Wyandotte County turnout will probably decide who is governor of Kansas, and the Davids/Yoder race.
Had Wyandotte County Democrats turned out in higher numbers, Brownback might not have gotten a second term.
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The recent track record isn’t too promising. The 2014 general election featured the re-election bids of the ever-unpopular Gov. Sam Brownback. But the Wyandotte County turnout that year was astonishing, and not in a good way. Just 35.6 percent of Wyandotte’s 82,319 registered voters made it to the polls that year, a turnout number that ranked as the state’s second-lowest.
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When shell-shocked Kansas Democrats wondered how a governor as roundly unpopular as Brownback won a second term, you could point toward Wyandotte County to explain a big part of it.
It’s fair to describe Wyandotte County as the Kansas Democratic Party’s Achilles’ heel.
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It will probably all come down to the Kansas Democratic Party's effort to increase voter turnout since 2014 and 2016. Have they registered enough new voters? Have they made face-to-face contact with enough people who have sat out past elections? We will see.
And interesting that WyCo is approaching 1/3 Latino/Hispanic with White only dropping to 40% and Black at 23%. WyCo is also 5% Asian, which is closer to US avg than rest of metro. Is in similar position as Texas where the voter base is there to boost blue.
Before the Internet hit the masses, MTV had Rock The Vote campaign in the 90s that got young to vote. There was a centralized way to hit a major demographic at that time that is apparently harder to do in this age with more options and ways to consume information. And DEM leaning are like herding cats where the right has a single news channel with common message, more consistent church pulpits preaching politics with common hot button messages and many of these churches are polling places. Not sure how much DEM orgs focus on boosting this base but they don't seem to be very effective. Would think reaching out to and engaging their inactive base would be higher priority, with registration forms in hand.
Trump ally Kris Kobach accepted donations from white nationalists
The Republican candidate for governor of Kansas, Kris Kobach, who has close ties to the Trump administration, has accepted financial donations from white nationalist sympathizers and has for more than a decade been affiliated with groups espousing white supremacist views.
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Kansas Has the Chance to Reject an Entire Toxic Governing Philosophy
TOPEKA, KS—The clouds are dark and muscular over the sweep of pastureland and over the state capitol here, and you realize that it's really the only place to be as we finally stagger toward whatever's going to happen on Tuesday. Certainly, there are shiny stories elsewhere but, if Tuesday really is going to be a verdict, one way or the other, not only on Trumpism, but also on all the conservative policy poison that made Trumpism possible—voter suppression, supply-side economics, deregulation, abandonment of the idea of political commonwealth, weaponized splinter Christianity—then Kansas got there on all of those things ahead of the rest of the country, and long before the current president* decided he wasn't a Democrat any more.
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Voted around 4pm in 64111. Was raining but ballot receiver said above avg turnout for midterm. Mostly female (over 70%), mostly under 40s. Usually have seen more grays in past but I went later than usual.
Saw a good tweet and kind of agree. Its a huge mistake if she is the speaker of house
I predict that losing the House will actually INCREASE the margin by which President @realDonaldTrump wins re-election in 2020. Running against the House “leadership” of Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters will be a gift that keeps on giving for the next two years.
I really think all the Dem's need to do to win back the presidency is flip Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania and these are all very likely because a few of the house seats in these states flipped and they are all states that have been affected by the Tariffs in some ways.
One likely Dem to GOP flip in 2020 is New Hampshire but it shouldn't matter
Dems need to give up on Ohio now, its basically turning into another Missouri
I think 2020 just comes down to Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and of course Florida
There could also be a little more focus on Georgia and North Carolina going forward instead of places like Ohio and Wisconsin
Given KS going blue Gov even in Wichita, which appears to be partly Trump regret, not just dumping Brownback era, could KS vote against Trump if DEMs go with a moderate? Too early to tell but the KS shift is pretty significant and would imagine JoCo maintaining blue as long as GOP have hard right agendas.
brewcrew1000 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:31 am
I really think all the Dem's need to do to win back the presidency is flip Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania and these are all very likely because a few of the house seats in these states flipped and they are all states that have been affected by the Tariffs.
I think unseating Trump totally depends on the candidate chosen by the Democrats. It seems that strongly Progressive candidates did not fare well last night (TX, GA, FL, etc). If a centrist candidate is chosen from a non coastal state, it’s a lock win. Klobuchar would be my choice.
^Agree, DEMs need a pragmatic moderate/centrist that can appeal to moderates, not the hard left. It worked for KS, which ranked #1 in GOP identity just 5 years ago.
Last edited by earthling on Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
I think Florida is lost. If they couldn't go blue this year what will change in 2020?
Ohio has a chance since Brown got reelected statewide, but will be difficult as the gop will control all of the statehouse. Iowa will be difficult for the same reason.
Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania will do it and the dems should be favored.
