DUers, don't you DARE get all hopeless and demoralized!

[pnwmom]

We don’t have time to waste on that.

Of course we’re disappointed. We’ve had another loss. But Jon’s real chance was in the primary, where he won 48% of the vote and the Republicans divided their support among several candidates. We shouldn’t be shocked that in the run-off the Republicans banded together to support their nominee.

In a district that was engineered to be heavily Republican -- that used to belong to Newt Fucking Gingrich -- another well-known Republican candidate faced off against an unknown newcomer. So the fact that Jon lost by 6 points instead of 24 (like the previous Dem) means we need to re-double our efforts going forward – not give up.

THE NEXT BATTLE -- THE HEALTHCARE BILL -- HAS ALREADY STARTED.

Now it’s time to pick ourselves up off the floor, shake ourselves off – and start firing off emails and telephone calls to Senators across the country. They say that the opposition to the healthcare bill has died down. We have to show them it hasn’t.

They want the Ossoff loss to stop us. They want it to make us give up and roll over.

DON’T GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT.

KEEP FIGHTING.

KEEP SUPPORTING – NOT BLAMING -- EACH OTHER.

We owe this to each other and to the next generation:

STAY STRONG AND STAY POSITIVE.

AND GET ON THE PHONE.


How to call your Senator about the healthcare bill:

https://www.bustle.com/p/how-to-call-your-senator-to-protest-ahca-ahead-of-the-senate-vote-55836

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/take-action/contact-your-representative/

[NCTraveler]

1. K&R nt

[Docreed2003]

2. K&R

[Tanuki]

3. Thanks....let's put our energy today into saving affordable healthcare

and keeping Mitch McConnell from hiding his deathcare plan from public scrutiny. Democracy dies in the dark! Call your senators and don't let up. If they get by with this, they will feel emboldened to put Medicare and Social Security on the block next time. As pwnmom says, this is no time to retreat!

[Jim Beard]

4. Who would have thought it was Newt Gingrich's district. Yes, keep on going and everyday

is going to be tough fights. We really need to look at governors.

And as you say, we need to keep on fighting the republicans overlegislation.

Remember Bill Clinton saying he was the "Comeback Kid".

[Raster]

5. I agree, and I am always suspicious of electoral returns out of Georgia. Always.

This was a battle, not the war. Jon's showing yesterday showed that there are chinks in the armour and gaps in the the rethuglican "wall of the faithful."

This is NOT over. Not by a longshot.

[Blue_Roses]

6. Exactly! This was a long shot

that had remarkable results. We're talking about red, red state Georgia! And a newcomer came this close....shiiiitttt...

It might not be a "seat" win, but it shows the massive dislike of this president.

I live in the Deep South and I see this as a very doable 2018!

[Demsrule86]

8. It was remarkable...I lived in that exact district...Marietta some years ago.

The GM Doraville plant closed and we moved on. People don't understand how heavy a lift it was...they don't even run Democrats often...I used to write in candidates.

[Blue_Roses]

9. Exactly!

People that don't live in the Deep South do not understand that this is a win in many ways for the Democratic party.

[Demsrule86]

7. I lived in Georgia 6 so I am not demoralized. I knew it was a heavy lift. I sent Ossoff money and

think he has a future in the Democratic party but not in Georgia 6...They don't even have Democrats running often. I used to write candidates in.

[Nitram]

10. This Democrat's not about to get hopeless and demoralized.

I confess that's how I felt the day after the election, but we're back on our feet fighting the good fight.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Thank you!

Beyond the primary, the odds were stacked firmly against Ossoff. It's actually quite a feat to come within 6 points in a district that his so heavily gerrymandered the other way--in a state where elections are controlled by republicans (and likely rigged in their favor.)

I am so sick of all of the stupid-ass gloom-and-doom "We never win anything! We are so awful!" bullshit we get every time the Dems lose a seat they were likely never going to win in the first place. It's time to stop buying into the right-wing media-driven "How will the Democrats recover from this?" crap that they keep spinning. All it does is feed into the blame game that people here love playing. And, sadly, too many Dems keep on swallowing that bait hook, line, and sinker.

[George II]

12. People need to keep in mind the fact that this was a red seat for decades and....

...winning it last night was a long shot.

Commentators are saying that the Democrats "failed", when in fact republicans almost failed to retain their safe seat. I hate the spin I'm seeing this morning.

