In October of
2019, I published an article titled “diversity.”
Reuters just
published the most complete summary of the changes we have all witnessed in the
midterms.
Rather than
attempting to summarize their article, I will post it entirely, and add my
comments at the end.
- Texas
elects Democrat Gina Hinojosa first Latina governor, ending 31-year Republican
hold
- Michigan elects Abdul El-Sayed first Muslim US senator
- Analysts cite economic frustration, Iran war and
immigration enforcement in Democratic gains
CHICAGO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Voters across the US elected
a historic slate of women, candidates of color and other underrepresented
politicians on Tuesday, reshaping the face of political leadership as Democrats
rode a wave of dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's administration to major gains nationwide.
Democrats flipped control of both the House of Representatives and Senate
while winning key statewide races, delivering a series of milestone
victories.
Gina Hinojosa became the first Latina elected governor of Texas, Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan the first Muslim elected to
the US Senate and Deb Haaland of New Mexico the first Native American woman elected governor. In
Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a US state while
Xavier Becerra was the first Latino elected as governor of California. Chris
Pappas of New Hampshire made history as the first openly gay man elected to the US Senate.
The breakthroughs marked a striking expansion of who holds political
power at the highest levels of American government, in a country where people
of marginalized backgrounds have long been underrepresented.
"From coast to coast, voters ... spoke with clarity. Democrats must
now govern courageously," former Georgia gubernatorial candidate
Stacey Abrams said in a statement.
Pollsters and political analysts said the Democratic gains appeared to
stem from a combination of economic frustration and dissatisfaction with the Iran war, tariffs,
aggressive immigration enforcement, perceived government corruption and the
country's broader direction, among other issues.
Democrats made unexpected gains in deeply conservative states, suggesting
the party attracted Republicans while rebuilding support within its traditional coalition, analysts, civil rights leaders and grassroots
voter organizations said. Black and Latino voters had become increasingly
contested constituencies in recent election cycles.
"You can't take for granted the Hispanic voters in this country, the
Black voters in this country, the
young voters in this country, and if we don't deliver, they can swing right
back," said Democratic strategist Bakari Sellers.
Democratic victories in Republican-leaning states helped flip the House
and Senate and signaled a broader voter backlash against Republican leadership,
said Vanderbilt University political scientist John Geer, who studies public
opinion.
"It's an old-fashioned thumping that we haven't seen in quite a
while," Geer said. Republicans made a series of promises in 2024,
"and almost none of them were kept. This is the public's reaction to it."
Economic concerns, including the rising costs of housing, healthcare,
food and fuel, cut across racial and political lines, said Greg Lewis,
executive director of Souls to the Polls, a Milwaukee-based civic engagement
organization.
Lewis, who voted for Wisconsin
Democrat David Crowley, the state's first Black governor-elect, said voters were frustrated
with the economic pressures facing their families.
"When you start getting into people's pockets, you have a
problem," Lewis said.
In Texas, Hinojosa's defeat of Governor Greg Abbott ended a 31-year
Republican hold on the governor's office. Democrat James Talarico defeated
Republican Ken Paxton in the US Senate race, delivering one of the night's
biggest surprises in a state Trump carried comfortably in 2024.
Democrat Jon Rosenthal won a seat on the Railroad Commission of Texas,
becoming the first Jewish
candidate elected to statewide executive office, according to the Jewish
Herald-Voice.
(Jon Ossof’s mother is an immigrant from Australis, and he has Jewish ancestry, He did
not formally convert to Judaism until he made his bar mitzvah.)
"We all had hope, but to see it come to fruition is
breathtaking," said Joshua Arce, a Texas resident and president of
Partnership with Native Americans. He said the results reflected a Republican
Party that had failed to offer voters a compelling policy agenda.
The election's gains in representation were not limited to Democrats. In Florida, US Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican, became the first Black governor elected in the state's history.
Melik Abdul, a Republican strategist
and Trump supporter, said the result underscored tensions between the party's
criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the growing
prominence of Black Republicans.
"Republicans
spent the last year linking DEI to Black people and the idea that they were
unqualified. How ironic that a Black guy ends up being the biggest win that
Republicans had," Abdul said.
FROM
REPRESENTATION TO INFLUENCE
But experts cautioned that electoral breakthroughs do not automatically
translate into greater political influence, lasting
policy changes or institutional reform.
The ability of newly elected officials to shape legislation, control
congressional committee agendas, direct government spending and influence party
leadership will depend on the institutions they enter, the coalitions they
build and the balance of power within their parties, political experts said.
Within the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic Party more
broadly, an influx of new lawmakers could expose generational tensions between
established members who hold influential leadership and committee positions and
younger lawmakers seeking a greater role in shaping the party's agenda, said
Nadia Brown, director of women's and gender studies at Georgetown University.
