by liberal japonicus via Maya Angelou
re: this
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Too much? Too soon?
I myself am far too nervous to take this as anything too hopeful, encouraging though it is to read about. This, from Jamelle Bouie in today’s NYT, muses on the result.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/opinion/trump-mamdani-spanberger-sherrill-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y08.9mv4.Mfkw0tFLN_aL&smid=url-share
The election I was watching was the Public Services Commission elections in Georgia. No Democrat has won a PSC election since 2020. The two Dems both won yesterday, by a bit better than 60/40 margins. What I don’t know is whether this was a local kitchen table issue (six Georgia Power rate hikes approved in the last two years), a broader direction issue (the Commission has been pro nuclear and fossil fuels, anti renewables), or a continued red-to-blue shift in Georgia generally (like some western states, Georgia has a lot of younger educated adults moving in, which eventually matters).
The following is according to exit polling for the NJ gubernatorial election. In parentheses are the percentages of the overall votes for each group, followed by the percent of the group that voted for Sherrill, followed by the percent for Ciattarelli.
White (70%) 47% 52%
Black (10%) 94% 5%
Hispanic/Latino (10%) 68% 31%
Asian (5%) 82% 17%
Other (4%) 54% 43%
As mentioned at GftNC’s NYT link, groups who shifted right in the last presidential election have moved back left after seeing what they really voted for. I’m curious how age groups voted we well and will probably dig something up later.
I mean, 94% of the Black vote. Wow!
The thing is, Trump is an asshole and he’s making a lot of people’s lives more difficult than they need to be. And (R)’s are basically in thrall to the guy.
Last November, enough people were pissed at Biden for any of a variety of reasons, some of them legitimate, and so were willing to give Trump another shot at it.
And now they see Trump without the moderating influences of the people who more or less kept him in the ballpark of legitimate governance.
And they think it sucks.
All of that, plus it’s not uncommon for off year and mid-term elections to favor the party not in power, with exceptions for wartime and cases where the party in power is actually nailing it.
That’s my analysis, anyway.
In regards to this
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/05/zohran-mamdani-transition-team
I’m wondering if Mamdani said ‘I’ve got an all female transition team’ or if this is something a Graniuad writer noticed and made it the lede.
From here:
https://www.cnn.com/election/2025/exit-polls/new-jersey/general/governor/0
18-44 31% 45 or older 69%
Sherrill 67% 51%
Ciattarelli 32% 48%
The exit polling is broken down in what may be too many different ways at the link. The long and short of it is that being white, older, male, and less educated made someone more likely to have voted for Ciattarelli.
One interesting point is that they asked people if they were concerned about political violence. Not enough people weren’t concerned to be statistically meaningful, so the vote breakdown on the “No” side was “N/A.”
There’s a drop-down where you can get exit polling for the elections in other states.
In reference to the Georgia PSC election, I commented on the previous thread about it, but a little more detail: The 5 PSC seats are titled District 1-5, but the elections are statewide. There have not been PSC elections since 2020 due to lawsuit(s) claiming that the statewide elections are discriminatory, as a result the two seats the Democrats just won will be up for election in one and five years, respectively, the normal term is 6 years. The last Democrat to win election to the PSC left office at end of term in 2007, and no Democrat has won a statewide election to any state office in over 20 years.
So to sort of answer Michael, while there are definite local issues regarding rate hikes, this is a big effing deal, especially given the 63-37 margins. Since the state turnover to Republican control in the aughts, it has been the general presumption that Democrats best shot at winning a statewide race is in presidential election years (which puts governor and other executive offices out of reach since they are scheduled in off years). So winning not just an off-year but odd-year election, where there were no other statewide offices on the ballot to drive turnout (and some/many jurisdictions may not have had any local races; locally we had unusually low profile mayor’s race, Atlanta City Council President race and several other Council races, as well as judicial retention elections and one ballot initiative).
There were no personality/scandal issues weighing down the Republican office holders, it’s understood that any Republican on that body will be in Southern Company’s pocket, the only question is how deep.
Slight exaggeration, last GA Democrat state office winner was 2006 election.