Black Voters Remain Solidly In The Democratic Camp

These charts are from the Pew Research Center.
 

Democrats Flip Seat Formally Held By Santos

A special election was held Tuesday night to fill the House seat vacated by the ouster of George Santos. Democrat Tom Suozzi won the seat by nearly 8 points over Republican Maze Pilip. That 8 point victory represents a huge swing in House District #3, and could portend a nice election for Democrats next November.

Biden And Trump Maintain Large Leads In Their Primaries

 

The charts above reflect the results of the latest Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between December 14th and 18th. 683 Democratic voters were questioned (with a 3.8 point margin of error). 702 Republican voters were questioned (with a 3.7 point margin of error).

What Makes A Good Democrat?

The chart above is from a Monmouth University Poll -- done between March 16th and 20th of a national sample of 542 registered voters identifying at Democrats, with a 6.3 point margin of error.

The GOP Believes Only Republican Votes Should Be Counted

It's not just Donald Trump that's refusing to accept that the American people have voted him out of office. Now hundreds of his Republican cohorts are saying the same thing.

They want the votes overturned in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. Why? Because those states voted for a Democrat to be president. That has to be the reason, because no evidence exists of fraudulent voting or an election rigging (as Trump has repeatedly lied about).

Republicans now seem to think they have a right to rule, regardless of what the voters want. They don't want Democratic votes to even be counted -- and they have gone to great lengths to suppress those votes.

Here's how Jamelle Bouie puts it in a New York Times column:

Of the many stories to tell about American politics since the end of the Cold War, one of growing significance is how the Republican Party came to believe in its singular legitimacy as a political actor. Whether it’s a hangover from the heady days of the Reagan revolution (when conservatives could claim ideological hegemony) or something downstream of America’s reactionary traditions, it’s a belief that now dominates conservative politics and has placed much of the Republican Party in opposition to republican government itself. 

It’s a story of escalation, from the relentless obstruction of the Gingrich era to the effort to impeach Bill Clinton to the attempt to nullify the presidency of Barack Obama and on to the struggle, however doomed, to keep Joe Biden from ever sitting in the White House as president. It also goes beyond national politics. In 2016, after a Democrat, Roy Cooper, defeated the Republican incumbent Pat McCrory for the governorship of North Carolina, the state’s Republican legislature promptly stripped the office of power and authority. Wisconsin Republicans did the same in 2018 after Tony Evers unseated Scott Walker in his bid for a third term. And Michigan Republicans took similar steps against another Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer, after her successful race for the governor’s mansion.

Considered in the context of a 30-year assault on the legitimacy of Democratic leaders and Democratic constituencies (of which Republican-led voter suppression is an important part), the present attempt to disrupt and derail the certification of electoral votes is but the next step, in which Republicans say, outright, that a Democrat has no right to hold power and try to make that reality. The next Democrat to win the White House — whether it’s Biden getting re-elected or someone else winning for the first time — will almost certainly face the same flood of accusations, challenges and lawsuits, on the same false grounds of “fraud.”

It’s worth emphasizing the bad faith and dishonesty on display here. At least 140 House Republicans say that they will vote againstcounting certain electoral votes on Wednesday. Among them are newly seated lawmakers in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two states whose votes are in contention. But the logic of their objection applies to them as well as Biden. If his state victories are potentially illegitimate, then so are theirs. Or take the charge, from Ted Cruz and 10 other Senate Republicans, that multiple key swing states changed (or even violated) their election laws in contravention of the Constitution. If it’s true for those cases, then it’s also true of Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, unilaterally expanded voting, however meagerly. And yet there’s no drive to cancel those results.

The issue for Republicans is not election integrity, it’s the fact that Democratic votes count at all.

Buttigieg Drops Out Of The 2020 Presidential Race

After the South Carolina primary, the field of candidates was narrowed by two candidates dropping out of the race. On Saturday night, Tom Steyer dropped out. One day later, Pete Buttigieg followed suit. Both said they no longer see a path toward winning the nomination.

I was not a supporter of Pete Buttigieg this year, but I thought he ran an intelligent, inclusive, and generally positive campaign. And he is far from being a loser. Only a few months ago, most Democrats (and Americans) had never heard of Pete Buttigieg. Now nearly everyone has, and most Democrats have a very positive view of him.

This was not his year, but he has established himself as a future star in the Democratic Party. And personally, I think whoever the nominee turns out to be this year, they would be very smart to find a place for Buttigieg in their administration.

All the pundits now are talking about who will benefit from Buttigieg dropping out of the race. The general consensus is that it will help Biden. But that may not be true.

