Independent, non-partisan drawing of districts worked out extremely well for Dems in CA. Indeed, if the districts were still drawn in the old partisan manner, I think the GOP would have more seats than they do now in the CA legislature. It wouldn't be a big difference, but I think the GOP would have bargained their way to a one or two seat gain. Without that bargaining, the districts follow the state's demographics, and those demographics are favorable to the Dems.
Strangely enough with as extreme as the MD gerrymandering looks, there are still congressional districts with comfortable Democratic majorities and one Republican district with a comfortable majority. It is not inconceivable that after the 2020 census, without working to hard for MD to write a map that returns an 8-0 Democratic delegation to Congress.
Related to Maryland congressional seats, would you believe that John Delaney has raised almost $1 million for his presidential campaign already? Who the ******** is donating to him?
Interesting read 7 ways Democrats are misreading the November 7 results https://www.salon.com/2017/11/16/7-ways-democrats-are-misreading-the-november-7-results_partner/
God. Damn. I loathe you. Let's start. 1) Ossoff ACTUALLY outperformed Hillary. 2) Salon claims he would have won by appealing to young voters and African Americans. That's what he actually did. 3) They call Northam - the Lieutenant Governor - a "non-traditional candidate" and "not a careerist." For ********'s sake. 4) Perriello was an Obama ally, not a Berniecrat. Bernie attacked Obama a lot. Perriello defended Obama against these attacks. 5) The article claims that African-American, Latino, and female voters are Bernie groups - even though he lost all three to Hillary voters last year. You're posting trash. Stop posting trash. Mods, please stop letting trash on the boards. It's really bad for democracy when lies proliferate online.
.@TexasTribAbby gets the story: Barton, longtime Texas R, sent graphic photo, is weighing whether to step downhttps://t.co/wbB2BijJrA— Jonathan Martin (@jmart) November 22, 2017
I went to TexasAbby's stream and a few tweets down was one about "Mr. Peppermint's coat." Not sure if it will show up... https://www.instagram.com/p/BbzdSWflTS4/ Mr. Pepperment was a DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth, not David Foster Wallace, a distinction which will be useful by the end of the sentence) TV host on an afternoon kids program, as well as the father of Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes. There: nothing to unsee here!
https://politicalwire.com/2017/11/30/barton-wont-run/ Conyers will not run for re-election, either. So I'm five away on the GOP side, and if this brings down Conyers and Barton, it's gonna bring down smaller fish. Good.
Part of the reason for the gerrymandering, get districts more of a cut of the wealthy areas of the state.
The Dems chance to take control of the senate just shot up. Still hard, but they have 3 pickup opportunities...AZ, especially if the GOPs nominate a nut, Nevada, and Tennessee if the GOPs nominate a nut. They have to either win 2 out of those 3 and hold all incumbents, or sweep those and lose one incumbent.
Time for Brummie to say what the rest of you won't, and rightfully shouldn't, say. I had the privilege of eating dinner with a neurosurgeon a few months back, and he told me that John McCain's glioblastoma is fatal in 100% of patients, and John had six months. That's why his daughter got married when she did, it's in part why the GOP is racing to pass legislation before Christmas. It's a horrific cancer that attacks the brain too quickly for it to even try to fight back. There will be two 2018 Arizona Senate elections, and if there are, and Donald Trump continues to be Donald Trump, Democrats will win both of them. They will pick up Nevada, and they will force the GOP to competitive-ish campaigns in Texas and Tennessee (but lose both). If that's the case, Democrats pick up three seats, meaning they can still lose one (Heitkamp, McCaskill, Manchin, Donnelly) and win the Senate. It's really sad what is happening to John. Cancer is a bipartisan enemy. But if you don't think Democratic strategists are looking at AZ as the way to win both seats, you're lying to yourself. The only hope is that someone finds a way to cure glioblastoma within the next six months. Makes rooting for a Democratic Senate feel really shitty, knowing it's because a good person has to die in a really painful way.
I am also going to add. The House has flipped already. If a GOP House member doesn't announce a retirement TODAY, color me shocked. There will be pollsters conducting surveys in every GOP seat after this race. The comparisons to Brown-Coakley 2010 will emerge. And a bunch of MoCs won't want to deal with the hassle of a real campaign.
I didn't say it because I thought it was obvious. I don't think so. Literally anyone else would have won for the Republicans. David Duke would have won...easily. Any Republican who makes career choices after last night should take a deep breath.
Any Republicans from Alabama or Wyoming, perhaps. If you're in Wisconsin or Georgia, perhaps this shows that the GOP advantage in midterms was really only powerful when Democrats held the White House.