In 2026 add NC and ME, that's 49. Add NC and WI in 2028, that's 51. Potential reach seat of Alaska in 2026 with the right candidate.
The silver lining of losing all our red state seats is that we no longer have any auto-loss seats to mar future cycles.
It's not an easy path. Of the core target seats we can only afford to lose one to get to a technical majority assuming we win the presidency in 2028. It's far better than "no hope."
A midterm with an unpopular President, not saddled by a presidential candidate from one's own party, is a good time to pick up seats in opposition territory. Like Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, Iowa, Alaska...
In early 2005 we were talking about the permanent Republican Majority and 3 years later we routed them. I'd prefer it if it didn't lead to another recession or god forbid, a depression. But it looks unavoidable at this point.
Yep. It took Hurricane Katrina for the wheels to fall off the Bush the Younger administration.
That and the situation in Iraq getting worse and worse.
Looking at a chart of Bush's approval ratings, there's two spikes: one at 9/11 and another for early 2003 with the start of the Iraq War. Other than those spikes he had a steady decline no serious points of cratering.
Odd as it is, approval wise Katrina and even the 2008 downturn do not appear to have made any serious difference.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx
Some of those states would require pretty extreme conditions to win.
I remember when she was up for consideration for the appointment there was some talk she just wanted to be a placeholder but Walz wanted to appoint someone who would then run again for the full term.
She never seemed in love with the Senate to begin with.
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan (DFL-MN) just announced on Instagram that she IS running to replace Tina Smith (DFL-MN)! https://www.instagram.com/p/DGBVrSAReUK/
Guess this means Walz is running for re-election.
Which should he win would be unprecedented for the Minnesota DFL. The last DFL Governor to try for a third straight term - Rudy Perpich - failed in 1990. There wouldn't be another DFL Governor for two decades.
She wasted no time, how good of a candidate is she?
Sounds like Flanagan is a credible Senate candidate!
One less headache to worry about but certainly I don’t object if another candidate or two joins the race.
A decent candidate, though like many Lieutenant Governors has never won statewide in her own right (the GOV and LG are elected jointly in MN). She's a better candidate than Keith Ellison is, that's for certain.
Yea my concern is she's never been tested
Neither had Smith until Dayton appointed her (most Dems were expecting then-MN AG Lori Swanson to replace Franken.) There were serious doubts about Smith's ability to campaign or serve effectively on her own, which she soon proved wrong.
Not sure how Smith's success means anything for Flanagan, given that they are, well, not the same person.
More like it might not matter, at least sometimes.
Recent similar precedent.
I wonder if Smith tipped her off about retiring some time ago, giving Flanagan time to consider, and only publicly announced it today?
If what some have said about lukewarm (at best) relations between Walz and Flanagan is true, then this is probably the best solution, with each running for a different office. They won't be tripping each other up and Walz has plenty of time to find a new running mate, assuming he does run again. He said he probably won't make an announcement about that until summer.
When and why did Smith decide to retire?
She just made her announcement today. She says she "wants to spend more time with (her) family."
I'm a big fan of her! Glad she jumped in
Glad to see Michael Madigan face the music. Replacing him with Chris Welch has helped our state's Democratic Party move into the 21st century.
Despite his LG jumping in, Tim Walz still considering a Senate run in MN.
Guess Flanagan didn't consult him after all lol.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/13/tina-smith-wont-seek-reelection-senate-2026-00204058
Flanagan would be a solidly progressive Senator and, if elected, the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, IIRC.
2026 could be the Year of the Native American Woman.
Sources who spoke with The Cook Political Report believe it’s likely that former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) runs for governor of Alaska, easing the reelection path of Rep. Nick Begich III (R) in #AKAL.
Unfortunate as I would prefer to have her run for senate, but also unsurprising. It's the most reasonable pathway for her to take to winning prominent office in 2026. It's an open seat and voters are generally more willing to elect off-party candidates to local offices than they are to federal offices.
Requires a much shorter commute.
Good point. For Hawaii and Alaska this is a serious consideration for politicians.
At least Dean Philips left Congress after his quixotic presidential bid, ,so we don't have to worry about this from our MN-Sen candidate:
https://nitter.poast.org/Acyn/status/1889896501171961945#m
(And if he does run he'll do about as well in the primary as he did in the presidential one. For one thing, his comments about Musk indicate that his poll analysis is laughably off).
