Election day 2017. Moonhowlings is endorsing Danica Roem, hands down. Danica has plans. Her opponent has very few that don’t involve denying women their reproductive rights.
I first realized what a dynamic candidate Danica was when she nocked on my door last summer, before the primary. I went out, sat down, and an hour later, as she stood up to go, I realized how knowledgeable she was about our community. Truthfully, I had thought western PWC might not be ready for identity politics. Well, I was dead wrong. Identity has little to do with Danica’s campaign.
Danica stopped by last night again. She was exhausted after 10 hours of door knocking. We chatted, we gave her a bottle of water and she was on her way–2 more doors to knock on. I have been very impressed with her dedication to winning, her tireless approach and her knowledge base. Those attributes are what we need in Richmond.
Danica, may the force be with you as you win the 13th today.
Writing this before any returns come in ….
TBH, I’ve found the whole cycle rather uninspired and boring. Northam vs. Gillespie is just a toss up between which set of corporate and special interests should tell a stooge what to do. My own delegate race was between a tired blue benchwarmer and a red challenger who provoked a “meh,” reaction. Further south, I was dismayed at who the blue team nominated (Guzman in particular looks like a person not to be trusted with money even if she has the right demographic markers for how that district is trending). Red team had a similar issue in the 2nd and never really recovered.
That brings me to Danica. The rude trolls constantly referring to her as “he/she” or “him/her” were tiresome from day one. And she seemed like a possible breath of fresh air, in part because of real rootedness in the community, and in part because of her personal journey. But as her gender identification took over as a cause celebre and brought in the outside donations, ironically, she started to look and sound like just another politico. Not saying you shouldn’t have voted for her or supported her, Moon, just saying the originality and intrigue faded hard and fast. A candidate who should never have been forgettable or boring went that direction.
I don’t dwell on it much because I don’t expect much change, and my quality of life is more in my hands than that of strangers. But I admit getting a little glimmer of hope that some real disruption could shake things up. I just don’t see it, even if a raft of local challengers win.
NorthofNokesville,
I guess you got your disruption! Wow. What an incredible day/night.
What impressed me with Danica is her broad knowledge of local issues. I had committed to supporting another in the primary. I told Danica this, she respected my commitment, and I went in the house, called Elena and said Wow. Just wow. I want to eat all my own words. I did keep my commitment at the polls and then when Danica won, I was solidly behind her.
I have never been a Marshall fan. I could never support anyone who didn’t think the women of Virginia should be making their own reproductive decisions.
MoonHowler,
Moon – I hope you’re right about her. I’m keeping an open mind.
She did make a brilliant statement about Marshall. Someone invited her to criticize her opponent and his positions. She said, “Bob’s a constituent now, and I don’t attack constituents.” I was LOL’ing so hard. A delicious, multi-layer skewering, taking the high road while also drawing a contrast and pointing out he’ll soon be just a citizen.
We’ll see if the groundswell changes anything. If current results hold, it will be 51-49 GOP. 5 districts were razor thin.
27 – R by >100
28 – R by 100 … I’m happy about this one. Hugo can be helpful.
68 – D by >100 … I’m happy about this one. Loupassi is Dominion stooge.
94 – R by <100 … 12 votes!
Most of the delegates who lost have no one to blame but themselves. Entitlement is a horrible thing, even more so when it perches its fat bottom on a throne labelled "gerrymandering." Seeing it punished suggests the gears of the process sometimes grind the right way. I'd also love to see Lingamfelter become a verb meaning, "losing to a manifestly weak candidate because you think being an old white man is awesome." The PWC county-level GOP should resign en masse (or would, if they had any dignity or self-awareness). They have literally no idea how to coordinate a campaign, unless it's one of self-promotion and self-importance. And… dammit, it pains me to say this not because they're Dems but because they've historically been so clumsy and deserving of self-inflicted damage… but the PWC Dems showed some real mettle and pluck. I don't want Robin Hood getting a big head, but he could gloat with justification.
Once the euphoria fades, the reality sets in and there's real sometimes ugly work to be done. I hope the new crowd remembers their electoral roots better than the old crowd.
hmmm…that was scathing on so many levels, but very true, for the most part.
Let’s start with the notion that no county should have this many state senators or delegates. Gerrymandering at its worst.
I haven’t forgiven lingamfelter for his speech against the appointment of the judge who was gay. I can’t remember the dude’s name but I do remember Lingamfelter’s self-righteousness.
The hard work is yet to come. I prefer a good mix of people myself, each saving us from the extremes of the other.
Dems win the governor race and picked up lots of delegate seats. This was a major defeat for Trump and republicans and a great day for our state.
Starryflights,
First part of that statement is true, though I’d add Virginia has become a true blue state in many regards, and the GOP’s majority came less from voters’ love and more from gerrymandering and tenure.
Second part …. I’m open-minded … but that will be an empirical question answered down the road. New blood deserves a chance to be judged on its record. If the numerous “first of X” headlines don’t translate into better legislative outcomes and resolutions to major issues in concrete ways, it’s empty symbolism.
This is where locals involved with the newly elected can and must help. Get them focused on the cross district, multi-level issues early – and keep constituent pressure up. The proposed BCP is a great example. Depending on the Hugo outcome, it could run its entire length through districts with new representation (and terminates in Bell’s… not much of an independent thinker or actor). That means inexperience, lack of seniority, and unknowns on how they handle having money thrown at them outside of a campaign setting. Some found it challenging to have a lot of money thrown at them during the campaign.
But, again, in a year, we’ll know if this was great.