[brer cat]

21. ITA, George.

Price won district 6 with 62% of the vote in 2016 which makes Ossoff's showing very impressive and a harbinger of good things to come. As blatantly gerrymandered as GA is combined with voter suppression and republican control of the voting machines, the spin is totally wrong. The republicans may be celebrating in public, but in private they have to be uneasy. They have cracked and packed their way to victory for decades, but the demographics are not in their favor going forward, and Ossoff managed to pull in voters they can no longer assume are reliably republican.

[mcar]

13. K & f'ing R!

[zipplewrath]

14. Get strategic

I think it is more about getting "realistic" or "strategic" than staying positive. This was an "unwinnable" race. But when it comes to Healthcare, we need to "turn" two GOP senators, not the whole party. We need 2 or more who might not be in "safe seats" to see the reality of taking away health insurance from 20+ million people. And we need to remind them that some of those 20 million will have friends and family who will know what was done to them. So THAT'S where we should be spending our money.

[Politicub]

15. In the sixth and not demoralized

Disappointed, yes, but we knew the odds were high. It's notable that Handel won a 60 percent GOP district with only 51.9 percent of the vote.

The Democratic Party learned so much from this race that can be applied elsewhere.

[Soxfan58]

16. What did you expect?

Its fucking Georgia

[greymattermom]

18. Why do DUers keep saying stuff like that

It's a highly educated, wealthy suburban district, like in other major cities. I live in Georgia 6, and it's more diverse than the Philly suburbs where I lived once, and much more diverse than Overland Park, Kansas, where I lived more recently. Jon Ossoff lives in John Lewis' district, only a few miles south of me. John Lewis represents Georgia too.

[DownriverDem]

20. Where Jon lived

Do you think that is why Jon lost?

[brer cat]

27. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool

than to speak out and remove all doubt." A. Lincoln

I think we are supposed to be all Tara and dueling banjos.

[Hoyt]

31. I live in Georgia too, there is a lot of truth to Soxfan's post.

Except for a few Districts around Atlanta and larger Georgia cities, there are still a lot of people who 45 years ago were Dixiecrats voting for the likes of Lester Maddox for governor because he chased a bunch of Blacks out of his restaurant with a gun and pick handle.

There is truth in "that's friggin Georgia," as much as I wish it weren't so.

[Soxfan58]

43. Look who won last night

That why we say it!!!!!!!!@

[pnwmom]

74. Unfortunately, the district he ran in was Newt Gingrich's district,

and the boundary lines were laid oud to yield a strong Republican majority.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. Too late, already demoralized.

[AJT]

35. Me too. Once religion gets a taste for political power they will not

give it up. The south and bible belt are heavily evangelical, and evangelical Christianity is basically an arm of the republican party. Modern Christianity has rejected the loving, humble Christ in favor of a vengeful warrior, wealth worshipping Christ. Religious fascism is here and it won't go away quickly or quietly.

[Alice11111]

56. Well, I laughed, instead of just being pissed at the Pollyanna

attitude.
As someone said, fuck the participation awards.

Thank you for writing the OP, and we will get on w it for healthcare. We need someone to move us on.

It makes my blood boil though that some Dems are so naive about this stuff that we let it happen over and over.
The Dem people are organized and fighting like hell, at the local levels. We have some great leaders like Al Franken. We have some wimpheads too, who have way too much control. However, we aren't allowed to discuss how to improve our party or our likelihood of winning here. NYT, WaPo, the Guardian all allow free expression of that. We could be an asset to our party if we could engage in honest, constructive critique, rather than just praising the Dems (kinda like Trump's cabinet meeting) and screaming fuck you at all of the Repubs. It let's off tension, but often, nothing else is accomplished by it.

[pnwmom]

75. The mistake some demoralized Dems made was in not realizing

that the reason Jon won the plurality -- 47% -- in the primary was because there were 11 Rethugs dividing the Rethug vote. In the run-off they banded together, so Jon's plurality wasn't enough to conquer their united front.

This was Newt Gingrich's very red district, and a Democrat hadn't won there since the 70's. If Jon had managed to squeak out 50% in the initial vote, then he'd have won simply because the Rethugs were so divided, and the Dems weren't. But once they went into a run-off his odds slipped precipitously.

This district was engineered to be strongly Republican, and Handel was a very well-known and respected (among Republicans) politician -- who had been in various offices since 2003 and had recently been Secretary of State. The Republicans in that district weren't too thrilled with Trump, but they liked Handel.

[gateley]

59. Ditto. I'm numb. And fucking fed up. nt

[Alice11111]

76. You aren't alone! Me too.

[DownriverDem]

19. The State & District

GA is a red state. GA-6 is a red district. Yes I had hoped there were enough transplants and disgusted repubs to give Jon a win. The expression that politics is local is true. Going forward we must run candidates that fit the districts. I will never give up. We have a two party system. To think otherwise is naïve and foolish.