The chart below is from the Morning Consult Poll -- done between February 23rd and 27th of a national sample of 13,428 likely Democratic primary voters, with a 1 point margin of error. It shows that Buttigieg supporters are virtually split between the four leading candidates.

About 21% will go to Sanders, 19% to Biden, 19% to Warren, and 17% to Bloomberg. That, according to Morning Consult, would boost each of the four campaigns by about 2 points.

Gabbard Embarrasses Herself, Her State, And Her Party

427 members of the House of Representatives voted to either pass or reject the two Articles of Impeachment regarding Donald Trump. While I don't agree with the way many voted (mainly Republicans), I have to give them credit for taking a stand.

Their constituents sent them to Congress to vote on important issues, and no issue was more important this year than whether to impeach Trump or not.

Sadly, there was one member of the House of Representatives that refused to take a stand. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii voted "present". She refused to vote either for or against either Article of Impeachment.

Gabbard tried to justify her refusal to take a stand on impeachment by saying:

"I am standing in the center and have decided to vote Present. I could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because I believe President Trump is guilty of wrongdoing. I also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country."

That's bullshit! If Trump is guilty of wrongdoing (as she admitted), then she should have voted to impeach him -- regardless of the partisan way in which the Republicans voted to defend Trump. Most votes in the House recently have been on a partisan basis. To use her "logic", she would need to vote "present" on nearly everything.

She is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. It's unlikely she could win (getting only 15 to 3% in any poll), but this incredible stand on impeachment is not going to help her. It would not surprise me if she lost even the tiny support that she has. Democrats want a candidate not afraid to take a stand, and to fight the Republicans when they are wrong.

Gabbard's nonvote just embarrassed herself, her state, and her party -- and showed Democratic voters she does not deserve to be their candidate (for president or anything else).

Another Poll Shows Trump Trailing By Double-Digits

Yesterday, I showed you a YouGov Poll that had a generic Democrat leading Donald Trump by 10 points among registered voters. Now we have a second poll showing Trump trailing a Democrat by double-digits. This time it's an 11 point lead in a survey by Public Policy Polling -- done on September 26th and 27th of a national sample of 885 voters, with a 3.3 point margin of error.

Trump Trails Democrat By Double-Digits In New Poll

This chart reflects the results of the newest Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between September 28th and October 1st of a national sample of 1,087 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.

It shows that Donald Trump trails an unnamed Democrat by 10 points on the generic ballot (49% to 39%). With a margin that large, Trump could not even be saved by the electoral college.

Can A Democratic President Fix The Mess Trump Created?

(Caricature of Donald Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)

The idea that many Democrats (and Independents) have is that although Donald Trump has created a real mess and seriously damaged this country's reputation, replacing him with a Democrat in 2021 could quickly remedy the situation. That may be too optimistic, considering the damage than has been done. It may take many years to fix Trump's disastrous actions, if it can be done at all.

The following is part of a sobering assessment by Nahal Toosi at Politico.com:

Democrats running to replace Donald Trump are vowing to wipe away much of the president’s foreign policy legacy.

It might already be too late.

Through executive orders, regulatory changes, political maneuvers and sometimes mere neglect, Trump has overseen major, possibly permanent, shifts in U.S. foreign policy. . . .

Thanks to Trump, current and former officials say, Palestinians may never get a state of their own, Iran may shun diplomacy with Washington for the foreseeable future and U.S. allies may forever be reluctant to trust their American counterparts. Relations with China, the effects of climate change and ending nuclear proliferation are among other challenges a future president may find harder to tackle in a post-Trump world.

It doesn’t help that U.S. foreign policy is increasingly falling prey to partisan fighting in Washington. A Democratic president focused on reversing Trump’s legacy — the same way Trump has tried to erase Barack Obama's legacy — runs the risk of feeding the perception that U.S. foreign policy will not remain stable over time.

“There is a hunger for the U.S. to get back to its traditional role on the world stage,” said Jeff Prescott, a former senior National Security Council official in the Obama administration. “But after Trump, many of our international partners are going to step back and ask whether signing up with us is going to be a long-term proposition.” . . .

In particular, Trump’s approach to two sensitive topics — Iran and Israel — could have lasting effects.

On Iran, Trump has chilled slowly warming relations between the two countries.

It started with Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of a nuclear deal with Iran. Then he reimposed the sanctions lifted under the deal and heaped on new ones.

While most of the Democrats running for president have promised to rejoin the nuclear deal, which was negotiated under President Barack Obama, they must overcome an array of logistical and political hurdles, including Iran’s own steps to violate the deal in light of Trump’s sanctions. . . .

