As promised, I am moving all my longer threads off Facebook and to this blog. Most of the snark will be in abeyance today as I know I have many followers of both parties who read my posts for reasonable discussion. And, one of my (hopefully, she won't resign after this) co-bloggers -- the fabulous Dr. Heather Kelly, will I think weigh in from the left.
FLORIDA: I voted for Hilary and for Ron Desantis. I need to tell you why & I especially need to tell you that it is really hard for me to say all this in public.
For the first time in my adult life, I voted for all the winners at the top of the ticket. I am now a registered Republican in Florida so you might think that is the beginning and end of the story -- Republican in Vermont and Massachusetts = loser, Republican in Florida = winner. However, I not only didn't vote for Trump in the last election, I voted for Hilary. As many folks may know, the GOP candidate for Governor in Florida was and is a big Trump supporter. This put my vote for Governor in play, frankly. But, the Democrats likely lost my vote when they nominated a very liberal, Bernie Sanders endorsed Democrat -- Andrew Gillum -- instead of the moderate Gwen Graham. I was also hoping the GOP would nominate the more moderate Adam Putnam. Full disclosure -- I did not vote in the primary -- the first significant election I have missed in my adult life. On the morning of 8/21 I had my sample primary ballot in the car with me with the early voting location picked out when my phone rang at 8:15 am and I learned that my husband, Chuck, had been matched with a deceased donor kidney in Burlington, Vermont and that I needed to be there by 4 pm if I wanted to see him before surgery. I got on the next flight and did not get back to Florida till well after the primary and thankfully, the primary was not decided by one vote. So, both my moderate preferences in the primary lost -- and I was truly conflicted heading in to the general.
I am not a racist. The comments by Ron DeSantis on primary election night and the involvement of white nationalists turned me off out of the gate at the start of the general election. Sitting in Vermont with Chuck post-op and then in Massachusetts, I was horrified and like many of my New England neighbors pretty sure that a far-right racist should not be Governor of Florida. But then three things happened that put my vote in play:
1. October 15. Because of the complexity of our tax return, we file an extension and because of a series of events we didn't get our full tax return from our accountant until late in September. Our effective tax rate in Vermont last year -- our last as Vermont residents -- was over 8%! We were shocked when we moved to Vermont to realize that we paid almost twice as much in income taxes in Vermont as we did in Massachusetts and obviously Florida is a no income tax state. The arrival of our tax bill this year came at about the same time that the DeSantis team was overhauled and their message shifted to economic themes and some reassuring environmental themes. More on the moderate tone next, but having lived in a state where Bernie's tax and spending philosophy is in place and one that has historically taken a radically different approach (FL) the distinctions on the economic impacts of the two tax policies and on me personally were a big factor in my thinking.
2. Moderating tone & team. When I returned to Florida one of the things that was quite interesting to me and that I remarked upon to my colleagues was that DeSantis clearly made a pivot to the general election. He began to talk about his Little League World Series team experience, his work ethic, and, yes, his commitment to stemming red tide and the environment. Mayor Gillum stayed with his core, liberal message. While many can and would and will give him credit for staying consistent with his political beliefs and those same people will similarly find fault with DeSantis pivot to the center as disingenuous, I had a different dilemma. I am a a center-right voter. Gillum was running and being clear that he would govern from the far, progressive left. The reason I could vote for Hillary over Trump was because I believed she would be a moderate on many issues I cared about -- based on her Senate record. In effect, that if she won, she would govern center-left. Voting for the candidate less aligned with my political philosophy (center-left might be further from center right than far right but not by a lot) for character (Trump) reasons was possible when the distance on political philosophy was reasonable. The Gillum campaign was going to require me to vote for a far left candidate for character reasons when the DeSantis campaign was at least making an effort to acknowledge a need to move closer to me on political philosophy issues. Still, I was conflicted. Then I met some key members of the DeSantis team working on issues I care the most about -- education. It turns out they were Jeb then Scott folks -- long time public servants and politically involved, well-informed, well-educated and reasonable people. I realized (remembered) that members of Congress have very small staffs and that in all likelihood the executive branch of government under a Governor DeSantis was going to be run by people who shared many of my core beliefs, and had run the ship of state well and successfully over the past 16 years. That swayed me a great deal.
