As an underscore, both Virginia and New Jersey elected African-American lieutenant governors and two Latinas defeated incumbent Republicans for seats in the Virginia legislature. That state's first transgender candidate also won a seat.
Meanwhile, Democrats took control of the Washington state Legislature, establishing a "Great Blue Wall" against Trump along the three West Coast states -- Washington, Oregon and California.
But the next big test will be in Alabama on Dec. 12. The special election to fill the vacated U.S. Senate seat of Jeff Sessions, now Trump's attorney general, will pit Judge Roy Moore against Doug Jones, a moderate Democrat.
Moore is the quintessential Bannon fascist. His raucous career has been defined by race hate and Biblical babble. His Deep South defeat would signal the failure of Trumpism's core bigotry on its ancestral soil. It would also swing a crucial seat in the U.S. Senate, significantly altering the balance of national power.
Alabama is about a quarter black. To win there, the Democrats must confront a computerized Jim Crow assault aimed at disenfranchising blacks. With a Republican governor and secretary of state, the Democrats must painstakingly monitor every ballot, electronic and otherwise.
Alabama's electoral system now features electronic machines that in many cases offer a ballot image that can be recounted. In a close race, these could make all the difference.
But the Democrats have been slow to act.
Virginia Democrats were urged by election protection activists to prepare for legal action in case a close vote proved vulnerable to theft. But according to a leader of Progressive Democrats of America who was active in the fight on election night, the party did no such thing.
Furthermore, one NAACP organizer in Virginia complained that the party failed to contact key black senior centers to ensure that elders came out to vote. A group called Carpool Vote ferried black voters to the polls.
In Alabama, the party will have to do better in mobilizing its grass-roots supporters, and will need every pixel possible from the state's electronic voting machines.
In recent congressional elections in Montana and Georgia, Democratic candidates lost close vote counts that might well have been rigged. Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, along with numerous experts, have expressed the belief that the June race in Atlanta conceded by Democrat Jon Ossoff was stolen.
Given the Virginia/New Jersey rejection of hate, Alabama is now in play. The Democrats have shown they can beat Trumpism.
In Alabama, they also must show they've learned some lessons from recent elections.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
