Vote for Stephanie Hansen (if you live in SD10) and work for her if you don’t live in SD10
There are more than ten reasons, but I’m pressed for time, so I’m going to deal with a couple pressing issues, and let you guys flesh out the top ten list in the comments section.
1. John Carney must be stopped. Control of the state Senate is a serious issue. John Carney has already signaled on numerous occasions that he wants to Senate to flip so that he can push through his Chamber of Commence backed policies. Stephanie Hansen’s election doesn’t guarantee that Carney’s plans will be thwarted, but it will present Carney with a stumbling block.
2. Stephanie Hansen is by far the most progressive candidate in the race. The Green Party of Delaware isn’t contesting this race, so there is nobody to vote for (or work for, or donate to) on Hensen’s left. She may not be your dream progressive, but the stakes are high in this election and arguing that there is no difference between Hansen and Marino is just as empty-headed as arguing that there is no difference between Trump and Clinton. And, yes. I am perfectly within my rights to vote for a less than perfect progressive without it conflicting with my liberal values.
Agreed. I’m planning to attend Stephanie Hansen’s fundraiser next Saturday, and find out where I can help. We’ve got an election to win. There are people out there right now putting their hearts and their shoe leather into this race, so now is the time to pull together. We can discuss the finer points of progressivism later.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1234862609926173/
Saturday, January 28 at 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST
1133 Marl Pitt Road, Middletown, DE 19734
Please join us for breakfast and support Stephanie Hansen, Democratic nominee for Delaware’s 10th State Senate seat.
$25 – suggested donation
Contact Erik Raser-Schramm at erikjschramm@gmail.com for more information.
I don’t understand the logic of the first item. Will a candidate handpicked by the Democratic Party – yes, I know these are the rules – stand up to the Democratic governor?
The question to me is: Will this senator enable the governor’s Chamber mindset, or will this Senator challenge the anti-Democratic tendencies of Carney?
I don’t know the answer, so I’m firmly in the ‘Meh’ camp.
Until/unless there is a legit progressive challenge to the Third Way/Concord Coalition mindset of our so-called Democratic Party, I don’t even see what’s the point.
Would I vote for her? Probably. Do I think it’d make a difference in Dover? No.
You need to get to know ex-cop, current Nazi, John Marino. He’s a fascist.
If he gets elected you can bet all of KKKarney’s republican wishes come true, legal (and even medical pot) goes away, and the De senate will turn into a mini Drumpf brigade. Dont take the much larger evil because Bernie isnt running.
nemski, that’s a fair question, and El Som’s resolution of that question is fine with me. For me, Ben sums it up. Unless there is someone more progressive in the race, I’ll vote for (or work in this case) for the most progressive person in the race.
“Until/unless there is a legit progressive challenge to the Third Way/Concord Coalition mindset of our so-called Democratic Party, I don’t even see what’s the point.”
El Som, I agree philosophically, but that’s not a winning campaign platform. If nothing else, we need to fight to keep the Senate Democratic just to see the expression on Carney’s face. And I’ve only seen one expression on Carney’s face, so I mean that figuratively.
Jason, you’re mistaken if you think Hansen is going to block Carney’s adoption of the Chamber of Commerce policy line. There are far too many D’s in the Chamber’s pocket already for her to make a difference in that regard. And she works for one of the big corporate law firms.
That said, I would expect her to be more likely a yes vote on environmental and equal pay issues … but Carney is going to be a corporatist D no matter who wins the election. (Hey, do you think he’d be less corporatist if BHL still held the seat?)
As for being more progressive, by that standard we’d all be voting for Tony DeLuca.
I think Stephanie could be a good senator — she brings intelligence and political expertise — and I was encouraged with much of what she said Saturday in Newark, but I’m not counting on her to push the party’s leadership in a more progressive direction.
This is the beauty of blogging. Good points. I don;t think she is a bulwark against Carney’s Chamber of Commerce policy line, but the Dems in the majority in the Senate will give those Dems not in the pocket of the Chamber a little more juice.
That assumes that Carney really would prefer an R senate. When you’ve got senators like Bushweller and Poore willing to ‘cross the aisle’, I don’t know if it matters.
