Democratic candidate wins state house special election to succeed guy who shot himself last year - Polidicks

[quote]The Democratic Party’s run of good news in state legislative races continued Tuesday night, with a former legislator beaten in the 2016 Republican wave reclaiming a seat held briefly by a pastor who committed suicide after being accused of molesting a teenage girl. Linda Belcher, a Democrat first elected in 2008, won the special election for Kentucky’s 49th District with 68.45 percent of the vote. In 2016, as Donald Trump won Kentucky by the biggest margin of any Republican presidential candidate in history, Belcher lost by just 156 votes to Republican pastor Dan Johnson. Trump’s margin in the district, 72-23, was part of a rout that helped Republicans seize total political control of Kentucky for the first time in 96 years. In office, Johnson helped Republicans pass the ambitious conservative agenda of Gov. Matt Bevin (R), making Kentucky a right-to-work state and banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But in December 2017, during a wave of #MeToo revelations across state capitols, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published a lengthy investigation of Johnson’s conduct at his church, revealing that he had sexually abused a 17-year-old girl. Days after the story was published, Johnson was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head.[/quote] [url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/02/20/democrat-wins-state-house-race-in-kentucky-after-a-republicans-scandal-and-suicide/?utm_term=.440afc428306[/url] Also the candidate who lost, who is also the widow of the late representative, is already going full Roy Moore alleging voter fraud to explain away her loss. [url]https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2018/02/20/dan-johnsons-widow-claims-voter-fraud-after-losing-seat-linda-belcher-district-49-race/357334002/[/url] [quote]An hour after being defeated by Linda Belcher in a special election in Bullitt County Tuesday night, a spokesman for Rebecca Johnson said she is claiming voter fraud. "The big story out of Bullitt County appears to be voter fraud," David Adams, Johnson's campaign manager said in a text message. Belcher secured 68.45 percent of the vote, according to the Bullitt County Clerk's office. Rebecca Johnson, Dan Johnson's widow, secured 31.55 percent. There were 4,947 votes cast. Johnson, however, claims that numerous people were turned away as being ineligible to vote at their local polling place. [/quote] The old article from Facepunch on Dan Johnson's suicide, in case anyone needs a reminder. [url]https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1588651[/url]

Holy shit the democrat wave is affecting the state level, guess trump is doing some good by being the opposite of Obama and energizing dems while making republicans not care as much. Hope the dems win in unexpected places as much in the federal level as in the state.

Yay the blue colored corrupt selfish paid off politicians! A real change guys! I mean I guess they won't be blatantly nationalist and xenophobic so that's something, but Obama/the Dems got us in just as many wars and fucked us over just as much as the Republicans, regardless of if he didn't drool over Twitter like a baboon while he did it. Hopefully one day we can get real government reform and fix real issues instead of electing politicians in the same pockets of the same companies, just with different colors on them.

[QUOTE=Hilton;53147854]Yay the blue colored corrupt selfish paid off politicians! A real change guys! I mean I guess they won't be blatantly nationalist and xenophobic so that's something, but Obama/the Dems got us in just as many wars and fucked us over just as much as the Republicans, regardless of if he didn't drool over Twitter like a baboon while he did it. Hopefully one day we can get real government reform and fix real issues instead of electing politicians in the same pockets of the same companies, just with different colors on them.[/QUOTE] What was the point of this post? Like I geniunely am confused as to what you're trying to say here?

[QUOTE=Hilton;53147854]Yay the blue colored corrupt selfish paid off politicians! A real change guys! I mean I guess they won't be blatantly nationalist and xenophobic so that's something, but Obama/the Dems got us in just as many wars and fucked us over just as much as the Republicans, regardless of if he didn't drool over Twitter like a baboon while he did it. Hopefully one day we can get real government reform and fix real issues instead of electing politicians in the same pockets of the same companies, just with different colors on them.[/QUOTE] The Democrats are not without their corporate shilling, but the differences made in economic protections for the lower classes (and successes in civil rights efforts) should not be waved away like this. This kind of edgy shit just shows your ignorance of the past 10 years.

[QUOTE=Amber902;53147857]What was the point of this post? Like I geniunely am confused as to what you're trying to say here?[/QUOTE] Two party system is cancerous and lobbying/big companies own every politician. Sorry if I was sort of incoherent it's been a long day lol

[quote] Johnson, however, claims that numerous people were turned away as being ineligible to vote at their local polling place[/quote] damn, if only the voter ID laws weren't so exacting, arbitrary, and harsh.

