The GOP knows this very well, which is why they are pulling out all the stops to remove any barriers to fully stealing elections in the future.
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And Dems are coming for multiple House and Senate seats. I’d rather this weren’t the catalyst, because this is INCREDIBLY harmful. But perhaps some good can come from a messed up situation.
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I think that you’re right for the establishment GOP: it was a useful GOTV issue for them. But the establishment GOP has been in retreat at least since Obama got elected and the teabaggers rose up in GOP politics (if not since Newt Gingrich’s contract on America). The trend obviously accelerated, a lot, with Cheeto Benito’s election.
But it was probably inevitable considering there was a whole generation of candidates raised on the anti-choice dogma. Once they moved into positions of power, it wouldn’t just be a useful political tool—it would be something they genuinely believed.
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Don’t read too much into this…it was a special election using ranked choice voting and Peltola will be in office for just a few months until November’s general election where 2 other Republicans are running close behind her. As much as I’d like to see this as a bellwether event, it’s most likely just a one-off anomaly that reflects the rejection of Palin vs. the rise of the Democratic party in Alaska.
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I think that you’re right for the establishment GOP: it was a useful GOTV issue for them.
In some smarter, less chaotic universe the idea of using women’s bodies and selling 18 year olds assault rifles as “GOTV issues” are rightfully seen as repugnant to basic human rights and simply not done.
Ultimately the real issue is we’ve created systems of governance and voting that encourage extremism. Luckily there are perfectly neutral methods of addressing these - ending political mapmaking and gerrymandering, independent voter commissions, ranked choice voting, mandatory voter registration … 100% secured, fair, and accessible voting rights are the real battle of our lifetime because without those, none of the other things matter at all.
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People said the same shit about GA, too…
Also…
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Just being realistic. Alaska has as much of a chance of turning blue in my lifetime as Wyoming…zilch.
Again, people said that shit about GA… literally, the exact same shit. And now we have the first Black senator from the deep south, and the first Jewish senator from GA…
You can just give up and act like things are already set in stone, or you can help push the arc of history in the right direction. That’s up to you, but making assumptions about what’s going to happen in the upcoming elections just because of what has happened before isn’t particularly helpful.
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Most Red States are trying desperately to put laws into place without actually facing a public vote. If they control the governorship AND the legislature, they are forcing them through and daring the generally red appeals courts they’ve been installing for decades to revoke them. The public is never even being asked. The only way to reliably prevent that is to vote the bastards out.
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“And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods…”
If anyone needs me, I’ll be holding my manhood.
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Indeed it predates the term “fascism” by centuries. Escaping it is one of the core themes in the origins of the US.
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But for the moment, it’s ONE MORE DEMOCRATIC VOTE IN THE HOUSE. Don’t waste it because of your fear of the future. Every success is momentary.
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Seems like some already quit…
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I don’t want to read too much into it, but it’s also important to not read too little into it. In recent history, Republican voters have been of the mindset that anyone is better than a Democrat. If they had voted that way in this election, the Democrat wouldn’t have won. Instead, their mindset seems to have been anyone is better than Sarah Palin. If Republican voters nationwide can reach a similar point with the likes of MTG, Boebert, and Trump, we will be in a better place. I am not complacent. I am not in denial about what this election was about. But these are hopeful signs, and we need to grab onto them and say, “See?! All hope is not lost. It is not too late to fix all this.”
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Dreaming of something that’s not going to happen is also not particularly helpful.
Presidential voting history
Alaska presidential election results (1900-2020)
- 1 Democratic win
- 15 Republican wins
In it’s entire history as a state, A Democrat has represented Alaska in the House for a combined total of 7 years. I’d say 50 years of Republican control is a fairly accurate indicator of future results. Peltola won with a whopping 51.5% of the vote in a low turnout special election. Forgive me for not leaping for joy.
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Also, can you imagine how empowering having Peltola win is for Democrats in Alaska? How empowering it is for the Native Americans living there? If the organizers in both those groups aren’t deploying voter registration campaigns right now I’ll eat my shoes. That kind of excitement can get more people to vote
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Counter argument: Alaska only recently started ranked choice voting. That history could easily be moot now.
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Nothing ever changes until it does. The meaning of that R has been shifting over those fifty years, and it would be short-sighted not to consider that attitudes toward it might also be shifting accordingly. And when you round everything to 1 or 0 it is going to hide all of that until it tips…like with Georgia, as Mindy said.
Also, by the way, if Alaska were to turn Democratic would it be a surprise it would start with close elections instead of overwhelming victories? I mean, I feel like that’s how things usually work.
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And hopefully Texas and a bunch of other places. I refuse to give up on hope
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