2018 Midterm Thread

[Teelie]

Mississippi is a pretty awful place to live. It's even worse if you're black. And worse still if you're an immigrant of the wrong skin color.

 

[Raiden]

Mississippi is a pretty awful place to live. It's even worse if you're black. And worse still if you're an immigrant of the wrong skin color.

It's no wonder that a state like that would vote Republican.

 

[Marvolo]

That is...gods, I don't even know what to say anymore. It's not surprising at all! I'm not shocked in the slightest that she is a disgusting racist, because this happens all the time now, and the Republicans get away with it! If she wins, I will be so crushed and disappointed, though.

I dont think she should be held responsible for the high school her parents sent her too. Countless American kids attended segregated schools

And like it or not the Confederate flag was extremely common in the South. It was much more common back then so it's not some great shock that a school had a mascot with Confederate flag.

 

[Zarex]

Ms. Hyde-Smith shouldn't be judged by the bigoted views of her awful parents, so long as she makes it clear she doesn't share them. That's not what is happening with Cindy, who has embraced all the old southern traditions and the garbage humans that cling to them.

 

[Teelie]

I dont think she should be held responsible for the high school her parents sent her too. Countless American kids attended segregated schools

And like it or not the Confederate flag was extremely common in the South. It was much more common back then so it's not some great shock that a school had a mascot with Confederate flag.

While that is correct, Mississippi GOP Senator Sent Daughter to “Segregation Academy” With Almost No Black Students. So she's still guilty of being a racist.

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, who is facing a special election runoff in Mississippi Tuesday, hasn’t exactly been open about her high school experience. And today the Jackson Free Press* reveals why that might be, noting that the senator attended one of the “segregation academies” that were set up by white parents eager to avoid integration laws. Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to replace long-time Sen. Thad Cochran this past spring, is facing off aganist Democratic former congressman Mike Espy, who is seeking to become Mississippi’s first black senator since Reconstruction.

The paper got a hold of the 1975 yearbook of the Lawrence County Academy and identified “Cindy Hyde” posing with other cheerleaders next to the school’s mascot of a Confederate general holding up a large Confederate flag. Hyde-Smith didn’t just go to a school that seemed expressly designed to avoid integration, she also sent her daughter to one of them.

Brookhaven Academy, the school from which Hyde-Smith’s daughter graduated in 2017, is almost all white. In the 2015-2016 academic year, for example, the school had 386 white students, compared to five Asian students and one black student. Brookhaven is 55 percent black.

The senator’s education “adds historic context to comments she made in recent weeks about a ‘public hanging’ that drew condemnations from across the political spectrum,” notes the Jackson Free Press. The senator has been under fire for saying she would sit with a supporter in the front row of a “public hanging.” She defended the remarks as a meaningless expression, others were quick to say it alluded to a lynching. Several corporations are not buying her explanation and have requested refunds of their donations to the candidate.

The Free-Press piece quotes people explainign that there is no way Hyde-Smith couldn’t have known why the “segregation academies” were set up. “When the public schools in Mississippi were ordered desegregated, many thousands of white families cobbled together what they could laughingly call a school to send their children to for no other reason except they didn’t want them to be around n-words or to be treated or behave as equal to black people,” Former Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole said. Earlier in the week, the Washington Post took a look at how Hyde-Smith has often embraced “a pride in the Confederacy and its aftermath.”

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, I mean, you can acknowledge how she was raised would affect her beliefs. It is very likely she came out of it as a racist.

 

[Marvolo]

While that is correct, Mississippi GOP Senator Sent Daughter to “Segregation Academy” With Almost No Black Students. So she's still guilty of being a racist.

I agree she grew up to be a racist. I just dont think her going to a segregated highschool is her fault regardless of the person she grew up to be. And I think its incredibly silly to fault her for sending her kid to a school that only had one black kid. I also think it's silly to consider a modern school segregated and racist just because it has 1 black student. Brookhaven may be 55% black but that doesnt mean that the Brookhaven black community has any interest in going to Brookhaven academy. There is also the high probability that Brookhaven Academy's tuition made it impossible for many of the black people in Brookhaven to afford. I've also little doubt that many white people in the community couldnt afford the tuition or didnt wany to pay it when public school was available.

Just for the record, the private school I graduated from had less than 5 black kids and no asians. The other 200+ students were white. The school didnt turn away black students they just werent interested in the school.

 

[Teelie]

If you read the article though, it specifically says these are schools purposefully designed to cater only to white students.

 

[Zarex]

I agree she grew up to be a racist. I just dont think her going to a segregated highschool is her fault regardless of the person she grew up to be. And I think its incredibly silly to fault her for sending her kid to a school that only had one black kid. I also think it's silly to consider a modern school segregated and racist just because it has 1 black student. Brookhaven may be 55% black but that doesnt mean that the Brookhaven black community has any interest in going to Brookhaven academy. There is also the high probability that Brookhaven Academy's tuition made it impossible for many of the black people in Brookhaven to afford. I've also little doubt that many white people in the community couldnt afford the tuition or didnt wany to pay it when public school was available.

Just for the record, the private school I graduated from had less than 5 black kids and no asians. The other 200+ students were white. The school didnt turn away black students they just werent interested in the school.

The fact that this lie still gets traction today is disturbing. "Those black people simply don't want to send kids to this school! Or work at this company! Or live in this neighborhood, shop at this store or eat at this restaurant!" 99.9% of the time segregation happens because people in power make the environment inhospitable to "undesirables" and put barriers in place to enforce the status quo. I'm certain that if you look into the admission and recruitment activities you will see that is exactly what is happening at your curiously non-diverse alma mater.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The Week - This graph shows how brutal the 2018 midterm really was for Trump

Because of the disparity of the president's party losing seats during a time of strong employment and inflation conditions as well as rising home prices, the JPMorgan analysts determined that Trump actually had "the worst House retention rate" of anyone in his position in a century. Not exactly what you would call a "tremendous success," perhaps.

