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Hansen is the Democratic Nominee in SD10
As expected, the Democratic Party nominated former New Castle County Council President Stephanie Hansen to be the party’s candidate in the 10th Senate District’s special election to succeed future Lt. Governor Bethany Hall Long.
The real news last night though was an attempt to embargo the news of this nomination until a press release was published this morning. The Democratic Party held a public meeting and announced the candidate by unanimous vote, and expected the news to stay secret until a press release had been prepared? Why wasn’t one already drafted and waiting to be released? Everyone knew it was going to be Hansen, no disrespect to the other candidates. We desperately need a Party Chairman who knows that technology and press relations have advanced since the 1970’s. We desperately need party regulars who populate the committee who understand this as well.
The December 22, 2016 Thread
You. Can. Never. Take. A. Republican. At. His. or Her. Word. They are liars. They do not deal in good faith. They will betray you at the earliest opportunity.
“After more than nine hours of closed-door meetings, jawboning and complicated legislative stratagems, North Carolina legislators went home in frustration Wednesday after failing to repeal the state law that has prompted economic boycotts, lawsuits, political acrimony and contributed to the defeat of the Republican governor,” the New York Times reports.
“Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, could not agree on a way to repeal the law, commonly known as House Bill 2. The legislation curbs legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and requires transgender people in public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate.”
“The failure to reach a deal in a one-day special session, even after Charlotte, the state’s largest city, fully repealed the ordinance that set the law in motion, was yet another moment of political dysfunction in a state that has become accustomed to it. The session comes just days after Republicans stripped significant powers from Governor-elect Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who is to be sworn in on New Year’s Day.”
The December 21, 2016 Thread
In the latest HuffPost/YouGov survey, half of the respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.” The other half was provided with the exact same statement, except the word “blacks” was switched to “average Americans.” You know what is going to happen, don’t you?
Among those who voted for Hillary Clinton, there was no difference in the two samples. But among those who voted for Donald Trump, nearly two-thirds agreed with the statement when it pertained to “average Americans” while just 12% though the same for blacks. Yep. It’s all Economic Anxiety.
The December 20, 2016 Thread
Jesse Singal on what Democrats can learn from the Tea Party:
[T]he most important thing progressives can do is play united defense against Trump and the GOP rather than get into squabbles about which affirmative policy proposals are best. The tea party, after all, was successful in large part because it understood itself as primarily a defensive group. It was “focused on fighting against every proposal coming out of the new Democratic Administration and Congress,” note the authors. “This focus on defense rather than policy development allowed the movement to avoid fracturing. Tea Party members may have not agreed on the policy reforms, but they could agree that Obama, Democrats, and moderate Republicans had to be stopped.”
Progressives should follow the same tack, the authors argue: “[W]e strongly recommend focusing on defense against the Trump agenda rather than developing an entire alternative policy agenda,” they write. “This is time-intensive, divisive, and, quite frankly, a distraction, since there is zero chance that we as progressives will get to put our agenda into action at the federal level in the next four years.” Given the amount of left-liberal infighting that has raged since the election, it feels like important advice.
Emphasis mine. I feel that has been the number one piece of advice for us as the Opposition moving forward.
What’s the story in SD10?
So last week, the state Democratic Party held an informational meeting in New Castle regarding the upcoming special election in the 10th Senate District to replace Bethany Hall Long. During this meeting, several candidates spoke announcing their candidacies. They are:
Jim Ryan – Retired CWA
Debbie Harrington – Retired Military, DSU Trustee
Dave Woodside – 27th RD chair
Stephanie Hansen – Former County Council president
Maggie Jones – Campaign manager for John Walsh
Harry Dudlek – Committee member, IBEW member
One name stands out among all the rest, and that is Stephanie Hansen, who is currently an environmental and land use attorney at the Wilmington law firm of Young Conaway. She is also the former President of New Castle County Council from 1996 to 2001, who had previously considered primarying County Executive Tom Gordon last year before deferring. As you can see from the picture above, she is friendly with many former or current members of the General Assembly. Out of that list above, she is obviously the Party’s pick and can be expected to win the Executive Committee vote on January 3.
The December 19, 2016 Thread
George Lakoff on how Democrats help Trump: “Without knowing it, many Democrats, progressives and members of the news media help Donald Trump every day. The way they help him is simple: they spread his message.”
“Think about it: every time Trump issues a mean tweet or utters a shocking statement, millions of people begin to obsess over his words. Reporters make it the top headline. Cable TV panels talk about it for hours. Horrified Democrats and progressives share the stories online, making sure to repeat the nastiest statements in order to refute them. While this response is understandable, it works in favor of Trump.”
“When you repeat Trump, you help Trump. You do this by spreading his message wide and far.”
The December 17, 2016 Thread
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt: “Mr. Trump is not the first American politician with authoritarian tendencies. (Other notable authoritarians include Gov. Huey Long of Louisiana and Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.) But he is the first in modern American history to be elected president. This is not necessarily because Americans have grown more authoritarian (the United States electorate has always had an authoritarian streak). Rather it’s because the institutional filters that we assumed would protect us from extremists, like the party nomination system and the news media, failed.”
“Many Americans are not overly concerned about Mr. Trump’s authoritarian inclinations because they trust our system of constitutional checks and balances to constrain him. Yet the institutional safeguards protecting our democracy may be less effective than we think.”
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