3. Early Voting & national implications. Lastly, I was here yesterday for election day but I actually voted early in the early voting season (Chuck probably wasn't going to get another organ replaced but I had learned my lesson). I voted before Pittsburgh and before Trump began to drum up the migrant caravan issue. Had I waited till yesterday, I might have voted differently -- those issues and giving any quarter to Trump was the hardest part of my vote for DeSantis, frankly. And I don't think I am alone. I hate that the media will look at the very narrow win here as a win for the President. There were three big races at the top of the ticket in Florida yesterday and folks need to know that Republicans did win all three -- one, the Senate race, may be headed for a recount. That was the most narrow margin because the Democrat was a moderate, I believe. Unfortunately, a moderate who ran a pretty lackluster campaign and probably stayed in office too long. The second, the Governor's race was also a very narrow, less than 1% victory because both parties nominated folks from the far realms of their parties. The third was an open AG seat with a compelling Democrat (also an African American candidate) and a very qualified, well spoken and moderate GOP woman -- Ashley Moody. I first realized I was going to vote for Ashley Moody during the primary when her opponent started running ads against her with the sneering label of "liberal" Ashley Moody. And that she supported Planned Parenthood and sued Trump or something. She was the candidate I was most sorry not to vote for in the primary. But she sailed through! And, guess what? Last night her race was over early. She won with nearly 55% of the vote. That is the real story -- a moderate woman Republican was by far the best brand in Florida last night statewide! Unfortunately that story won't make the national news.
WOMEN.
While it may have been a discouraging night for some folks, particularly in Florida, looking for historic elections it was a great night by and large for women candidates. I already discussed Ashley Moody. Not many folks know DeSantis has a female, Latina Lieutenant Governor candidate who looks to be a real star (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/florida-has-its-first-latina-lieutenant-governor-n931831). But the real story were the women, mostly Democrats, elected to the House. Historic numbers of women. And some really great stories! Moms! Veterans! BOTH!!! (.https://www.nj.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/b385cb60274888/why-mikie-sherrill-might-be-th.html). The bi-partisan organization Vote Run Lead (https://voterunlead.org/) talked before yesterday about the historic number of women who ran and won in primaries and that were being trained to continue running. In my home county, we elected our first ever female District Attorney, Andrea Harrington (http://www.wamc.org/post/harrington-wins-berkshire-da-race-first-woman-hold-seat). We will desperately need these voices to do what research has always shown that women do best -- talk across party lines to bridge difference to find common ground to solve important issues for our communities, our states and our country. Because while the election of all these women was one of the great story lines, there was for sure a lot of vitriol this morning. Which gets to my final thought ....
WHAT'S NEXT?
You can look at this election as a glass half empty or a glass half full .... nice take on the name of this blog, right? Here is my half empty concern:
1. One of the first things I saw in my social media feeds this morning was that the defeated DA candidate in my hometown of the Berkshires refused to concede the election last night (http://www.nepr.net/post/harrington-declares-victory-berkshire-da-race-caccaviello-wont-concede#stream/0) -- he eventually did, today around noon. Full disclosure -- I sent a check to the winner in the primary at the request of a longtime supporter, even though I never did a public endorsement. Then, I saw a bunch of posts ridiculing the result, suggesting that the entire criminal justice system in the county was 'screwed' and seriously asking why the newly elected DA -- who has yet to be sworn in! -- could not just be impeached! Does the appointed DA not conceding after a clear loss lead directly to this kind of vitriol? Does this kind of nastiness at the local level contribute to the loss of any kind of decorum at the federal level -- or has it become normalized because of the Trump-effect? Did these voices always exist but at the fringes of society and without the amplification of social media? I do not know the answer to all those questions but I do know this: the peaceful transfer of power in democratic elections is the single most important aspect of our system. One of the hardest nights of my life was the 1996 election loss to Congressman John Olver. I actually vomited in my house as the results became clear -- I had spent 15 months putting my heart and soul into that race and I was absolutely convinced I would win and be a better member of Congress. I still believe it today. I was equally aware that I needed to pull my shit together and head down to my HQ and give a gracious concession speech. When did that stop being how we conduct ourselves and why is that norm of behavior out of fashion? Our institutions of democracy are fragile and important. Some of us have the honor of serving and all of us can have the honor of running -- but that is also an enormous responsibility and one that you should embrace in both victory and defeat. I don't know how we get back to respectful dialogue at the federal level but I do know we need to demand and expect it of ourselves at the local level. And that gets to my second half empty concern.