Another area where Trump has perhaps permanently changed the landscape is the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Nearly every step Trump has taken in the area has pleased Israel and angered the Palestinians. He ended U.S. financial aid to the Palestinians, closed their office in Washington and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite the Palestinians’ competing claims to the city. In response, the Palestinians have essentially cut off communication with Trump officials.

The Trump administration is also at work on a peace proposal for the Israelis and Palestinians, but the president’s aides have indicated that the plan will not support a separate Palestinian state.

A Democratic successor may recommit the U.S. to a two-state solution — long the American government's preferred approach — and even rebuild some of the bridges to the Palestinians that Trump has torched. Foreign policy veterans say it may be too late, though. Under Trump, an emboldened Israel already has made moves some predict will lead it to annex the West Bank, territory long claimed by the Palestinians. . . .

A Democratic Trump successor will likely rejoin the Paris agreement to combat climate change, which Trump quit during his first year in office. Still, critics say the lost time under Trump — time without U.S. global leadership on the issue — could have caused irreparable damage to the global ecosystem.

A Democratic president could also take office with a new global nuclear arms race under way.

That’s what some fear will result from Trump’s decision to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the possibility he might let another pact, known as New START, lapse. In response, Russia, China and the U.S. have all shown signs that they are already building up their missile arsenals. . . .

The biggest challenge a successor to Trump might face is rebuilding trust with the rest of the world. Already, some foreign leaders have looked to bolster their tieswith Russia and China as the United States, under Trump, has appeared a less reliable global power.

“Other countries have noticed that America can tear things down and blow things up easily, but it has a hard time sealing the deal and getting things done,” said Brian Katulis, a foreign policy analyst with the left-leaning Center for American Progress. “As a result, many countries are moving to assert their own interests with less regard for America’s views.”

The Blue And Red States - And The Competitive States

The map above is Taegan Goddard's Electoral Vote Map. It shows the states that he thinks (at least currently) are likely to vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate for president in 2020. The Democratic states (blue) have 224 electoral votes. The Republican states (red) have 143 electoral votes. The states in gray are considered to be competitive, and have 171 electoral votes.

If Donald Trump is to be re-elected, he will need to win 127 of the 171 electoral votes in the competitive states, while a Democrat would need to win just 46 of those votes. That gives Democrats a significant advantage, but as we learned in 2016, not an advantage that can't be overcome.

What do you think? Is the map accurate? I just have one quibble with it.

Having been born in Texas and living most of my life there, I'm not sure Texas can be listed in the competitive column. Texas is changing thanks to demographic trends, but it is still a very red state. While Trump's job approval numbers are upside-down in the state, it is not by much. And there are still more Republicans than Democrats in the state, and too many that will vote for anyone with an "R" by their name.

I like the idea of Texas being a competitive state, and I sincerely hope it is true. I'm just not yet convinced.

Sen. Warren Makes It Official - She's Running For President

(Photo of Warren announcing her candidacy for president in 2020 election is from abcnews.go.com.)

If there was any doubt, it was removed yesterday. Senator Elizabeth Warren announced officially yesterday that she is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. After making the announcement in a televised speech from Massachusetts, she sent the following e-mail to many Democrats. Here's what she said:

