Who we support and why, this cycle.

[Jarhyn]

It's an election year even if it's an off year, and I just got my first spam call!

There are some of us here with some principled views, and so I thought it might be nice to discuss who we support and why we support them this time around.

I would like to request two tight restrictions of topic here so as to prevent negative comments and bickering over candidates:

This is not for discussing the reasons others offer.

This is not for discussing the people you do not support.

If you wish to do either of the above, start your own thread.

 

[TomC]

The recent past has reinforced my previous policy.
Hold my nose and vote straight Democratic ticket every chance I get.
Tom

 

[bleubird]

I just might vote Lisa.I'm a life long Dem,but she has been good for Alaska. And, she stud up against tRuimp.

 

[Swammerdami]

It would be nifty to return to an America where the quality of individual legislators were relevant. Instead America has become horridly polarized; one Party supports democracy and justice; the other supports fascism, lies and hatreds. It would be nice if this were hyperbole, but if anything it is an understatement.

Therefore TomC is 100% correct.

The recent past has reinforced my previous policy.
Hold my nose and vote straight Democratic ticket every chance I get.
Tom

I just might vote Lisa.I'm a life long Dem,but she has been good for Alaska. And, she stud up against tRuimp.

Nothing against Ms. Murkowski personally. She might be the best and most compassionate out of all 100 Senators for all I know. But she didn't vote to allow a vote on the For the People Act — perhaps the last chance to save American democracy — let alone support a rule change that would have allowed a vote. (And with all the crooks and incompetents that Trump selected for his Cabinet in 2017, Murkowski was able to find only a single Nay vote — against Betsy DeVos whose agenda as Secy of Education was to enervate public education.)

It saddens me that an intelligent Infidel doesn't understand that which is clear to Tom and myself.

 

[TV and credit cards]

It would be nifty to return to an America where the quality of individual legislators were relevant. Instead America has become horridly polarized;

+

one Party supports democracy and justice; the other supports fascism, lies and hatreds. It would be nice if this were hyperbole, but if anything it is an understatement.

-

While I would tend to agree with your statement, I am mindful that the supporters of “fascism, lies and hatred” surely would not believe this of themselves. They might even say similar of you. You can tell people they are wrong from now until hell freezes over, they’re gonna keep coming back for more.
The problem needs to be attacked from a different angle.
It might be helpful to not advocate for legislators who operate at the polar ends of the political spectrum.
These folks are here. They have always been here. The difference now is they are interconnected. And unless we learn a new way of attacking the problem, fascism, lies and hatred will win.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Can't say, my voting district was royally gerrymandered to the point that the GOP Chief Justice on the Ohio Supreme Court said it was too messed up. So I don't know what district I'm voting in, forget who I'm voting for. Tim Ryan, my current Representative is running for the US Senate seat.

 

[TomC]

I just might vote Lisa.I'm a life long Dem,but she has been good for Alaska. And, she stud up against tRuimp.

I get what you're saying.
For most of my adult life, up until 2010, my favorite politician was Senator Richard Lugar (R Indiana). Solid person, sterling character, experienced, he was all about representing both his constituents and the American people as a whole.

When he got primaried I couldn't avoid a realization. The GOP, as I knew it, was done for. The TeaParty had taken over. One of the TeaPartiers main differences from the GOP was squelching dissent. It's all about party loyalty, loyalty to constituents or country had to be secondary concerns or they'd trash you.

And it's just gotten worse over the last decade. People don't talk much about the TeaParty anymore, it's now loyalty to Trump. That's the main platform plank, loyalty to Trump. Look at what's happening to hardcore conservatives like Liz Cheney!

I just cannot in good conscience vote for anybody with (R) after their name. Their personal character and views don't matter, if they don't support the damage the TeaParty is doing to the American people and our foundational institutions they won't get much done anyway.
Tom

 

[Toni]

Yeah, it will be straight Democrat up and down the ballot for me. And in the foreseeable future.

I wonder if the GOP will get a clue as to how badly they’ve fucked up by not only backing Trump but toadying to him these past 5 years. Some are starting to speak against him a tiny bit. I wonder if there will be an actual split in the party—with Trump running as a 3rd party candidate—or trying to.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The recent past has reinforced my previous policy.
Hold my nose and vote straight Democratic ticket every chance I get.
Tom

This. These days Republicans vote as a block, even if there was a good one on the ballot (and I would be very surprised at them actually being elected) the result is bad. It would be hard to picture a Democrat that could be worse.

My voter registration is still Republican--I originally did it when there were still choices in the Republican primary and I wanted to vote for the sane ones. The last few cycles there haven't been any sane ones, but it still is useful--it gets them to send me campaign materials for the non-partisan offices and thus gives me a good idea of who I don't want in office.

IIRC I have done one R vote this century--when I really didn't like the D.

 

[TomC]

My voter registration is still Republican--I originally did it when there were still choices in the Republican primary and I wanted to vote for the sane ones.

I've never registered with a political party. It always seemed too much like selling my soul to the devil.
Here in Indiana, all party registration gets you is primary voting.
Well, and a zillion letters and phone calls and emails explaining why you ABSOLUTELY MUST DONATE NOW.

