Breaking News – Leadership Vote Today
The Speakership has been rumored to be a lock for Valerie Longhurst for months now. Paul Baumbach is regarded as a possible alternative but a long shot. Anyway, Pete is almost certainly out.
I don’t know much about the mechanics of it, so I’ll leave that to El Som.
Leftist podcaster and journalist RE Vanilla had an interesting and possibly revealing take on how a Speakership vote for Longhurst could come about with the progressive changes in the Dem caucus.
Val is a politician. What if her potential ascent to Speaker depended upon, say, a new influx of progressive women Reps? And hypothetically Val knew her ability to lead the House and leapfrog Pete in leadership was orchestrated by a coalition that she’ll need to maintain that power? She could be expected to have a different agenda than she’s had, for example.
I have no idea of how the sausage will get made–IF it gets made–today.
Pete hasn’t given up his dream of remaining Speaker yet, but there’s only one possible path, and it’s a destructive one. It’s never worked despite previous threats to use it. Pete has his (very few) remaining supporters: Ol’ Lump, Bill Bush, Franklin Cooke, uh, that’s about all I can think of. If he can get enough to stick with him, he may try to take it to the House floor (remember, kids, the Speaker is elected by the entire House, not just the D Caucus). This, of course, would require the Rethugs to go along, which is not even a sure thing. Plus, the pressure on D’s to support the Caucus rather than make an unholy pact with the R’s would be seriously ratcheted up. I don’t think it can work.
As to the inevitability of Val, that’s what I’d heard at the beginning of the week. But apparently the situation is more fluid than that, and I don’t think anyone in the Caucus knows what will happen today.. If Val is as bad at counting votes as she has been when sponsoring some of her bills, it ain’t over until the white smoke emerges from the Leg Hall chimney.
I just hope my spies have planted the bugs where I instructed them to…
Republicans might well vote for Pete, seeing that he’s closer to their positions than the Democratic Party’s.
I think any R who votes for a D speaker will surely draw a primary opponent next term.
“I’ll take Val to block, Peter.”
I think any D who goes along with this plan will get primaried.
BTW, I fully expect the weight of the Delaware Democratic Party to come down on any D legislator who would take part in this.
The full House doesn’t reconvene until January–PLENTY of time to turn up the heat on turncoats.
Kyra’s success is proof that upper Kent County has changed demographically. Carson and Bush are vulnerable. If they have a single brain cell between them, they won’t add additional avenues for primary opponents to pummel them.
I think Ol’ Lump is ready to hang ’em up and retire to his pickaninny collection. He might’ve done it this time if a D, ANY D, had primaried him.
He should be near the top of the 2024 target list for WFP. Right below Franklin Cooke.
“Kyra’s success is proof that upper Kent County has changed demographically. ”
Yes, the demographics have changed here, and I’ve been waiting for it for decades.
Slowly the old hicks are dying off, but the real reason is people moving in from more progressive states like New York and New Jersey.
Pete and Val re-elected to leadership. Melissa Minor-Brown is whip.
(Didn’t see this post earlier)
I repeat: How is that possible?
If true (and I don’t doubt you), we need to find out who backed the Toxic Twosome. And primary every single one of their fucking asses.
State News government reporter says so: https://twitter.com/joeedelendsn/status/1591579588035215360?s=46&t=lBqTxaW9BUFjC-E4mszjbA