It was a good night! Not only did the Democrats take back the US House and Senate, but we won back the NC General Assembly and almost evened up the NC Senate (flipping one more seat would let the Dem Lt. Gov break ties). That’s a huge feat since Art Pope’s theft of the state legislature in 2010 has led to openly unconstitutional gerrymandering (as well as defunding schools, hollowing out state institutions and services, and much other general shittiness). Last night that gerrymandering finally backfired as the maps the GOP redrew to increase their US House delegation from 10 out of 14 seats to 11 proved to stretch way too thin in a blue wave election. Now it looks like it will be 10-4 the other way, with Democrats representing the vast majority of Tar Heels in Washington.
2028 would be a great time to get back to Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy. We are going to have to work together as a large and diverse party that includes Blacks, Latinx, queer folx, rural whites, people across all incomes and education levels. There will be plenty of disagreement within, but we have to manage internal fights for expanding civil rights while not becoming the regularly scheduled circular firing squad. Candidates need to hear over and over that it’s unacceptable to throw immigrants and trans people under the bus, that abortion rights and access need to be enshrined in law, and that pedophiles need to be prosecuted, even (and especially) if that means powerful people within their own party, too.
This is an incredible opportunity. We can stanch the bleeding of our Democracy. But real healing is still going to take a long time, and the US electorate is notoriously fickle (dare I say dumb?). I’m so happy that Kim Roney is our new mayor, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to build coalitions with a lot of the same people who’ve been voting against her time and time again. It’s great to have Jamie Ager in congress, but we all need to continually remind him that the GOP will show AI ads of him dancing with drag queens even when he refuses to protect trans folks. We need to demand that he does better at that. We know he loves the trans cousin he grew up with, and he needs to get comfortable explaining that compassion works better than hate and fear, even in these WNC mountain communities.
If you need a place to celebrate with other people, we’ve got stitch groups all day, and we welcome you whether it’s your first time with us, or if you’ve been with Purl’s longer than Rik & Elizabeth. Come get hugs!