Yeah, join a fascist, unconstitutional steamroller? WTF?
Congresswoman Kelly Morrison got elected last year to represent MN-03 by roughly 18% points, which isn’t far off from the 19% margin of victory Dean Phillips had back in 2022 when winning re-election.
Moving on. Moving on.
Manhattan’s acting U.S. attorney resigned on Thursday after the Justice Department ordered her to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/danielle-sassoon-quit-eric-adams.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wk4.vldS.Q-_P2I2o4v-L
John Keller, Acting head of DOJ Public Integrity Section - refuses and resigns
Kevin Driscoll, Acting head of DOJ Criminal Division - refuses and resigns
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
it's cold comfort but it does genuinely give me hope to see how man good people just refuse to kowtow to power in this country.
Doesn't seem to be as many as obeyed before this goon was even elected.
It seems to have mostly held everywhere except the very elite levels of society. I've long been critical of how vacuous and greedy American elites are though on the whole. Seeing Bob Iger, Jamie Dimon, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the tech, finance and media CEOs cave in the hope that Trump will throw contracts their way, or at least not sick his goons on them, was completely unsurprising. They opposed him in 2017 because they thought it was good for business and they're genuflecting now because they fear him. Some may have a genuine ideological commitment to conservative economic policy, but the vast majority are gold-plated weather vanes. I'm a lot more hopeful with the judiciary and run of the mill government workers, especially in the military and law enforcement. Generally, American elites don't deserve to rule over a country as fundamentally good as most Americans are imo. They'l bow down to Trump because they fucking suck, but I think we'll be alright because of people like this acting US Attorney.
All things considered though, Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan Chase are still very much pro-DEI.
sure but they're being much more deferential of Trump than in 2017, despite the downsides of his political movement only being more exacerbated this time around.
Yes to everyone re: Trump although Jamie Dimon back in May 2017 (early on in Trump’s first term as POTUS) did say Trump's economic agenda was the right one. About the only thing he's been vocal about has been on tariffs.
For the tech CEOs, they have not balls.
I'd like to think you're right, but also look at the media.
We Democrats can start singing "Boomer Sooner" now! https://www.news9.com/story/67ac059dd9c45a88f6dd2693/norman-mayor-stephen-tyler-holman-elected
Flashback to 2017 when there were inexplicably countless special elections in Oklahoma and Dems did very well.
Ilhan Omar's spokesperson says she is considering a bid as well for Senate.
Dear God no.
Siri, find me a candidate who could lose a statewide race in MN in a midterm with a Republican president and a high propensity Democratic coalition?
That could be good if she loses the primary. Would you expect someone who's struggled to win primaries at times in her district to win the nomination? I'd be surprised.
Does the DFL still have the pre-primary convention when the candidates get sorted out?
I don’t think so?
Both parties still do. It doesn’t mean the voters will align with said candidate though. Governor Dayton was not the DFL convention choice in 2010.
She would struggle in a primary, she's barely winning the nomination in her own district currently
Yeah, but it would help make the primary ugly and could carry over into the general.
Possibly. Or it could help make the eventual Democratic nominee look moderate and help them in the general election.
I agree.
Ilhan Omar may have been fortunate to have replaced Keith Ellison in representing the City of Minneapolis in the bluest House district in MN.
However, a dark blue D+30 House district like MN-05 isn’t representative of the whole state. Omar may struggle getting traction.
Hell no, but she's had trouble being nominated in her Minneapolis district, so she's almost certainly DOA statewide, not least because even many progressives probably realize what a risk she, and maybe only she, would pose in the general election.
Another member of Congress considering it, who would be much stronger, is Angie Craig.
If that means she gives up running for the House seat, I am all for it.
Florida State Sen. Geraldine Thompson (D-SD-15) has died.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DGCBwQlMQRK/?igsh=cXJnazR3MW9rbDc4
TX-26:
While Ilhan Omar is likely not going to see smooth sailing if she jumps into the MN-SEN race, this fundraising email by Rep. Brandon Gill’a campaign is despicable.
Should be noted that Gill is the husband of Dinesh D’Souza’s daughter Danielle D’Souza and is brainwashed just like he is. In fact, Gill worked together with Dinesh on a conspiracy theory propaganda film.
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/11/ilhan-omar-deport-brandon-gill-fundraisng