"What I think is going to happen, what we've seen is,
unfortunately, is that the older members and those in leadership will
cannibalize their young, and that's what I'm really concerned about,"
Brown said.
Brown said longstanding barriers facing many communities, especially
unemployment for Black women, are unlikely to disappear simply because more women and people of color won office.
"What was broken by a stroke of a pen cannot be fixed with another,
and so it's going to take time to rebuild," Brown said.
If was not that long ago that Ron DeSanits tried to pass the Stop WOKE
Act.
Florida
DeSantis Stop WOKE Act violates First Amendment, court rules
Florida’s anti-woke” law restricting how professors can teach about
race and gender at public colleges and universities violates the First
Amendment, a divided federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. It’s a
major blow to one of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature culture war policies.
The 2-1 decision from the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit keeps Florida from enforcing the
higher-education provisions of the so-called Stop WOKE Act, a 2022 law DeSantis championed as part of his broader
campaign against critical race theory, diversity programs and what he called
“woke” ideology in schools and workplaces.
Judge Britt Grant, an appointee of
President Donald
Trump, rejected Florida’s argument that professors’ classroom speech
belongs to the state because they are paid by the government.
“If the First Amendment offers any
boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute
crosses it,” Grant wrote.
The majority said the case forced the
court to address a question the Supreme Court has left open: how much First
Amendment protection public university professors have when teaching.
“Hearing an idea you disagree with is
not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or
maybe even change your mind,” Grant wrote.
The split ruling gives Florida a path
to keep fighting. The three-judge panel affirmed a preliminary injunction,
meaning the law remains blocked while the case continues. Florida can ask the
full 11th Circuit to rehear the case or petition the Supreme
Court to review it.
DeSantis did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
The law, formally called the Individual Freedom Act, barred instruction
that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels” students to believe
a series of concepts tied to race, sex, national origin and privilege.
Those included ideas that a person is
inherently racist or sexist because of race or sex, or that a person should feel
guilt or psychological distress because of past actions committed by members of
the same race or sex.
Grant, joined by former President Bill
Clinton appointee Charles Wilson, called Florida’s position a
“breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse”
in public university classrooms.
Judge Barbara Lagoa, another Trump appointee and a
former Florida Supreme Court justice picked by DeSantis, dissented. Lagoa
argued Florida acted within its authority to control what professors may
endorse in state-sponsored classrooms.
“The First Amendment protects all
viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or
controversial,” Lagoa wrote. “But it does not compel all viewpoints to be
worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”
Lagoa said the majority was wrongly
limiting state authority over public university instruction.
“This panel is not free to rewrite
precedent simply because we dislike where it leads,” she wrote.
Florida Attorney General James
Uthmeier praised Lagoa after the ruling, writing on X that she “may be the best
jurist in our country” and “should be on SCOTUS.”
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest court
defeat for DeSantis’ broader fight over schools, universities and race. The
same appeals court previously blocked another part of the “Stop WOKE Act” that
restricted workplace training.
The latest decision came in two
lawsuits brought by professors, students and a student group who argued the law
amounted to unconstitutional classroom censorship. One challenge was filed by
the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, while another was brought
by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Legal
Defense Fund and the law firm Ballard Spahr.
“This ruling was worth the wait. It
sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of
politicians,” Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice
Program, said in a statement.
DeSantis will no longer be
governor in January of 2027. He will be replaced by Byron Daniels, a black man.
He is the first black person
elected to state office in Florida.
Pete Hegseth still hasn’t gotten the message,
since he has refused to promote either women or minorities, but it is a lead
pipe cinch that he is going to be impeached in the near future.
The worst offender of DEI policies is
Stephen Miller, who just got promoted, so it will take longer to get rid of
him.
Democracy is a messy way to govern, but
t quote Winston Churchil. “Democracy is the worst form of government – except for
all of the other forms of government.
Political news is always full of surprises.
The blue wave that just occurred was
not a total surprise, but it was larger than expected.
Although Trump has already been
impeached twice, it does not mean that he won’t be impeached a third time., and
it also possible that Miller will be forced out before 2028, even though that
situation is unlikely.
Miller's politics
have been described as ultraconservative, anti-immigrant, and white nationalist.
After Trump's loss
in the 2020 election, Miller
founded America First Legal, a conservative legal
advocacy organization, in 2021.
Miller was a
central figure in the first Trump administration's immigration policy,
including the family separation policy and Executive Order 13769, which restricted travel
from several Muslim-majority countries. As director of speechwriting, he
supervised the writing of Trump's inaugural and State of the Union addresses.
Miller is on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of
extremists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Miller