My point is, and it’s certainly larger than this race, the Delaware Way is precisely why progressives/liberals, populists, choose your own term, have been routinely shunted aside in this party. Unless it changes, and it can only change with grassroots action and progressives running for office, this special election means nothing. That is, until we get a sense that Hansen will be part of the solution, not part of the continuing problem.
And, her previous electoral history suggests that she, at least then, was part of the problem. Sure, people can change. Or they can stay basically the same.
We always get to this point with Democratic candidates – they need your vote so they can do the good work and then crickets.
“Would I vote for her? Probably. Do I think it’d make a difference in Dover? No.”
Of course it would make a difference. Not necessarily in the outcomes, but in the political long game.
A Repub Senate gives Dems cover for not supporting Dem priorities. They will be able to vote FOR stuff like minimum wage increase or upper bracket tax hikes, safe in the knowledge that it won’t pass. Or they can vote against cuts to social services, knowing that they WILL pass. Hell, Dem voting records might even become MORE progressive by voting for stillborn bills.
But with a Dem Senate, Dems wlll have to actively vote against minimum wage or tax increases (or kill them in committee). Turncoat Dems will be smoked out and can be held accountable.
Nemski – I agree 100%. The Overton window needs moving. More progressive candidates and no free pass to co-opted corporate Dems just because they are the lesser of two evils.
Every SD10 voter and potential donor is free to make up their mind about whether or not Hansen is sufficiently Dem for them. She is for me.
Most Dem candidates aren’t going to scratch my progressive itch, and especially not while in campaign mode. That’s not an excuse for letting Repubs sneak in.
Nemski, you’re spot on about dems settling center after elections…. but republikkkans are activist right wing warriors. the DO try to get stuff done. I get that president pig-fucker is going to remind everyone what happens when we let GOP take control, no need to intentionally let harm come to our state just to make the lesson redundant.
Puck – I respectfully disagree. There are times when it is right to let a Repub sneak in. This isn’t one of them.
Puck–the political long game can only change with progressives getting elected to more offices and challenging the insider coziness that is the Delaware Way.
This race is not gonna change that in any fashion whatsoever. Whoever wins will likely jump right into bed with their Delaware Way, um, bedfellows.
We rationalize this every single time. Well, our candidate is less bad than the other one, so we’ll support them. It is time that the grassroots rise up and force our/their views to be considered by this pathetic excuse for a Democratic Party. They won’t listen to us? We’ll MAKE them listen to us. There’s no other way.
“There are times when it is right to let a Repub sneak in. This isn’t one of them.”
Agreed. Control of the Senate is more important than any one candidate.
El Som… I’m full of cynical counterpoints, but I’ve decided to hold off. I’d like to speak with the candidate and the volunteers on the ground first. It’s not right for me to make assumptions about how a candidate should run for office in SD10. How about you show up for the Saturday fundraiser?
Carney won with 58 percent of the vote, so I don’t expect any Democratic candidate to campaign by explaining a) how Carney really has a secret Repub agenda (which he does), and b) how she plans to work against him.
“Sure, people can change. Or they can stay basically the same.”
Guess which one happens more frequently.
“We rationalize this every single time. …It is time that the grassroots rise up and force our/their views to be considered by this pathetic excuse for a Democratic Party. They won’t listen to us? We’ll MAKE them listen to us. There’s no other way.”
This is exactly why I’m going to deliver my contribution in person.
And letting a Republican in this time turns the Senate Red. But I’m sure the message received will be that “she wasn’t a progressive” and not that “Delaware embraces the GOP agenda!” Just like how the polls showing the ACA was unpopular always pointed out that part of that unpopularity was due to law not going far enough.
If grassroots is the way to go (and I agree that it is) we’ll need time to organize and promote candidates. We don’t have the time now, but we should be working on this goal.
So, I’m not sure what not supporting her and losing control of the senate accomplishes. If someone can explain this strategy, I’m all ears.
Losing control of the senate will create a Republican dream narrative. I expect Trump and co. will even tweet it out – “Dems lose again. Sad.”
I agree with Ben that Marino is one of the worst R’s out there. I expect him to go straight to the gutter and start digging. But… I have heard from Republicans that this is it for Marino. If he loses, they are going a different direction next time. This special would drive a stake through the heart of a guy that has been following the Trump-Tea-Party playbook for a decade.
