2025 & 2026 Elections | Blue Wave 2025 results

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Mulberry Heel said:
There's a big difference between electing a woman as POTUS and electing one as governor or senator. The fact that Republicans are willing to elect a woman as governor or senator doesn't seem to apply when they run for president. I have serious doubts that the MAGA base would be willing to vote for a woman to be the GOP presidential candidate. And Trump himself certainly seems to have no problems expressing his misogyny at every opportunity - does anyone think he would vote for a female presidential candidate in either party? I remember back in 1984 when Mondale (who was nicknamed "Fritz") chose Geraldine Ferraro as the first female v-p candidate that there were frequent jokes among Republicans that his campaign slogan should be "Fritz & Tits".

ETA: Democratic women make up 42% of their party's representation in Congress, while Republican women make up just 15% of their party's members. Seems like a pretty clear indication of which party is willing to vote for female candidates for office.

Link: Has the number of women in Congress hit a ceiling?
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But you said "I've had Evangelical women tell me that they believe that god "set aside" major leadership posts like the ministry and presidency for men." How are those Republican women getting elected to Senator and Governor at all? Do the evangelical women feel that Senator and Governor are not considered major leadership posts?
 
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politicalwire.com

Georgia Democrats Flip Solid Red House Seat

Georgia Democrats continued to gather momentum ahead of next year’s midterm elections, flipping a solidly Republican state House seat in a special election on Tuesday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. The Downballot: “That's 25 pickups
politicalwire.com politicalwire.com

[state house seat]

“… Democrat Eric Gisler, who works in the insurance technology industry, defeated Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV, the owner of a trucking company, to win the 121st House District in the Athens area by a 51-49 margin.

The district had been in Republican hands ever since its previous occupant, Marcus Wiedower, unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2018. In recent years, it had shifted rightward, supporting Donald Trump by a 56-43 spread in 2024, according to calculations by The Downballot, and handing Wiedower a dominant 61-39 win over Gisler.…
 
Posted on Social Media

Drew Reisinger (Buncombe County Register of Deeds)

We're watching the erosion of democracy. Today, the Jackson County Board of Elections voted to strip college students of their on-campus Early Voting location at Western Carolina University. It was not because it was a poorly performing voting location. On the contrary. It was a popular voting location! This board of elections just didn't like who showed up to vote at this location: young and more diverse voters. A recent analysis by WCU professor, Chris Cooper, showed that this specific voting site "did not move the county to the left". It just gave students access to vote, who might not otherwise be able to get there.

The visual of these very-white, privileged, elderly Republicans taking away voting rights from a much poorer, disenfranchised generation of students is disgusting. We are seeing this happen across the State. Last week the Guilford County elections board axed the on-campus voting sites at NC A&T and at UNC-Greensboro.

It's blatant disenfranchising on the local level but this parallels what is happening on the national level: State lawmakers drunk with power, sending a glaringly-obvious disproportionate number of Republicans to Congress based on unfair maps.

This spits in the face of the founder's idea of a representative government. If you live in NC and have a college campus in your county, please make plans to attend your next board of elections meeting to hold these unelected boards accountable.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Take the time to read Chris Cooper's piece that concludes, "reducing early voting sites on college campuses has predictable effects—and effects that run counter to building a robust democracy."

chriscooperwcu.substack.com

Why Campus Voting Sites Matter: The Case of Western Carolina University

More than 76,000 votes have been cast at the Western Carolina University early voting site over nine elections. There is the possibility that it might be eliminated. Here's why that matters.
chriscooperwcu.substack.com chriscooperwcu.substack.com
 
donbosco said:
Posted on Social Media

Drew Reisinger (Buncombe County Register of Deeds)

We're watching the erosion of democracy. Today, the Jackson County Board of Elections voted to strip college students of their on-campus Early Voting location at Western Carolina University. It was not because it was a poorly performing voting location. On the contrary. It was a popular voting location! This board of elections just didn't like who showed up to vote at this location: young and more diverse voters. A recent analysis by WCU professor, Chris Cooper, showed that this specific voting site "did not move the county to the left". It just gave students access to vote, who might not otherwise be able to get there.

The visual of these very-white, privileged, elderly Republicans taking away voting rights from a much poorer, disenfranchised generation of students is disgusting. We are seeing this happen across the State. Last week the Guilford County elections board axed the on-campus voting sites at NC A&T and at UNC-Greensboro.

It's blatant disenfranchising on the local level but this parallels what is happening on the national level: State lawmakers drunk with power, sending a glaringly-obvious disproportionate number of Republicans to Congress based on unfair maps.

This spits in the face of the founder's idea of a representative government. If you live in NC and have a college campus in your county, please make plans to attend your next board of elections meeting to hold these unelected boards accountable.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Take the time to read Chris Cooper's piece that concludes, "reducing early voting sites on college campuses has predictable effects—and effects that run counter to building a robust democracy."

chriscooperwcu.substack.com

Why Campus Voting Sites Matter: The Case of Western Carolina University

More than 76,000 votes have been cast at the Western Carolina University early voting site over nine elections. There is the possibility that it might be eliminated. Here's why that matters.
chriscooperwcu.substack.com chriscooperwcu.substack.com
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The only way a minority party can stay in power is to suppress the vote.

As the Donald said years ago, republicans will never be elected again if it is easier to vote...
 
wlos.com

Jackson County board votes to close WCU polling site; issue heads to state

In a 3-2 vote, the Jackson County Board of Elections voted not to move forward with closing an early voting site on WCU's campus for the 2026 primary election.
wlos.com wlos.com

JACKSON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the Jackson County Board of Elections voted to not close the WCU early voting site. This story has been updated to reflect the correct outcome of the vote. The matter will still go before the North Carolina Board of Elections for a final decision.

