2026 Midterm Elections

[CharmCityTiger]

I don't see this strategy working. Dem voters won't reflexively vote for someone just to spite the other party the same way Republicans will.

 

[Kingpin]

I don't see this strategy working. Dem voters won't reflexively vote for someone just to spite the other party the same way Republicans will.

I’m a registered Republican. I am so that I can vote in Pub primaries here in Ga. I vote against every Trump endorsed/MAGA candidate on the ballot. In the General election I blindly vote straight Dem.

 

[OldWHEEL]

I really need some good news tomorrow. Of late, I feel like I’m living in bizarro world for realz

 

[nycfan]

The tactic has been a mixed bag for Dems at least. Famously did not work out for the Clinton campaign when they boosted Trump in the 2016 primary, but there has been success in promoting crazy R senate candidates

Claire McCaskill won at least one and maybe two US Senate elections that way, but finally Missouri had gone full Tea Party/MAGA.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

I know you know this and probably agree with it, but these things are super state-specific. Talarico would be a fucking disaster in Oregon. Crockett would be the obvious choice in Maryland. But in Texas, I can't help but think Talarico is the best possible option, by several orders of magnitude. That's not a knock on Crockett. If anything, it's a knock on Texas. But more than anything, it's just a recognition that the candidate has to fit the state.

I still think Talarico's odds should be less than 40%. But almost anyone else would be less than 20%, so I'll take Talarico in a heartbeat.

I saw a poll recently that had Crockett ahead in the primary, I was surprised as pretty much every other poll I've seen regarding this race showed Talarico leading. I would think, just based on a superficial look at both candidates, that Talarico's religious appeal would appeal more generally in Texas than Crockett's aggressive partisanship. Based on past experience with Texas elections I'll admit that I have a hard time believing that a black woman from an urban district can win statewide in Texas in a general election, although to be fair any Democrat winning in Texas seems like a real long shot.

 

[Zoo_View]

Idc about the sheriff primary. Nothing Allam has said about Foushee is inaccurate. We don’t need a candidate in a liberal district who is awash in AIPAC money, and I expect she will lose the primary on Tuesday.

I realize you wouldn’t care about the sheriff’s race. It’s arguably the most important elective office in a county; but, you don’t care about it.

 

[Zoo_View]

So if it comes down to Platner versus Collins, who would you vote for - or would you just not vote? And I'm not arguing for Platner, just curious.

If I still lived in Maine, I’d vote for whoever is on the ballot against Susan Collins. I voted against her in 2014 and 2008. I’d have voted against her in 2020 (I knew her opponent in 2020 and that was a dead woman walking from Day 1 despite huge money - Sarah Gideon; as cold of a fish as had run for political office as ever and a truly insincere person).

I’d likely vote Platner in the primary just because he looks more likely to win in November; and, I’ve been through Maine elections with Democratic retreads like Mills. If Platner is a Fetterman or Sinema (we knew who Manchin was), primary his ass. A candidate with a Sinema/Fetterman record would lose a Democratic primary.

 

[EyeballKid]

You reject the idea that he is anti-Semitic and I can appreciate how one gets there from his campaign rhetoric. But how do you explain away the repeated instances of not just soft anti Semitic dalliances but virulently anti Semitic symbols, tertiary associates, and public appearances with openly far right anti-Semites?

My sense is Platner is viewing his campaign purely through the lens of populist labor and that comes with some creepy bedfellows. It probably also works in Maine.

Personally, I think it’s pretty easy to explain away the appearance of antisemitism by way of his time as a grunt in the military.

It’s easy to accept and even befriend virulent antisemites in the military. It’s pretty commonplace among enlisted white men.

It’s hard to extricate oneself from your peer group. Even once you realize that many of your peers are racist and/or antisemitic, its difficult to suss out every source of that racism/antisemitism and ensure that you don’t associate with anyone who still holds those views and that you appropriately disavow all the folks who you once counted as buddies in the foxhole.