Dems are pulling plug on a power-sharing arrangement on redistricting, and would then likely quickly pass a congressional map enshrining a 5-1 delegation.
Republicans may now break quorum in response (as they have in past years on other matters, which precipitated the crisis that led to the power sharing in the first place), which could paralyze the legislature and its map:
Richmond is removing its Robert E. Lee statue today.
The erection of the statue & similar statues in the late 1800s caused huge fights, with black leaders -- incl. Frederick Douglass & black members in the Richmond City Council -- fighting it.
David Blight's "Race & Reunion":
We often see ppl shrug-off oppressive practices in the past, "they were living according to the consensus of the times" --- but "the times" contained plenty of public resistance, dissension & dissent, protest, & crushing those were inexcusable political choices not some fate.
Conservatives heighten their push vs reform prosecutors.
Latest targets, 3 Dems elected in 2019 on progressive platforms in Virginia: in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun counties. (The first 2 ousted Dem incumbents in primaries.)
I expect those VA recall *efforts* will be cited in many pieces as additional evidence of a backlash. But as Krasner's 2:1 win in May attests to, the existence of (much-publicized) political & policy *opposition* is both normal, & not synonymous with wide backlash. We shall see.
A note I'd add to @kenvogel's article: wave of wins for progressive prosecutors in VA was not unique to 2019, nor did it disappear this year. There were a few elections just this summer!
An important @schadenfraade essay on how public services and urban governance are deeply value-imbued matters — and what it looks like to have a left project around them: slate.com/business/2021/…
“All these struggles fit within a long history of Americans stripping cities for parts, hoarding the wealth in the suburbs, and then claiming urbanites can’t govern themselves.”
Part of what’s needed is attention to the hundreds of places in the country where the battles and movements described in this piece are being fought, and what that’s already looking like. (Excited to continue chronicling that, starting with whatsontheballot.com)
Good initial news for Garcia in early count of NYC absentee ballots.
She is overperforming in Manhattan mail-ins (up 38/13 over Adams, just among 1st-choice votes, compared to 32/19 among in-persons). And we know Manhattan overrepresented.
No question that this data should be released by the New York Board of Elections in full and with details if it’s going to be known & reported by the press—not drip drip in this way.
Garcia has netted at least 6,000 votes over Adams — erasing 40% of her total final-round deficit over him— with the first 24K absentees counted in Manhattan (Adams’s worst borough by far).
She’ll likely net even more among those 24K once RCV is run.
NEW: Marine Le Pen's far-right party has failed to win any of France's regions in today's regional elections.
(It fell well short of its pre-election aim of winning several regions & its pre-runoff goal of winning Provence; overall, far further from a win than in 2015.)
The usual center-left (Socialist Party) & center-right (LR) parties have each kept the regions they'd governed since 2015.
A strong night for the right. But also a big relief for the left that keeps its 5 regions & strong local power despite all else.
Emmanuel Macron's party, which swept 2017 national elections, is again routed & largely irrelevant to these elections. Came in 4th or even 5th in many regions.
But Macron & Le Pen remain dominant as individual candidates, & remain favored to make Top 2 in 2022 presidential race.
Progressive or socialist challengers just ousted the mayors of Rochester, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, in past 3 weeks. Left activists got a wave judge wins in PA. Larry Krasner won 2 to 1, to little effort from reform-skeptics to understand what they got wrong. That’s just past month.
If you care about what’s happening in local politics, of course the probable Adams win is a big defeat for the left. Who would deny it? Other results don’t erase that.
But acting like only NYC’s mayor race matters — & nothing happened since... Warren? — predictable but tiresome.
Like, I get it. It’s NYC. Everyone covered it (whereas it’s hard to see, say, what the Manhattan DA result or the activism in Syracuse or Buffalo mean). It’s easier to fit in the story everyone wants to tell but didn’t get to after Philly. But it’s all so trope-y.