2022 Midterm Elections - Results and Post Mortem

[Derec]

Idiocy.

If you mean your ridiculous straw man, then I must agree. It's idiotic.

Biden must be more powerful than God, to be able to “forward laws” that cause inflation in every Country on the planet.

Other countries have their own politicians doing stuff. Biden is responsible what happens in the US. Including too much spending.

Leave it to the Republican traitors to make up impossible lies, and to American morons to swallow them whole.

It is not Republicans who are claiming this. It is you people who claim that as part of the straw men you've been gleefully erecting.

 

[Elixir]

It is not Republicans who are claiming this. It is you people who claim that as part of the straw men you've been gleefully erecting.

Uh, you’re a bit “loose with the truth” there.
The claim was “The House will keep Joe Biden from forwarding any more ridiculous inflationary laws to the American people”.
No Democrat has made that claim afaik, your own specious claim about Biden’s culpability notwithstanding.

 

[lpetrich]

In the States, Democrats All but Ran the Table - The New York Times - "Defying history, Democrats won power in state capitals across the country, while Republicans deepened their control of red states."

So, who won?

The only surprise was just how well Democrats did.

Democratic candidates for governor won convincingly over election deniers in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Both halves of the legislature flipped from red to blue in Michigan, albeit narrowly, for the first time in decades. Democrats won a trifecta in Minnesota; held both chambers in Colorado, Maine, Nevada and Oregon; staved off Republican supermajorities in the North Carolina House and Wisconsin State Assembly; and clawed back seats in the New Hampshire State House. And every single “Stop the Steal”-style candidate for secretary of state lost or appears to be losing battleground races at this point.

...
Republicans have made modest gains, however. They flipped the Virginia House of Delegates last year, though not the State Senate, while gaining seats in New Jersey. They may have broken the Democrats’ supermajorities in New York, while picking up seats in the Illinois Senate, New Mexico House and a host of red states. They took supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the Iowa Senate, the North Carolina Senate, the South Carolina House and the Wisconsin Senate. In races for governor, they notched commanding wins in Florida, Ohio and Texas, and gave Democrats a scare in Kansas and Oregon.

But in 2022, not a single state legislative chamber flipped from blue to red. A party in power hasn’t achieved that result in a midterm election year since at least 1934, according to Post.

 

[lpetrich]

I have results for the Alaska US Senate and US House elections.

US Senate:

Candidate	1st Round	Transferred	2nd Round
Lisa Murkowski* R	43.4	10.3	53.7
Kelly Tshibaka R	42.6	3.7	46.3
Pat Chesbro D	10.4
Buzz Kelley R	2.9
Write-ins	0.8

Donald Trump wanted Kelly Tshibaka, but Pat Chesbro's voters thought Lisa Murkowski more desirable than some Trumpie.

US House:

Candidate	1st Round	Transferred	2nd Round
Mary Peltola D	48.8	6.1	54.9
Sarah Palin R	25.7	19.4	45.1
Nick Begich R	23.3
Chris Bye L	1.7
Write-ins	0.4

So enough Nick Begich voters also voted for Mary Peltola to push her over the top. Good riddance to Sarah Palin.

 

[Derec]

Uh, you’re a bit “loose with the truth” there.

Wrong.

The claim was “The House will keep Joe Biden from forwarding any more ridiculous inflationary laws to the American people”.
No Democrat has made that claim afaik, your own specious claim about Biden’s culpability notwithstanding.

That wasn't the claim that can be described as "impossible lies". That claim is absolutely correct. The House will keep B³ and similar inflationary spending bills from getting passed, even if now Dems will likely have a slightly easier time passing things in the Senate.

 

[Elixir]

The House will keep B3 and similar inflationary spending bills

This inability to distinguish your ill-formed opinion from fact, is at the root of your delusion.
Thats the charitable view, as I am advise not to ascribe to malice, that which can be thus explained.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

What is the exact mechanism that is being used for cheating?

I think you need to put that to @Jason Harvestdancer
He confidently states that the 2020 election was "tainted".
So far, nobody has been able pry an answer out of him regarding the source of this alleged "taint", but maybe you can be the one to crack the case?

Except for all the times I've answered "ballot access restrictions, debate exclusion, fundraising restrictions", you'd be right.