[turbinetree]

22. Let me guess how the "media" played this run down there and in the other 3 races

does anyone from that district can they give us a synopsis has to how the "media" referenced this race, from the beginning?

Because, just looking at the national level of the "media" when it came / comes to health care, like some of BS that is being projected that 13 white men are now complaining that there is not enough transparency, while they have been sitting in the room trying to screw human beings says a lot about the "media", not calling these LIARS out as being a LIAR.

A LIAR is still a LIAR and if the "media" is afraid to call these fascist out as being a LIAR, then maybe I should get a press badge and ask the question, what were you doing in the room, playing RISK and laughing.

Did the "media" down there run, lets say an hour show of each person position, and what they have done for the state and community, because apparently a fucking homophobic bigot got elected to office for starters, and did they challenge her whenever she ventured out to spew her shit and her record of vile hate, if your not some fucking "christian" .


And did the "media" say anything about the For Profit ballot box machines and how they are being "run" in the state, after all ALEC took over a complete hotel at one time to really screw the people of state, when a reporter put "pressure" on how the legislature was being bought off to rewrite the districts and the lines.

[ButSeeYa]

23. Disappointed, but not discouraged.

I will continue in the fight.

[jcmaine72]

24. It's tough not be demoralized. It's like we're like Charlie Brown, constantly having the football

yanked away from us by Lucy the instant before we can kick it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. Do Republicans and their voters give up when they lose?

Hell no! And neither should Democrats. Ossoff made a strong showing in heavily Republican district. He and the other Democrats in the special elections throughout the country all made races that should have been Republican blowouts much closer than expected and made Republicans sweat enough to have to pour fistfuls of money into them (draining them of resources to use elsewhere). If we can do that in solid Republican districts, just think what we could do in more competitive districts in 2018?

[samnsara]

32. exactly what i am thinking.. if this was a GOP loss they would be united in calling us names...

...and they would act like they won even if they didn't.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

34. Right

It's not like they would suddenly respect us or anything.

[Gothmog]

26. Agreed

[RKP5637]

28. K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[dlk]

29. We've Just Begun to Fight!

Dems made huge inroads in a district that has been a lock for Republicans for decades. Change is never quick or easy. It will take continued and sustained effort to increase voter turnout and address voter suppression. Keep in mind, it took nearly 100 years for women to get the right to vote, because most people don't change until they have to.This is no time to give up or take a back seat to Republicans but, instead, the time to double down and increase our efforts.

[samnsara]

30. i agree 100%.... this was a close race in a deep red state!!!!....

....if this had been this close in a deep blue district we would be freaking out! You know the GOP were just holding their breaths and you know THEY know this close race is an indication of the direction things are going. I hope Ossoff continues to campaign for the upcoming 2018 race.. hes that much closer and you know Karens going to have a few bad votes under her belt by then. Then it will be a referendum against her and not trump....cuz hes gonna be in jail by then.

[delisen]

55. Yes what if a Republican challenger got this close to John Lewis's seat

in GA 5 Congressional District next to GA 6

If Clinton was in the Oval Office and tapped John Lewis (GA 5) for a cabinet position, and then a Republican candidate came within 11000 votes of winning his seat ----we would be experiencing Democratic Party shockwaves.

There would be a national call for crisis intervention for Dems.

[NurseJackie]

33. Thanks for this! XOXOXO We definitely need to avoid giving in to that type of thinking ...

... after all, it only fuels the fires of the "BURN IT DOWN TO REBUILD IT" contingency. No need to fall into that Sarandon and Stein way of thinking.

And I still can't wrap my head around the notion that Susan Sarandon thinks that having Trump in the White House is a "good thing".

[bdamomma]

51. is she going to lead the

revolution?

[jimlup]

36. We will fight then on the beaches, we will fight them on the shore, we will fight them...

Most importantly: We will NEVER surrender!

[riversedge]

37. We must all call our Senators and encourage others to do so. Please.

[Aristus]

38. I'm not. I wasn't really expecting a win in the G6.

Ergo, no disappointment.

I'm continuing every day to call my Senators (Thank you to Patty Murray for leading a protest against TrumpCare on the Senate floor) and tell them to keep fighting.

[ATL Ebony]

39. K&R Wow, you're making to much sense this morning.

I read a few of your posts this morning but did not login to let you know how on target your points were. You're absolutely right, yet again.

We can't lose our focus (can't win like that) or start infighting (can't win much like that either).

Jon had a really tough fight ahead of him but he actually didn't lose, as pnwmom pointed out -- to win as much support as he has was phenomenal and he's just getting started. So let's just focus on the next issue, this GA6 fight is over.

