Today's elections

As some commentators put it, it's an "off-off election," not associated with the national elections at all, so turnout tends to be significantly reduced.  This type of election separated from elections for national offices which normally increases turnout, derives from some of the political "reforms" of the Progressive Movement, which aimed to shift the primacy of voting from the "unwashed" (immigrants) to the educated.

But it comes at the expense of majority participation and tends to support elite and conservative interests.

In this election, only in Virginia and New Jersey do you have Governor's races.  But many localities have their elections during this cycle, including New York City and various counties in New York State, communities in Maryland, Boston, and Minneapolis, where a Socialist Alternative candidate is vying for a seat ("A Minneapolis socialist thanks the local paper for not endorsing her," The Nation; "Editorial endorsements: Reich and Bildsoe for Mpls. City Council," Minneapolis Star-Tribune).

Also various measures (referenda) are on the ballot, such as a transportation funding vote in Maine and a proposal to call for a Constitutional Convention in New York State.


In Takoma Park, people tend to put literature on local activities, including the election, in the various Little Free Libraries that have been constructed around the city.

In College Park, Maryland, the election has been roiled by a proposal to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections ("Debate over noncitizen voting has upended College Park elections," Washington Post).

The City of Takoma Park, which borders DC, has its elections--a couple years ago they voted to lower the voting age to 16 years of age, but it hasn't had much impact on turnout--and at October's Street Festival most of the candidates had booths and were politicking. Annapolis and Frederick also have elections.

Campaign mailer sponsored by the New York Republican State Committee supporting Jack Martins, Republican candidate for Nassau County executive. Photo Credit: New York Republican State Committee. Also see "Martins defends MS-13 mailer against Curran; others cry foul," Newsday.

Interestingly, elections for Governor in Virginia, the Mayor's race in New York City ("Malliotakis Ad Hammers de Blasio on Quality of Life in New York," New York Times), and even for New York's Nassau County Executive race ("In New York Suburbs, Campaigns Are Anything but Genteel," NYT) have sought to paint Democratic nominees as soft on crime and abetting immigrant-fueled crime--the specter of the Salvadoran crime gang MS-13 has been raised in ads--even though national statistics find that crime is dropping, both in New York City--the murder rate is on track to be the lowest ever in the modern age of easy access to guns--and in the State of Virginia.

... Not that MS-13 isn't a problem, but it's not a scourge threatening society in the US (unlike in El Salvador where the flow of gang members from and to the US has led to a surge of crime and death in the home country), so the fear mongering is comparable to Newt Gingrich railing against the imposition of Sharia Law in the US as a way to stir people up over something that can't happen ("Newt Gingrich clarifies comments on Sharia law," USA Today).

I am not an ad guy, but I wonder how you would paint conservatives against gun control laws as soft on death.  Because there are plenty of people with grievances, who when armed, end up killing a lot of people.  Without guns, especially access to guns specifically designed to kill lots of people, they wouldn't be able to be so successful at murder.

Still, people will be looking at the election results to gauge what might happen with next year's mid-term national elections and various state elections in the Time of Trump. It appears that in New Jersey the Democratic candidate will win, after two terms of Republican Chris Christie, and Bill De Blasio appears to be sailing towards a decisive win, despite some grumblings about his governance and associations with corruption around access.

The Virginia election is likely to be close. The state is pretty evenly divided between parties and urban and rural interests, and the statewide elections for the US Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General tend to be close always, although shifting to Democrats over time.

Because the off-off year election depresses turnout, conservatives have an advantage in a Virginia, and if Ed Gillespie wins it will be seen as support for a Trump presidency, especially as Gillespie has employed Trump-like campaign tactics.

Malliotakis ad against Bill De Blasio, New York City


Ed Gillespie MS-13 ad, Virginia

Uncle Sam wants you to die (maybe)

Die, die, die!

The Washington Post reports, in "Gun Bill Could Strip D.C. Of Control: Congress Weighs Repealing Ban On Semiautomatics," that some zealots in Congress think that DC's banning on semiautomatic guns is an unreasonable restriction of the right to bear arms. This is a city that still has a high murder rate, although nothing like 18 years ago (which is still why it's hard for me to take seriously some of people's complaints about high crime now--I remember a police helicopter landing on the schoolyard across from my house, gunshots every night, etc.).