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Laurel Wales

Turning States A Bolder Shade Of Blue

Regina Romero – an environmental activist committed to co-governing with the People’s Action affiliate group LUCHA (Living United For Change In Arizona) – made history Tuesday night by becoming Tuscon’s first woman and Latina mayor in a landslide victory. These victories by Ward and Santa Cruz are just two of the dozens of exciting victories by cogoverning candidates, especially women and people of color, all across the country on Tuesday night. Together, state by state, city by city and vote by vote, People’s Action and our member groups are turning this country a bolder shade of blue: And we’re getting bolder as we move towards 2020. From Lewiston, Maine and Newburgh, New York to Minnetonka, Minnesota and Kalamazoo, Michigan, these victories by cogoverning champions - many with the support of People's Action member groups and voters - are an important step towards making our bold vision of governing by and for the people a reality in this country.

Romero's Victory Makes Her Only Latina To Lead Large U.S. City

‘HISTORIC’: Regina Romero becomes first Latina mayor of Tucson. HuffPost: "Democrat Regina Romero was elected mayor of Tucson, Arizona, on Tuesday, becoming the first Latina and the first woman to hold the city’s highest office. Romero is only the second Mexican-American to be elected mayor of Tucson since the 1854 Gadsden Purchase when the U.S. acquired southern Arizona — an area that included Tucson — from Mexico, according to The Arizona Daily Star. Romero, who will take office next month, will also be the only Latina mayor in the 50 largest cities in the country, the newspaper noted. In other historic elections on Tuesday, Julia Mejia won a seat on the Boston City Council, according to preliminary results. Mejia will be the first Afro-Latina on the legislative body. 'I am humbled,' she wrote on Twitter of her apparent win. MassLive.com said Tuesday’s election marked the first time in Boston’s history that minority and female candidates formed the majority of the City Council. Seven of the 13 councilors will be people of color; and eight will be women, WBUR-TV reported."

Dems Claim Victory In Virginia, Kentucky

Democrats win control in Virginia and claim narrow victory in Kentucky governor’s race. NYT: "Democrats won complete control of the Virginia government for the first time in a generation on Tuesday and claimed a narrow victory in the Kentucky governor’s race, as Republicans struggled in suburbs where President Trump is increasingly unpopular. In capturing both chambers of the legislature in Virginia, Democrats have cleared the way for Gov. Ralph S. Northam, who was nearly driven from office earlier this year, to press for measures tightening access to guns and raising the minimum wage that have been stymied by legislative Republicans. In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin, a deeply unpopular Republican, refused to concede the election to his Democratic challenger, Attorney General Andy Beshear. With 100 percent of the precincts counted, Mr. Beshear was ahead by 5,100 votes. Mr. Beshear presented himself as the winner, telling supporters that he expected Mr. Bevin to 'honor the election that was held tonight.'"

NYC Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting

Ranked-choice voting adopted in New York City, along with other ballot measures. Politico: "New York City will move to a system of ranked-choice voting, shaking up the way its elections are run after voters approved a ballot question to make the change. The city will be by far the biggest place in the U.S. to put the new way of voting to the test, tripling the number of people around the country who use it. A ballot question proposing the shift for New York primaries and special elections was approved Tuesday by a margin of nearly 3-1. It’s now set to be in effect for New York’s elections for mayor, City Council and other offices in 2021. Under the system, voters will rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of casting a ballot for just one. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, the last place candidate is eliminated and their votes are parceled out to the voter’s second choice, a computerized process that continues until one candidate has a majority and is declared the winner. Ranked-choice voting is now in use or approved in 18 other cities around the country, including San Francisco, Minneapolis and Cambridge. The state of Maine also uses it."

KY Win Fueled by Working-Class Revolt

As 'working class revolt' topples Kentucky's Trump-backed governor, a warning to McConnell: 'You're next.' Common Dreams: "Beshear's apparent victory was widely viewed as a powerful rebuke to President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, both of whom rallied for Bevin just 24 hours earlier in a last-ditch effort to drive turnout for the deeply unpopular Republican governor. 'If you lose, they are going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. You can't let that happen to me!' Trump pleaded during a rally in Lexington Monday night. With McConnell and Trump both up for reelection in 2020, Ball argued that national Democrats should 'learn from this 'red state' that unexpectedly turned blue on the back of a working class populist backlash.' 'Kentucky Democrats did not win by launching esoteric attacks on Bevin about the norms and guardrails of Democracy or lofty ideals like freedom of the press, even though Bevin is probably even more hostile to the press than Trump,' Ball wrote. 'They did it by staying lightning focused on the way that Bevin had hurt working class families.'"

Everytown Trumps NRA In VA Race

Bloomberg-backed group outspends NRA to promote gun control in VA. CNBC: "A gun-control lobbying group funded largely by billionaire Michael Bloomberg just helped Democrats take over the state government in Virginia – right in the National Rifle Association’s backyard. In Tuesday’s elections, the Democrats tipped the Virginia House and Senate in their favor, giving them full control of the state government for the first time since 1994. The election had stronger-than-usual turnout in the suburbs, according to media reports. While the results could be a good omen for Democrats’ chances in 2020, it may also be a tipping point in the money battle over gun rights. Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun-control adocacy group that the former New York mayor helps fund, spent $2.5 million this year to influence voters in Virginia versus approximately $300,000 by the NRA, which has its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. 'In the past, the NRA has had its way with lawmakers because it was considered powerful and wealthy, and that has dynamic changed drastically — even within the last year,' said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, which is part of Everytown."