Virginia Democrats win full control of statehouse, dealing blow to GOP ahead of 2024

MicroWave@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 817 points –
Virginia Democrats win full control of statehouse, dealing blow to GOP ahead of 2024
thehill.com

Virginia Democrats are projected to win control of both of the state’s legislature bodies, according to Decision Desk HQ, dealing a major blow to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda for the remainder of his term.

Democrats won control of the House of Delegates and maintained their grip on the state Senate. Tuesday’s election results mark a reversal from two years ago, when Youngkin was elected governor and Republicans won control of the House of Delegates.

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although i'm not exactly rooting for the democrats, I fucking love Love LOVE watching the Republicans suffer.

this country is burning to the fucking ground.

The democrats are merely the smoke. The actual fire consuming it is the GOP.

The democrat party only gets to exist in its present form because the GOP exists.

If we want to destroy the democrats, we must first scourge their republican scapegoats and remove their excuses.

because if you try to air out the smoke before the fire is extinguished, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A BAD TIME.

So, death to the donkey party AND death to the elephant party, but THE GOP MUST BE EXTINGUISHED FIRST.

and hey, sometimes a democrat politician isn't an irredeemable monster wearing flayed human skin... every once in a while... VERY occasionally... and once the GOP is destroyed and the democrat party inevitably schisms into conservative and progressive wings, the ones who suck less will be on the correct side.

Optimistically, if we vote the Republicans into oblivion the Democrats will split into center-right and progressive parties.

This is exactly why we need to vote. It isn't normal for the opposing party to do this badly. We have a historic level of momentum even though Biden's approval rating isn't great, and here's why:

  • Repealing Roe has unleashed a rage that hell hath no fury to match, and Republicans can't figure out how to address it. Ironically, they've just put in an incredibly more pro life speaker, and that's going to come back to bite them.

  • Republicans are very publicly dysfunctional even when they have the majority. The party is already starting to fracture.

  • House Republicans keep insisting on their way or the highway, while the Senate and President are largely aligned. Government shutdowns hurt Republicans, especially with the antics they're up to in the House. And we know it hurts Republicans more than Democrats because McConnell is very eager for bipartisanship here.

  • COVID was disproportionately worse and more fatal in Republican areas, thanks to Republican flirtation with conspiracy.

  • Generational change is finally upon us. Gen X, Millennials, and Zoomers make up the majority of the population. X trends 50/50 Republican, while Millennials and Zoomers significantly tend towards Democrats. Every day, more Boomers die and more Zoomers turn 18. It also helps that Zoomers seem way more politically active than usual for young people.

  • MAGA is a toxic brand but Republicans can't help but go deeper and deeper into it.

  • Finally, Republicans have created a migration trend that hurts them nationally. Draconian policies against abortion and LGBT people are driving liberals out of red states, ensuring the GOP remains in power. But this consolidation only bolsters states which were already very red. Meanwhile, you have some conservatives moving to Texas or Florida because they love the Republican despots. The net effect is that some Republicans are leaving swing states and some Democrats are moving to them. With how tight margins can be in swing states, this is significant.

There are headwinds in our favor. We may be able to permanently render the Republican party nonviable on the national level. And with them firmly defeated, we can start to reform Democrats and split into a center party and a progressive party.

We have an amazing opportunity here.

"Destroy", "death", "scourge", "irredeemable monster wearing flayed human skin"

Yawn.. Instead of bloviating about destroying both parties you might consider working to build one of them up the way you want them to be. I get it though. Building isn't for the lazy, it is always much harder and more time consuming than burning things down.

The fact that you only see politics as a binary system where it's one party or the other is utterly asinine. There are political bodies and philosophies outside of US Republicans and Democrats. Being left leaning doesn't automatically mean liking or believing in the platform of the Democratic party.

3rd parties are essentially meaningless in the U.S. except as spoilers and you know it. By far the most effective way to create change in the American political system is to push one of the two parties to take up the positions you advocate. Moaning and groaning about other "political bodies and philosophies" is just hot air at this point, and you know that too.

This. Besides, voting for the Democratic Party eventually will enable a split of the party. Progressive democrats and moderate democrats don't like each other that much, but they still rather deal with each other than the other side of the aisle.

When there are adults in the room, they don't have to like each other to work together for common goals. The current GOP/MAGA "If the Dems are for it we're really against it" is comical. I never thought I'd see one party become the party of Putin and Russia largely because the other party sees Putin and Russia as clear adversaries. As has been said so often, this timeline sucks.

Republicans know this, which explains why they went nuclear after RFK after he started pulling people on the liberal side in the USA

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That's all very convenient rhetoric for you I'm sure, but you also fail to take into account that parties die off all the time. It wasn't always Democrats vs Republicans, there is a rich history of political parties in America.

I don't see how wishing for the destruction of Democrats is any different then those who wished to see the destruction of the Whig party towards the end of its days. They see an inferior political party and wish to see is destroyed and born again anew.

I don't see what shutting down that conversation does short of keeping the status quo. The same status quo that the far right is abusing in the US to enact their racist/transphobic/homophobic/bigoted bullshit.

They die off once a century where about, not all the time.

Yes, I was being hyperbolic. Ya'know, to point out that the destruction of US political parties have happened multiple times prior: even to the main two political parties. Would you like to talk on any of my actual points?

Hyperbolic would be saying it happens every few decades. You were just lying to make your point sound correct. It isn't even close to all the time, don't try and hide behind saying it's hyperbole.

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Just going to throw in an obligatory "two-party system is broken, implement ranked-choice voting"

YESSSS!

which ... will only happen after the two parties who currently benefit from the first past the post model and will go to the ends of the earth to preserve the system that perversely sustains them have been shattered completely.

Doesn't even have to be both parties! If one is completely broken, we'll be able to able to do reform as the "next" party.

If we destroy Republicans in 2024 and every year thereafter, we will reach a point of Democrat dominance. If even just a third of elected Dems support making changes, a progressive group which replaces the Republicans doesn't have to wait long for the votes to be there.

Either way, first thing's first. We seem to have an advantage against Republicans. It's time to run up that score and floor the gas pedal to leave them in irrelevance.

Who will the ~30% of the country that are hardcore MAGA types going to vote for? As much as I wish it were otherwise, those people are not getting any more informed or any smarter, and they are not going away. Neither is the depraved media that feeds on their angertainment.

and they are not going away.

Sure they are. More and more die every day due to old age or a refusal to vaccinate themselves, and a general mistrust of basic medicine and science. It'll take a decade or so, but gen Z and the generation after them will keep replacing the boomers with more progressive voters

And what of the younger magats who, while less numerous, are more overtly fascist and more densely concentrated?

They're so much smaller in number that it's much, much harder for them to regress the US than baby boomers. Seriously, look at these numbers. I understand a lot of 'independents' vote Right Wing, but those numbers are bleak for republicans. They're nearly out-numbered 2-1 by Democrats in Gen-Z.

Wish it had stats on eligible or likely voters (2012 kids can't vote, and I doubt there's many people who are 95 years old left who also vote). This is why the GOP tactic is voter suppression, they can't beat these numbers if everyone registers and turns out to vote.

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