You need some hopeful news. Here it is.by digby
Sean McElwee in Huffington Post:
As the 2018 midterms come into focus on the political terrain, it’s safe to expect that media coverage will focus overwhelmingly on the possibility of Democrats gaining majorities in the House and Senate. But a revolution is taking place in states across the country where, frustrated not just by President Donald Trump but by entrenched politicians who are serving themselves instead of the community, tens of thousands of Americans are running for local office.
Democrats have already picked up 34 Republican-held state legislative seats this cycle. These victories, driven by a burst of enthusiasm in the progressive base, show we’re about to witness a remaking of the Democratic Party.
Democrats Really Are Running Everywhere
Much of this momentum has come from a simple source: Democrats are running in more places. In Virginia, everyone knows that Democrats won big, but many people overlooked how many of those victories simply could not have occurred in past elections, because the districts were uncontested. In 2013, 34 Republicans ran without major-party opposition. In 2015, that number rose to 44. But in 2017, it dropped to only 12. Six Republicans who lost their seats in 2017 held seats that were not contested in 2015.
Now in Texas, which recently had a filing deadline, Democrats are contesting 14 of 15 state Senate seats and 133 of 150 state House seats. In 2016, 60 Republicans ran without a Democratic challenger (out of 150 seats up for election) in the state House while six of the 29 state Senate seats up for election were uncontested (state Senate terms are staggered).
Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run For Something, tells me she’s been closely following Oklahoma where she’s seen an “influx” of candidates angry about Mary Fallin’s staunchly right-wing governorship.
And Nicole Hobbs, co-founder of EveryDistrict, says her group’s plan nationally is to win by “effectively mobilizing the base and by competing in a broad swath of purple-to-red districts,” even those that have previously gone uncontested.
An Explosion Of Diversity
These races will not just determine partisan control of these local bodies, they will fundamentally reshape the face of American politics. The candidates running now will be the talent pool of the Democratic Party in future races for higher office across the country. These candidates are far more likely to be women, people of color, LGBTQ, low-income and young than current representatives are.
The wave in Virginia had a huge effect on the diversity of the legislature, where the first openly trans woman, first two Latinas and first two Asian-American women all entered the House of Delegates. The percentage of white men in the House of Delegates fell from 71 percent before the November election to 59 percent after.
Litman says the candidates for local office are more representative of the Democratic base. “We’re seeing more women, more people of color, more nurses, teachers and artists running for office,” she notes.
Read on. The results so far are showing that this diversity is a real advantage. An energized Democratic base wants to vote for people who represent them. Who knew?
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