Henry Cuellar-Jessica Cisneros Texas Primary Too GOTDAMN Close To Call!
It's a nail-biter!
The Democratic primary between Rep. Henry Cuellar and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros is incredibly close, and almost certainly headed to a recount before an official result. With 100 percent of the votes counted, Cuellar, the sole remaining House Democrat who opposes abortion rights, led Cisneros by just 177 votes by midnight. Cuellar declared victory, but Cisneros has not yet conceded. Shortly after Cuellar's claim of victory, Cisneros tweeted last night, "This election is still too close to call, and we are still waiting for every ballot and eligible vote to be counted." She added, "This fight isn't over. It was a blessed 29th birthday." [Heart Emoji] Twenty-nine? Even if she ends up not winning this time, we haven't seen the last of Jessica Cisneros.
And as the Texas Tribune points out, it could be a few days before the race is finally decided. The gap is close enough that Cisneros can ask for a recount, and domestic mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day can still be counted if they arrive at county elections offices by 5 p.m. today. What with it being Texas, we wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that in the event of a tie, the race might be decided by armadillos somehow.
Cuellar told reporters that he's cool with it taking a while for the outcome to become clear, since the 2004 election that sent him to Congress in the first place had to go to a recount, too.
I know what it is to do a recount in an election contest. [...] We have very good attorneys and if we need to, we will defend our election victory.
This is the second time Cisneros has challenged Cuellar; in 2020, Cuellar won the primary with an outright majority, and that seemed likely this year too, in terms of fundraising and polling. But then in January, his house and campaign office were both raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into nobody still knows yet what it was (his attorney says only that Cuellar isn't the target of the investigation).
That was enough of an opening for Cisneros to start attracting more funding and volunteers, and she did well enough in the March primary that Cuellar was unable to reach 50 percent plus one vote, forcing a primary. After that, boom, at the start of this month Politico released that draft SCOTUS opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and Cuellar's status as the sole Democratic House member who still opposes abortion rights gave Cisneros a much wider fundraising base.
Even so, Cuellar has a lot of support in Laredo, and with his longstanding tenure in the House, he got plenty of financial and campaign support from the Democratic Party (that is how it goes do not yell at me for pointing it out). It may have been enough for him to hold onto the seat for another cycle. The winner of the primary will go on to face Republican Cassy Garcia, a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Ew Gross Yuck).
The usual political ratings outfits are calling the seat a toss-up, and as the Texas Tribune notes, November might not be easy sledding for either Cuellar or Cisneros:
Cuellar could again be damaged by FBI investigation, if not cleared by then, and Cisneros, some political analysts predict, is too progressive for the region. [...]
Cisneros and the many progressive groups that backed her repeatedly hammered Cuellar for taking campaign donations from the private prison industry, the oil and gas industry and health insurance companies. Cuellar also has broken with the party to side with Republicans who wish to extend Title 42, a Trump-era health policy that allows immigration officials to expel migrants quickly, even those seeking asylum, because of COVID-19 concerns.
Well no sir, none of that sounds like anything we can get behind much, apart from the obvious fact that if he does win the primary, Cuellar would still be far better than the GOP's Garcia, because have you seen those loons, the end.
[Texas Tribune / LMT]
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Republicans Know How To Stop School Gun Massacres: More Guns
They actively make the world a worse place.
A piece of shit with a gun murdered 19 children and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Whenever there’s a mass shooting, no matter how horrific, Republicans immediately suggest more guns as a solution. This makes about as much sense as a drunk driver wrapping his car around a tree, killing everyone inside, and declaring, “God, I need a drink.” However, Republicans are openly in bed with the gun lobby, whose sole purpose is to sell more guns. Mass shootings are good business for the death machine industry.
CNN reported after last year’s back-to-back mass shootings:
“When you hear more calls for firearm restrictions, we have observed gun sale increases primarily from people buying before they’re not able to,” said Rob Southwick, founder of the market research firm Southwick Associates.
No serious gun legislation has passed in decades — quite the opposite in fact. Texas, where the latest massacre took place, has loosened its gun restrictions over the past few years. Republicans promoted and passed laws that let citizens carry guns without a permit.
Senator Ted Cruz from Texas obviously opposes any meaningful gun safety measures. His primary job it seems is defending guns. He whined to MSNBC:
Inevitably, when there's a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it. You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn't work.
The gunman, who turned 18 on May 16, purchased two rifles for his execution-style hits but could not have legally bought beer or marijuana. That’s absurd and sick.
Cruz added, "We know from past experience that the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus.” Cops don’t make schools safer. They beat up Black kids. There was an armed sheriff's deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He never went inside the school or engaged the gunman. The teenage white supremacist who murdered Black people in Buffalo, New York, wore body armor, which is less regulated than guns. (The Uvalde gunman was not wearing body armor.) He killed the armed security guard.