I just got off the stage in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where I made a big announcement: I’m running for President. Let me tell you why. It starts with a story about Lawrence. A little over 100 years ago, the textile mills in Lawrence employed tens of thousands of people, including immigrants from more than 50 countries. Business was booming. The guys at the top were doing great. But workers made so little money that families were forced to crowd together in dangerous tenements and live on beans and scraps of bread. Inside the mills, working conditions were horrible. Children were forced to operate dangerous equipment. Workers lost hands, arms, and legs in the gears of machines. One out of every three adult mill workers died by the time they were 25. But one day, textile workers in Lawrence – led by women – went on strike to demand fair wages, overtime pay, and the right to join a union. It was a hard fight. They didn’t have much. Not even a common language. But they stuck together. And they won. Those workers did more than improve their own lives. They changed America. Within weeks, more than a quarter of a million textile workers throughout New England got raises. Within months, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to pass a minimum wage law. And today, there are no children working in factories. We have a national minimum wage. And worker safety laws. Workers get paid overtime, and we have a forty-hour work week. The story of Lawrence is a story about how real change happens in America. It’s a story about power – our power – when we fight together. Today, millions and millions of American families are also struggling to survive in a system that has been rigged by the wealthy and the well-connected. And just like the women of Lawrence, we are ready to say enough is enough. We are ready to take on a fight that will shape our lives, our children’s lives, and our grandchildren’s lives: The fight to build an America that works for everyone. The truth is, I’ve been in this fight for a long time. I grew up in Oklahoma, on the ragged edge of the middle class. When my daddy had a heart attack, my family nearly tumbled over the financial cliff. But we didn’t. My mother, who was 50 years old and had never worked outside the home, walked to Sears and got a minimum-wage job answering phones. That job saved our house, and saved our family. I ended up at a commuter college that cost $50 a semester. And that is how the daughter of a janitor managed to become a public school teacher, a law professor, a United States Senator, and now a candidate for President. I’ve spent most of my life studying what happens to families like mine. Families caught in the squeeze. Families that go broke. And what I found was that year after year, the path to economic security had gotten tougher and rockier for working families, and even tougher and even rockier for people of color. I also found that this wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t inevitable. No. Over the years, America’s middle class had been deliberately hollowed out. And families of color had been systematically discriminated against and denied their chance to build some security. The richest and most powerful people in America were rich, really rich – but they wanted to be even richer – regardless of who got hurt. So, every year, bit by bit, they lobbied Washington and paid off politicians to tilt the system just a little more in their direction. And year by year, bit by bit, more of the wealth and opportunity went to the people at the very top. That’s how, today, in the richest country in the history of the world, tens of millions of people are struggling just to get by. This disaster has touched every community in America. And for communities of color that have stared down structural racism for generations, the disaster has hit even harder. We can’t be blind to the fact that the rules in our country have been rigged against people for a long time – women, LGBTQ Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, immigrants, people with disabilities – and we need to call it out. When government works only for the wealthy and well-connected, that is corruption – plain and simple. It’s time to fight back and change the rules. First: We need to end corruption in Washington. That’s why I’ve proposed the strongest and most comprehensive anti-corruption law since Watergate. Second: We need to put more economic power in the hands of the American people. Make it quick and easy to join a union. Make American companies accountable for their actions and raise wages by putting workers in those corporate boardrooms where the real decisions are made. Break up monopolies when they choke off competition. Take on Wall Street so that the big banks can never again threaten the security of our economy. And when giant corporations – and their leaders – cheat their customers, stomp out their competitors, or rob their workers, let’s prosecute them. Let’s make real investments in child care, college, Medicare for All, creating economic opportunity for families, housing, opioid treatment, and addressing rural neglect and the legacy of racial discrimination. Stop refusing to invest in our children. Stop stalling on spending money – real money – on infrastructure and clean energy and a Green New Deal. Start asking the people who have gained the most from our country to pay their fair share. That includes real tax reform in this country – reforms that close loopholes and giveaways to the people at the top, and an Ultra-Millionaire Tax to make sure rich people start doing their part for the country that helped make them rich. Third: We need to strengthen our democracy. That starts with a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every American citizen to vote and to have that vote counted. Let’s overturn every single voter suppression rule that racist politicians use to steal votes from people of color. Outlaw partisan gerrymandering – by Democrats and Republicans. And overturn Citizens United. Our democracy is not for sale. Real democracy also requires equal justice under law. It’s not equal justice when a kid with an ounce of pot can get thrown in jail while a bank executive who launders money for a drug cartel can get a bonus. It’s not equal justice when, for the exact same crimes, African Americans are more likely than whites to be arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced. We need criminal justice reform and we need it now. To get all this done, we’ve got to fight side by side. We must not allow those with power to weaponize hatred and bigotry to divide us. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went to Montgomery and warned us about the danger of division. He talked about how bigotry and race-baiting are used to keep black Americans divided from white Americans so that rich Americans can keep picking all their pockets. That playbook has been around forever. Whether it’s white people against black people, straight people against gay people, middle-class families against new immigrant families – the story is the same. The rich and powerful use fear to divide us. We’re done with that. Bigotry has no place in the Oval Office. We come from different backgrounds, but our movement won’t be divided by our differences. It will be united by the values we share. We all want a country where everyone – not just the wealthy – can take care of their families. Where everyone – not just the ones who hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers – can participate in democracy. Where every child can dream big and reach for opportunity. And we’re all in the fight to build an America that works for everyone. This won’t be easy. A lot of people will tell us it isn’t even worth trying. But we will not give up. I’ve never let anyone tell me that anything is “too hard.” People said it would be “too hard” to build an agency that would stop big banks from cheating Americans on mortgages and credit cards. But we got organized, we fought back, we persisted, and now that consumer agency has forced these banks to refund nearly $12 billion directly to people they cheated. When Republicans tried to sabotage the agency, I came back to Massachusetts and then ran against one of them. No woman had ever won a Senate seat in Massachusetts, and people said it would be “too hard” for me to get elected. But we got organized, we fought back, we persisted, and now I am the senior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So, no, I am not afraid of a fight. Not even a hard fight. Sure, there will be plenty of doubters and cowards and armchair critics this time around. But we learned a long time ago that you don’t get what you don’t fight for. We are in this fight for our lives, for our children, for our planet, for our futures – and we will not turn back. So here is the promise I make to you today: I will fight my heart out so that every kid in America can have the same opportunity I had – a fighting chance to build something real. This is our moment in history to dream big, fight hard, and win. And here’s a big piece of how we’ll get it done: We’ll end the unwritten rule of politics that says anyone who wants to run for office has to start by sucking up to rich donors on Wall Street and powerful insiders in Washington. I’m not taking a dime of PAC money in this campaign or a single check from a federal lobbyist. I’m not taking applications from billionaires who want to run a Super PAC on my behalf. And I challenge every other candidate who asks for your vote in this primary to say exactly the same thing. We’re going to keep building this campaign at the grassroots. Right now, I’m on my way to an organizing event in New Hampshire, and in the next week, I’ll hit the road to Iowa, South Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, and California. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth NOTE -- Anyone wishing to send a few (or a lot of) dollars to help the Warren campaign can go here to donate.

