Don’t be. You’re hearing media do what it does: harp on one person’s lack of enthusiasm and make it seem that that one opinion is held by thousands.
This race went precisely as I thought it would. Precisely.
And it was absolutely a massive success.
So let me tell you why, so that you feel better and can easily put down the annoying crowing that republicans are going to do, because they managed to cling to a few things.
If the votes fall as I believe they will, the democrats will have retaken the house by some 30 seats. This is impressive and somewhat unique in our country’s history. The GOP, upon taking the house originally, gerrymandered these districts in impressively screwball ways. Wherever that rigging has been overturned, the districts have gone blue. Which is, of course, why they did it. Democrats have the house now, 30ish flips in republican rugged districts. 15 of those being female candidates.
That is absolutely impressive.
A few key candidates to whom many people were paying close attention did not perform as people desired. Abrams, O’Rourke, Gillum. Well…I’m not surprised. Abrams faces absolute state wide fraud. Her opponent being the person also in charge of voter registration, withholding some 50k votes of which 70% were black. Voter intimidation. This is blatant corruption. And yet still…her race was very close. So too with Beto. Ted Cruz was a presidential candidate! When he took Texas, he did so with a wide margin in most districts. Last night in Texas he was fighting tooth and nail. Gillum’s gubernatorial race for Florida was a figurative dead heat. 99% of the vote in—49% Gillum, 49.7% DeSantis. These are CLASSICALLY and FULLY republican regions in which Trump took the presidency by huge margins. That these races, with all those challenges, were as close as they were PROVES that something unprecedented happened.
3-400% voter turnout increases for a midterm election. Mostly with the youth.
But let’s talk about what it means to have the house.
Now I know you’re probably concerned about the federal judgeships that are about to pop up for consideration, and it’s true that the Senate was needed to stop approvals of those candidates, but…
Control of the house means that Democrats now take hold of some critical committees. These committees are the very ones that will be overseeing corruption allegations. Ways and Means, energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Intelligence, appropriations, foreign affairs, armed services, judiciary, transportation and infrastructure, and…government reform.
How do you feel now?
The worst political fallout of a GOP controlled government, the worst sound bites that weren’t Trump’s, the worst slaps across the face? All came from footage of those very same committees. Those committees now belong to Democrats.
Massive policy shifts also occurred in many classically conservative states—legalizing marijuana votes, Florida giving the vote back to former criminals who’ve served their time thus giving the vote back to a HUGE portion of the African-American Community that has been held in check by a racist and classicist policing method, then there were upsets in many small ways too.
I promise you…this is all excellent and it will have truly important and forceful impact. In 2020, if we can keep that same enthusiasm and rage, the entire government will shift. But that can only happen if we keep moving forward, if the candidates who won keep their noses to the grindstone and push back hard, if you and I and everyone on the ground continues to talk about this and force out bigots and greed.
Do not be discouraged. I promise you…this was an amazing election. Don’t focus on a few bright stars and think that all is lost because they fell. There is a great deal happening here, and one thing I know from being at sea—when a wave is building, there is first a terrifying shift, as the water level begins to rise. The ship will first dip, surrounded by walls of water, and then of a sudden, the swell. The ship raises and passengers suddenly realize that they are much higher than before, with an incredible view. Then the wave crests and takes the ship with it.
We didn’t see a wave crest tonight. So what? That means it’s a much larger wave than we realized. It will crest in the future. But only if that fluid pressure is maintained.
This is good. It is. So long as everyone keeps working. This is good.
Calm down. Have a glass of champagne. A cup of tea. When they Trumpet all their noise…say nothing. Nothing needs to be said. You’re higher than you were with an excellent view of the ending. So relax. Don’t fret.
for a quick change of pace–i know we’ve all seen a thousand posts about voting, but what i haven’t seen (not yet) is one saying thank you.
thank you for those who made it out in the rain and the cold, who organized and canvassed and took on the onerous task of working with non-voting & conservative friends/family to change their stance if at least just this once. thank you for those who stood in line for hours, who had to travel because your voting place was moved, who had to jump through ridiculous fucking hoops to register, who weren’t inspired but showed up anyway for the disenfranchised and the greater good. thank you as well to everyone who voted early, absentee, and provisional.
2/2 And even though I am Indescribably Angry that we have to live with
SIX more FUCKING years of the founder of the fucking Tea Party and the
man who shut down the government I have to at least have hope that
things are moving in the right direction.
Jk 3/3 Everyone who voted for Cruz can still fuck right off though
lmao hey Memley anon. im glad to hear you were supporting in florida too!! happy to hear he’s making waves across the nation.
and i agree. Texas was purple this election, which is crazy. i’m still seething with rage and anger, but it’s a step toward a better texas.
and i agree. everyone who voted for cruz can fuck off.
i know its real fun to talk shit about texas and to laugh it up about how stupid texans are but can we PLEASE acknowledge that this election made texas purple, and that there have been HUGE efforts to bring out people of color and poor people who have previously been disenfranchised, and that even though beto didnt win this is STILL A REALLY IMPORTANT STEP. especially the latino voting population grew enormously this election cycle. fuck the 71% of white men and 59% of white women who voted for cruz, and i dont wanna come off like im making some kind of “not all texans” argument, but the people of color here r fighting tooth and nail and it sucks that ppl r just unilaterally saying “texans stupid nyeh”
Before y’all say, “I hate Texas for not electing Beto O’Rourke” please know these things:
1. Record numbers of Texan voters came out to the polls to vote because of Beto.
2. Because more Texan voters went to vote, more democratic votes were cast in other important areas.
3. Beto lost by the slimmest margin seen in Texas in 25 years meaning CHANGE IS COMING.
4. If you lived in Texas, you would know Beto was not expected to win and the fact that he got the large number of votes that he did is incredible.
Thank you Beto for all you’ve done to unite the people of Texas and across the country. Maybe this will get y’all to change y’alls minds about hating Texas.
1. WE TOOK BACK THE MOTHERFUCKING HOUSE. Look, in a perfect world we would have flipped the Senate too BUT this means that things are not just going to materialize for our dear friend Donald McTrump. This means oversight and investigations and a better grip from our legislative branch on a system wide check and balance. BOOM.
2. The fact that we got so close in states that Republicans have been gerrymandering the fuck out of for YEARS now is actually really impressive and it just means that we have to keep working but we’re whittling away at things. It can be done, is what I’m saying.
3. SO. MUCH. DIVERSITY. Women in record numbers! People of different faiths, younger people, native people, LGBT people, gang’s all here! We’re slowly dissolving the old white dudes in power thing.
4. So many AMAZING proposals are passing. Massachusetts upheld trans rights. Florida restored voting rights. Michigan legalized marijuana AND took the most comprehensive voting reform IN THE FUCKENING COUNTRY AND MADE IT LAW!
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