TJ Cox (D) has just now taken the lead in CA CD21. This would be the net +40 pickup for House Democrats if he and the others ultimately win - and it's a larger victory than the JP Morgan estimate of 34-36 seats quoted above.

Sources:
Election Statistics, 1920 to Present | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
national-1789-present - United States Elections Project
2018g - United States Elections Project
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WxDaxD5az6kdOjJncmGph37z0BPNhV1fNAH_g7IkpC0/htmlview

Biggest House vote margin of victory (20 elections 1980-2018)

1. 1982 midterm (D+11.77)
2. 2008 (D+10.55)
3. 1986 midterm (D+9.96)
4. 2018 midterm (D+8.57 result not final)
5. 1990 midterm (D+8.01)

Highest House % vote share (20 elections 1980-2018)

1. 1982 midterm (Democrats 54.99%)
2. 1986 midterm (Democrats 54.12%)
3. 2018 midterm (Democrats 53.41% result not final)
4. 1988 (Democrats 53.22%)
5. 2008 (Democrats 52.93%)

 

[AResistor]

 

[THORin]

Come on, Mississippi voters. If Alabama can elect a Democrat against all odds, can't the same happen here? Fingers crossed.

 

[CaptainWagner]

I agree that she shouldn't be judged for where her parents sent her for school. That's not the problem. If she didn't support these things, she could easily just say show. But she hasn't, and coupled with her present day actions, it's clear that she has inherited her parents' views.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

138,341 McCready (D)
139,246 Harris (R)

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WxDaxD5az6kdOjJncmGph37z0BPNhV1fNAH_g7IkpC0/htmlview

 

[Sithborg]

Interesting...

 

[Marvolo]

I agree that she shouldn't be judged for where her parents sent her for school. That's not the problem. If she didn't support these things, she could easily just say show. But she hasn't, and coupled with her present day actions, it's clear that she has inherited her parents' views.

She doesnt need to say anything against where she went to school. And politically it wouldnt make any sense to denounce any racial issues. At this point in her career shes not going to get any dems to vote for her. No matter what she says or does. The only thing she would accomplish is alienating or pissing off a part of the voter base that she will need to win an election.

Its morally wrong, but strategically it is the best course of action for her. Too often on these boards and on the Left we look at this stuff morally and ignore or fail to consider that politics is a strategic game first and foremost. Not a morality play.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Closest Mississippi Senate election since 1988, closest in comparison to the Presidency contest since 1996 (thanks to Perot). This same Senate seat will be up again in 2020.

Mississippi Senate
2018 Hyde-Smith (R) 53.9% Espy (D) 46.1% (special election) (result not final)
2014 Cochran (R) 59.9% Childers (D) 37.9%
2012 Wicker (R) 57.2% Gore (D) 40.6%
2008 Wicker (R) 55.0 Musgrove (D) 45.0% (special election)
2008 Cochran (R) 61.4% Fleming (D) 38.6%
2006 Lott (R) 63.6% Fleming (D) 34.9%
2002 Cochran (R) 84.6% O'Hara (Reform) 15.4%
2000 Lott (R) 65.9% Brown (D) 31.6%
1996 Cochran (R) 71.0% Hunt (D) 27.4%
1994 Lott (R) 68.8% Harper (D) 31.2%
1990 Cochran (R) 100.0%
1988 Lott (R) 53.9% Dowdy (D) 46.1%

Mississippi Presidential
2016 Trump (R) 57.86% H.Clinton (D) 40.06%
2012 Romney (R) 55.29% Obama (D) 43.79%
2008 McCain (R) 56.17% Obama (D) 43.00%
2004 Bush (R) 59.44% Kerry (D) 39.75%
2000 Bush (R) 57.62% Gore (D) 40.70%
1996 Dole (R) 49.21% Clinton (D) 44.08%

 

[Teelie]

It was Mississppi so I expected the racist to win, and she did but at least this time it was a very close race by their standards.

 

[THORin]

Well, at least it was close. It was disappointing, though.

 

[CaptainWagner]

She doesnt need to say anything against where she went to school. And politically it wouldnt make any sense to denounce any racial issues. At this point in her career shes not going to get any dems to vote for her. No matter what she says or does. The only thing she would accomplish is alienating or pissing off a part of the voter base that she will need to win an election.

Its morally wrong, but strategically it is the best course of action for her. Too often on these boards and on the Left we look at this stuff morally and ignore or fail to consider that politics is a strategic game first and foremost. Not a morality play.

Accepting things that are wrong just because "that's the way it goes" is literally the worst possible thing you can do. It doesn't matter if it would hurt her politically, it is the right thing to do. And when a politician fails to do the right thing, they should be held accountable. Otherwise things will never get better.

 

[THORin]

Accepting things that are wrong just because "that's the way it goes" is literally the worst possible thing you can do. It doesn't matter if it would hurt her politically, it is the right thing to do. And when a politician fails to do the right thing, they should be held accountable. Otherwise things will never get better.

Exactly. This should be taken for granted in this day and age, but apparently it's not.

 

[Marvel united]

Glad I live in California

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Current (not final) 2018 election U.S. House popular vote stats:
Democrats: 60,697,669 (53.41%)
Republicans: 50,961,737 (44.84%)
others: 1,981,329 (1.74%)
margin: 9,735,932 (D+8.57)

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

NC CD09 update:

 

[samsnee]

Give it up to Wisconsin and Michigan to ignore the will of the people. Democrats won governorships but apparently to them that means the people still want Republicans to control everything.