[pnwmom]

40. Thanks, ATL Ebony! n/t

[niyad]

41. k and r--I refuse to give up!!

[MarvinGardens]

42. Great post. Glad to see so many others in agreement.

I live right outside GA-6. It was a solid red district. Still red, but not so solid now, is it?

[dalton99a]

44. Surrender is not an option.

[Enoki33]

45. Thanks. Really needed that.

[flying-skeleton]

46. GA Election

This is my takeaway:

1. There are way too many stupid people in GA
2. The Whitehouse ShitGibbon will still win the Presidential Election in GA in 3.5 years !!

How does the Democratic Party overcome this in similar red states !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pnwmom]

47. It's way too soon to know what will happen in 3.5 years. Focus on NOW:

fight for HEALTHCARE.

[bdamomma]

48. Thank you for saying that!!

do not do this NEVER.

[ailsagirl]

49. DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giving up is NOT AN OPTION. PERIOD.

Thank you for this, pnwmom!!!!

[LesterKasai]

50. CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP

[Turbineguy]

52. The republican health plan

might just kill off more republican voters than democratic voters.

[Thinkingabout]

53. I would say if republicans feels they have defeated the Democrats, they got more votes in a district

which should have been by a larger percent, Ossoff did a fine job, the people working for him did a fine job and made a real contest in a district where it should not have happened. Great Job, all.

[broadcaster90210]

54. I don't think we are .... but

I am not convinced we have the time to right the ship. We need to win ... NOW.

I haven't quit yet and never will. But the clock is ticking.

[Wawannabe]

57. Thanks pnwmom! nt

[gateley]

58. Too late. I'm disgusted by Dems just not bringing the vote.

We have a mentally ill madman in the WH who is dismantling all our rights and protections, and if that doesn't get people off their asses then I have no more faith. We're sending yet ANOTHER Republican vote to DC and essentially gave McConnell the green light to continue his back room penning of our future with his secret cabal. Bottom line, our fellow democrats are the ones who are throwing us under the bus. Another Dem Fail. I'm beyond caring at this point and refuse to get ensnared in the outrage and futile efforts any more. Good luck to us all.

[pnwmom]

61. This is a red district in a red state, with electronic machines without paper trails.

And yet you want to blame Dems.

You're part of the problem, IMO.

[gateley]

62. Fine. I'm part of the problem. I don't care any more. Carry on. Good luck. nt

[ancianita]

60. Don't worry. This Dem knows that playing the long game has done this country much good.

[BlackCherokee]

63. Calling our senators..how is that working for you...really is anyone getting anywhere with that? NO

It is time for a revolutionary plan. Democrats whining and ranting to their Senators has gotten us NOWHERE.

[pnwmom]

64. People speaking out have slowed the Senate to a crawl. We need to rant and rave now

so if the ACHA does pass, the people will know who to blame -- not the Dems who fought it as hard as they could.

But what "revolutionary plan" do you have that would be better?

[BlackCherokee]

66. Well for starters, end gerrymandering and hell, start with hand paper votes

To assure an accurate accounting of votes since we have a cheating ass party. Let's stick with ending unfair voting districts and watch the votings turnout when they know it is a fair voting system.

[pnwmom]

71. You are right -- but the Republicans control the majority of state governments

and that's where the gerrymandering gets done. They also control election systems at the state level.

[cstanleytech]

65. Why would we be discouraged? The Republicans had to actually struggle to win what should have been

easy for them to win and that struggle in a deep red district is clearly a sign that they are weak.

[blueinredohio]

67. I'm disappointed too

But in my opinion we have to stick together together non matter how much you hate Nancy Pelosi or anything else. That's one thing I can say about republicans they always stick together

[IrishEyes]

68. Thank you for saying it.

Yes, it is sad that we lost this battle but the war is far from over. We have to turn at least 24 more seats in the house in 2018. I believe that we can do it. We need to work together to make this happen and not get sidetracked by one defeat. I plan too work hard to do my part toward flipping as many house seats as possible in my state and throughout the country.

We should also work to elect more democratic governors in 2018. In 2018, 36 state will have elections for governor. Most of those states have a republican governor. Of course, I hope we win the governor election this year in VA and NJ. I'll be so glad to see Christie gone.

Republicans want us to lose hope, be sad and give up. Screw that! This little Irish lady is not giving up the fight.

[UTUSN]

69. R & K

[Cha]

70. Mahalo, pnwmom

[sueh]

72. Right on, pnwmom! Not without a fight!

[betsuni]

73. K&R