Tag: election results

Iowa Caucuses: Disaster on the Prairie

The Portly Politico8 Comments

After some uncertainty and a great deal of speculation, the results are in:  incumbent President Donald Trump has won the Iowa Republican caucuses in a landslide victory reminiscent of a Latin American dictator, clinching 97.1% of caucus-goers’ votes.  Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed to see only clinched thirty-nine of the forty available delegates (Bill Weld managed to snag one with his impressive 1.3% vote share).

Oh, wait, you wanted the Democratic caucus results?  Geeze, well, I’m afraid I can’t be of much help.  Regular readers will note that this post is hitting very late in the day for me, and there’s a reason unrelated to Democratic incompetence (and/or the Party’s attempt to rig the caucuses against Bernie).

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Election Results 2019

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Yesterday Lamar, South Carolina held elections for Town Council.  Since our local paper doesn’t seem to be putting the results online, I thought I would post them here.

I drove by Town Hall last night to check the results, but they were still working on finalizing the results when I drove by, and I lacked the will to drag myself out of the house again.  But I swung by this morning and photographed the official receipt from the machine, as well as the handwritten results (akin to a student council election), which were posted to the front door:

My strategy of voting for the challengers in a “Jacksonian spirit of rotation in office” failed, as the two incumbents sailed to reelection.  As such, Town Council is unchanged.

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TBT: Third Party Opportunity?

The Portly Politico1 Comment

Last night’s first round of Democratic presidential primary debates was what I expected—a contest between largely identical candidates competing to see who could promise each other more free goodies.  Cory Booker came off as a bit light in the loafers, with a bulging lazy eye and a peeved reaction to Robert Francis O’Rourke’s cringe-inducing Spanish (per the rumors that Senator Booker is a closeted homosexual, I thought the look on his face was a mix of annoyance and arousal, but who can say).  Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts just came across as an angry scold.  When will Democrats learn that running a nagging woman is not going to win them elections?

Only Tulsi Gabbard, the mega-babe from Hawaii, seemed interesting, but she barely received any screen time.  Then there were cookie-cutter dudes like Mayor Bill de Blasio and Washington Governor John Inslee who just looked the same, not to mention that guy from Ohio.  In fact, the forgettable dude from Ohio got one of the biggest applauses with a quintessentially Trumpian promise to restore manufacturing (never mind that The Donald has already accomplished that).

Tonight we’ll get more of the same, though hopefully entrepreneur and math nerd Andrew Yang will spice things up with Asiatic wonkery.  Otherwise, the only thing to see will be how many racial gaffes Vice President Joe Biden makes (I would love it if he made reference to Yang’s “Asiatic wonkery”).

So far, it all looks like good news for Trump.  Of course, a weak, generic Democratic field might attract some doomed third-party hopefuls.  That’s why for this week’s , I thought I’d look back to a lengthy piece from 2016 about the structural disadvantages of third party candidates, “Third Party Opportunity?“

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Republicans Vote Values, Not Color

The Portly Politico1 Comment

The Left sure loves their identity politics.  That’s what made Milo Yiannopoulos such a compelling figure during his 2016 heyday:  he was, for the Left, a walking contradiction, a creature that, according to their theories of intersectionality, should not have been.  As a flamboyantly, peacockingly gay power bottom with a penchant for black studs, Milo’s staunch populist-conservatism and devout Catholicism shocked the progressives (and earned him the stern finger-waggling of the noodle-wristed neocons).

Such is the case with black Americans, who Democrats and progressives (but I repeat myself) see as their exclusive political property.  That’s why it’s refreshing to read this article about Caleb Hanna, a nineteen-year old black man who was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.  This makes Mr. Hanna the youngest black elected official in West Virginia.

Lest I fall into the same identity politics trap as the Left, allow me to clarify my point here:  I could care less what race or age Mr. Hanna is (although it is delicious that the aging congressional Democrats are so fixated on youth and race).  What’s interesting is how little these factors matter to voters in a Southern-ish State (as I detailed in another post relating to West Virginia, it’s not quite the South, but, hey, close enough).

