Qasim RashidThe first time I ever heard about a non-partisan commission drawing election maps it came as part of a proposal to have blue California and red Texas mutually disarm. Democrats in control of the California legislature would cede the right to draw the maps in the Golden State and Republicans in control of the Texas legislature would do the same there. The California Democrats agreed.
-by Tracy B AnnI am the daughter of a fireman. When I was a kid my dad worked 24 hour shifts. Work a day, off a day, work a day, off three days. Except my dad wasn't home when he was off. No fireman then, or firefighter now, could support a family on the wages they are paid, they all work second jobs.They run into burning buildings for a living, to save our lives and our property and they get paid shit for doing so.
In a primary cycle that ended this week, the Democratic establishment in Virginia got the results of their efforts to run an "ex"-Republican legislator and all around piece of dog crap, Mark Wolfe, against an incumbent of their own party-- free-thinking, Democratic Socialist Delegate Lee Carter. Carter never appeared all that concerned when I spoke with him and he easily turned back the challenge, winning the primary last Tuesday 57.72% to 42.28%.
In two days, this Tuesday, Virginia has a super-important election day-- primaries for the state legislature, with both houses on the verge of flipping blue. Some good news: Virginia has same day registration so potentially everyone over 18 can vote. Two years ago Democrats flipped 15 Republican-held seats blue in the House of Delegates, far more than the somewhat backward state party imagined was possible. The Republican majority is down to 51-49.
Spanberger won her seat without Republican votes but now she caters almost exclusively to GOP votersVirginia elected two freshmen from red districts, Elaine Luria, who replaced Scott Taylor in VA-02 (primarily Virginia Beach, York County and part of Norfolk plus Hampton) and Abigail Spanberger, who replaced Dave Brat in VA-07, a much redder district that includes 10 counties, the largest of them being Chesterfield, Henrico, Spotsylvania and Culp
Five States have Legislative elections in 2019: Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. All are important; however, only Virginia stands a reasonable shot to flip their Legislature’s majority from R to D, giving the Dems the right to the redraw the state's congressional and state legislative boundaries and prevent another GOP gerrymander.
-by Tracy B AnnThe powers that be in the Democratic Party don’t seem to understand the importance of running a Democrat in every election, every time. It seems so simple to me, and obvious. Not giving the voters a choice is not Democratic.Are some of those Democratic candidates going to lose? You bet they are!
Two years ago Berniecrat and Democratic Socialist Lee Carter accomplished the "impossible" in Manassas (Virginia's HD-50). He ran, with more hostility than support from the Democratic establishment, against incumbent Jackson Miller, Republican majority whip of the House of Delegates. Carter, a former Marine, was targeted and derided by the GOP as a socialist-- and voters flocked to the polls to vote for him.