Now, back on topic, I've pondered what happened in this midterm. Many people were expecting a "red wave". Elixir was even excited for the prospect. Instead we got a red trickle.

So what happened? Mitch McConnell made it clear he would rather be minority leader than include Republican Populists in his Senate. Much money was spent on a Republican v. Republican race in Alaska to fight against the populist, money that if it had been spent in Pennsylvania or Arizona could have actually been used to support his own party against the other party. It was intra-party fighting, McConnell versus Trump.

 

[lpetrich]

Democrats lost their House majority due to Independent Redistricting Commissions - "Are IRCs ineffective because they are trumped by Winner Take All elections? Have they outlived their usefulness?"
Steven Hill of a Substack blog called DemocracySOS

Republicans have long fought against any kind of redistricting commission, insisting on leaving the line-drawing in the hands of their own partisans to maintain their dominance in key states like North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. On the other hand, many Democrats and their allies, including nonpartisan reformers like myself, have been on a mission for electoral “fairness,” which often includes support for nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

Indeed, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats overwhelmingly passed H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” which among other worthy political reforms expressly outlawed partisan gerrymandering and required states to use independent redistricting commissions to draw lines guided by specific criteria that prioritizes minority representation and protects communities of interest. No question, all of those goals, if uniformly applied across the nation, are worthy and would improve our democracy.

I was a big supporter of H.R.1. But it’s hard not to notice that not a single Republican supported this legislation in the House. Even though it passed on the strength of Democrats’ votes alone, it was killed in the crib by a filibustering GOP in the Senate. The Republicans knew that passing that bill would have interfered in their efforts to gerrymander the hell out of whatever states they control.

In effect, Republicans like to gerrymander themselves into victory, while Democrats are more willing to push good-government measures like nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

 

[ZiprHead]

In effect, Republicans like to gerrymander themselves into victory, while Democrats are more willing to push good-government measures like nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

Can anyone name any aspect of elections Republicans are not dastardly corrupt on?

 

[crazyfingers]

In effect, Republicans like to gerrymander themselves into victory, while Democrats are more willing to push good-government measures like nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

Can anyone name any aspect of elections Republicans are not dastardly corrupt on?

No

 

[lpetrich]

"Can we make redistricting commissions better?" he asks, noting the recent scandal of Los Angeles Hispanics who wanted to gerrymander the city council's districts in their favor.

But the real problem in Los Angeles is not so much over who draws the district lines but the "winner take all" districts themselves. When you have geographic-based representation by districts, only one side can win each seat. Will it be Latinos? Blacks? Asians? Whites? Democrats? Republicans? Not all of them can win, that’s why it’s called "winner take all." No redistricting commission, however well-designed, can change this naked reality.

Something like that happened in NY-10, where an eastern Asian progressive (Yuh-Line Niou), a black progressive (Mondaire Jones), and a Hispanic progressive (Carlina Rivera) split the progressive vote and let clothing heir Dan Goldman buy his way into office.

Dump winner take all elections in favor of proportional representation

A “multi-everything city” like Los Angeles needs to use a better democratic method that is not based on these toxic winner-take-all dynamics. If LA based its elections on the bedrock of what is known as proportional voting, that would greatly reduce these kinds of turf wars in favor of “full representation for all.” Los Angeles should follow the example of Portland, OR where a multi-racial charter commission voted 17-3 to allow voters to weigh in on a charter amendment to implement proportional ranked choice voting to elect its city council. Portlanders passed that ballot measure on November 8 by a 58-42 margin.

Portland’s citizens to vote on government changes in 2022 midterms | PBS NewsHour

The result is Measure 26-228, which would get rid of the unique commission form of government, under which city council members act as administrators of the city’s various bureaus, and replace it with the more common mayor-council system. It would expand the City Council to 12 members, with four multi-member districts each represented by three councilors, and add a professional city administrator. And it would implement a form of ranked-choice voting known as a single transferable vote.

...
Under the single transferable vote system, ballots are counted in rounds with city council candidates only needing 25 percent of the vote to win. If a candidate exceeds that threshold, their surplus votes are transferred to the next candidate ranked on each voter’s ballot. If no candidate receives 25 percent in the first round, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are transferred to the next preferred candidate on each voter’s ballot.