As the benighted region of the country, we’re supposedly way more racist than everyone else.  Yet, as Professor Carol Swain of Vanderbilt University explains in this popular Prager University video, the South votes values, not color:

I can’t help but note that it’s the South—where black and white Americans have lived together in large numbers for the longest amount of time—where blacks and whites get along the best.  Most white Southerners could care less about race (as, I suspect, most black Southerners could care less about it).  That doesn’t mean people always get along, but go into any barbecue place or gas station fried chicken joint in the country and you’ll see a checkerboard of people chowing down.

Consider how much race relations have improved in the South since Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus barred nine black students from attending Little Rock High School in the 1950s.  That’s not that long ago, as I hear people say, usually in the context of “it could come back at any moment.”  But consider:  it wasn’t that long ago.  Isn’t anyone else impressed with how quickly race relations improved?

Regardless, congratulations to Representative Hanna!

SC Primary Run-Off Election Results

The Portly Politico3 Comments

Every time we have these unusual off-season primaries and run-offs, it seems ridiculously difficult to find election results online in one, easy-to-read place (although I’m willing to concede this could be my own n00bishness at work).  I shouldn’t have to go to the New York Times to get all the results, accurately updated, on one page.  The State needs to up its game in this regard (if I’m missing a super-obvious link, please comment with said link below).  Kudos to my local paper, the Florence Morning News, which places a convenient link to locally-relevant run-off results on its homepage.

But I digress.  If you’re looking for results, read below, or find them in beautiful chart form at… sigh… the New York Times here:  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/26/us/elections/results-south-carolina-primary-runoff-elections.html

SC Run-Off Primary Election Results (Winners in GREEN)

Republican Gubernatorial (Governor) Run-Off:

  • Henry McMaster (Incumbent) – 53.6%
  • John Warren – 46.4%

I was holding out hope for John Warren in this race, but he proved he’s got chops going forward.  McMaster may not be as eager for reform as Warren, but he’ll continue to build upon Nikki Haley’s positive legacy of economic growth and development in the Palmetto State.

Republican Attorney General Run-Off:

  • Alan Wilson (Incumbent) – 65%
  • Todd Atwater – 35%

As I predicted yesterday, Wilson won this election handily.  He’s been a capable AG.  That’s nothing against Atwater, but Wilson’s strong record of public service buoyed him to another term.

Democratic US House District 2

  • Sean Carrigan – 53.5%
  • Annabelle Robertson – 46.5%

Democratic US House District 4

  • Brandon Brown – 62.1%
  • Doris Turner – 37.9%

Republican US House District 4

  • William Timmons – 54.3%
  • Lee Bright – 45.7%

This race was an interesting one, but I didn’t follow it as closely as I should.  Essentially, there were about thirteen candidates vying to fill conservative sweetheart Trey Gowdy’s seat.  Lee Bright led the first round of primaries, but the partially-self-funded Timmons pulled out a convincing win, and will likely coast to victory over his Democratic challenger, Brandon Brown, in November.

Democratic US House District 7

  • Robert Williams – 51.4%
  • May Hyman – 48.6%

This was a fairly close race in my district.  Hyman was the more progressive candidate, and Williams’s faced some flack over some injudicious Facebook posts from his Chief of Staff, Robert Rhinesmith, but it appears the more moderate Williams pulled out a narrow victory.  Democrats seem to think the 7th District is vulnerable, but Congressman Tom Rice, the Republican incumbent, probably won’t have much trouble winning another term.

Those are results for all the major statewide races here in South Carolina.  Locally, the most interesting race in Florence County was the run-off for County Auditor.  The feisty, reform-minded Betty Dowling ran a strong race (she was endorsed by Congressman Rice and had some excellent radio ads), but Debra Dennis, a long-time employee of the Auditor’s office who enjoyed the endorsement of the current Auditor, won 55% to 45%.

That might seem like a wide margin, but it works out to about 800 votes.  It just goes to show you that your vote does matter, especially in local elections, and turnout is everything.

Congratulations to all the candidates; good luck in November!