Legalectric

Such a night… I’d been quite confident that we’d have good results in this election, and was not disappointed with statewide contests, some disappointments nationally, particularly Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, right next door, and Abrams’ and Flowers’ losses in Georgia. Lots of good wins in gubernatorial races (gubernatorial… why do I always think of Gov. Jimmy Carter and “Eatin’ Goober Peas“?). I’m hoping Warnock can get over the 50% +1 threshold to avoid rematch, but he is maintaining his lead:

Thankfully the likes of Boebert looks to be GONE.

“A Boebert loss in a solidly red district would be a significant rebuke of Trump’s brand of Republicanism in a state where conservatives have long been independent and rejected extreme candidates and the type of groupthink that tends to propel them to Congress.”

Long overdue… Boebert should never have been in office in the first place.

Two main points. The bottom line to me is that we’ve had not a “blue wave” but a wave of national rejection of authoritarian “religious” and white nationalism. It’s very important to think of this not in terms of “red” or “blue” but of the underlying policies that have been flying around, and the ugly hate-fest that’s been brewing and boiling over. Authoritarianism is what’s at issue. Nationalism is what’s at issue, and particularly WHITE NATIONALISM. That nationalism has been rejected in this election is a start, but it is only a start, and we need to focus on eradication. It’s also very bizarre logical conflatulence where those promoting authoritarian policies are claiming to be all about “freedoms” and work so hard to take away rights — voting rights, abortion rights, marriage rights, civil rights. A factor in this is education, and, well, there’s also the age factor.

The second crucial point to me, in my community, is that although my city Precinct , W2-P1, was one of the four Red Wing Precincts to reject the nationalist state House and Senate candidates in our district, they won the election. However, the Minnesota Senate will no longer be Republican controlled, the House remains DFL controlled, and Walz is again Governor.

District 20A elected Pam Altendorf for State House, but our Red Wing W2-P1 was one of the 4 precincts in Red Wing to reject Altendorf (the race was not helped by spoiler Kittleson, former DFL officer, who resigned and filed)(in chart below, Altendorf is left column, Stinson center, and Kittleson right):

Altendorf touted that she was endorsed by Mike “My Pillow” Lindell as a “Minnesota First and America First” candidate (even after his phone was confiscated by FBI in Mankato and court refused to order it off limits to FBI! Let’s see whether/when he’s indicted for fraud.):

I’m presuming that people do not know what America First means, although I also presume a number of the voters, and the candidates, do fully understand and advocate the philosophy behind the code words. From the Wiki:

In the 1920s, the policy was used by the Ku Klux Klan and informed many of their members who ran for political office.^[4] In 2016, while running for a Louisiana Senate seat, David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, publicly claimed that he was “the first major candidate in modern times to promote the term and policy of America first.”^[5]

In Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaigns and presidency (2017–2021), Trump used the phrase as a slogan, emphasizing the United States’ withdrawal from international treaties and organizations.^[6][7][8] “America First” was the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration.^[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_(policy)

Rep. Drazkowski was elected to be State Senator for District 20, though also rejected by 4 precincts in Red Wing, including our W2-P1:

Drazkowski is notorious. An example — he was one of the first signers of a letter to Texas A.G. Paxton to add Minnesota to the baseless lawsuit targeting “illegal practices which occurred in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.”

SHAME on MN Legislators wanting MN added to TX suit

… and now elected to be a state Senator?!?! Cringe…

The Minnesota Senate will no longer be Republican controlled, so that is the only saving grace for us in this Senate District 20. In 2018, at an organized Red Wing Republican state and federal office candidates campaign stop, where maybe 40 showed up, and most were with the campaigns, I personally greeted each of the candidates with a loud “RENOUNCE NATIONALISM” holler, waving my sign. Message chosen because, really, who can defend nationalism?

October 2018, as I walked up to join the meager group:

Drazkowski in his speech, pointed at me, spoke of Democrats out there, and pointed at me again and repeated his statement he’d made directly to me earlier as we both arrived at the picnic shelter, “If you want to hunt, you have to get into the woods.” What does that mean? A threat? I loudly told him, “I’m not hunting, but you’re in the weeds.” I’m not afraid to show up and confront them all with a “RENOUNCE NATIONALISM” sign, and I’ll stand up to their spittle-fraught verbal assault. Drazkowski, however, has NOT renounced nationalism.

Bottom line, though a mixed bag, there were some good results and some dreadful results. We need to take serious look at the machinations of the press and “polls” pushing the “Red Wave” notion, which is voter suppression technique.

Let’s get the media coverage focused in candidates and issues, so that people can consider what it means if specific candidates are elected and they push their agenda. Pushing the notion of a “Red Wave” is normalizing and promoting nationalism, authoritarianism, racism, and all that hate that’s being spread. The press/media did us a great disservice by focusing on the horse race, and we know that many of the polls predicting “red wave” were bought, and with these results now, we know that focus on polls is misplaced. Issues, folks, let’s get FOCUSED!

There is good news… I do believe we’ve entered the post-Trump era and are struggling, staggering, toward strengthening our democratic republic. It will be a long slog, but I’m so grateful to the youngest generation who showed up for this election. Methinks we owe them thanks for survival of our democracy, and rejection of authoritarian nationalism.