Don't need that.
Tom

 

[Politesse]

Yeah, this election will be important in a lot of ways, but my role in it is pretty straightforward. We'll be voting for the governor in my state as I imagine even out-of-state folks are all too aware, but if Newsom can survive a recall attempt, he presumably can get himself re-elected in a more normal context. Certainly he'll have my vote, much as I dislike the man personally. When it's "[x] or Trump", you vote for [x], you know? I thought he'd be running against Elder again, but last I heard the former has withdrawn his bid already, so it's anyone's guess who the orange man's proxy will be in this one. You kind of know what all of their positions and so forth will be, though. And this state is facing too many serious problems to elect a talentless do-nothing whose key virtues are getting vaguely angry on the television and taking calls from the ex-president. If the California Republicans actually do manage to put forward someone other than the typical Trump drone, I'll be pleasantly surprised, but it won't change my vote. The national party has too much power as it is without a symbolic coup like getting California back, and they aren't using it wisely.

I support a ballot initiative to allow sports betting on Indian lands, but expect to abstain on most of the other ballot initiatives I've heard about so far, most of which are nonsense that (in my view) the state legislature should have handled. It will likely be a long and irritating list, as usual. Corporations and non-profits of all varieties have learned that they can just pay to have the voters decide on something if Sacramento doesn't give them what they want, resulted in ill-crafted propositions that get neutered or annulled once they hit the courts even we vote them in...

 

[southernhybrid]

We have open primaries here in Georgia, which I really love. Despite always voting for the Democrats in the general, one time, I asked for a Republican ballot in the primaries so I could vote against Ralph Reed, who was running for Lt. Governor. I am tempted to do that again this year so I can vote against Purdue, who is running against Kemp in the primaries. I just don't think I can ask for a Republican ballot without vomiting. As much as I dislike Kemp, Purdue is far worse. I think he might have actually tried to over turn the Georgia results in 2020.

The one candidate who I am excited about is Stacey Abrams, who is running for the 2nd time for governor. I have never known a more brilliant candidate than Stacey. She is a science nerd with a minor in physics, and that is an extra little bonus imo. She has motivated more people to vote than ever before in the state of Georgia. I am amazed by her intelligence and motivation. Despite how the Republicans in the state are demonizing her, the truth is that she had the respect of both parties and was known for being willing to work across the aisle when she was the minority leader in the Georgia House. Now, the Repugs are scared of her popularity, so they criticize any tiny bit of minutia they can find on her. They claim she's a socialist etc. but the truth is she's what I might refer to as a pragmatic liberal. In other words, she has ideals, but fully understands that nobody ever gets everything they want. She's extremely supportive of the LBGTQ community and their rights and thanks to her get out the vote work, Georgia currently has two Democratic senators for the first time since I moved here in the early 90s. Unless the other party is successful at suppressing the vote, I think she has a good chance of winning. She would be our first female governor and I think the first female Black governor in the country. People like Stacey don't come along very often so I'm very excited about her second run. She is a natural leader with wide spread appeal.

I will vote a straight Democratic ticket, and despite not being crazy about Warnock, I'm hoping he will win this fall. Right now, creepy, inexperienced Herschel Walker is running against him. The man has a lot of baggage, and no political experience that I know of. Do we really need a Black version of Trump? I don't know if anyone else is running in the Republican primaries.

My Congressional district is extremely gerrymandered so it's extremely rare for a Democrat to even run for that position. I usually leave that blank. I'm not familiar yet what other things will be on the ballot. We usually have several constitutional amendments to vote, but I have no idea what they will be this year. Sometimes we vote for a local 1 cent sales tax to pay for infrastructure, parks, the senior center, schools etc. I always support that. It usually passes. Even conservatives like things like parks, schools and roads.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

My voter registration is still Republican--I originally did it when there were still choices in the Republican primary and I wanted to vote for the sane ones.

I've never registered with a political party. It always seemed too much like selling my soul to the devil.
Here in Indiana, all party registration gets you is primary voting.

Which was my original reason. I think there are very few good politicians, I see voting as picking the least bad.

Well, and a zillion letters and phone calls and emails explaining why you ABSOLUTELY MUST DONATE NOW.

Don't need that.
Tom

I don't get very many phone calls, voter registration doesn't give the e-mails and I actually find the snail mail useful--it warns me about their stealth candidates.

 

[southernhybrid]

The only reason I get lots of emails asking me for money is because I've given money a few times to candidates who I really liked. I've never received any phone calls that I know of, but I have my spam calls on silent, so I have no idea who my spam calls come from. I'm glad that we have open primaries in my state, but I would register as a Democrat if we didn't have open primaries because to me, primary races are important. One can always change their party registration if they swing between parties if they don't live in a state that has open primaries.

The last time Abrams ran, there were a few other Democrats who were also running and I had the opportunity to vote for her in the Democratic primary. My mother always refused to register with a party, but she was very fond of Obama so she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for him in the primaries in NJ.

 

[TomC]

Which was my original reason. I think there are very few good politicians, I see voting as picking the least bad.

I've gathered that Nevada is quite different from here in Indiana.

For most of my life, the Republicans somewhat dominated. But they tended to be moderate centrist and bipartisan. The Democrats tended to be of the conservative variety, little different from the more socially moderate Republicans. The big difference between the pre-Teaparty political landscape and now is the partisanship and polarization.

Lugar getting primaried was a huge wake-up call for me. He was primaried by a complete asshat. An inexperienced nobody. The guy actually had "replace incarceration, for non-violent criminals, with public flogging" to reduce criminal justice expenses. Unsurprisingly, he got blown away in the election by a Democrat. But, frankly, the Democrat could have been mistaken for a Republican in most states.
Tom