Supporters of the measure have been pointing to a public radio video to help explain the process, which would run the rounds instantly using elections software. They say it could boost voter turnout and make the government more representative.

“It became clear that not only was there a problem with the structure of the commission form but there was also a chronic problem of underrepresentation with the way that the current voting system is set up,” said Sol Mora, the coalition’s civic engagement manager. “Ranked choice voting … would give people better ability to capture their preferences.”

 

[blastula]

Just noticed that Louie Gohmert did not run for reelection and after an 18 year run will be out of office next month. He ran for Texas AG instead and got trounced in the primary. The guy who won his deep red seat is very conservative but at least not a nutball.

 

[ZiprHead]

'Furthering false narratives': Lake, Finchem lawsuit draws sanction order from judge

A federal judge ordered sanctions against the attorneys of Kari Lake and Mark Finchem in their lawsuit against voting machines.

www.azcentral.com

 

[Derec]

In effect, Republicans like to gerrymander themselves into victory, while Democrats are more willing to push good-government measures like nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

Dems in NY tried really hard to go around their own constitution and gerrymander the hell out of the congressional map. It backfired when the courts put a kibosh on that. Also, Dems in Illinois successfully gerrymandered their map.

 

[Derec]

Something like that happened in NY-10, where an eastern Asian progressive (Yuh-Line Niou), a black progressive (Mondaire Jones), and a Hispanic progressive (Carlina Rivera) split the progressive vote

Good. We need fewer far-left squaddies in Congress, not more. Mondaire Jones should have ran in his own district (NY16) against Jamaal "defund the police" Bowman.

and let clothing heir Dan Goldman buy his way into office.

In what way did he "buy his way into office"?

Dump winner take all elections in favor of proportional representation

Would be ideal. It would open way for smaller parties to get some seats and not merely act as spoilers.

 

[Derec]

This inability to distinguish your ill-formed opinion from fact, is at the root of your delusion.
Thats the charitable view, as I am advise not to ascribe to malice, that which can be thus explained.

That inability is all yours. As is the tendency to not address the arguments - or offer any - but to attack me personally.

 

[ZiprHead]

This inability to distinguish your ill-formed opinion from fact, is at the root of your delusion.
Thats the charitable view, as I am advise not to ascribe to malice, that which can be thus explained.

That inability is all yours. As is the tendency to not address the arguments - or offer any - but to attack me personally.

When you say stuff like this:

Good. We need fewer far-left squaddies in Congress, not more. Mondaire Jones should have ran in his own district (NY16) against Jamaal "defund the police" Bowman.

It makes people think Elixir's description was spot on.

 

[lpetrich]

In effect, Republicans like to gerrymander themselves into victory, while Democrats are more willing to push good-government measures like nonpartisan redistricting commissions.

Dems in NY tried really hard to go around their own constitution and gerrymander the hell out of the congressional map. It backfired when the courts put a kibosh on that. Also, Dems in Illinois successfully gerrymandered their map.

True, Democrats often gerrymander, but not as much as Republicans - they are more willing to have independent commissions draw the district boundaries.

 

[Derec]

When you say stuff like this:

Good. We need fewer far-left squaddies in Congress, not more. Mondaire Jones should have ran in his own district (NY16) against Jamaal "defund the police" Bowman.

It makes people think Elixir's description was spot on.

What exactly do you find objectionable?
- my opinion that we need more moderates and fewer extremists in Congress?
- than Mondaire Jones should have run where he lives (NY16) and not in a district nowhere close to his house?
- that Jamaal Bowman advocated for defunding of police?
- something else?

 

[ZiprHead]

When you say stuff like this:

Good. We need fewer far-left squaddies in Congress, not more. Mondaire Jones should have ran in his own district (NY16) against Jamaal "defund the police" Bowman.

It makes people think Elixir's description was spot on.

What exactly do you find objectionable?
- my opinion that we need more moderates and fewer extremists in Congress?
- than Mondaire Jones should have run where he lives (NY16) and not in a district nowhere close to his house?
- that Jamaal Bowman advocated for defunding of police?
- something else?

The problem is you make your statements as if they are accepted facts and note solely your opinion.