" #Democrats deliver ‘stunning’ flip in New Hampshire special election, latest in series of 28 upsets"

[davoyager@mastodon.social]

@andrew @benroyce All politics are local. If there's nobody local you can't carpetbag someone in and expect to win. Recruiting good candidates is hard

[miss_rodent@girlcock.club]

@benroyce As a note - "Vote in the primaries" is harder in some states than others.
If you are registered independent, and try to change parties to democrat in NY right now (after Feb 14th), you won't be able to vote in this round of primaries - your party change won't happen until june 30. And if you're not registered as a democrat, you can not vote in the dem primary (closed primaries).
So - worth checking how your local elections handle that sooner than later.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@miss_rodent

thank you!

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@davoyager @andrew

so run

not joking

(assuming you have the bandwidth)

[miss_rodent@girlcock.club]

@benroyce No problem. The rules around primaries in this country (and even just here in NY) are an aggressively anti-democratic mess, in a lot of places.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@linkerman @andrew @davoyager

but the point is to fix it

not accept it

right?

i always worry about comments like yours because i read them and then i think

"and?"

"and therefore we are doomed"

or

"and therefore get mad and vote"?

[bbuck@mastodon.social]

@miss_rodent @benroyce
It’s much easier when you know to vote Democrat for life. There was never a time that switching to Red made sense to me at all.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@davoyager

just the other day i ran into a comment with pro-ukraine symbols on the account, that proceeded to complain ukraine has no real freedom. i looked in its history and it bashed elon musk right after musk made starlink unavailable to russians on the front line (i mean fuck elon musk, but interesting timing no?)

once a week i encounter these mindless comments trying to sell hopelessness about voting

i doubt you

i think there's bots absolutely everywhere

including on mastodon

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce Hopefully the Democrats have learned a lesson from 2024 and stop running lite republicans. They're entitled morons if they expect people who don't like genocide to vote blue no matter who. #uspol

[cmthiede@social.vivaldi.net]

@miss_rodent @benroyce in WI you have to choose a team going in, regardless of registration. So, one can either vote for their preferred party candidate or choose a spoiler for the opposite team.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@miss_rodent

yup (i'm near rochester ny)

and we fix it, by showing up, and iterating

we just have to remind people: they have to fucking show up

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@fathermcgruder

no

we show up in the primaries and get the left candidate in

this is the lesson of mamdani: the people just bucked the establishment, and made it happen

corporatist dems will not magically decide to become leftists, and anyone who thinks they will must be joking

*we* have to show up and replace them

anyone who doesn't show up in the primaries, then complains the dem candidates suck, needs to shut up: they are the reason why the candidates suck

[linkerman@mastodon.social]

@benroyce @andrew @davoyager oh I'm not saying we are doomed I'm just saying we have to force those ppl hand scare them even

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@linkerman @andrew @davoyager

i feel you!

[miss_rodent@girlcock.club]

@bBuck @benroyce In NY, you can register for the Working Families Party, which is generally left of the democrats, but can't vote in the dem primary.
It's also not uncommon to register as independant, but vote persistently one way anyway every election.

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce Ok so what if leftists do come out to vote in the primaries, but their vote gets split because whoops there happen to be one too many leftish candidates running and then the pro-genocide candidate gets the nomination?

[not2b@sfba.social]

@benroyce @fathermcgruder AOC also, who shocked the Democrats by defeating a very senior corporate Democrat in a primary.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@fathermcgruder

i don't understand your complaint

"what if something bad happens"?

of course. there's numerous other scenarios where something can go wrong

or the centrist dem can straight up beat the leftist dem in the primary

and?

the simple point is:

if you vote, you may lose. if you don't vote, you *will* lose

nevermind that if leftists show the fuck up, their concerns will be addressed rather than ignored

no elected official cares about people who don't #vote

you *make them* care

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@not2b @fathermcgruder

exactly

i only use the mamdani example because he's more recent

people need to show the fuck up in the primaries if they want leftists in power

simple

[fathermcgruder@jorts.horse]

@benroyce I'm just trying to get clarification on who you think is an entitled moron and under what circumstances. If leftists keep voting blue no matter who, the message that sends is that the Democrats can ignore leftists. We should not encourage that sort of entitlement on behalf of the party.