Now the work starts. And it’s not all sunshine and roses. All three amendments passed with sizable majorities — and it’s probably because nobody read the fine print (or the non-existent print, more like it) that tells you why these were all Trojan Horses.
And I’m a little fuzzy on the runoff rules. Mostly (but not entirely) about the timing. As I understand it, the order of operations would be:
1. Round up all the strays — provisional ballots, late arriving mail ballots, and any other edge cases I’m forgetting
2. Run the recounts as required — 1% difference or less votes in non-statewide races (which this cycle is everybody except Roy Cooper, I believe, and Roy is definitely outside the recount threshold)
3. If there are still races with no majority winner, a runoff between the top two to determine the winner.
This seems like a good place to note that ranked choice voting would simplify this by an order of magnitude, and you will never get me to believe that it’s too complicated for a state full of NASCAR fans to understand — because it’s basically points racing. So maybe that’s an initiative for the new coalition NCGA to take up in the long session.
And I would be remiss if I did not give a HUGE shout out to Anderson Clayton. Those gains in the NCGA? Those didn’t just happen because people were pissed off. They happened because people were pissed off AND THEY HAD A CHOICE TO PICK SOMEBODY ELSE! All 170 legislative districts had a Democrat running. We weren’t going to win them all, but how many of those pickups do you suppose flipped simply because people in the district had the opportunity to make a choice? The national party needs to figure out how to clone Anderson and get her into all 50 states, because for the first time in my memory we have a party chair who actually understand that you can’t win an election you don’t contest.
Yes, Thomas, it was the voters. But your dismissal of the Democrats by saying "Democrats will be congratulating each other and patting themselves on the back, but they should really be thanking the voters," is misplaced and uninformed. Our local and state Democrats worked their tails off for this election, organizing, getting out the vote, raising much needed funds. Candidates were out in the community for months. Both Democrats and grassroots groups in NC (and nationally) deserve a lot of credit for actually helping to get those voters to the polls and once they got there, to help them know to vote the whole ballot. The ground game was imperative. Going futher back, someone had to recruit all those candidates to run in the state legislative races, and support them in their races. Even yesterday, as I was textbanking, I helped a number of folks who wanted to vote actually figure out how to do so. And that was just one person on one day. Let's celebrate, but please give credit where it is due and don't dismiss Democrats, again. And please give credit to the myriad grassroots groups we are so fortunate to have here in NC...Advance NC, Indivisible groups throughout the state, FlipNC, TeamUpNC, Carolina Federation...I could go on. It was a community effort for the past two years to get voters to the polls. And it worked. So yes, we can thank the voters. But there is no need to dismiss the Democrats. For example, here in Durham, we only had 273 votes of downballot drop off between Cooper and Earls. That was accomplished by our hard work. We SHOULD be patting ourselves on the back.
Native western NC here but now an ex-pat so happy for North Carolina AND South Carolina. We done good 😁. Now, can we get busy undoing some of the damn damage that republicans have done since their take-over in 2009? The Governor needs some of his power back that they stole. Maybe our judges need to go back to being non partisan too? Most importantly, keep working at the local level. Don’t let the opposition gain any more footholds where they can do damage.
Thomas, you--and we all--have earned every second of celebrations. I'm in tears. Like you, I hadn't dared to hope we would achieve all this. Love you to you and to every single person who worked to make this happen.
We Tar Heels understood our assignment and completed it, thank God! Hope and Decency have returned to NC AND to America, and I'm just thrilled about all of it. If Virginia Foxx is sent home, that will be icing on the cake.
My favorite parts of the results. Ojeda wins the ninth. Foxx and Tim Moore lose. I’ve been on the Ojeda train since it left the station.
Now the work starts. And it’s not all sunshine and roses. All three amendments passed with sizable majorities — and it’s probably because nobody read the fine print (or the non-existent print, more like it) that tells you why these were all Trojan Horses.
And I’m a little fuzzy on the runoff rules. Mostly (but not entirely) about the timing. As I understand it, the order of operations would be:
1. Round up all the strays — provisional ballots, late arriving mail ballots, and any other edge cases I’m forgetting
2. Run the recounts as required — 1% difference or less votes in non-statewide races (which this cycle is everybody except Roy Cooper, I believe, and Roy is definitely outside the recount threshold)
3. If there are still races with no majority winner, a runoff between the top two to determine the winner.
This seems like a good place to note that ranked choice voting would simplify this by an order of magnitude, and you will never get me to believe that it’s too complicated for a state full of NASCAR fans to understand — because it’s basically points racing. So maybe that’s an initiative for the new coalition NCGA to take up in the long session.
And I would be remiss if I did not give a HUGE shout out to Anderson Clayton. Those gains in the NCGA? Those didn’t just happen because people were pissed off. They happened because people were pissed off AND THEY HAD A CHOICE TO PICK SOMEBODY ELSE! All 170 legislative districts had a Democrat running. We weren’t going to win them all, but how many of those pickups do you suppose flipped simply because people in the district had the opportunity to make a choice? The national party needs to figure out how to clone Anderson and get her into all 50 states, because for the first time in my memory we have a party chair who actually understand that you can’t win an election you don’t contest.
Yes, Thomas, it was the voters. But your dismissal of the Democrats by saying "Democrats will be congratulating each other and patting themselves on the back, but they should really be thanking the voters," is misplaced and uninformed. Our local and state Democrats worked their tails off for this election, organizing, getting out the vote, raising much needed funds. Candidates were out in the community for months. Both Democrats and grassroots groups in NC (and nationally) deserve a lot of credit for actually helping to get those voters to the polls and once they got there, to help them know to vote the whole ballot. The ground game was imperative. Going futher back, someone had to recruit all those candidates to run in the state legislative races, and support them in their races. Even yesterday, as I was textbanking, I helped a number of folks who wanted to vote actually figure out how to do so. And that was just one person on one day. Let's celebrate, but please give credit where it is due and don't dismiss Democrats, again. And please give credit to the myriad grassroots groups we are so fortunate to have here in NC...Advance NC, Indivisible groups throughout the state, FlipNC, TeamUpNC, Carolina Federation...I could go on. It was a community effort for the past two years to get voters to the polls. And it worked. So yes, we can thank the voters. But there is no need to dismiss the Democrats. For example, here in Durham, we only had 273 votes of downballot drop off between Cooper and Earls. That was accomplished by our hard work. We SHOULD be patting ourselves on the back.
Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine Cooper+19?
No, not even close. Honestly, I didn’t imagine MOST of what happened last night.
I DID, however, pick the 9th a year and a half ago.
Native western NC here but now an ex-pat so happy for North Carolina AND South Carolina. We done good 😁. Now, can we get busy undoing some of the damn damage that republicans have done since their take-over in 2009? The Governor needs some of his power back that they stole. Maybe our judges need to go back to being non partisan too? Most importantly, keep working at the local level. Don’t let the opposition gain any more footholds where they can do damage.
Thomas, you--and we all--have earned every second of celebrations. I'm in tears. Like you, I hadn't dared to hope we would achieve all this. Love you to you and to every single person who worked to make this happen.
Repeating a comment I made last week, I love the smell of shellac in the morning!
With notes of Republican flop sweat.
We Tar Heels understood our assignment and completed it, thank God! Hope and Decency have returned to NC AND to America, and I'm just thrilled about all of it. If Virginia Foxx is sent home, that will be icing on the cake.
Back home to New York. Carpetbagger.
Anne, like you, I am dreaming of a Foxx-free NC! Bring on the icing!
From a native and a former (but longtime) resident, thank you, North Carolinians.