State Legislature Special Election Megathread v2

[Virginiá]

Would it actually hurt Felder to switch to the Republican Party? His district is, iirc, a Romney/Trump district, although it did swing left in 2016. Going purely by the presidential numbers, if anything, the Democratic label seems like a liability rather than an asset in that district.

[ON Progressive]

Would it actually hurt Felder to switch to the Republican Party? His district is, iirc, a Romney/Trump district, although it did swing left in 2016. Going purely by the presidential numbers, if anything, the Democratic label seems like a liability rather than an asset in that district.

I don't think it'll matter much for him in all honesty. He is popular with the Orthodox Jewish majority in his district, and that will keep him safe unless that popularity changes.

[Oryxslayer]

Would it actually hurt Felder to switch to the Republican Party? His district is, iirc, a Romney/Trump district, although it did swing left in 2016. Going purely by the presidential numbers, if anything, the Democratic label seems like a liability rather than an asset in that district.

I don't think it'll matter much for him in all honesty. He is popular with the Orthodox Jewish majority in his district, and that will keep him safe unless that popularity changes.

Yep. This image would probably be just reinforced if he became a iindie.

[UncleSam]

Dems should allow Felder to stay with them imo. He is more likely to vote with them that way and it's not like they'll need him to gain a majority come November either way. They can't beat him in his district so what would you rather have, someone who votes with you 70% of the time or 30% of the time and votes for the other party for the majority either way. Official party label has been shown to have a large impact on voting - the members of your party try to bend over backwards to vote with you or at least tell you what they need to vote with you, especially on big legislation. While the Dems won't need him come November, I don't see why they would alienate him just to sate their own egos.

[Tintrlvr]

Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea. Felder is a joke of a Democrat, but he would easily win reelection as an independent or Republican, and the Democrats would be better off not totally antagonizing the ultra-Orthodox Jews so that they still swing as a block to Democratic candidates in statewide and other races sometimes.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Dems should allow Felder to stay with them imo. He is more likely to vote with them that way and it's not like they'll need him to gain a majority come November either way. They can't beat him in his district so what would you rather have, someone who votes with you 70% of the time or 30% of the time and votes for the other party for the majority either way. Official party label has been shown to have a large impact on voting - the members of your party try to bend over backwards to vote with you or at least tell you what they need to vote with you, especially on big legislation. While the Dems won't need him come November, I don't see why they would alienate him just to sate their own egos.

Yeah, pissing off your own party members is generally a dumb idea. Not sure why they would do this.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

[Virginiá]

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

Eh, there are legitimate reasons to strip some people of their Democratic Party affiliation, such as if a Republican blatantly switches to the Democratic Party just to worm their way into a safe Democratic seat, only to switch parties after and/or commit to caucusing with Republicans. If their intent is to bolster the GOP, they should be forced to run as a Republican, or anything other than a Democrat.

My only issue is how this would be enforced, which could lead to abuse. Though to be honest, I wasn't even aware they could do this in the first place, so if they actually can and it's not unconstitutional, then it doesn't seem ripe for abuse.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

Eh, there are legitimate reasons to strip some people of their Democratic Party affiliation, such as if a Republican blatantly switches to the Democratic Party just to worm their way into a safe Democratic seat, only to switch parties after and/or commit to caucusing with Republicans. If their intent is to bolster the GOP, they should be forced to run as a Republican, or anything other than a Democrat.

My only issue is how this would be enforced, which could lead to abuse. Though to be honest, I wasn't even aware they could do this in the first place, so if they actually can and it's not unconstitutional, then it doesn't seem ripe for abuse.

Well if Felder is ever going to be kicked out of the party, then by that same (extremely twisted) logic, the hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews who he represents should be kicked out also. He's representing them very well, and just like his constituents, he chooses to be affliated as a Democrat.
Legitimizing this would just make stupid, idiotic jfern-esque litmus tests easier to push in our political system, and that is an end result that is not A.O.K.

