Yesterday's primaries in several states were generally very good news for progressive Democrats, especially in the crucial state of Pennsylvania. Continuing a trend that's been evident ever since the Virginia off- year elections in 2017, Democrats are energized and eager to cast their ballots, and are casting them for strong, electable candidates in impressive numbers:
Pennsylvania Democrats took a major step toward upending the state’s all-male, Republican-dominated congressional delegation Tuesday, nominating competitive candidates, including women intent on breaking barriers two years after the state rejected Hillary Clinton.
In a state crucial to their shot at House and Senate majorities, Democrats turned out in high numbers to settle crowded primaries. They put themselves in position to gain as many as a half-dozen House seats in November and are all but assured of sending at least three women to Congress. [snip]
Democratic turnout was running far ahead of Republican turnout in Pennsylvania late Tuesday, even though the Democrats had just one competitive statewide race — the usually sleepy lieutenant governor’s contest. With nearly 90 percent of precincts reporting, Democrats had cast nearly 100,000 more votes than Republicans. In Erie County, where Republicans saw one of their most dramatic surges in 2016, Democrats cast 5,000 more votes than the GOP. (our emphasis)In a concurrent special election, Democrats even flipped a Pennsylvania House of Representatives seat, the 41st state legislative seat they've flipped since the beginning of the Trump kleptocracy.
We have months to go before the mid- term elections, but there's no sign that the emerging "blue wave" is losing strength. You hear a lot about this or that being a "consequential election," but we can think of no more consequential election than this November's mid- term, if Democrats are to stymie the damage being done to our country by the Republican band of crooks and collaborators. We must make sure that we keep the focus, keep the energy, on into November and beyond, when the deadly serious business of rescuing our country begins in earnest.