Virginia Governor (And Democrat) Northam Must Resign

The photo above (from The Virginian-Pilot) is from the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page of Ralph Northam. Mr. Northam is currently the governor of Virginia. He was elected on the Democratic Party ticket. This yearbook was not published in the 1950's (when racism was commonplace in Virginia), but in 1984 when any decent American should have known that appearing in Blackface or a KKK costume was inexcusable.

When the photo was first made public, Northam owned up to it and apologized, saying:

"Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive. . .decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service."

Sadly, he has now backtracked. Now he claims that he was not in either the Blackface or the KKK costume, that the photo was placed on his page in error, and that he did not know what appeared on his page (since he did not buy a copy of the yearbook). I find that very hard to believe. Even if he did not buy a copy, he very likely knew what appeared on his own page.

Is Northam a racist? I don't know. But at the very least, he has an extreme lack of sensitivity regarding racial issues. And either racist beliefs or the lack of sensitivity to racial issues would be grounds for a resignation.

The Republicans have called for Northam to resign. That's more than a bit disingenuous, since they have spent the last few years defending actions as bad, or worse, by their own politicians (lying, pedophilia, racism, religious bigotry, homophobia, rape, drunkenness, sex abuse, etc.). If Northam was a Republican, I have no doubt they would be defending him.

But I am not a Republican. I am a Democrat. And being a Democrat, I must demand the same high standards of politicians from all political parties (and Independents). This yearbook page is indefensible, and his lying about it just makes the situation much worse.

Governor Ralph Northam MUST RESIGN!

Texas Senate Race Is Now Rated As A "Toss Up"

Two new polls show the senate race in Texas is very close. The Vox Populi Poll (done between September 16th and 18th of 508 likely Texas voters) has the race dead even at 50% for each candidate. The Public Policy Polling survey (done on September 19th and 20th of 613 Texas voters) has Cruz leading by a scant 3 points (48% to 45%).

This is very good news for Democrats in the Lone Star State. But there's even better news, and it comes from the respected Cook Political Report. That report rates each race as Solid, Likely, Leaning, or Toss Up. A few months ago, the Texas senate race was rated as Solid Republican.

But O'Rourke has been chipping away at Cruz's lead, causing that rating to slide to Likely Republican and then to Leaning Republican. Now they have released a new report (see below). They now rate the Texas senate race as a Toss Up.  That means they no longer see either party as having an advantage in that race, and it could be won by either O'Rourke or by Cruz.

NOTE -- They also rate three other senate seats held by Republicans as Toss Ups -- those in Arizona, Tennessee, and Nevada.

If 2020 Election Was Now, Trump Would Lose (Bigly)

You wouldn't know it from the pictures of Trump that we get from the media, but Trump is an extremely unpopular president. That's because he is careful not to appear in public unless it's before a crowd of his supporters. He's too narcissistic and thin-skinned to appear anywhere he's not guaranteed to be adored.

But his careful public relations efforts can't hide the deep lack of respect that most Americans have for him. In fact, if he had to run for re-election right now, he would lose by about 13 points (35% to 48%). The results are in the chart above (along with a demographic breakdown).

