[Okay, folks, what am I doing wrong here? A lot of my columns don’t seem to be something people are reading. So, I’m asking you – what do I need to fix? What do I need to discuss?]
We had known Virginia would help us, but not like this. It seems the redistricting will help us more than expected. We’re going to have quite an advantage in Congress at midterms if everyone keeps working. This is something positive to carry forward, and we should take advantage of it. This is a little late, but very much still relevant. Respect to Raw Story:
The Democratic Party could be handed a 10-to-1 advantage thanks to a recent redistricting vote, a political analyst has claimed. Virginia Democrats have pushed an aggressive redistricting measure aimed at gaining four additional House seats through redrawing the state’s congressional map to favor Democrats in 10 of 11 districts.
The ballot measure, which passed last night (April 21), will redistrict the state’s congressional map and could result in Democrats winning as many as four House seats.
Aw, yeah. That’s something we like to see. The margin of the bill was narrow, but we still did it. This opportunity doesn’t need to be wasted. We need to keep going so we *can* win those seats. Anything that pushes our advantage in not just the House, but the Senate is something we need to do. We’re looking good for the House, but let’s not coast. Let’s keep pushing.
Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said, “Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms. At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country.”
The Bulwark analysts Tim Miller and Bill Kristol analyzed the chances of Democratic Party victory at the Virginia midterm elections. Miller added, “The side that favored the referendum that redistricted the state of Virginia and redrew the state in such a way that it might end up being a 10-to-1 Democratic majority.
“My main takeaway though, like my biggest picture of all this, like taking off the campaigns and elections nerd hat, you know, and just like looking at the biggest picture takeaway, it’s really a huge win and an exclamation point for the response that the Democratic Party and the pro-democracy movement had to Donald Trump and his cronies attempts to rig the midterm elections. And they’re going to keep trying other things.”
Okay, if an *analyst* says Democrats are looking good, that’s something to hold onto. They do this stuff for a living, so they are worth believing. Virginia really changes the future outlook for us. Republicans should see this and worry, but it’s unlikely. They’re still smug, sitting in their seats and thinking it will be easy to retain them. Not so much for that anymore. We have a chance.
Kristol added, “I mean, this is Virginia. Two-thirds of Virginians voted in 2020 for the previous redistricting, and that was the actual sentiments of Virginia are probably two to one for let’s have nonpartisan redistricting, and so they overcame that because of the threat of Trump, and I I was one of those who thought they should, and I voted that way, and obviously a lot of other people thought so too.
“The Democrats have won [Virginia] with the exception of that first Biden midterm. It’s why the state of Virginia has gone blue. It was a swing of two-thirds in favor of nonpartisan redistricting. That would be one way to look at it.
We absolutely should celebrate and breathe a sigh of relief that midterms are now more even, or more Democrat leaning. We “only” need to keep blocking Trump on all this voter issue nonsense he keeps trying, so we may be okay. Here’s hoping. We have a boost, and it really appears that everything is swinging our way, except for Texas, of course. We also do not need to rest. We need to keep going with our Democrats, however we can. We need to show people Trump is full of it every time he tries something. And we need to prevail. Hoping we will!
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
The republicans find themselves ‘hoist by their own petard’.
AKA Karma.
And it’s about time they did! They coasted. Too bad for them *cough*!!!
what do I need to fix? For me, not a lot. As to your article, the House seems baked in (“many a slip twixt cup and lip”) so the Senate is what counts now. Let’s keel the focus there.
I’d love to see a demand from Texas voters to have a chance to discuss that legislature’s unilateral decision to redistrict (largely on “orders” from Drumpf–he didn’t actually put it that way but it still came off as “Drumpf suggests, we obey” by GOPers).
And, of course, Florida’s voters won’t get any input into DeSatan’s little redistricting scheme when he reconvenes the Legislature for that purpose. Almost makes you think that Democrats don’t fear the voters as much as GOPers do. (Maybe Democratic politicians in Texas and Florida could craft some ads with a variation of “Why is it that Democratic state leaders let their citizens vote on redistricting proposals but Republican state leaders want to do it through their compliant legislatures? Could they be afraid of the voters?”)