Allen West, like NRA shill Dana Loesch, complained that schools are less secure than concert venues and museums. One person was killed and 11 injured during a shooting at an outdoor concert in Dallas just last month. Their pro-gun talking points aren’t even credible.
Texas Attorney General and Trump coup plotter Ken Paxton, referencing a past regularly scheduled mass shooting in El Paso, suggested we turn schools into fortresses, with a single point of entry (no one start a fire!). Subjecting children to prison-like conditions is just the price they have to pay so functioning adults can hump their guns in peace.
He did recognize some of the drawbacks behind arming any random asshole, but his solution was ridiculous.
PAXTON: Having teachers and potentially more administrators who have gone through training and are armed. First responders typically can’t get there in time to prevent a shooting. It’s just not possible unless you have a police on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible.
No reasonable person thinks we should put more guns in our schools, but Republicans are rarely reasonable. Now, they’re recommending we arm to the teeth the very teachers they spent the past year calling groomers and pedophiles.
I can’t believe I have to say this, but teaching and law enforcement are very different professions. Not all cops are good at math or American history, and not every teacher is mentally or physically capable of holding off a deranged gunman while protecting a classroom full of terrified children. This is not a serious idea. It’s actually less insulting to our intelligence if Republicans said we should have magic leprechauns guarding our schools.
Republicans eagerly pass laws banning abortion, which was once a constitutional right, but won’t dare come after guns. Known idiot Marjorie Taylor Greene said, "We don’t need more gun control. We need to return to God.” Everyone should get all heavenly while stockpiling assault rifles so they can murder anyone who looks at them the wrong way.
This is the America Republicans have wrought, and as Nietzsche might say, "What was once sick has now become indecent. It is indecent to be a Republican today.”
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Oregon Gains Better Class Of Democrat With Jamie McLeod-Skinner
A less than fond farewell to Kurt Schrader.
It’s official … kinda. Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon has lost his Democratic primary race against challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner. The votes still aren’t fully counted, but Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman finally saw enough Tuesday morning:
Twitter
Schrader is the reduced-for-quick-donor-sale Joe Manchin who, along with the so-called “unbreakable nine,” actively sabotaged President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. Biden still endorsed Schrader’s reelection in April, stating, "We don’t always agree, but when it has mattered most, Kurt has been there for me.” This was a weird way of suggesting that Build Back Better — the core of his domestic agenda — didn’t matter the most. But maybe Schrader was always good for giving Biden a ride to the airport.
PREVIOUSLY: Oregon Primary Recap: Discount Joe Manchin Rep. Kurt Schrader Might Just Lose His House Seat
You’ll recall that the Oregon primary elections were May 17, a week ago, but Clackamas County fucked up big time: Smudged, blurry bar codes left as many as 60,000 ballots unreadable by vote-counting machines. That’s more than half of the county’s total ballots. Each voter’s selections had to be hand-transferred to a new ballot, and this artisanal process moved slower than Uncle Joe at Petticoat Junction. By Friday, just 23,000 ballots had been tallied. At this rate, they risk missing the June 13 deadline.
However, the Associated Press reported that Clackamas County Elections Clerk Sherry Hall knew about the issue at least two weeks before the election. Hall has overseen elections in the Portland suburb for 10 years, but practice apparently didn’t make perfect or even just minimal competence. She claimed it was too late by May 3 to print and mail new ballots. Fair enough, but Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s office reportedly offered Hall extra help but instead Hall said she had enough resources. Unfortunately, the magic elves never arrived on Election Day.
From OPB:
Commissioner Sonya Fischer said she’d asked Hall late last week to confirm misprinted ballots would be processed over the weekend but got no response. Hall told commissioners her team did not work over the weekend because not enough of them were willing to put in the extra time.
Wow, Hall really sucks at this. She didn’t try offering them pizza, maybe some beer? Hall herself is up for reelection in November and should probably not remain in office. Aside from this disaster, here’s a brief overview of her unprofessional behavior: When Oregon legalized same-sex marriage in Oregon, she refused to conduct any marriage ceremonies. She was once fined $100 because she asked one of her employees to help with her reelection campaign. She’s also been called out for putting her own name on the envelopes of the county's vote-by-mail ballots whenever she’s up for election. That is apparently “an unusual but not illegal practice.” It’s not just Portland that’s keeping Oregon weird.
McLeod-Skinner was gracious during the extended delay. She behaved like a sane elected official and didn’t promote conspiracy theories, like certain people in the GOP Senate primary. She even thanked the poor folks stuck with hand-counting ballots in a high-stakes primary.
I really want to emphasize encouraging people to be patient ... And real gratitude to people doing the heavy lifting counting the ballots. We should be excited that this is a sample of success of democracy.