2. The Echo Chamber is killing us. One of the reasons we are having such a difficult time having civil conversations is because none of us are talking to people we like that think differently than us .... or at least we don't know it. I don't know why the polls in Florida were so wrong heading in to yesterday. It is possible the vote models were wrong. It is possible that many of the handful of swing voters like me were truly conflicted and waffling in the final weeks. Or, it is possible that folks like me that ended up voting for DeSantis were just not going to tell anyone -- not because we are closet racists but because we knew that our friends and colleagues would be horrified if we said we voted for DeSantis (or fill in the blank). Tomorrow night I am flying back to Williamstown to speak at Williams college where I will be speaking on a post election panel and I plan to share some or all of these points, depending on time constraints. In thinking about that I reflected on my time teaching in the pre-Trump era at Williams. Each year, early in the semester, I would discover a few students of the 18 - 24 who would nervously confess to me that they 'leaned right.' After carefully building a culture of respect in our classroom, I would often create a climate (not always) where these students would eventually feel comfortable sharing some of their non-mainstream opinions and beliefs with their classmates. I also brought in speakers of both parties and the surprise of my students at the educated and impressive presentations by the GOP speakers (and me!) was always a source of amusement to me. I stopped teaching a few years ago and I wonder if that dynamic could be achieved today? And that is really sad but not surprising. Because in the aftermath of Kavanaugh and during this polarizing Presidency and midterm I have had a lot of unexpected conversations -- with people who have confessed to me that there are parts of the non-PC political discourse that resonates with them -- but that they would never dare discuss it publicly. They fear they would lose friends and perhaps even professional standing. We are not going to end the divisions and divisiveness if folks can't talk to each other. I don't know if my "confession" here about my GOP votes this cycle is helpful or stupid but it is meant to spur some soul searching and discussion.
But all is not lost. Because the glass is half full! (And not just the wine glass!)
3. I do believe that the women who were elected (and re-elected) will help us find common ground to have these conversations and that their presence will encourage more diverse candidates with diverse view points to run and voice their opinions. Let us hope that leads us back to civility and normalcy sooner rather than later.
4. For both parties I would urge them to look closely at the results in the Gubernatorial races as they think about future Presidential candidates. The very conservative Republican in Kansas lost, and the very conservative Republican in Florida would have lost if the Democrats had nominated the moderate. The moderates Republicans in Maryland and Massachusetts won easily and the moderate Democrat in Rhode Island that was supposed to be in trouble won easily as well .... the GOP held Ohio with a moderate running against a Senator-Warren-esque Democrat. If the 2020 Presidential election was launched last night, I hope the Democrats are looking to moderates like Amy Klobuchar to give them the best chance to win .... and that more moderate, reasonable Republicans will keep running. And when Ashley Moody gets ready to run for Governor of Florida, remember, you heard it here first.
And, while this blog will definitely have plenty of fun and mothering advice, etc... I also hope there will be some respectful sharing of disparate opinions. I am currently reading "A Stranger in Their Own Land" which I hope will give me more insight in to the feelings of others whose votes and experiences are different from mine. If I am not too busy running Spartan Races and launching the twins off to college to finish reading it, I will blog about that here, too.
