Once again, the long lines at polling stations were applauded as determination instead of being seen for what they actually are: voter suppression. Cable news anchors are still in recovery from their Herculean efforts covering all the races last night. Instead of doing that, we’ll just focus on a few winners and losers of the day.
Winners of Election Day
republicans: Overall they might not have won all the races they wanted, but they set themselves up nicely for a future of washed-up athletes and TV stars spouting their talking points
Election Denial: More than 210 Republicans who questioned the 2020 election won seats in Congress and in state races
Illinois Workers: Really the only thing that motivated me to participate in this year’s democratic sham was Illinois’ Amendment 1, which would amend the state constitution to guarantee workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. The amendment has about 60% favorability with 90% of votes counted, looking forward to more labor organizing in 2023.
Gen Z: 25 year old Maxwell Frost, a Florida democrat, will be the first Gen Z member of Congress. First order of business, legalizing juul pods (probably).
Losers of Election Day (feel free to point & laugh)
Dr. Mehmet Oz: Add “Non-Senator” to the resume of this TV doctor and insufferable toolbox. His campaign was destined to fail, but yesterday provided the final crash and burn of a clueless millionaire trying to pass himself off as a man of the people
Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke: Still finding new ways to lose to the absolute worst humans on the planet Earth, this time Beto lost to Greg “Wheels of Glory” Abbott in the race for governor of the below average state of Texas
Darren Bailey: This foolish republican candidate ran for governor of Illinois and was so unpopular that the race was called immediately at 7:00PM based on exit polls alone. Hard to imagine a more pitiful affair in the entire state of Illinois than Mr. Bailey’s watch party, gathering to witness the results pour in and immediately dispersing in the face of overwhelming failure
JD Vance: I mean he won his election for senate, but have you seen the guy?
*Important reminder that regardless of whatever happened yesterday, community and workplace organizing continues. Elections can sometimes affect the landscape, but they are just one small part of the terrain. No matter how they go the work goes on. The fight continues.*
Side Items
World Cup Prep
Ecuador: Drawn into the same group as the hosts Qatar, the Netherlands, and Senegal, the South Americans are a real toss-up. As we’ve already discussed, Qatar is bad at soccer, so that’s one team down. Senegal will face additional challenges as they lost their captain and leader Sadio Mane to injury yesterday, so it’s certainly possible Ecuador could survive this group.
Australia: The Socceroos will make the trip to Qatar from the Land Down Undah, but don’t expect them to stick around for too long. The team is grouped together with France, Denmark and Tunisia, and should comfortably get sent packing by at least two of those teams. They’ll always have rugby!
Japan: Drawn into a tough group featuring Spain, Germany, and Costa Rica, the Japanese have their work cut out for them. My heart tells me that either Germany or Spain will struggle in this tournament, there’s always one global powerhouse that does, and if that’s the case, perhaps Team Japan can sneak through to the knockout stages