This is obviously "good" but can someone help me understand how meaningful this is?
I presume this is a good indicator that the happenings in recent month have "activated" voters?
this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
513 points (100.0% liked)
politics
26282 readers
3432 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
513
Democrats sweep all 30 House of Delegates seats in Northern Virginia, flip 13 seats statewide
(www.cbs19news.com)
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.
load more comments
(26 replies)
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.
This is fairly meaningful for Virginia. There are only a few blue islands (major cities) in the state and last night we saw Dems sweeping votes in very red traditional Republican areas. I was looking at the maps last night astounded. Virginia is an old time type of prude/conservative but the fact that we also hold a lot of federal jobs played into this sweep in my opinion. People here are very pissed off and the younger folks really turned out.
Yeah, my dad is from there originally and moved back with my mom when they retired. A 15 point gap in the governor's race is crazy. Democrats really expanded their map in the southeast around Norfolk and the lower peninsula. Some of those areas are rapidly developing, so I wonder how much it has to do with demographic shifts. Judging by the huge swings, I can't see how Republican insanity isn't driving some significant portion of this.
This is obviously “good” but can someone help me understand how meaningful this is?
Trump's shutdown has fucked federal workers, and half of NoVa is either a federal worker, a contractor, or someone whose livelihood hinges on the above getting their next paychecks. This has royally fucked Northern Virginia specifically. So it would signal the GOP is eating shit for their national policy platform of "Eliminate the federal bureaucracy at all costs".
But when you asking what kind of politicians are replacing the outgoing GOP reps? Well... consider the new Virginia Governor - Abigail Spanberger - spent the last week of her campaign condemning "Defund the Police" despite nobody asking her about it. These are still going to be Ivy League educated, ultra-nationalist, neoliberal hacks. And they're going to be governing a population that gets its paychecks based on how many high explosive devices we ship to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
You're getting the kind of politician that wants to put a Rainbow Flag sticker on the B-2 bombers that struck Iran. Folks who think school vouchers need to be means tested, but don't instantly recoil at the idea of both a Christian and Muslim private school cashing the checks.
Virginia's trading out a long and ugly legacy of Strom Thurmond-ism for a bright refreshing cup of Joe Biden-ism. Yay...
It's amazing how mild of a statement has sparked 5 years of bipartisan backlash. Like, defund the police was the alternative to keeping letting them kill people or abolishing them or even holding them accountable for murders they commit. Just don't give them a reward for highway robbery and murder
Maybe this turns out to be baby steps? We've seen the power of creeping change, maybe creeping progress is the antidote to the accumulated regressive rot.
That's what I was promised under Obama. shrug I guess Americans are taking another bite at the apple.
Maybe if we didn't elect Trump immediately after Obama, we would still be creeping in the right direction
Might be worth interrogating why Obama's popularity tanked following his election.
We've seen the power of creeping change,
Uh... when, exactly? The past half century of American politics has been an unmitigated disaster on all fronts other than maybe LGBT rights.
That is exactly what I mean: The creeping erosion of rights and protections. Sudden change can lead to backlash by people who hate change, but slow change can dig far deeper hooks with less resistance. My pr-hope-osition is that this could work the other way too. If people aren't ready for a full swing-around to progressive politics, maybe an iterative "slightly better" can ease them in.
Obviously, slow progress is agonising and we'd like things to get better quickly, but if it means coaxing formerly reactionary regressives out of their hole, maybe it's a sensible approach for deep red areas.
If people aren't ready for a full swing-around to progressive politics
Umm... they absolutely are. Almost every progressive policy position you can think of is supported by the majority of Americans. You'll piss off reactionaries, but you'll always piss off reactionaries; that's why they're reactionaries.
Sudden change can lead to backlash by people who hate change, but slow change can dig far deeper hooks with less resistance.
Realistically this only works one way. You can trick your average person into being the frog in the boiling pot, but the rich and powerful (aka the people you're actually pissing off with progressive politics)? Absolutely not. They're on to that stuff, that's why progress always comes (or at least starts) with large movements and flashy acts of resistance; slow progress will simply fizzle into nothing or be rolled back faster than yuu can push for it. Also "you can have human rights but you have to Wait™" is always going to piss off people, who will flock to whoever promises (truthfully or not) to get them what they want now. People can tolerate incompetent leaders, but not ineffectual leaders.
Vote like your life depends on it, cos it does.
Good. Now do what you were hired to do and serve and protect your people.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Half of NoVa is on furlough, so I imagine that influenced their voting a bit.
sometimes you just gotta be thankful that despite the ignorance and stupidity of the masses, cons really aren’t that smart beyond the most surface level propaganda
despite the ignorance and stupidity of the masses
:-/
I see this tossed out casually, as though we live in a world of correct answers that people aren't picking rather than trade-offs that people aren't agreeing on.
This rings very "bOtH sIdEs" to me. What are the trade-offs of slowing/stopping climate change? Ending racial discrimination? Unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns? These issues and many others have clear moral imperatives attached, and one side is completely morally bankrupt.
What are the trade-offs of slowing/stopping climate change?
Too numerous to list. You're talking about fundamental changes to agriculture, transportation - both consumer and commercial, mining, construction, and energy production. Entire industries need to stop what they're doing. Labor forces need to be fully repurposed. Whole new industries need to be developed to change how our post-industrial society functions.
And because the current state of play is designed to maximize private profits for a central group of very influential stakeholders, what we're talking about isn't a simple matter of consumer choices. Its a class conflict that echoes with some of the bloodest acts of state violence committed over the last 200 years.
Ending racial discrimination? Unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns?
You talk like the Civil Rights Movement isn't over sixty years old. Or that there's national political leadership that isn't tainted in one way or another by corporate spending. This is obviously not a matter of individual consumerist choice (unless that individual is a trillionaire, and they've got some very strong incentives to continue both of the above).
These issues and many others have clear moral imperatives attached
But they still require enormous economic structural changes. Vanishingly few people in positions of authority seem interested in pursuing these changes.
Nice.
view more: next ›