by liberal japonicus
Thought we needed an (h)open thread about the midterms. I did like the Guardian graphics, which are here. Comments, observations, and praises to whatever deity manages karmic retribution.
"This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . "
“Let’s’ hope this was just pre-election stress.”
If I’m not mistaken, that encounter was after the race was called for El-Sayed.
El-Sayed and Matthews have a history. The clip isn’t a great look for El-Sayed, he would obviously come off better if he brought a kinder gentler persona to interactions with the press. I think he’s probably just a very blunt guy.
Matthews will get good air time out of it, so there’s that.
Also:
“It’s the billionaires and the nepo babies, not the immigrants or the trans folks, who are ripping you off,” should be the Democrats’ mantra. “We’re here to expose the crooks and charlatans, not compromise with them,” Democrats should explain, “because they’ll keep robbing you if we don’t.”
Sounds good to me.
Civil Rights may not to be a “kitchen table issue” because the folks who are getting denied their Civil Rights tend to ‘go to ground’. There was this NYT podcast entitled A Political Rebellion in the Rio Grande Valley and it is pretty striking to me how long it took them to realize what was happening. I’ve got a colleague who is doing some stuff with Japanese-American history etc and I’m giving him all the books I have related to the topic and have had a bit of time to reread some of them. What really stands out is how the parents tended to be panglossian in their optimism, in large part to shield their children. I don’t think this is just a JA thing. The NYT podcast interviews one person who was born in Mexico, but came with their parents and didn’t have any idea that his status was problematic until he wanted to take a high school trip.
Were Civil Rights a bit issue in any of the races? I would have thought that having people shot in the streets would have provoked more of a reaction, but it is absolutely astonishing how easily the whole thing was deflated by suggesting that Good was somehow weaponizing her car and Pretti, because he was carrying a firearm exhibited ‘intent’. (as a side not, it’s enlightening to note how the gun rights crowd went to ground after that)
I may have an idiosyncratic view of kitchen table issues, but it seems like they are things that people don’t feel constrained when they talk about them. Part of the play with both the classist view meritocratic constructions of the society is to try and stop people from talking about their situation and economic issues because it is either 1) a natural result of the class they are in or 2)they somehow didn’t make enough effort to get out of the hole they found themselves in. If you really buy into this, you basically take almost all the issues off the kitchen table.
As a follow-up to TonyP’s comment – one thing the newly elected (D)’s might want to call out is all of the Big Beautiful Bill provisions that are going to kick in now that the midterms are over.
People are going to lose benefits from SNAP and Medicare. Student loan debt relief will be eliminated or curtailed.
It’s all “kitchen table” stuff, intended to take effect sometime after the midterms. The (D)’s should make it clear that it was all already baked in, and is not something they are responsible for.
ICE violence definitely had an effect on voting. That’s why people in Minneapolis and Houston were sticking their “I Voted” stickers up on the public memorials to Pretti, Good, and Salgado.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/deadly-ice-shooting/lorenzo-salgado-memorial-houston-voting-stickers/285-ab1ba36e-5bda-4b0c-926c-41438e3750e3
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/03/minneapolis-i-voted-stickers-alex-pretti-memorial
My understanding is that for the groups that have been targeted by the Church of Spraytan and Cardinal Miller, Civil Rights are being treated as Kitchen Table issues because without them they have no access to any of the economic, health, or education benefits that have traditionally been viewed as the pillars of kitchen table issues.
Yes, the Dems need to deliver tangible aid for families struggling with their household issues, but the Dems also need to note that 1.5 million more latinos voted this election than did in 2022, and that those latino votes broke +30 points for Democrats this time, versus +21 points in 2022 and only +9 points in 2024. We still have some way to go to get back to the +40 we had in 2018, so no one should think that any of these successes are repeatable without tending to the security and wellbeing of latino voters.
And every black Dem I have interacted with over the election cycle has mentioned the VRA rollback as their cue to show up in overwhelming numbers. They will expect more than just a lukewarm push for economic relief. They want a pledge that the Dems will fight even if that means making the rural white anti-DEI swing voters uncomfortable.
