American Voters To MAGA – YOU’RE FIRED!

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A few weeks ago, the demented dicktator of disaster posted a video on his private antisocial media channel that showed him flying an airplane over America’s cities and dumping excrement onto the people below while smiling and wearing a gold crown on his head.  Yesterday, American voters got a chance to express their disgust with him and his vile policies of hate by delivering a resounding defeat to virtually every candidate who dared to run for public office as a Repugnican.

From the top of the ticket races for governor in several states and mayor of New York City to down-ticket races like the ones for the Georgia Public Service Commission, voters turned out in large numbers to tell the MAGAlomaniacs, “You’re Fired!”

The contests weren’t squeakers. In NYC, Mamdani defeated the unctuous and odious Andrew Cuomo — who was supported by the Democratic Party — by 9 points. In New Jersey, upstart Mikie Sherrill trounced her Repugnican opponent by 13% to become that state’s next governor. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger became that state’s first female governor by walloping her opponent 57 to 42%. In all those contests, the losers were heavily promoted by the so-called president.

Local Elections Matter

But those were the top of the ticket races that everyone was watching closely. Ordinarily the election of two members of the Georgia Public Service Commission — the state agency that oversees utility rates — would hardly get any national attention. But the New York Times did carry a story about that contest and put it on the front page of an early edition after the polls closed. Why? Because the result has national implications.

In the 1956 novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor, the author tells the story of a powerful city mayor — presumed to be James Michael Curley, the flamboyant mayor of Boston — who is watching the election results with his rowdy supporters when he notices the numbers from an obscure voting district are not matching his expectations. Soon, the totals across that board are showing that he has lost the election — a result most thought was impossible.

The Georgia Public Service Commission may turn out to be a Last Hurrah moment for Repugnicans. The Times suggests that contest may signal what lies ahead for the Red Team when the midterm elections take place a year from now when the governorship and one US Senate seat will be on the ballot in Georgia.

Not a single Democrat has served on the Georgia Public Service Commission since 2007. In 2020, Democrats filed a federal lawsuit alleging the voting districts in Georgia were improperly drawn to give an unfair advantage to white candidates. That suit was unsuccessful, but the court proceedings delayed the election last year. That’s why it took place on November 4 — the only statewide race on the ballot this year.

The board has approved six utility rate increases for Georgia Power in the last two years, which has angered Georgia residents. The stated reason is the increase in the price of methane as a result of the war against Ukraine initiated by Russia. But Georgia rate payers are also on the hook for a $17 billion dollar cost overrun at the disastrous Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.

The two Democratic candidates were Peter Hubbard, a clean energy consultant, who defeated Fitz Johnson, and Alicia Johnson, a health management and community development executive, who defeated Tim Echols. Johnson was appointed by governor Brian Kemp and Echols was the Republican incumbent who has held office since 2011.

The Democrats criticized the members of the board for embracing fossil fuels to generate electricity for data centers, as well as for backing away from clean energy in lock step with the cynical goals of the failed US administration, which has taken to threatening other countries with retaliatory tariffs if they do not water down their own clean energy goals.

It is a little known fact, apparently, that when the US exports its methane in the form of LNG, that means there is less available for Americans. Most school children understand that when there is less of something, prices go up. What many Americans don’t seem to understand is that the fossil fuel companies are in a tizzy to export their products precisely because it means higher profits for them — and higher prices for their domestic customers.

How Low Can You Go

Probably nothing illustrates the depths of despair of US voters more that the election for the next attorney general of  Virginia. The Democratic candidate — Jay Jones — is probably not the person most would pick to represent them in any capacity other than dogcatcher.

During the campaign, it was revealed that in 2022, Jones sent a series of violent texts that suggested the Republican speaker of the State Assembly deserved to be killed. Those texts also mused about the speaker’s children dying. Then Jones was convicted of driving 118 mph and sentenced to community service, which he performed by working for this own campaign.

Despite all that negative baggage, he successfully attacked the incumbent, Jason Miyares, by belittling him for not joining the attorneys general of other states who sued the federal government for its heavy-handed policies since taking office in January. He referred to Miyares as a Trump “cheerleader” who hung out at MAGA rallies and was “too scared and too weak to stand up” to the president.

There was another factor at work here. Many Virginia voter are federal employees who have been fired or terminated, especially during the last month when the federal government has been shut down. The MAGA crowd is busily trying to blame the Blue Team for that, but clearly the people are not buying their lies.

Maine & California

In Maine, the Red Team, in slavish obedience to their mentor, promoted a ballot question that would have required photo IDs for voters, restricted early voting, and limited the number of ballot drop boxes to no more than one per town. Maine voters rejected that ballot question by a margin of 64 to 36%. Voting restrictions are a central theme of the MAGAlomaniacs, but the people of Maine want no part of their insanity — a sign voters in other states may feel the same way.

California overwhelming approved a redistricting plan that will give the state more Democrats seats in Congress, a victory that the New York Times says may propel governor Gavin Newsom to the front rank of potential Democratic candidates for president in 2028. The measure passed by a margin of 64 to 36% — exactly mirroring the results in Maine.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the 2025 election it is this: MAGA and Project 2025 are losers at the polls. What both parties choose to do with that information will determine whether America continues to go over a cliff into a pit of authoritarianism or remains a nation of civilized people who demand their government acts in a civilized manner.