[Virginiá]

Well if Felder is ever going to be kicked out of the party, then by that same (extremely twisted) logic, the hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews who he represents should be kicked out also. He's representing them very well, and just like his constituents, he chooses to be affliated as a Democrat.

Not necessarily. I don't hesitate to admit my logic is directed at elected officials who actually engage in policy making.

Legitimizing this would just make stupid, idiotic jfern-esque litmus tests easier to push in our political system, and that is an end result that is not A.O.K.

Maybe. That is why I stated that I had an issue with how it would be enforced, which I then went on to say that if they've been able to do this all along, then clearly it hasn't been abused as of yet. Still, litmus tests do become a possibility I guess, but so far they only seem to be taking umbrage with him caucusing with Republicans.

[YE]

Just kick him off his committee asingments if you’re going to do anything at all.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

the problem is that once people like Felder can get kicked out for not being a team player, you've opened a Pandora Box. There's also the presumption underlying all this that he's a registered Democrat, and he was elected repeatedly as a Democrat, and thus he must automatically help Democrats. That's not how it's supposed to work. His constituents are perfectly fine with him helping Republicans. It's not the place of the Democratic Party to tell Senator Felder that even though he represents a heavily registered D district, and has been elected for three full terms as a Democrat on the ballot, that he has no place in the tent.

If party officials don't want him in office anymore, convince his constituents to change their minds, and then he can get primaried. Until then they can view him with scorn, and dislike him, and see him as a Democrat In Name Only (which would be very fair), but it doesn't change the fact Felder, and each and every one of his constituents, has a right to choose which party they want to be in. Naturally they want to be relevant in city and state politics; they'll take up Democratic registration and vote in Democratic primaries in order to exude influence. Who are we to judge?

[smoltchanov]

In short - legislator represents his voters first, and his party - second. So, i am absolutely fine with any sort of mavericks in ALL parties - relatively conservative Democrats and relatively liberal Republicans included. My only complaint: there are too few of them (and way too much "loyal foot soldiers") everywhere... American politics became utterly boring as a result.

[IceAgeComing]

A political party is perfectly fine to expel members who act against the interests of the wider party - the point of a political party is meant to be a machine to elect people who have broadly similar aims and goals.  Since Felder is sitting with the other party in the State Senate then the Democrats have a right to expel him since, as far as I am concerned, that is breaking rule number 1 of being a member of a political party.  He can still run as an Independent or as a Republican or whatever: it means that in the General Elections voters will actually have the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and that's a positive thing.

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

free agency also allows a group to remove people who they feel act contrary to the aims of said group.  I don't know about how but sitting with the opposing political party when your party has a majority strikes me as meeting that definition.

[smoltchanov]

A political party is perfectly fine to expel members who act against the interests of the wider party - the point of a political party is meant to be a machine to elect people who have broadly similar aims and goals.  Since Felder is sitting with the other party in the State Senate then the Democrats have a right to expel him since, as far as I am concerned, that is breaking rule number 1 of being a member of a political party.  He can still run as an Independent or as a Republican or whatever: it means that in the General Elections voters will actually have the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and that's a positive thing.

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

free agency also allows a group to remove people who they feel act contrary to the aims of said group.  I don't know about how but sitting with the opposing political party when your party has a majority strikes me as meeting that definition.

IIRC - U.S. political parties were never built on strict ideological basis (unlike most of European ones, operating under multy-party, and, in most cases, parlamentary system). On the contrary - "big tent" (ideological diversity WITHIN both major parties) was proclaimed to be one of the main principles of party organization in US. If now they are built around ideology  - better change country's political  system to 10-party parlamentary, and then expel anybody, who differs from any party's "official dogma" (after all - there will be 9 other). But it will not be the US i knew... A system with only 2 ideologized parties leaves too many people utterly unrepresented.

