212
The ‘weirdo progressive’ son of the Oath Keepers founder running for office in Montana
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
212 points (96.5% liked)
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I hope he does well. That is an issue I have never considered. That there might not even be a democratic candidate on the ballot in rural areas. Best of luck, if he means it, grass roots change in areas like that are exactly what we need.
I'm in Lesser Carolina. On Tuesday we had an election. Two state level offices. Each one had an incumbent Republican running against a different Republican. The results were basically known before the election happened. So I went in and voted for the non-incumbent just to have something to do. I was the only voter at my place the whole time I was there.
Deep blue states can be this way as well. The primaries effectively decide the winner if there is a Republican or else it is a Democrat v Democrat election where its a referendum on the incumbent.
Perfect example of this is california senate races and the jungle primaries. Establishment democrats help boost the republican so the head to head wont Schiff vs Porter.
This is how neocons get voted out for Trumpers
There is no way the incumbents weren't going to win. All it does is show the incumbents that they aren't as secure as they think.
I live outside a decent sized metropolitan area in the Midwest. We currently have a black Democrat mayor. Outside of senators and congressmen. Democrats often don't run for any offices in the area and the state. Outside of the top level ones mayor Etc. I leave large portions of our ballots here blank. Because our only choices are Fascist Republicans or liberals pretending to be Libertarians.
It would seem the true crux of our position is Democrats literally abandoning lower positions in rural areas. We need that for sweeping change. We need that for ranked choice. We need it to stop this slippery slope to a theocracy. We need it to end this ratcheting game.
In small (population-wise) rural areas like that, where positions are running uncontested or only contested in the primary, it's actually possible individuals could make a difference. But there's some caveats.
If the area is extremely Republican and would never vote for a Democrat, don't run as one. Unlike in races like President and Senate, independent and third party are actual choices at this level, they're not simply false choices.
An individual could find some local issue that matters to a lot of people in the area but seems to be being ignored. Talk to neighbors, local people, etc, figure out what they're upset about that actually falls under the purview of local or state government, then make that the core of your platform.
As long as you're not officially listed as a Democrat, you're not platforming on things that the locals would never vote for (and you probably couldn't do anything about anyway in the lower office you're running for) and you've actually done some local research and found an issue that a significant number of people in your area are upset about, you actually have a chance. You'd probably lose, but there's a real chance.
Between fascist Republicans and liberals pretending to be libertarians, I think it's a pretty clear choice. We vote to live another day.