Democratic state Rep. Rep. Janelle Bynum called for a formal investigation into Hall's “ballot-printing fiasco.” We should definitely sort that out, but right now, let’s say good riddance to Schrader, who repeatedly sided with his donors over his constituents. This includes his opposition to COVID-19 stimulus checks and a $15 minimum wage. He also voted against prescription drug pricing reform. Unlike Manchin, Schrader couldn’t even claim to represent a more conservative electorate. Schrader underperformed Biden in 2020, even while outspending his opponent. Despite what the concern-trolling Never Trumpers might argue, McLeod-Skinner is a better candidate for holding this seat in a difficult election year for Democrats.
Hopefully, Schrader can find a nice farm upstate where he is free to roam around with other centrists.
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Georgia Primary: Trump-Backed David Perdue Waves White Hood In Flawless Defeat Against Brian Kemp
Trump’s vendetta tour crashes and burns.
Donald Trump did not have a great night in Georgia.
His hand-picked instrument for petty revenge, David Perdue, was absolutely crushed in the GOP primary against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, whom Trump loathes. The Democratic primary for governor was more competitive and Stacey Abrams ran unopposed. The polls had barely closed before Dave Wasserman at Cook Political Report had seen enough.
Twitter
This was Perdue's second-annual election loss. The former senator lost the 2021 Georgia runoff to Jon Ossoff but could’ve kept his dignity. Instead, he agreed to help Trump unseat Kemp and GOP voters soundly rejected him. Kemp swept every county and took 73.7 percent of the vote. Perdue limped home with a pathetic 21.8 percent, worse than anyone predicted.
Last week, Perdue “guaran-damn-teed” he wasn’t losing by 30 points, as final polls indicated, and he was right. He lost by 50. Perdue closed out his offensive, racist campaign with a racist attack against Stacey Abrams, who he claimed “demeaned her own race.” His public humiliation was a joy to witness.
PREVIOUSLY: Loser Ex-Senator David Perdue Set To Lose Another Rigged Election In Georgia
The obituaries for Perdue’s political career all focus on his foolish choice to challenge a sitting governor with deep connections in the state. According to Politico’s recap of the bloodletting, Kemp’s campaign went “fucking scorched earth” and "methodically dismantled” Perdue’s political operation. He had no money, no hope, just Trump’s lies and his putrid bigotry. Not a single Georgia Republican wants to admit having mildly encouraged Perdue’s folly.
“I personally have not talked to anybody in this state who encouraged him to [run]. Everybody I know tried to stop him when the rumors started circulating. I do not think anybody thought it was a good idea for him to run against the governor,” said Savannah-based GOP donor Kevin “Catfish” Jackson, a past Perdue Senate campaign donor who backed Kemp.
He should’ve listened to “Catfish."
That racist bastard Perdue isn’t even the star of his own massacre. Politico’s headline read: "How Brian Kemp Crushed Trump In Georgia.” If you count all the 2020 recounts, this makes the fourth time Trump has lost Georgia.
The "DJT Vendetta Tour,” as Chris Christie calls it, flamed out spectacularly. Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger, who also foiled Trump’s election theft schemes, soundly defeated Trump-endorsed Big Lie enthusiast Jody Hice, passing the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.
PREVIOUSLY: GOP Rep. Jody Hice Just The Guy To Keep Georgia Elections Safe From Democratic Voters
Kemp and Raffensperger are Republicans, so they’re terrible, but if they win their elections this year, Biden still has a chance to win his in 2024 without the results being overturned.
A minor bright spot for Trump is that Herschel Walker easily won his Senate primary. However, that race wasn’t a stop on the Vendetta Tour, and it’s obvious Walker’s victory had more to do with his own celebrity than Trump’s influence over Georgia voters.
PREVIOUSLY: Occasional Georgia Resident Herschel Walker Coasting To Insulting Victory In GOP Senate Primary
Walker defeated five other candidates who now must go through life having lost an election to Herschel Walker. Gary Black, Georgia’s commissioner of agriculture, came in a distant second with 13.4 percent of the vote to Walker’s 68.2 percent. Black ran an ad where he clumsily put on a football uniform and tossed a football to himself. Reminding voters you’re a geek just doesn’t win elections down South.
Walker poses a serious threat to incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. It’s a tough election year for Democrats, and Warnock previously defeated Kelly Loeffler, who has the personal appeal of ringworm. We can’t underestimate whatever it is that passes for Walker’s charm.
Yes, Walker’s a fucking moron, but this isn’t the "West Wing" where that might factor negatively in a Republican’s campaign. At his victory party, Walker was asked about new gun laws after the Texas school massacre. The Russian roulette expert responded: “What I like to do is see it and everything and stuff.”
We can’t let Raphael Warnock lose to this fool. He’s a man of God.
[Politico]
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