P.S. In  fact - your words about "free agency....." almost literally describe Leninist approach to party building. It was widely used in Russia and Soviet Union. Do you want to follow that same path??? I live in Russia, and relations between our countries are tense now, but i don't want the same fate for US.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

A political party is perfectly fine to expel members who act against the interests of the wider party - the point of a political party is meant to be a machine to elect people who have broadly similar aims and goals.  Since Felder is sitting with the other party in the State Senate then the Democrats have a right to expel him since, as far as I am concerned, that is breaking rule number 1 of being a member of a political party.  He can still run as an Independent or as a Republican or whatever: it means that in the General Elections voters will actually have the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and that's a positive thing.

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

free agency also allows a group to remove people who they feel act contrary to the aims of said group.  I don't know about how but sitting with the opposing political party when your party has a majority strikes me as meeting that definition.

Except there are only two parties in America, and they are supposed to represent a big-tent & broad based interest to accommodate people.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

A political party is perfectly fine to expel members who act against the interests of the wider party - the point of a political party is meant to be a machine to elect people who have broadly similar aims and goals.  Since Felder is sitting with the other party in the State Senate then the Democrats have a right to expel him since, as far as I am concerned, that is breaking rule number 1 of being a member of a political party.  He can still run as an Independent or as a Republican or whatever: it means that in the General Elections voters will actually have the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and that's a positive thing.

Felder has every right to be a Democrat, period. We have free agency in this country.

free agency also allows a group to remove people who they feel act contrary to the aims of said group.  I don't know about how but sitting with the opposing political party when your party has a majority strikes me as meeting that definition.

Of course you think that way - you are European. European norms are not in effect here in America, so while the people themselves have free agency to join the party, the party doesn't (or at least shouldn't) exactly have a right to expel them.
It's unusually ignorant of you to assume that European political parties operate on the same basis as American ones!

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Democrats don't really have the power to do anything with Felder. Since he's a registered democrat, they can't prevent him from running on the democratic ticket, sure they could primary him, but they can't legally keep him from running for the nomination to my knowledge. Now, if he sat with the Democrats nominally and just voted against the line often, they could kick him out of the caucus - but since he's not even part of the caucus in the first place, that punishment line is not available. And correct me if I'm wrong, but since he sits with the Republicans, I believe the Republicans are the ones deciding his committee assignments, so Democrats don't have power to take away those either.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Now, on an entirely different matter, there are several elections today.

Texas House 13 Runoff (8 ET): https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us/public/may22_326_race8.htm (This is technically the runoff for the general election and not the special election, but since the candidates in both runoffs are identical, it is expected that the losing candidate in tonight's runoff will withdraw from the special election, allowing this election to effectively substitute for the special election runoff.)

Arkansas State Senate 16, State Senate 29, State Senate 8 R Primary (8:30 ET) : http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/AR/74831/Web02-state.198804/#/c/C_4 (In district 16, Davis is the Republican and Gallegos is the Democrat. In District 29, Hill is the Republican and McNeely is the Democrat.)

(The election for Arkansas HoR district 83 is a republican running unopposed)

[Adam Griffin]

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/998979798952284160

RANDOM PRECINCT REPORT FROM MY [WHITFIELD] COUNTY

2014: 550 R, 67 D (89-11)
2018 (as of 4 PM): 249 R, 70 D (78-22)

Dem turnout at 104% of 2014; GOP at 45% of 2014.

[Dr. Arch]

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/998979798952284160

RANDOM PRECINCT REPORT FROM MY [WHITFIELD] COUNTY

2014: 550 R, 67 D (89-11)
2018 (as of 4 PM): 249 R, 70 D (78-22)

Dem turnout at 104% of 2014; GOP at 45% of 2014.

 

[Sestak]

Not a special election, but reposting from the Congressional thread:

Holy Crap!

https://twitter.com/AP/status/999091671789899777

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Obvious disclaimers, but the Dem is leading in early returns in AR-16!!!

[Bidenworth2020]

Obvious disclaimers, but the Dem is leading in early returns in AR-16!!!

da,m lol

[LimoLiberal]

Obvious disclaimers, but the Dem is leading in early returns in AR-16!!!

Source?!?!?!