FLORIDA: I voted for Hilary and for Ron Desantis. I need to tell you why & I especially need to tell you that it is really hard for me to say all this in public.
For the first time in my adult life, I voted for all the winners at the top of the ticket. I am now a registered Republican in Florida so you might think that is the beginning and end of the story -- Republican in Vermont and Massachusetts = loser, Republican in Florida = winner. However, I not only didn't vote for Trump in the last election, I voted for Hilary. As many folks may know, the GOP candidate for Governor in Florida was and is a big Trump supporter. This put my vote for Governor in play, frankly. But, the Democrats likely lost my vote when they nominated a very liberal, Bernie Sanders endorsed Democrat -- Andrew Gillum -- instead of the moderate Gwen Graham. I was also hoping the GOP would nominate the more moderate Adam Putnam. Full disclosure -- I did not vote in the primary -- the first significant election I have missed in my adult life. On the morning of 8/21 I had my sample primary ballot in the car with me with the early voting location picked out when my phone rang at 8:15 am and I learned that my husband, Chuck, had been matched with a deceased donor kidney in Burlington, Vermont and that I needed to be there by 4 pm if I wanted to see him before surgery. I got on the next flight and did not get back to Florida till well after the primary and thankfully, the primary was not decided by one vote. So, both my moderate preferences in the primary lost -- and I was truly conflicted heading in to the general.
I am not a racist. The comments by Ron DeSantis on primary election night and the involvement of white nationalists turned me off out of the gate at the start of the general election. Sitting in Vermont with Chuck post-op and then in Massachusetts, I was horrified and like many of my New England neighbors pretty sure that a far-right racist should not be Governor of Florida. But then three things happened that put my vote in play:
1. October 15. Because of the complexity of our tax return, we file an extension and because of a series of events we didn't get our full tax return from our accountant until late in September. Our effective tax rate in Vermont last year -- our last as Vermont residents -- was over 8%! We were shocked when we moved to Vermont to realize that we paid almost twice as much in income taxes in Vermont as we did in Massachusetts and obviously Florida is a no income tax state. The arrival of our tax bill this year came at about the same time that the DeSantis team was overhauled and their message shifted to economic themes and some reassuring environmental themes. More on the moderate tone next, but having lived in a state where Bernie's tax and spending philosophy is in place and one that has historically taken a radically different approach (FL) the distinctions on the economic impacts of the two tax policies and on me personally were a big factor in my thinking.
2. Moderating tone & team. When I returned to Florida one of the things that was quite interesting to me and that I remarked upon to my colleagues was that DeSantis clearly made a pivot to the general election. He began to talk about his Little League World Series team experience, his work ethic, and, yes, his commitment to stemming red tide and the environment. Mayor Gillum stayed with his core, liberal message. While many can and would and will give him credit for staying consistent with his political beliefs and those same people will similarly find fault with DeSantis pivot to the center as disingenuous, I had a different dilemma. I am a a center-right voter. Gillum was running and being clear that he would govern from the far, progressive left. The reason I could vote for Hillary over Trump was because I believed she would be a moderate on many issues I cared about -- based on her Senate record. In effect, that if she won, she would govern center-left. Voting for the candidate less aligned with my political philosophy (center-left might be further from center right than far right but not by a lot) for character (Trump) reasons was possible when the distance on political philosophy was reasonable. The Gillum campaign was going to require me to vote for a far left candidate for character reasons when the DeSantis campaign was at least making an effort to acknowledge a need to move closer to me on political philosophy issues. Still, I was conflicted. Then I met some key members of the DeSantis team working on issues I care the most about -- education. It turns out they were Jeb then Scott folks -- long time public servants and politically involved, well-informed, well-educated and reasonable people. I realized (remembered) that members of Congress have very small staffs and that in all likelihood the executive branch of government under a Governor DeSantis was going to be run by people who shared many of my core beliefs, and had run the ship of state well and successfully over the past 16 years. That swayed me a great deal.