I look forward to putting him out of his political misery.
Well, we don’t want Trump tweeting anything out. A fate worse than…?
Like I said, I’d vote for her if I was in her district. But this election, one way or another, will make no difference. Nothing changes until the Delaware Way is challenged by the grassroots. Especially the way that the Delaware Way has been completely embraced by our so-called Democratic leaders. For decades now.
LG: I’d heard that they were going in a different direction this time. Wasn’t there some other name before they settled on Marino?
There were several in the running. A climate denier at UD, an independent that they wanted to switch to R and at least one more that I didn’t recognize. I suspect that Marino had signs, experience and name recognition, so he got this last chance in the abbreviated campaign.
Remember how the Tea Party did it. If she wants our votes and our efforts, she’ll have to agree — NOW, not at some future time — to support progressive policies outside her obvious comfort areas.
I can’t believe I have to explain this to you all, but here goes:
Stephanie Hansen isn’t stupid. She knows that a Women’s March audience expects to hear support for women’s issues. She also voiced, in the vaguest terms, support for environmental issues.
I have no doubt the equal pay issue is close to her heart, so I think that’s legit. So let’s look at her environmental support for a minute.
She obviously knows her stuff if she practices environmental law. But how strongly environmental could she be if represented a client looking to conduct a chemical-based industry in the Coastal Zone?
The most important environmental issue in Delaware right now is the Coastal Zone Act. For several years now politicians of both parties have been signaling their willingness to chip away at its prohibition on all new heavy industry in the zone, mainly by arguing in favor of news businesses that replace old ones. Stephanie Hansen represented a company that did exactly that, and won.
Vague support is almost worthless. If she wants my support, or the support of any environmentalist, she must make a clear statement about protecting the Coastal Zone from the very sort of thing she has already done professionally. Absent such a statement, why should I believe that her idea of “protecting the environment” isn’t the same sort of “support” that John Carney has shown, repeatedly, for Social Security and Medicare — he wants to weaken them in order to save them.
You pledge your support AFTER you get concessions from her, not before.
The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.
But how strongly environmental could she be if represented a client looking to conduct a chemical-based industry in the Coastal Zone?
This sounds a lot like “How can we think that this person is going to be sympathetic to victims of crimes after they represented a man accused of killing someone?”
“So, I’m not sure what not supporting her and losing control of the senate accomplishes. If someone can explain this strategy, I’m all ears.”
No, you’re not. If there’s one thing you have demonstrated in spades over the past several years, it’s that you are thick as a brick on how politics works. You’re a dilettante.
It accomplishes the end of Democrats assuming they can run corporate lawyers by us by calling them “progressive.”
@LG: If you’re stupid, I suppose.
I reject the comparison. I have no “sympathy for the victims of crimes” in a political sense, because in a political sense victims of crimes have no standing in any legal proceeding outside of a penalty-phase death penalty hearing, nor should they.
Here’s a far more apt comparison: I wouldn’t vote for a prosecutor who prosecuted capital cases who claimed he was anti-death penalty, either. Because if he truly was anti-death penalty and he nevertheless argued for it in court, he demonstrated that his principles were less important than his career.
In the Delaware Way, is there a difference between Democrats and Republicans?
Yes. Republicans lie to conservatives, and Democrats lie to liberals.
All my other misgivings aside, we won’t even see recreational marijuana brought to the floor unless she wins. That’s enough for me
If Dems keep control…. A lot of the Dems now signing up for Indivisible-type networking groups will be astonished to hear they will be called on to put pressure on Dems to release the minimum wage bill from committee. At least I hope they will be called on.
But if Repubs take the Senate, at least we can have lots of cathartic but futile protests against Repubs (protests which all will agree are “amazing”).
Anonymous – in your job did you ever have to do work that supported people that you didn’t approve of or that you were philosophically opposed to? I know that I have had to in my role as a consultant (in the past) and I certainly don’t agree with all of the political stances of my employer. But I do the work that they need done, and so did you, I bet.
But you have already stated why you don’t like Stephanie (her ex) so why obfuscate?
Thanks for saying that, DL. I always try to prioritize that under all the other rights that have to be fought for… and ones that will be stripped away if we let Marino win because Hansen isnt Left enough……….. but it is a pretty big one. He’s a cop…. and the kind of cop who would rather beat on harmless pot-users instead of actual criminals.
