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genxlib

(5,507 posts)
1. Thanks
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 03:20 PM
Nov 2020

I was one of those people asking.

Bottom line is that we got almost 3 million more votes but we are forced to fight the narrative that it was an embarrassment for us.

The narrative that we "lost seats" is just another way of saying that we won. It is only a loss when you compare it to the ass-kicking of 2018. Only Democrats have to take shit for not winning by enough.

In 2012, iirc it was actually upside down due to gerrymandering that we had more votes but less than 50% of the seats. The Republicans never had to make apologies for their margin of victory, they just governed like they were God's gift to mankind. We should too.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
4. And note (and I posted this in threads before) we are STILL running in GOP-gerrymandered seats
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 03:45 PM
Nov 2020

so IMHO, what we did in 2018 was pretty much "max out" our seat potential (the pickup being almost twice as many as predicted by some outlets), and until the seats are un-gerrymandered, we are sortof stuck in limbo.

I heard Tom Perez on Joe Madison's show yesterday and he mentioned the before and after results of 2018, sortof summarized here -

7:42 a.m. ET, November 7, 2018
There are now 14 states where Democrats control the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature

From CNN's Eric Bradner

Democrats had a huge night in state legislative races — which are little-watched but crucial for redistricting. Democrats have so far gained six “trifectas,” or states where they control the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature. The new trifectas are...

Colorado
Illinois
Maine
Nevada
New Mexico
New York

Those are added to the party’s eight existing trifectas (although the Connecticut governor’s race still bears watching). They also busted four Republican trifectas: Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party’s arm that works on state legislative races, said that as of 3 a.m. ET, Democrats had won 333 previously Republican-held seats. These state legislative battles were among Republicans’ biggest successes during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, a period in which they gained nearly 1,000 seats.

Democrats had been at a major disadvantage in state capitals headed into this year’s midterm elections. But the party has also gained the governor’s offices in Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-day-reaction-2018/h_f733fe6367cb4314b2bf8715d3272c2e


By taking the Governorships in states like MI & WI (especially in advance of this year), NM, NV, KS & ME, we had some power to mitigate the foolishness that we are seeing right now. And also having re-elected our (D) Governor here in PA in 2018, that, along with managing to ALSO gain the majority on our state Supreme Court (currently 5 (D) - 2 (R), added muscle to our fight despite having a GOP-controlled legislature that is like that only because the seats are gerrymandered (even after the courts made them re-do it in 2012 but the end result wasn't much different because the GOP had a trifecta, including control of our state Judiciary)!

dsc

(52,130 posts)
7. We should use partisan gerrymanders to get the GOP to as few seats as possible in those states
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 04:58 PM
Nov 2020

New York could be knocked down to 1 or 2, as could Illinois. Spoke out from NYC in NY and Chicago in Illinois. Give them 1 or 2 seats in downstate (IL) or upstate (NY) but the rest can be ours. CO spoke out from Denver, give them the 2 seats or so they get from geography but otherwise nada. New Mexico can be changed so we get all 3.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
8. One of the SCOTUS cases when PA got its Congressional seats un-gerrymandered
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 05:06 PM
Nov 2020

was when MD was accused of doing just what you mentioned and they allowed it to stand as a "state issue" -

U.S. Supreme Court rules in Maryland case that courts have no role in deciding partisan gerrymandering

By Luke Broadwater
The Baltimore Sun | Jun 27, 2019 at 5:30 PM


In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that federal courts are not the appropriate venue to resolve allegations of partisan gerrymandering — a decision advocates for fair elections warned could bolster partisan manipulating of voting districts.

The conservative justices on the high court remanded cases from Maryland and North Carolina to the lower courts and instructed those courts to dismiss the complaints of partisan gerrymandering.

“Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote . “But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles’ ... does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary. We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”

The Maryland case concerned complaints Republicans were disadvantaged through partisan gerrymandering; while the North Carolina case made a similar allegation on behalf of Democrats.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-supreme-court-maryland-redistricting-20190620-story.html

brooklynite

(93,873 posts)
5. Aggregate House votes are as meaningless as national President votes
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 03:56 PM
Nov 2020

It gives you bragging rights but no actual power. So far, we've lost net 6 seats which we may need when we're more vulnerable in 2022.

Complain all you want about Gerrymandering; it's a political reality (as is the Electoral College), and we still don't give adequate attention to flipping State Legislatures to prevent it.

Celerity

(42,666 posts)
6. Less. If we lose the two ultra close races (IA-2 and CA-25) we will likely end up with 222 seats
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 04:27 PM
Nov 2020

The only one of the 7 races left we will win for sure is NJ-7.

222 means just 5 defections and we are fucked on big votes (provided all the Rethugs hang together)

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