Trump Gets Long Overdue Kick in the Butt

I would have preferred the Great Orange Mass of Wasted Protoplasm would have gotten his butt kicked a year ago, but I’ll take yesterday as a consolation prize.

Some cheering stories from Tuesday’s elections, in no particular order:

In New Jersey, Ravinder Bhalla was elected Hoboken’s first Sikh mayor. He won Tuesday night’s election just days after being targeted by flyers labeling him a terrorist.

Also in New Jersey, Democrat Ashley Bennet defeated Republican John Carman  for the Atlantic County freeholder seat. Bennet decided to challenge Carman after Carman posted a meme mocking the Women’s March.

Carman posted a meme on the day of the Women’s March that featured a woman in a kitchen and the message, “Will the women’s protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?”

“Just asking?” he wrote alongside the meme.

I don’t know enough about Phil Murphy to know what kind of governor he will be, but his lopsided victory against NJ Secretary of State Kim Guadagno was an obvious repudiation of Chris Christie.

In Montana, Wilmot Collins was elected first black mayor of Helena. Collins arrived in Helena 23 years ago as a refugee from Liberia. He was part of a progressive ticket that swept city commission races.

My goodness, Virginia, you had quite a night. The single sweetest story of the evening was Danica Roem’s victory over incumbent Robert Marshall for a seat in Virginia’s statehouse. Marshall had introduced a “bathroom bill” in Virginia and called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” Roem is transgender.

“Discrimination is a disqualifier,” a jubilant Roem said Tuesday night as her margin of victory became clear. “This is about the people of the 13th District disregarding fear tactics, disregarding phobias . . . where we celebrate you because of who you are, not despite it.”

Marshall, 73, who refused to debate Roem and referred to her with male pronouns, declined an interview request but posted a concession message on Facebook.

Also sweet – Democrat Lee Carter, a Marine veteran from Manassas who openly ran as a socialist, beat Delegate Jackson Miller, a Republican incumbent who serves as  Virginia House Majority Whip.

Democrat Lee Carter, a red-haired, 30-year-old Marine veteran from Manassas, won a remarkable nine-point victory to oust Delegate Jackson Miller, a deep-pocketed Republican incumbent who serves as House Majority Whip. Carter ran openly as a socialist—he and his supporters croonedthe union anthem “Solidarity Forever” after their victory—and he won with almost no institutional support from the state Democratic Party. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Patrick Wilson reported last month that party leaders “abandoned” Carter after he declined to report campaign metrics like the number of doors he’d knocked and the amount of money he’d raised. Carter told Wilson he “ceased reporting to the House caucus after multiple information security lapses in which confidential information that we reported to the House caucus was leaked outside of the party infrastructure.” But he also said the party leaders “wanted a bit more editorial control over my messaging than I was comfortable with.” Wilson wrote that “Democratic Party leaders were not eager to discuss Carter, preferring to promote other candidates.” In fact, Wilson called Carter “the kind of rogue candidate that gives an apparatus like the Democratic Party of Virginia a fit.”

Another winner in Virginia was Kathy Tran, a former Vietnamese refugee, who became the first Asian-American woman to join Virginia’s House of Delegates

Democrats swept statewide races in Virginia — governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general — and so far have picked up 14 seats in the state legislature. Depending on some recounts, it is possible they could take over the majority.

The only state to not fall into line was Utah, which voted to replace Jason Chaffetz with another Republican. Well, Utah is Utah.

This should fire up Dems and, I hope, inspire them to pour every resource they’ve got into Alabama, where Democrat Doug Jones is running against Grand Inquisitor Roy Moore for U.S. Senate in a December 12 special election.

Update: