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Dear Friends,
Overall, the 2022 election was a strong rejection of MAGAism and election denialism, with specific exceptions (i.e. Florida). Importantly, many of the election-denying secretary-of-state candidates have either lost or are losing, so it turns out preserving our democracy *is* important to people.
For the wins we were hoping for and didn’t get, they were mainly Republican holds, in Republican states or districts. We knew Tom Malinowski and Ashley Ehasz had an uphill battle in two of those red strongholds closest to us. Republicans are, after all, entitled to proportional representation, even if they sometimes choose to be represented by clowns.
Regardless, Pennsylvania is now a blue state, and the wins are extremely gratifying. Everyone at ILNH, Indivisible Bucks, and other organizations who wrote postcards, knocked doors, texted, or smiled and dialed should be very, very proud of your efforts there. We helped elect a great governor, we made sure Pennsylvanians will finally have two functioning senators, and we sent two MAGA extremists packing. Unfortunately, one of them will be packing for New Jersey, but we are team players here, and I’m sure Bill Pascrell will have a very heartwarming welcome-home ceremony for his celebrity constituent that we should be sure to attend, ruffian-style.
For the few districts that flipped or are likely to flip Republican, it will be very interesting to see the degree to which that is the result of partisan gerrymandering rather than a referendum on inflation, elections, the president, or the candidate. Someone needs to run those numbers.
Case in point: NJ-07 got 30,000 more Republicans because of redistricting. Tom Malinowski conceded when he was behind by 13,000+ votes, with less chance that the remaining ones to be counted would put him in the win column. So, the anointed Republican took the district without making any actual effort, just because its borders got rearranged. In how many other of the flipped districts was this the dominant dynamic?
We look forward to attending every one of Tom Kean’s many future town halls, which we can expect given the several interview opportunities and invitations to debate he accepted (read: sarcasm). We should clear our calendars now and get ourselves a banner, or series of signs, that read: “Just checking: Has Tom Kean reached across the aisle and broken the back of inflation yet?” We should have those at every town hall, outside his office on a regular schedule, and at any appropriate event. In addition, we will likely get lots of use out of the life-size cutout we had made of Tom K. with all those phantom appearances as he reaches out to hear from his constituents. If you’re on Twitter, you may want to start following Tuesdays with Tom as we hold him accountable for how he represents us following in the same vein initiated by Fridays with Fitzpatrick.
Anyway, we’re sad about Tom like everyone else because we have most certainly traded down, but overall, we think this election is a net positive on a lot of fronts. So, in the midst of our disappointment, let’s all take a minute to pour ourselves a cold one for all the hard work we did. It made a difference. Keep those pens handy, however, since we need to get those postcards rolling for Senator Warnock’s runoff election!
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ILNH Postcard Writing Party
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Tuesday, Nov. 15 @ 6:30 pm. Union Coffee, 49 N Union St., Lambertville
Help send postcards to voters in Georgia to re-elect Reverend Raphael Warnock to U.S. Senate!
Union Coffee has a capacity of only 25 people so get there early for a seat! Lastly, Union Coffee is gracious enough to lend us their space, but the shop is closed so bring your own snacks and drinks! If interested in going, email info@indivisibleLNH.com. |
Indivisible Lambertville / New Hope Leadership Team
Diane Abatemarco, Caroline Armstrong, Nancy Barich, Paige Barnett, Elaine Clisham, Shara Durkee, Sharon Hallanan, Cyndy Jahn, Charmaine Jordan, Mary Jane Legere, Elycia Lerman, Alison Levine, Deb Kline, Karen Mitchell, Elizabeth O’Donnell, Cindi Sternfeld, Olga Vannucci
Email us at info@indivisiblelnh.com |
