Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as ābiggest step on climate crisisā, a āradical agendaā
Democratic West Virginia senator calls the Inflation Reduction Act, hailed as ābiggest step on climate crisisā, a āradical agendaā
Well I mean, when you live in a red state, you gotta do this to get re-elected. Honestly, as much as I hate him, Iād probably still vote for him if I lived in West Virginia. Itās either him or a republican which means one less vote for senate confirmations.
When a politician says something, donāt take it at face value. I donāt think he actually believes the things he says, itās just an election strategy to him. (Plus the ādonationsā he gets from oil conpanies is another motivating factor)
When Manchin goes, he isnāt getting replaced by a more left Dem. He is as left as the state is gonna go for some time. Trump had ~70% of the vote; even the most liberal county, Monongalia, still broke for Trump, and thatās where WVU is.
Anyone who thinks the citizens here will vote for another Dem are delusional. Heās staying in power because he was already there, simple as. He was an agreeable Dem because he would talk about coal lovingly and bitch about things people wanted him to bitch about. If/when he swaps to R, heās going further right or the people here will vote a better conservative in.
Are they cheating with gerrymandering and other things like that or is it for real?
Nope, just plain olā hateful people here. Every single county went Trump in 2020, even the ones with large college and educated populations. Closest it got was Monongalia county were he only had 50-60% of the votes. If any county would be blue, it would have been Mon, but they couldnāt win there either.
You canāt gerrymander a statewide race like senator or governor, because everyone in the state gets to vote, thereās no districts to draw.
At a national level (as in its three house reps) itās so red that no matter how you draw it theyāre all going to be red.
At the state level, they have 100 house districts and 34 for the senate drawn by the Republican legislature that are certainly gerrymandered (couldnāt find much about the specifics though except this.)
See my comment below, you can absolutely gerrymander the state level politicians that make the laws for the statewide elections.
I agree the gerrymandering of state districts can definitely influence the outcome of statewide races, but they cannot directly gerrymander the senate race because the only ādistrictā is the state itself which cannot be redrawn.
So looking at the original question, are they gerrymandering the senate seat? No, they canāt. Are they unfairly influencing outcomes of the race through other means? Probably. Will it make a difference in terms of WV voting for a dem thatās not Manchin (ie is it ārealā)? Probably no because the only thing keeping a (more or less) Dem senator in a state that went 70% for Trump is incumbency and his special relationship to the coal industry.
Iām not sure why youāre getting downvoted, itās a fair answer even though I think gerrymandering is definitely being set up across the country and I donāt agree with that part.
Haha itās ok. Iām not saying that gerrymandering isnāt a problem or that itās not happening literally all the time as much as possible.
All I mean is that you canāt gerrymander a federal senate seat. You can gerrymander the state legislature districts that control many of the aspects of voting for that statewide seat, but you cannot redraw (ie gerrymander) Joe Manchinās senate seat without some minor civil wars with WVās neighbor states.
I agree with that part, but whatās the difference if itās not direct? Regardless, it sounds like itās a pretty red state anyway.
Gerrymandering doesnāt affect senate elections.
Yes it does because the laws that are enacted for voting decides how the votes are taken. So if you get the legislature at the state level by gerrymandering, then you can ensure that who you want has the best conditions to win. Itās indirect but still possible. See what Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina do for ideas on how thatās done. Hereās an example: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/north-carolina-republicans-finalize-passage-of-an-elections-bill-that-could-withstand-a-veto/ar-AA1fmTSl
Iāll be glad when we have a larger majority in the senate so I can get to see what the new excuse for keeping Lord Manchington around is.
Comedic relief, watching him scramble between the GOP and the fence he normally sits his stupid ass onā¦
If you need to figure out Joe Manchin, watch Hamilton. He will sacrifice his constituents and values to be the one making and being made deals. He will speak one way and act another to cover that.