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Firsts: Transgender and Black Democratic Women Just Made History at the Voting Booth

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More women are running for office at all levels across the country than at an time in U.S. history. Most of them are Democrats. And Tuesday night showed just how successful they’re going to be.

In Vermont, Democrats voted for Christine Hallquist (photo) in the gubernatorial race. If elected in November she will be the nation’s first openly transgender person ever to become a state governor. Hallquist won against a slate of three other challengers, including a 14-year old boy, Ethan Sonneborn, who made a lot of national headlines (because he’s 14, and impressed many with his platform,) as The Daily Beast reports. Hallquist is the former CEO of a consumer-owned electric company. She will face incumbent GOP Governor Phil Scott in November.

“Christine’s victory is a defining moment for trans equality and is especially remarkable given how few out trans elected officials there are at any level of government,” Victory Fund president Annise Parker said in a statement, as Governing reports.

Hallquist becomes one of 12 women who have been nominated this year to become governors – again, the most in U.S. history. Currently just six women are serving as governors.

Further south in New England voters nominated the first Black Democrat to represent them in Congress. Jahana Hayes was President Barack Obama’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, and beat out the expected favorite.

“If Congress starts to look like us, no one can stop us,” Hayes said. “This is our moment to act, to organize, and bring our truth to power.”

Her platform: “protecting the public education system, moving towards a single-payer health care system and passing gun control legislation,” as CNN reports.

In Minnesota Ilhan Omar, a Somali immigrant and state lawmaker, won the nomination to replace Rep. Keith Ellison. Ellison was running for and won the Democratic nomination to become his state’s next Attorney General. If she wins in November, which is seen as likely, Omar will become the second Muslim woman elected to Congress.

Also in Minnesota State Sen. Tina Smith won the Democratic nomination to replace Sen. Al Franken. Smith beat former Republican and frequent MSNBC guest Richard Painter.

Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics is keeping an updated Summary of Women Candidates. Included are 31 women running for the U.S. Senate (including primaries, there are 19 Democrats and 12 Republicans.)

In the U.S. House races there are 283 women still running (212 Democrats, 71 Republicans.)

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BLUE WAVE

‘More Like BAE-To’: Texas GOP’s Twitter ‘Attack’ on Beto O’Rourke Makes Democrat ‘Look Even Cooler’

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6 years ago

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August 29, 2018

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‘I Just Fell More in Love’

The Texas GOP is trying really, really hard to be cool – and they’re failing miserably. It seems their Twitter game needs some work. Over the past 24 hours or so the Lone Star State’s Republican Party tried to troll Beto O’Rourke.

It didn’t go well.

Beto O’Rourke is the Democratic U.S. Congressman who’s challenging Senator Ted Cruz. The Republican failed presidential candidate and freshman Senator isn’t the, shall we say, coolest guy around? So the Texas GOP tried to take his opponent down by… showing off just how cool O’Rourke really is, as Mashable reported.

Like we said, the Texas GOP’s game needs some work, probably starting with its social media campaign planning.

Here’s how they first tried to attack O’Rourke: a tweet blasting him for (they say) refusing to agree to Cruz’s debate demands. It features an old photo of a young Beto who was a bassist for a punk rock band called Foss.

As it turns out, a candidate with a cool past isn’t a bad thing.

So, clearly, punk rock band bassist turned U.S. Congressman was not the avenue to take to make O’Rourke look bad.

So the Texas GOP tried another angle.

O’Rourke’s mug shot.

Yes, Beto O’Rourke “was charged with burglary in 1995 for jumping a fence and was arrested for a DUI in 1998, but is open about his past,” Mashable reports.

Unsurprisingly, this angle did not work any better.

Social media users started posting mug shots of the many Texas Republicans who have been arrested. Including former President George W. Bush, former Gov. Rick Perry, and current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to name a few.

And then, the comments about O’Rourke’s photo came flooding through.

So, the Texas GOP, having failed to make Beto look bad – actually winning him a few more supporters, no doubt – decided to break one of the first rules in politics: attack voters.

Like we said. It didn’t go well.

But we’re looking forward to the next O’Rourke vs. Cruz poll numbers!

 

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