--

In a 3-2 vote, the Jackson County Board of Elections voted to move forward with closing an early voting site on Western Carolina University's (WCU) campus for the 2026 primary election. However, since Tuesday's vote was not unanimous, the issue now moves to the North Carolina Board of Elections for the final decision.

JACKSON CO. BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO VOTE ON POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF WCU CAMPUS POLLING SITE

The county board was considering closing the WCU site and consolidating voting locations with those in Cullowhee for the primary election.
 
SnoopRob said:
But does "becomin[ing] a political rock star" matter to anyone but her if she can't use it to win office or effect change?
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It matters to me because we need strong politicians willing to speak truth to power. In many races where the choice is between a republican light Dem candidate and a for real GQPer candidate, the GQPer is going to win the election.
 
My daughter is a student at western Carolina and she changed her registration to be able to vote there and she voted at the early site on campus - she doesn't have a car so now she's going to have to try and get a ride to wherever the voting site will be - in hoping the school will provide shuttle service for students
 
The largest issue might be the lukewarm supporters who don't turn out to vote for a woman. I know the claim is that the last two women who ran for president were unattractive candidates but very much of that was the misogynistic standards by which they were judged. Lying Hillary? Really? Think of all the claims that made them look unattractive from their education, integrity and achievements. How many are things that a male, especially Trump, would even have brought up as an issue against them. Double standards are the epitome of misogyny.
 
finesse said:
The largest issue might be the lukewarm supporters who don't turn out to vote for a woman. I know the claim is that the last two women who ran for president were unattractive candidates but very much of that was the misogynistic standards by which they were judged. Lying Hillary? Really? Think of all the claims that made them look unattractive from their education, integrity and achievements. How many are things that a male, especially Trump, would even have brought up as an issue against them. Double standards are the epitome of misogyny.
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Better candidates get through it. Biden was Sleepy Joe and Crooked Joe.

Al Gore wasn't a great candidate and had trouble connecting with voters, but it wasn't because he's a woman.

Democrats (and Republicans) can run women and win. They do it all the time and have been doing it more every election cycle for the past few decades. The only difference in the presidency is there's only one spot. Only one person can win it and there hasn't been a great woman candidate yet. There are 150 senator and Governor spots and more than a token amount are female. One of them will likely win the Presidency in the next five elections.

I do think the Democrats need to learn to run real primaries. Republicans don't particularly like doing that either and tried to put the stops on a Trump presidency because they thought he would lose in 2016 but Trump ended up winning the primary anyway and beat Hillary.

Thinking back, Democratic party bigwigs tried to put the thumb on the scale for Hillary in 2008 but Obama won anyway. And it worked.
 
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
My daughter is a student at western Carolina and she changed her registration to be able to vote there and she voted at the early site on campus - she doesn't have a car so now she's going to have to try and get a ride to wherever the voting site will be - in hoping the school will provide shuttle service for students
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Terrible, especially in a place like cullowhee. It's not great that it happens in Greensboro but I would expect there to be many more polling stations close by.
 
Why does a female candidate have to be a great candidate to win the Presidency?

Trump, Biden, Dubya, Clinton 1, GHW Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon weren’t great candidates and they won.

*Clinton 1 ran with the burden of extramarital affairs (that was a big deal in 1992) and being Slick Willie the draft dodging politician.
 
Zoo_View said:
Why does a female candidate have to be a great candidate to win the Presidency?

Trump, Biden, Dubya, Clinton 1, GHW Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon weren’t great candidates and they won.

*Clinton 1 ran with the burden of extramarital affairs (that was a big deal in 1992) and being Slick Willie the draft dodging politician.
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I'd argue that Trump, Biden and Clinton were great candidates, although Trump is probably the weakest. He did benefit from some weak opponents.

Dubya, Carter and Nixon got lucky with an electorate that was tired of the incumbent party. I guess it could be argued that Biden and Trump did too.

Older Bush got lucky with a very popular incumbent and some Dukakis missteps.

So is it more important to be lucky or great? I don't know. It's nice to have both and a woman will at some point.
 
heelinhell said:
It matters to me because we need strong politicians willing to speak truth to power. In many races where the choice is between a republican light Dem candidate and a for real GQPer candidate, the GQPer is going to win the election.
Click to expand...
The question here is when & where are the right times and places for those candidates.

AOC works because she's in a district where her constituents want her to take the stands she takes and elect/re-elect her to do so. Bernie works for similar reasons in Vermont.

Jasmine Crockett running for Senate from Texas is not the right place for a "speak truth to power" candidate. In Texas, the only way that Dems are going to win a state-wide seat is by running a fairly centrist candidate that can convince a whole lotta folks that they're not "too liberal" to be allowed in DC. You know when you don't have to "speak truth to power"? When you have power. I'd rather run a candidate who can actually win the seat and gain power over one who will inevitably be on the outside looking in merely able to talk to those actually running things.

I've laughed at/with Jasmine Crockett alongside everyone else when she's made fun of Republicans because it can certainly be funny. But it's only funny because she's a first/second term backbencher with no real power. If she wants to be in leadership and/or hold positions where she can effect change, she's going to have to tone down the PR stunts and move in ways that make her come across as a more serious elected official (i.e. "follow the AOC path"). I don't want the Democratic Party to follow the path of the Republican Party where whomever can create the biggest circus gets to lead, because that's how you end up with clowns in charge. If Crockett wants to be anything other than a fairly low-level House member, she's going to have to tone down the rhetoric and show that she can be more than a PR machine.
 
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