The chart represents results of a recent Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between July 26th and 30th of a nationwide sample of 1,993 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.

The two charts below are from the same poll, and give us a clue as to why Trump is so unpopular with most Americans. The public believes morality, honesty, and faithfulness to one's partner are very important for a politician to do a good job. They give Trump failing marks in all three categories.

Texas House Dist. 31 Has Impressive Democratic Candidate

 (These photos of Mary "MJ" Hegar are from her website.)

U.S. House District 31 in Texas has been reliably Republican for years, but that may change in the coming election. The Democrats have a strong candidate this year.

That candidate is Mary "MJ" Hegar. Hegar was a helicopter search and rescue pilot for the U.S. Army -- doing three tours in Afghanistan. She was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device. After returning, she successfully fought for the right of women to serve in combat position in the military.

Her first ad for her run for Congress went viral, and has received over 4 million views in a very short time. The following is part of an interview she did with Michael Walsh at Yahoo News after the ad went viral.

Yahoo News: Are you surprised with the level of attention your campaign ad has received so far?

Hegar: I got to say yes and no. I’m always surprised when people show interest in my bio because I saw hundreds of people doing the same stuff that I was doing, but I’m not surprised that the message of absent representation [that congressmen are less interested in representing their constituents than advancing their careers] is resonating with people. I think that most people feel that way.

Now that the video is live, have you had people reaching out to you saying that their representatives didn’t think they were important enough because they weren’t a donor, or something else along those lines? 

I think there is this sense of “you’re not important” or that you can only get to the front of the line if you’re a high-dollar donor. I had one person say to me once, “Don’t forget me when you go to D.C.” I said, “Wait, let me be clear. Your donation says to me that you agree that we share values and that you think I’ll be effective in fighting for us.” If that’s what you mean then I’ll be fighting for us in D.C. I think we need more of that. We need more people who are not willing to promise people the moon just to get their money.

This video depicts the sexism you encountered when you came back. The door was closed in your face and you couldn’t talk to your representative because you weren’t a large donor. What would you like to do to make sure other women and people in general don’t get the same treatment you did? 

I really believe in my heart that people in general — whether that’s different ethnicities, religions, genders, backgrounds, accents, socioeconomic statuses or anything — really need a government that’s more reflective of our population. And until we have that, we will have representatives, a majority of whom are representing their own self-interests and the future of their careers. We’ve got to hire more servant leaders. I think that’s a great thing about the wave of veterans running. Veterans understand what it means to put the good of the country ahead of their lives. I don’t think we’ll see a lot of this improve until we have people in office who frankly don’t need to get reelected for their ego or résumé. They just are serving their time as long as their constituents want to put them there. Now, unfortunately, the system is set up to put up barriers [in front of] everyday people who want to run for office. That’s something I’m working on trying to tear down here in my district. I’m trying to support good people up and down the ballot.

If you’re elected, when you get to Congress, what main goals do you have in mind? What problems do you see in D.C. wherein you can serve as a corrective and set things straight? 

I have a very realistic view of what a freshman congresswoman can get done. I’ve been mentoring with members and been in D.C. lobbying to stop bad legislation in the past, successfully. It’s really more about what I can do at home. Now I do have things I want to accomplish in D.C., but the No. 1 priority is constituent services and making sure that the district I’ve grown up in and love has representation and has a way for constituents to communicate and get help when they need help navigating the bureaucracy in government. And advocating. I find it personally offensive when representatives say they know how to advocate for groups without going to those groups and saying, “What are your experiences? What things worked? What things haven’t worked? What are the obstacles you had to overcome? What can we do to make things better and collaborate?” I definitely want to fight for marginalized communities, fight money in politics, fight toxic hyperpartisanship. Those are my three big things.

You’re running in a very deep red district. It’s been Republican for a while. What gives you confidence that this seat can turn blue?  

Probably the same thing that has moved our race from “strong red” to “likely red” in a couple of polls. I have lived here almost my whole life. I know this district. This is not your typical red district. Most people here don’t like to self-identify as one party or another. There’s a lot of disenfranchisement on Democratic votes in Texas. A lot of “Oh, this is a red state. If you’re a Democrat your vote doesn’t count” — not to mention voter suppression of different minorities and other groups that tend to vote more heavily Democratic. I would say that the majority of people in this district don’t like to say, “I’m a member of this party or that party.” They’re discerning. They like to vote for the person: someone with character and integrity who will represent them. We have more veterans in this district than in 97 percent of the rest of the country. There is no longer a party of the military. Maybe 20 to 30 years ago, Republicans were the party of the military. I don’t think that’s true anymore in the information age. I think that the reason I’m confident we can win is my district is hungry for representation. While there have been other good people on the ballot against John Carter, those people haven’t been able to gather the type of resources it takes to communicate to voters that they are good people and will represent them. We’re presented with a real opportunity here and I know we can win.