3. Early Voting & national implications. Lastly, I was here yesterday for election day but I actually voted early in the early voting season (Chuck probably wasn't going to get another organ replaced but I had learned my lesson). I voted before Pittsburgh and before Trump began to drum up the migrant caravan issue. Had I waited till yesterday, I might have voted differently -- those issues and giving any quarter to Trump was the hardest part of my vote for DeSantis, frankly. And I don't think I am alone. I hate that the media will look at the very narrow win here as a win for the President. There were three big races at the top of the ticket in Florida yesterday and folks need to know that Republicans did win all three -- one, the Senate race, may be headed for a recount. That was the most narrow margin because the Democrat was a moderate, I believe. Unfortunately, a moderate who ran a pretty lackluster campaign and probably stayed in office too long. The second, the Governor's race was also a very narrow, less than 1% victory because both parties nominated folks from the far realms of their parties. The third was an open AG seat with a compelling Democrat (also an African American candidate) and a very qualified, well spoken and moderate GOP woman -- Ashley Moody. I first realized I was going to vote for Ashley Moody during the primary when her opponent started running ads against her with the sneering label of "liberal" Ashley Moody. And that she supported Planned Parenthood and sued Trump or something. She was the candidate I was most sorry not to vote for in the primary. But she sailed through! And, guess what? Last night her race was over early. She won with nearly 55% of the vote. That is the real story -- a moderate woman Republican was by far the best brand in Florida last night statewide! Unfortunately that story won't make the national news.
WOMEN.
While it may have been a discouraging night for some folks, particularly in Florida, looking for historic elections it was a great night by and large for women candidates. I already discussed Ashley Moody. Not many folks know DeSantis has a female, Latina Lieutenant Governor candidate who looks to be a real star (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/florida-has-its-first-latina-lieutenant-governor-n931831). But the real story were the women, mostly Democrats, elected to the House. Historic numbers of women. And some really great stories! Moms! Veterans! BOTH!!! (.https://www.nj.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/b385cb60274888/why-mikie-sherrill-might-be-th.html). The bi-partisan organization Vote Run Lead (https://voterunlead.org/) talked before yesterday about the historic number of women who ran and won in primaries and that were being trained to continue running. In my home county, we elected our first ever female District Attorney, Andrea Harrington (http://www.wamc.org/post/harrington-wins-berkshire-da-race-first-woman-hold-seat). We will desperately need these voices to do what research has always shown that women do best -- talk across party lines to bridge difference to find common ground to solve important issues for our communities, our states and our country. Because while the election of all these women was one of the great story lines, there was for sure a lot of vitriol this morning. Which gets to my final thought ....
WHAT'S NEXT?
You can look at this election as a glass half empty or a glass half full .... nice take on the name of this blog, right? Here is my half empty concern:
1. One of the first things I saw in my social media feeds this morning was that the defeated DA candidate in my hometown of the Berkshires refused to concede the election last night (http://www.nepr.net/post/harrington-declares-victory-berkshire-da-race-caccaviello-wont-concede#stream/0) -- he eventually did, today around noon. Full disclosure -- I sent a check to the winner in the primary at the request of a longtime supporter, even though I never did a public endorsement. Then, I saw a bunch of posts ridiculing the result, suggesting that the entire criminal justice system in the county was 'screwed' and seriously asking why the newly elected DA -- who has yet to be sworn in! -- could not just be impeached! Does the appointed DA not conceding after a clear loss lead directly to this kind of vitriol? Does this kind of nastiness at the local level contribute to the loss of any kind of decorum at the federal level -- or has it become normalized because of the Trump-effect? Did these voices always exist but at the fringes of society and without the amplification of social media? I do not know the answer to all those questions but I do know this: the peaceful transfer of power in democratic elections is the single most important aspect of our system. One of the hardest nights of my life was the 1996 election loss to Congressman John Olver. I actually vomited in my house as the results became clear -- I had spent 15 months putting my heart and soul into that race and I was absolutely convinced I would win and be a better member of Congress. I still believe it today. I was equally aware that I needed to pull my shit together and head down to my HQ and give a gracious concession speech. When did that stop being how we conduct ourselves and why is that norm of behavior out of fashion? Our institutions of democracy are fragile and important. Some of us have the honor of serving and all of us can have the honor of running -- but that is also an enormous responsibility and one that you should embrace in both victory and defeat. I don't know how we get back to respectful dialogue at the federal level but I do know we need to demand and expect it of ourselves at the local level. And that gets to my second half empty concern.