[QUOTE=bitches;53147865]The Democrats are not without their corporate shilling, but the differences made in economic protections for the lower classes (and successes in civil rights efforts) should not be waved away like this. This kind of edgy shit just shows your ignorance of the past 10 years.[/QUOTE] I'd honestly say those differences aren't worth the lives lost, both American and foreign, in the continuation of a pointless occupation in the middle east.

[QUOTE=Hilton;53147854]Yay the blue colored corrupt selfish paid off politicians! A real change guys! I mean I guess they won't be blatantly nationalist and xenophobic so that's something, but Obama/the Dems got us in just as many wars and fucked us over just as much as the Republicans, regardless of if he didn't drool over Twitter like a baboon while he did it. Hopefully one day we can get real government reform and fix real issues instead of electing politicians in the same pockets of the same companies, just with different colors on them.[/QUOTE] if this isn't sarcasm, I'd like to point out the massive escalation of fights in africa, north korea, and the massive amount of boots on the ground in syria

[QUOTE=Hilton;53147873]I'd honestly say those differences aren't worth the lives lost, both American and foreign, in the continuation of a pointless occupation in the middle east.[/QUOTE] throwing your hands up and praising anarchy isn't going to solve anything; you shouldn't bemoan a positive outcome just because it isn't the BEST outcome the time to vote for a third party candidate is in primaries if you want it to count, otherwise you're just wasting your vote in spite of your country

[QUOTE=bitches;53147889]throwing your hands up and praising anarchy isn't going to solve anything; you shouldn't bemoan a positive outcome just because it isn't the BEST outcome the time to vote for a third party candidate is in primaries if you want it to count, otherwise you're just wasting your vote in spite of your country[/QUOTE] My issue is the attitude of most people using a bandaid solution for complex problems. Just saying "oh we just gotta vote out the scary red guys and then America is saved" is exactly why nothing ever changes in this country. It's a back and forth swing constantly between R and D where each party undoes the other. Voting in Democrats just for them to be useless until they are inevitably replaced with Republicans and so on, all while they're both paid off by corporations, fixes nothing in this country.

[QUOTE=TheBorealis;53147838]Holy shit the democrat wave is affecting the state level, guess trump is doing some good by being the opposite of Obama and energizing dems while making republicans not care as much. Hope the dems win in unexpected places as much in the federal level as in the state.[/QUOTE] People would crawl over broken glass to vote for democrats now, trump is that bad.

Hilton this is a case where his values should come in. When I was saying doug jones is not a saviour I showed his voting record that aligned with trump. (I also waited a while until he had a record) You should get an example or a few if you want to convince others. Maybe this guy's ok. Idk can't easily check from my iPod.

68% of the vote, goddamn.

[QUOTE=Hilton;53147927]My issue is the attitude of most people using a bandaid solution for complex problems. Just saying "oh we just gotta vote out the scary red guys and then America is saved" is exactly why nothing ever changes in this country. It's a back and forth swing constantly between R and D where each party undoes the other. Voting in Democrats just for them to be useless until they are inevitably replaced with Republicans and so on, all while they're both paid off by corporations, fixes nothing in this country.[/QUOTE] So what exactly are you advocating for except poo-pooing people who vote and how do you think you'll achieve that?

[QUOTE=TheBorealis;53147838]Holy shit the democrat wave is affecting the state level, guess trump is doing some good by being the opposite of Obama and energizing dems while making republicans not care as much. Hope the dems win in unexpected places as much in the federal level as in the state.[/QUOTE] Hoping more that these are decent politicians and not just "vote any Democrat just because he's opposite the party of Trump" else we're just going down the same damn road with a different color.

[QUOTE=Maegord;53147833] Also the candidate who lost, who is also the widow of the late representative, is already going full Roy Moore alleging voter fraud to explain away her loss. [/QUOTE] This trend really worries me. If people keep claiming that they only lost an election because of fraud/cheating, voter participation will go down even further as people lose faith in the system. I still think the biggest reason Trump won was because Hillary voters were so goddamn confident about winning that they didn't bother to vote, figuring victory was assured.