Fake President by Richard SerraI'm not trying to cast a kenahora for November but, let's be real... the House Democrats, despite the DCCC, are going to be the beneficiaries of a big wave. Probably in the Senate races too... but there just aren't enough plausible seats available there for a political earthquake. Tennessee and Texas, though, would make for earthquakes.
Crucial Senate primaries today in West Virginia and Indiana-- states that Trump won by big margins in 2016 (68.5% to 26.4% in West Virginia and 56.8% to 37.9% in Indiana)-- are a mess for the Republicans.
Sunday I was surprised to see California wing-nut Mimi Walters, pushing out a message about how GOP tax policies are helping Americans. They're not-- especially not in her Orange County district, where people are paying significantly higher taxes because of those policies that she voted for. Katie Porter is Walters' progressive opponent in the June 5th jungle primary.
It's primary day in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina, all states Trump won in 2016, but all staes with pockets of resistance and all states with lots and lots of buyers' remorse. There should be plenty of interesting results up and down the ballots in November when Democrats go up against Republicans. But today is the day when each party picks which candidates.
Tomorrow is Tuesday... primary day in 4 important states: North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio-- each of which was carried by Señor Trumpanzee. If you think the GOP primary in West Virginia is crackpotsville... well, you're right, but almost sane compared to what's going on in Indiana. Last week we looked at the mess the Indiana senate primary has turned into.
But only if you consider being born into a wealthy family knowing how to get things doneNC-13 is an unlikely primary battleground for the DCCC to gin up. The district's in the middle of the state flowing west from Greensboro, through High Point, Lexington and Salisbury to Statesville and Mooresville. It went for Trump 53.4% to 44.0% and the PVI is daunting but not impossible [in a wave cycle] R+6.
Earlier this week Bernie sent his supporters an e-mail explaining what he hopes to accomplish by barnstorming in Pennsylvania with congressional candidates Jess King and Greg Edwards. He wrote that "if we are going to defeat right-wing Republicans in 2018 and 2020, we need to win in states that Trump won, like Pennsylvania.
Would the Democrats win more votes in November if Pelosi announced she was retiring? No one doubts it. Does she care? Nope; she's obsessed. I speak with candidates and members of Congress every day. Almost no one I speak with wants Pelosi leading the party-- including people who admire her.
Cisneros keeps threatening to sue everyone; he's just like another Republican: TrumpI've been writing about Gil Cisneros' hopes to buy an Orange County congressional seat he doesn't live in for about a year now-- and I've been talking with DCCC staffers for that long about it as well.