I’ve taken on uphill battles before. Becoming a pilot was no easy feat, 150 enemy fighters to our nine, suing the secretary of defense: all of those things were done intentionally, after I looked at the data, saw the path to victory and did what it took to win. This will just be my fourth.

Texas Democrat Joi Chevalier Would Be A Great Comptroller

I doubt that most Texas voters have ever heard of the Democratic Party's candidate for State Comptroller -- Joi Chevalier. We need to fix that, because she would make great Comptroller. Here is an e-mail she sent to Democrats. I think it should be read by all Texas voters.

I grew up in Houston. My family was tight-knit and stressed the value of education and that we could do anything we imagined. My mom faced obstacles every single day to raise me and my sisters, and she taught us the values of equality, hard work, and being the best we could be. By achieving excellence, we honored those who strived so hard to give us the opportunity to become more. Hard work and being brilliant would help us achieve our goals, no matter what challenges we faced. 

I believed her. And that belief sustained me as I applied for scholarships and universities across the United States. It led me to The University of Texas, where I was the second in my family to graduate from college. It led me to study at Oxford, and it led me through my graduate studies and to technology companies, which are all about imagining what could be.

But what I eventually realized was that running global, diverse programs meant being part of a team and a community - and bridging the community of business owners, creators, and customers together was key to success for everyone involved. I left internet technology to combine my love for food, business entrepreneurship, and community to create The Cook's Nook, a Food+Tech culinary incubator that helps grow and launch new food companies into the marketplace.

Now, I'm proud to be, not only the first woman, but the first African American woman to be your Texas Democratic Comptroller nominee. Because of my nearly 20 years' experience developing and leading multimillion dollar programs and businesses, I bring strategic budgeting, proactive forecasting, and innovative solutions to the table to benefit everyone. This means I am able to highlight real costs, hidden costs, and their potential outcomes to all Texans. Because it's not "it can't or shouldn't be done", but "how do we make this happen and how do we get there?"

I know the power of entrepreneurs to drive change is understated and undervalued across our state. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our country. Local small businesses sustain local economies, provide local jobs, and are a part of their communities. They are the very representation of our shared belief in opportunity and fairness. I am proud to have worked with them, to help lift our community up, for so many years.

I am hopeful that I can bring some common-sense ideas to the Comptroller's office, where the responsibility of taxation, revenue, budgeting, and opportunity lies. That's the choice in this election. It's a choice between a Texas where everybody has a fair shot to get ahead -- or a Texas where the system is rigged against people like us.

Together we can make Texas a priority again, 

Joi Chevalier
Your next Texas Comptroller

Trump Couldn't Win Re-Election If The Election Was Now

We still have a couple of years to go before Donald Trump runs for re-election, but he's got a lot of ground to make up in that time. If the election was today, he would probably not win. About 44% say they would vote for an unnamed Democrat, while 36% say they would vote for Trump (and 20% say they are unsure, wouldn't vote, or would vote for someone else).

These numbers come from a new Politico / Morning Consult Poll -- done between May 17th and 19th of a national sample of 1,990 registered voters, with a 2 point margin of error.

The Best Candidate Is NEVER A Republican

 I have been voting for slightly over five decades now, and I can honestly say I have never voted for a Republican (and I never will).

That statement shocks some people. Those are the people who think they are superior citizens because they say "I vote for the best candidate -- not the party". I say BULLSHIT! If you ever voted for a Republican, then you did not vote for the "best candidate". The one exception to this is if you are rich and vote in your own interest -- because the Republican Party favors the rich to the detriment of all other Americans.

That has been true all of the 20th and 21st centuries. At the dawn of the 20th Century, the Republican Party was firmly in the hands of the richest Americans (i.e., the "Robber Barons"). Their economic idea was that whatever was good for the rich and the corporations was good for all Americans (commonly called the "trickle-down" theory). Of course, it didn't work. The rich just hoarded the wealth created, and shared none of it. That led to an economic disaster (now known as the "Great Depression").

The Democrats cured that economic mess by passing Social Security, a minimum wage, and taxing the rich. A few years later they passed Medicare and Medicaid, and passed other measures to help the poor and disadvantaged.

