Democratic candidates won all 30 of Northern Virginia’s seats in the Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday as the party was set to significantly expand its 51-49 majority in the state’s lower chamber.
As of 11 p.m., Democrats had picked up 13 seats statewide, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. With only one race undecided, the Democrats will hold at least 64 of the 100 seats, the most they have held in nearly 40 years.
It means that voting still matters. Even if intimidation, lying, and fear tactics from the other side steal some votes away… we can still win next November, and hopefully, November 2028.
You forget the ones who encourage sitting it out as a means of protest. Even if the candidates are both shit, your country needs you to pick a side. Remember: sometimes it’s not about endorsing the candidate, so much as it is to deny the other a seat in power. The system will function as it normally does, but the choice is very much yours. You don’t get to sit it out because you disagree with one or two bullet points, then whine about the next 4 years.
Oh fuck off. Some people dont want to take part in a political system that directly equates to genocide overseas
Ah, a “trump supporter by inaction”. You got us here.
In a winner-take-all election, anything less than a vote for the runner up is an endorsement of the winner.
You’re not “refusing to take part” in the election, you’re just voting “either is fine by me.”
That’s not how elections work. You don’t know who the winner is going to be in advance, so there’s no way to knowingly vote for “the runner up” before the polls close. Nevermind the simple math of 50%+1, making your choice of Cuomo or Sliwa or a write-in for Eric Adams irrelevant once Mamdani’s crested half the voting pool.
And in Virginia? When Dems just took the map in a landslide? Being angry at someone who didn’t vote when your favorite Democrat just crossed the line with a 15-pt margin is deranged.
Essentially every winner-take-all election comes down to the establishment and the opposition. Either you like the team in charge and vote for them, want them replaced and vote for the most likely challenger, or find both choices equivalent and do something else with your vote.
NYC’s mayor election is a great example. Every adult who looked at polling knew that it would either be Mamdani or Cuomo, and those who still voted for someone else were communicating very effectively that both choices were equivalent to them.
Look, you can do whatever the hell you want to with your vote. Spoil it, waste it on a “third party” vanity campaign, or just skip the election. Just don’t pretend that your wasted vote is somehow not a declaration that whomever wins is as good to you as the runner up.
Okay, so who filled these rolls in the NYC Mayor’s Race?
That’s not what happened in the primary. And even in the general, Sliwa and Cuomo polled neck and neck after Adams dropped out.
And then when your candidate loses you’re going to come back here and yell at me for voting wrong. Hell, even when you win, you’re yelling that I’ve voted wrong.
All I have to say is “I don’t like Dem Candidate X”. I don’t even need to tell you who I voted for. Somehow I’ve single handled ruined your favorite candidate’s election odds.
I know people who were convinced Sliwa was going to be the next NYC mayor, because Mamdani was in the primary ruining Cuomo’s chances.
Cuomo, who was endorsed by the outgoing mayor, was the establishment. Mamdani, who ran an insurgent campaign to beat both Adams and Cuomo in the ranked-choice primary, was the opposition.
That the choice was either Cuomo or Mamdani was so obvious that the leadership of the Republican party endorsed Cuomo over his own party’s nominee.
The DNC primary was not a winner-take-all election. We could call them “single ballot plurality wins” or “first past the post” if the difference is confusing to you.
Where the fuck did I say that? Go ahead and waste your vote all you want. Sometimes both plausible winners suck, and “they both are equally bad” is a perfectly fine fucking message.
Just don’t expect any rhetorical accolades for voting “either” from the rest of us.
I mean, I feel you. But you’re in this political system whether or not you pull the voting lever. Abstaining from elections doesn’t spare anyone’s life overseas.
Find the folks you can support and support them how you can. Hope for a brighter future. Hug your parents, your spouse, your kids, and your friends. That’s all anyone can be expected to do.
Your inaction is hurting people here. It’s hurting people like me. LGBTQ folks. By “not taking part” you’re sending a message to people trying to kill me that you don’t care if I die and they should just go for it…
So they should just hand it to the people that want to expand the genocide to their own country as well?
I care about the genocide in other parts of the world.
I also care about feeding our own people, having due process for everyone here, women’s rights, lgbt rights, immigration rights, Healthcare, government spending, employee rights, free speech rights, climate change etc etc etc
I care about the world, but I also know which candidates will fuck myself, friends, family and neighbors over. I have to vote for a nonperfect candidate sometimes to protect those around me. Until we have another alternative to first past the pole, it’s the system we have.
And you’ll never get these things by throwing Palestinians under the bus; that’s how solidarity works. Remember Abandon Harris? I mean, hello, Obama and Biden both deported millions of people throughout their terms, and Democrats are certainly not going to give you healthcare or do shit about climate change. If they don’t care about brown kids on the other side of the world, they don’t care about you. The people who do care about you tend to also care about brown kids on the other side of the world, so it’s either take on injustice at home and abroad or surrender to injustice both at home and abroad.