@LG: You can’t possibly be this stupid. Wait, you can.
I can be against her for a whole host of reasons. You did realize that, right? Or are you going to claim that everything I say is because I didn’t like her ex?
Just to help you figure out how thinking actually works, the knock on her isn’t that I didn’t like Chris Roberts. It’s that she did.
@Ben: I neither know nor care whether she wins or not, and I have explained why. It’s not because she isn’t “pure.” It’s because she isn’t trustworthy.
For a year I read all you people saying we shouldn’t line up behind Democrats just because they’re Democrats, and then I watch you fall all over yourselves going against what you said.
It’s easy to say you won’t back corporate Democrats, but most of you apparently find it impossible to follow through.
In Delaware we get to choose between pro-corporatist politicians and even more pro-corporatist politicians.
The only way to “not back corporate Democrats” is to become non-political. Which lends support to Republicans.
I don’t necessarily buy anonymous’ argument in full. However, the last bit is very important. This strategy seems eerily familiar. It was just applied in the national election. Namely, focus on the opponent’s unacceptable ideas and keeping the opponents party out of power. How about a “Democrat” campaign on progressive and leftist values.
Almost everything I’ve seen from Team Hansen begins with the fact that if Democrats loses the seat Republicans take control of the Senate. How about running on real progressive ideas primarily? Context needn’t be ignored, but if it’s the primary argument, you’re in deep trouble.
@puck – I get you. But we can push candidates rather than give up because were afraid of the opponent.
Anonymous – I just wonder if you would be falling all over yourself to find fault if she hadn’t been married to Chris. Perhaps it isn’t “obfuscate” so much as rationalizing your pre-existing opinion.
I look at it this way: When I’m pounding on a legislator’s office door to demand that the minimum wage bill be released from committee, I’d rather it be 4-3 D committee rather than R.
I totally get you. I’m just pointing out that this pragmatic pure numbers rationale sometimes doesn’t work so well as a campaign strategy. I’m not saying I don’t understand the theory of having more votes in the legislature. Obviously, I do. But you either want more Kowalko type Democrats in Dover or more Sneaky Pete type Democrats there.
I want more Kowalko types. When it comes down to simply casting a binary vote that’s maybe another matter.
HELL YES! to this from R.E.V: “This strategy seems eerily familiar. It was just applied in the national election. Namely, focus on the opponent’s unacceptable ideas and keeping the opponents party out of power. How about a “Democrat” campaign on progressive and leftist values. ….How about running on real progressive ideas primarily? Context needn’t be ignored, but if it’s the primary argument, you’re in deep trouble.”
Absolutely what I’ll be looking for.
“Perhaps it isn’t “obfuscate” so much as rationalizing your pre-existing opinion.”
That works both ways — you are doing exactly what you’re accusing me of. And unlike you, I have given plenty of rationale why any progressive who cares about the environment should beware corporate lawyers bearing convenient positions for an election.
Howzabout you stop trying to smear the messenger and defend your own position logically?
@REV: Exactly. I’d probably vote for her in the privacy of the voting booth. But I will no longer publicly support Democrats until they prove to me they are progressive on more than a few convenient issues. Fuck, I can find a couple of issues I can live with conservatives on. It takes more than that.
In her short, non-extemporaneous speech Saturday she showed the most passion when talking about how she got screwed over by her boss 30 years ago. If that’s not a tell to you, please invite me to your next poker game.
She didn’t screw me over in any way by hooking up with Chris Roberts. To me, it demonstrated her character, the same way Karen Venezky, once seen as a champion of good government, demonstrated her character by bowing down to Gordonberry in exchange for them blowing smoke up her ass about becoming council president.
I covered the county shitshow for years, as both an editor and reporter, and I took none of it personally. My job was to keep an eye on these people and I did. I relate what I saw here. You can reject it, but don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s raining.
Karen Venesky, hadn’t thought about her in a long time. But she indeed ran as a ‘good government’ type, sort of in the mold of an Ada Leigh Soles, then turned into a cheerleader for Gordon and his, wait for it, ilk.
In fact, current councilperson Lisa Diller is what we THOUGHT we were getting with Venezky.