But the Republican Party never gave up on their failed "trickle-down" theory. With the election of Ronald Reagan (and more power in Congress), they returned to it. And since then, worker wages have stagnated while the rich enjoyed a huge boost in their already high income. This has created an enormous gap in wealth and income between the richest Americans and the rest of the population -- a gap that has grown as big as it was just before the Great Depression -- and it continues to grow (boosted by the recent tax cuts for the rich).

A vote for the Republican Party is a vote to continue the "trickle-down" economics, and invite another economic disaster. The Democrats want a fairer economy -- one that benefits all Americans, and not just the rich. They know that money in our capitalist economy flows up to the rich. It does not trickle down to everyone. They know that their must be regulations on capitalism to make it beneficial to all. The rich must pay their fair share of taxes, and so must corporations. Unions must be protected and encouraged, because that is the only real protection that workers have. They want a livable wage to let all workers provide for their families with depending on government. And they want to protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and programs that help the poor and disadvantaged in our society.

But the Republicans are wrong about matters other than economics also. They are the anti-immigrant party -- even though this nation was built (and is still sustained) by immigration. And they would limit the rights of everyone but white males. It is thanks to Democrats that minorities, women, homosexuals, and non-christians have more rights today than ever before (although true equality has still not been achieved). More needs to be done, but Republicans will never do it. Democrats will. A vote for the Republican Party is a vote against equal rights and opportunity for all Americans.

There are many other differences between the parties, but that should be enough to show that the Republican Party's beliefs and agenda are disastrous for this country. At this point, some might say that not every Republican agrees with every part of that agenda, and some vote against it at times. But that's a fairly rare occurrence. The members of both political parties, especially in these partisan times, vote at least 95% of the time with their own party's agenda. And even a "good" Republican, will vote against what's best for most Americans 95% of the time. Is it really acceptable to you to vote for a candidate that votes for your interests only 5% of the time?

Democrats are not perfect, and after electing them, voters need to keep their feet to the fire. But they are many times better than Republicans. That's why I truly believe that the worst Democrat on the ballot is better than the best Republican.

The best candidate is NEVER a Republican!

Beto O'Rourke: The Man Trying To Take Down Ted Cruz

Beto O'Rourke (pictured with his family) is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas. He is trying to defeat one of the worst senators in Washington -- Ted Cruz (a man who has earned the enmity of most other senators of both political parties).

O'Rourke is smart, personable, and reasonable -- and he is campaigning across the state (even in the reddest Texas counties). And he's doing it without a penny of PAC money. Speaking as a Democrat, I think Beto O'Rourke is the best senate candidate we've had in quite a while. It won't be easy, but I think he has a reasonable chance to unseat Cruz.

Here a bit of information about O'Rourke (taken from his website):

Beto O’Rourke is a fourth-generation Texan, born and raised in El Paso. After graduating from Columbia University, Beto worked in New York for a few years before deciding to move back to his hometown and start a small technology company. El Paso wasn’t the most likely place to start a company like this, but thanks to the work of some really talented El Pasoans, the company was a success. Over the years Stanton Street hired dozens of people in high skill, high-wage jobs that one might not expect to see in a border community.

Outside of work, Beto became deeply involved in the civic, business and community efforts in El Paso. He ran for El Paso City Council in 2005 and served for two terms before running for U.S. Congress in 2012, taking on an eight-term incumbent and winning. He knocked on thousands of doors and had real conversations, face-to-face, with the voters in El Paso.

In Congress, Beto serves on the House Committees for Armed Services and Veterans Affairs. He has made it a priority to work across the aisle to secure bipartisan support for his legislation, because Beto knows our country is at its best when we can put party aside to work together, build consensus and find common ground.

Much of Beto’s focus has been on improving the ability for veterans to get the health care — and other earned benefits — that they need. He’s also been focused on curbing the influence of corporate money in Congress. He helped introduce the “No PAC Act,” which would stop candidates for federal office from relying on PACs to bankroll their campaigns.

Accountability and responsiveness are critical to excellence in public service. Beto has made it a priority to host monthly town halls in El Paso to hear directly from his constituents. For nearly five years he hasn’t missed a single one. And that’s exactly how he’s running his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Beto is traveling to every part of Texas to meet with Texans in their communities. Whether they’re Democrats, Republicans, Independents or even non-voters, all Texans deserve an accountable, full-time, full-service Senator who’s committed to working tirelessly for our state. Now is the time for Texas to step up and lead.

Beto and his wife, Amy, are raising their three children, Ulysses, Molly and Henry, in El Paso.