2. The Echo Chamber is killing us. One of the reasons we are having such a difficult time having civil conversations is because none of us are talking to people we like that think differently than us .... or at least we don't know it. I don't know why the polls in Florida were so wrong heading in to yesterday. It is possible the vote models were wrong. It is possible that many of the handful of swing voters like me were truly conflicted and waffling in the final weeks. Or, it is possible that folks like me that ended up voting for DeSantis were just not going to tell anyone -- not because we are closet racists but because we knew that our friends and colleagues would be horrified if we said we voted for DeSantis (or fill in the blank). Tomorrow night I am flying back to Williamstown to speak at Williams college where I will be speaking on a post election panel and I plan to share some or all of these points, depending on time constraints. In thinking about that I reflected on my time teaching in the pre-Trump era at Williams. Each year, early in the semester, I would discover a few students of the 18 - 24 who would nervously confess to me that they 'leaned right.' After carefully building a culture of respect in our classroom, I would often create a climate (not always) where these students would eventually feel comfortable sharing some of their non-mainstream opinions and beliefs with their classmates. I also brought in speakers of both parties and the surprise of my students at the educated and impressive presentations by the GOP speakers (and me!) was always a source of amusement to me. I stopped teaching a few years ago and I wonder if that dynamic could be achieved today? And that is really sad but not surprising. Because in the aftermath of Kavanaugh and during this polarizing Presidency and midterm I have had a lot of unexpected conversations -- with people who have confessed to me that there are parts of the non-PC political discourse that resonates with them -- but that they would never dare discuss it publicly. They fear they would lose friends and perhaps even professional standing. We are not going to end the divisions and divisiveness if folks can't talk to each other. I don't know if my "confession" here about my GOP votes this cycle is helpful or stupid but it is meant to spur some soul searching and discussion.
But all is not lost. Because the glass is half full! (And not just the wine glass!)
3. I do believe that the women who were elected (and re-elected) will help us find common ground to have these conversations and that their presence will encourage more diverse candidates with diverse view points to run and voice their opinions. Let us hope that leads us back to civility and normalcy sooner rather than later.
4. For both parties I would urge them to look closely at the results in the Gubernatorial races as they think about future Presidential candidates. The very conservative Republican in Kansas lost, and the very conservative Republican in Florida would have lost if the Democrats had nominated the moderate. The moderates Republicans in Maryland and Massachusetts won easily and the moderate Democrat in Rhode Island that was supposed to be in trouble won easily as well .... the GOP held Ohio with a moderate running against a Senator-Warren-esque Democrat. If the 2020 Presidential election was launched last night, I hope the Democrats are looking to moderates like Amy Klobuchar to give them the best chance to win .... and that more moderate, reasonable Republicans will keep running. And when Ashley Moody gets ready to run for Governor of Florida, remember, you heard it here first.
And, while this blog will definitely have plenty of fun and mothering advice, etc... I also hope there will be some respectful sharing of disparate opinions. I am currently reading "A Stranger in Their Own Land" which I hope will give me more insight in to the feelings of others whose votes and experiences are different from mine. If I am not too busy running Spartan Races and launching the twins off to college to finish reading it, I will blog about that here, too.
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