Do you ever listen to the flight safety briefings on planes? Mask yourself before anyone else during a crash. You have to be alive and conscious to help others.
Myself, family, friends, and neighbors in that order need to be protected and safe before I can put my full attention on other groups. That doesn’t mean I don’t care, I donate to orgs that can do those things. I will pick a less perfect candidate that will help protect those around me.
Would you vote for someone who calls out the genocide of the Palestinian people but would also destroy social services where you live that you might rely on?
And uh… are those around you protected now, or are they at the mercy of the Gestapo like everyone else in America? See my point now? There’s nothing such as protecting people in order; either everyone is protected or no one is. For example since we’re talking about Palestine, according to post-election polling Gaza playing a major role in costing Harris the election. You’re simply not special enough to be protected before everyone else; either you scratch others’ backs so they scratch yours or both you and others end up with itchy backs in a concentration camp. Genocidal warmongers are not going to protect you.
First, I don’t want someone who calls out the genocide; I want someone who does something about it. Second, did you miss the part where I said injustice everywhere needs to be opposed? If such a person existed, I’d pressure them to change their position (before voting for them).
I’m almost 100% sure, that if Harris had won, my neighbors wouldn’t be rounded up and disappeared. I’m also sure that lgbt rights wouldn’t be eroded Also, pretty certain SNAP would be currently funded I know tariffs wouldn’t be a problem I know the white house would literally be in one piece I know there wouldn’t be a child rapist leading this country The list goes on and on.
In addition to EVERYTHING else, would Gaza still be standing? I’d bet money on a Vegas table that, yes, it would be. Would deaths be zero? Probably not, but full on genocide at the scale we are currently seeing?
Perfect is the enemy of good. It doesn’t mean we can’t fight for perfect, but fighting for perfect is way easier when you’re not being kidnapped or starving in your own country.
Sure, but she didn’t, which is my point. What you’re describing isn’t a model for success. I’m pretty sure I said this in my reply, but to repeat: If you don’t scratch others’ backs, they won’t scratch yours. It’s really that simple. There are plenty of people to whom genocide in Palestine is as or more important than everything you just listed; you can either cooperate with them or do your own thing, and I’m sure you can tell which one the oligarchy wants you to do. Hint: Apes together strong. To again repeat myself, we’ve literally just seen this happen in the general; Harris’s pro-Israel agenda alienated enough people that she lost the election, and anyone doing the same thing as Harris will suffer the same result. What you’re advocating for is trying to fit a round peg into a square hole; you can talk at length about how awesome it’d be if the round peg fit into the hole (let’s ignore for a second that the hole is genocide), but it simply won’t.
The full scale genocide has been going on since day one. It’s progressed more because more time has passed, not because there has been any fundamental change in American policy toward Israel. The implication that Israel’s 2025 rampage is any different from its 2024 rampage is blatant Democrat propaganda. The killing, the starvation, the rape, all of it has been going on since October 8th 2023.
I’m almost 100% sure, that if Harris had won, my neighbors wouldn’t be rounded up and disappeared. I’m also sure that lgbt rights wouldn’t be eroded Also, pretty certain SNAP would be currently funded I know tariffs wouldn’t be a problem I know the white house would literally be in one piece I know there wouldn’t be a child rapist leading this country The list goes on and on.
In addition to EVERYTHING else, would Gaza still be standing? I’d bet money on a Vegas table that, yes, it would be. Would deaths be zero? Probably not, but full on genocide at the scale we are currently seeing?
Perfect is the enemy of good. It doesn’t mean we can’t fight for perfect, but fighting for perfect is way easier when you’re not being kidnapped or starving in your own country.
Another butt hurt tankie who still takes no ownership of the shit show they made 2025.
Lol.
Explanation please?
Bill Dukakis. Lol
Michael Dukakis, famous hoarder of turkey carcasses.
Yes. Him. Gracias.
And the Dearborn Michigan protest vote did what good exactly? Fuck everyone who did that
This. If the ones in power now were sane, they’d take this as an obvious signal that they should engage with their voters in order to re-consider their agendas and policies.
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Wait, let me breathe for a moment…
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Yeah, this is just a start, and it’ll take a massive push to force those fascists out following this, since they’ll just double and triple-down until/unless they’re forcefully ejected from all seats of power.
Frankly voting at this point is more about getting committed progressives into positions of power where they can resist MAGA fascism. There’s no way the fascists will actually let you vote them out.
See? Liberals and leftists can work together.
Progressives and liberals can absolutely work together to rally against a common enemy. The fascists clearly are the bigger problem, if you’re not a fan of authoritarian oppression.
That “if” there is a big issue though, because “leftists” as such aren’t a single unified force. There is a vocal portion that evidently has no issue with authoritarian control. We don’t need to dig into reasons here, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that distinction.
All the more critical then is the visibility and unity of the democratic strains of leftism, standing shoulder to shoulder with other enemies of authoritarianism.