[insert title here] 2025-26 Election Cycle Thread

[Raptorpat]

12 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

This country is going to be so fucked soon 

"The only people with the power to redistrict are sitting legislative majorities, who yes, can use that power to insulate themselves and their party. But don't worry, you have recourse! Your recourse is to use the electoral system to vote out those legislators who have already used this very power to insulate themselves from your criticism."

[katt_goddess]

21 hours ago, 1pooh4u said:

But it is for NY, I thought? This shit is just crazy and confusing. 
 

Them crying about voter fraud while simultaneously trying to cook the books is also mind blowing 

Don't forget firing all the watchdog groups that independently watch over the polling places, stopping the upkeep of election electronics, getting rid of all the cybersecurity experts and gutting the funds used to actually do elections in the first place. 

[tsar4]

 

[tsar4]

[tsar4]

 

[Raptorpat]

Sherrod Brown running against the guy appointed to the JD Vance Senate seat. Brown lost his reelection in 2024 but ran like eight points ahead of Harris in the state.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/08/sherrod-brown-to-run-for-us-senate-in-2026-challenging-jon-husted.html

[Raptorpat]

 

[Top Gun]

Fucking cowards. 

[Raptorpat]

Quote

Texas House Democrats who left the state to prevent a vote on new congressional maps will return to Texas, feeling they have accomplished their mission of killing the first special session, raising awareness and sparking national backlash about the mid-decade redistricting, multiple sources confirmed to ABC station KTRK and ABC News on Tuesday.

A source told ABC News the House Democrats loosely plan on returning this weekend. Those plans could change, the source noted, if Republicans go back on their word to begin a second special session on Friday.

In a news release on Tuesday that did not share specific plans, House Democrats proclaimed victory, saying that they "have killed this corrupt special session on behalf of Texas families -- exactly what we said we'd do when we left the state."

“Members are still assessing their strategies going forward and are in a private meeting to make decisions about future plans currently,” he wrote. “If and when Texas House Democrats breaking quorum decide to go home is squarely dependent on the actions the Governor, Speaker, and Texas Republicans in charge make with regard to prioritizing flood victims over redistricting that hurts Texans.”

Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows said Tuesday morning that the first special session will adjourn on Friday if Democrats do not return by then.

Abbott would then call a second special session "immediately," he said in a statement. He indicated the second special session would include every item from the first and potentially additional items -- though his office could not say what those additional items might be

Abbott has said he is committed to calling special sessions, which can last a maximum of 30 days, as long as needed to pass the maps.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/texas-democrats-return-after-governor-ends-special-session/story?id=124592449

[tsar4]

"Trolling, trolling, over the bounding main..."

[tsar4]

21 hours ago, tsar4 said:

"Trolling, trolling, over the bounding main..."

[tsar4]

Not letting up...

[tsar4]

 

[Raptorpat]

Quote

On Thursday, State Representative Gene Wu of Houston, who leads Democrats in the Texas House, said in a statement that they had reached a decision as a group: They would return only after the original special legislative session called by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, officially ends on Friday.

Mr. Wu added that they were also waiting until Democratic leaders in California introduced their own congressional map, redrawn to favor Democrats in five additional districts and counteract the Texas proposal. That introduction is expected to happen on Monday.

 

[tsar4]

 

[Raptorpat]

That is going right to SCOTUS to give them the change to throw out the VRA.

[Raptorpat]

I know Gavin Newsom is like a Patrick Bateman psycho, but the give-no-shits press office account mocking trump etc. as this redistricting stuff plays out is just something

 

[scoobdog]

On 8/15/2025 at 12:45 PM, Raptorpat said:

I know Gavin Newsom is like a Patrick Bateman psycho, but the give-no-shits press office account mocking trump etc. as this redistricting stuff plays out is just something

 

I’m sure I mentioned it before, but I went to school with that dude.  Motherfucker was always a dumb shit.

[Raptorpat]

Gavin Newsom or Carl DeMaio?