Those who have ears, let them hear.
I’m wondering if we have different conceptions and different valences for what ‘kitchen table issues’ represent. I tend to think of them as issues that don’t have people jumping up to join the protests, but rather issues that set preferences. That may be wrong, but it does interest me about how the term does some hidden work, which is to make certain things that aren’t issues like that (if you go with my definition) to be things that can be dismissed.
The (D)’s should make it clear that it was all already baked in, and is not something they are responsible for.
they will try. but they can’t make people listen.
So, will the final weeks of the senate be used to process lots and lots of last-minute appointments to lifetime positions? Will Alito go through with his retirement, so His Orangeness can install another Federalist Society* Humpty Dumpty**?
*if that is still far right enough these days.
**Humpty Dumpty once said to Alice, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean. Neither more or less.” Alice responded to Humpty Dumpty, “The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things?” Humpty Dumpty retorted: “The question is, which is to be master? That’s all.”
I have this fantasy about Chuck Schumer stepping down on his own, saying something like:
“After this historic victory, a new age begins for the Democratic party, and this new age requires new blood. Another generation must take the reins of the party and, for that reason, I am stepping aside as the party leader in the Senate to make way for a new Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress.”
Followed by some “blah, blah, blah” about gratitude, what an honor and privilege it’s been, and so on. That would be pretty cool.
The hard part about replacing Schumer and/or Jeffries with someone(s) to be “the face of the party” is that the large bulk of those jobs are behind-the-scenes details: arranging intra-party compromises, whipping votes, floor management, and on, and on. The place for sharp people who have command of all the details of an issue and are willing to dig deep is committee chairs.
Don’t get me started about how the Democrats need to change their conference rules about chairs, which grossly over-emphasize seniority. AOC will be starting her 9th year in the House, and is years away from chairing a major policy committee. Warren will be starting her 13th year in the Senate and will probably chair the Banking committee, which will not be one of the hotbeds.
Is anybody putting their hand up to be the new House Speaker or Senate majority leader?
I find I’m compulsively checking, a couple of times a day, to see how the Senate race in Mississippi is going. Even though I know it’s probably going to be a week or two before the results are clear. (Not to mention however long challenges to the results take.)
Somehow, I don’t have the same reaction to the Senate race in Alaska. Even though it’s going to take a couple of weeks there as well. Not just to transport ballots in from the isolated parts of the state. But they can’t really do the ranked choice stuff until the ballots are all counted.
I know that, surprisingly, control of the Senate doesn’t hinge on the results. But I’m still apparently unable to look away.
The purported insiders say “no.” The narrative coming out of the beltway gossips is that Schumer and Jeffries steered the party to a historic blue wave, and supported some of the people who flipped their seats, so there is no reason to change.
I think they are actually dreaming of the return of the Blue Dogs to hold the progressives in check.
And regarding the Democratic centrists running a bit scared of the progressives… I think the Dems really need to stand up together as a party and say that they represent a big, diverse coalition where everyone is welcome so long as they can listen and deal in good faith, open the discussion up to both the progressives and the Blue Dogs, and show themselves to be capable of dealing with internal disagreements. Save the viral moments for conflict with the right, or for defenses of the rights of others.
Along side this, go hard in the South and in rural areas, spending time and money to go out and to listen, and to respond. Bring people like Buttigieg and AOC to those states to have a dialogue and put a face on those Others to counter the fear mongering.
Cut the legs out from under all of that fearmongering of radicals running the show and model deliberative democracy and solidarity in action. It won’t have immediate short-term results, but it will plant seeds in the areas that the DNC has left fallow for far too long.
nous — 100% agree
I know that, surprisingly, control of the Senate doesn’t hinge on the results. But I’m still apparently unable to look away.
Exactly!
Although I would probably not have noted Alaska without the double Sullivan controversy.
I find I’m compulsively checking, a couple of times a day, to see how the Senate race in Mississippi is going.
Check in the evening, or the following morning. By this point, MS officials are probably collecting and counting whatever came in during the day late in the afternoon and reporting to the SoS. Nobody likes to deal with loose onesie-twosie ballots.