While America was failing its final exam on white supremacy, misogyny, transphobia, economics, ecology, reading comprehension, and civics, Delmarva (and many other states) held the line for progressive values! Democracy isn’t dead until it really is, and the fight isn’t over. Conservatives have been fighting for control of this country since before day one. Progress backslides. But it marches on. And even if the rest of the country may be all cool with trying to bury progressivism alive, not everybody is already ready to gently roll over and let Trump and the Heritage Foundation’s minions have whatever way.
In Maryland, pleasant Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks beat Trump’s down-low boyfriend Larry Hogan by nine points to become the state’s first Black Senator.
Over in Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester beat Republican and former Walmart manager Eric Hansen by nearly 17 points, becoming the first Black Senator from Delaware. Wasn’t she amazing at the DNC?
And Sarah McBride won Delaware’s one House seat, becoming the first (out) transgender person in Congress ever. So at least we can all feel safe in Rehoboth for a while? Poodle Beach will not fall!
Rochester and Alsobrooks just got elected the fourth and fifth Black female senators ever! (Carol Mosley Braun, Kamala Harris, and Laphonsa Butler, the appointed senator from California, being the other three). And down in Virginia, Eugene Vindman squeaked by to beat that guy who had a fake family. All three states rejected Trump between 5 and 23 points, a pretty solid no fucking thank you.
California also gave Trump a 17-point EAT OUR ASS. Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Hawaii also gave him double-digit two-middle-fingers FUCK OFFS. Progressivism isn’t dead, as much as it’s got more fighting to do. It just prefers to live next to a nice used bookstore.
Maryland also enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution, with 74 percent approval. Hate racists? Come to Maryland! Sure, there’s still plenty of them, and Andy Harris too. But now the governor, speaker of the House of Delegates, attorney general, mayor of the largest city and half the senators are Black. It’s nice how Baltimore Duly (now re-)Elected Incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott has gotten the potholes picked up, the snow plowed, and the murder rate down. But it’s fucking EXCELLENT how good he is at taking out the trash, of the racist variety. We could watch his Joy Reid clip all day.
“Black men, and young Black men in particular have been the bogeyman for those who are racist and think that only straight, wealthy white men should have a say in anything. We’ve been the bogeyman for them from the first day they brought us to this country. […] The fact I don’t believe in their untruthful and wrong ideology, and I’m very proud of my heritage and who I am and where I come from scares them. Me being in my position means their way of thinking, their way of life of being comfortable while everyone else suffers is going to be at risk. And they should be afraid. Because that’s my purpose in life.”
He makes a good point, the mayor. Just because mean, shitty people are now in control doesn’t mean they aren’t scared little pissbabies. Also please nobody tell Republicans that Baltimore is actually not a shithole where everybody gets murdered five times a day. We’ve worked hard to cultivate the image.
Will a Trump administration find new ways to punish states for their disloyalty? Probably Maryland can forget about a new Key Bridge and a new FBI headquarters. But there won’t be any immigrants to build them or an FBI to staff them anyway, rueful chuckle.
Still, whatever we’re about to go through, our ancestors probably went through a lot worse. It sucks balls that we will have to keep fighting the same stupid fights our grandparents did, but we can, and we will, and there’s a whole lot of smart, tough people in our corner.
This person nailed it:
Black men voting against a black woman. Unbelievable. Hispanics voting to round up and deport other Hispanics. Insane. White women voting to take rights away from their daughters and granddaughters. Seriously, what the actual fuck America? My god.
𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