[Raptorpat]

On 8/15/2025 at 3:45 PM, Raptorpat said:

but the give-no-shits press office account mocking trump etc. as this redistricting stuff plays out is just something

[scoobdog]

4 hours ago, Raptorpat said:

Gavin Newsom or Carl DeMaio?

DeMaio.  Almost debated him on abortion rights once.

[Raptorpat]

A real long tweet that never uses the word "Texas"

 

[1pooh4u]

Texas is fuckin crazy. wtf are they doing down there?  
 

https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/taking-on-texas-tyranny?r=kmtvs&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[discolé monade]

good on her. 

[1pooh4u]

26 minutes ago, discolé monade said:

good on her. 

But it’s fuckin nuts she even has to do all that 

[tsar4]

 

[Raptorpat]

 

[Raptorpat]

 

[Raptorpat]

Quote

For nearly a month, Trump has been pressuring Gov. Mike Kehoe and legislative leaders, with calls to at least one Republican lawmaker who expressed reluctance to go along.

“The Great State of Missouri is now IN,” Trump wrote. “I’m not surprised. It is a great State with fabulous people. I won it, all 3 times, in a landslide. We’re going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!”

And Kehoe, in a statement responding to Trump, inched closer to saying he intended to call a special session. At a news conference in his office Tuesday, Kehoe said no decision had been made.

“Governor Kehoe continues to have conversations with House and Senate leadership to assess options for a special session that would allow the General Assembly to provide congressional districts that best represent Missourians,” a statement sent by spokeswoman Gabby Picard read. “Governor Kehoe appreciates President Trump’s attention to this issue on behalf of Missourians.”

...

When he spoke to reporters on Tuesday, Kehoe said the biggest consideration for him is maintaining the Republican majority in Congress.

“Our goal, if we move forward — and there’s no decision to move forward — is to make sure Missouri’s values are reflected in Washington, D.C.,” Kehoe said. “And I’ve said many times that I think our current speaker does a very good job of matching the values of Missourians.”

Republican members of the Missouri House have been told there will be two caucus meetings scheduled to coincide with the annual veto session, which starts Sept. 10, state Rep. Barry Hovis, a Republican from Cape Girardeau said Wednesday in an interview with The Independent.

One meeting, he said, is presumably to discuss whether there are any vetoes the House wants to override. In the other, Hovis expects an in-depth discussion of redistricting.

For Hovis, one consideration on whether to redraw Missouri’s map will be if Democratic states  California, Illinois or New York revise their maps in response to the action in Texas. Gerrymandered districts that give one party far more representation than their share of the overall vote can be seen in every state dominated by a single party, he said. Illinois has a district that looks like a snake, he said, while Massachusetts — where Republicans get about the same share of the vote as Democrats in Missouri — has no GOP congressional seats.

...

Democrats will complain they are being denied representation, Hovis said.

“If they’re going to bring (Texas) up, I’m going to say, ‘Well, we’re just doing what you guys taught us to do,’” Hovis said.

Until Kehoe makes the call, Hovis said, the whole discussion is speculation.

“For me to tell you that I know exactly what we’re going to do here, I truly don’t,” he said.

The biggest challenge for Republicans, Hovis said, will be to draw a map that doesn’t put districts the party currently holds at risk with large numbers of new Democratic votes. 

https://missouriindependent.com/2025/08/21/missouri-gop-leader-says-lawmakers-will-start-with-a-congressional-map-drawn-in-d-c/

[katt_goddess]

' “If they’re going to bring (Texas) up, I’m going to say, ‘Well, we’re just doing what you guys taught us to do,’” Hovis said. '

Nice try. While there is plenty of gerrymandering to point at, Texas is very specifically doing this crap now at the illegal whining of a giant man-child that needs a buffer zone to keep from being told no. California declaring it's going to do the same thing is not the same thing since it's only being proposed to keep things even. It would be different if they were going all out and trying for more than 5 counters to the Texas 5. 

I'd also argue you can't teach a MAGAt anything. 

[Raptorpat]

the problem is that it isn't illegal whining - it's totally legal whining