{"id":54321,"date":"2022-11-10T11:06:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T19:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=54321"},"modified":"2022-11-10T11:06:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T19:06:33","slug":"midterms-offer-glimpse-of-new-american-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=54321","title":{"rendered":"Midterms Offer Glimpse of \u2018New American Majority\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Peter Schurmann<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Advocates say transformational changes in the American electorate are not reflected in national polling, which they argue distort expectations and campaign funding.<\/em><\/h3>\n

On Tuesday night Ruwa Romman became Georgia\u2019s first-ever Muslim woman elected to the state legislature and the state\u2019s first-ever Palestinian American elected to public office. Her win capped a stronger than expected midterm showing for Democrats nationally that defied polling.<\/p>\n

Romman spoke during a November 9 press briefing organized by the national non-profit Emerge, which recruits and trains women seeking to run for Democratic office.<\/p>\n

\u201c141 women of color, 62 women under 45, and 21 LGBTQ Emerge alums won races last night,\u201d said Emerge President A\u2019Shanti Gholar. She added her organization fielded more than 650 candidates nationwide this election cycle. \u201cThis points to the continued rise of the new American majority,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Good morning! My name is Ruwa Romman, and I\u2019ve just been elected to become Georgia\u2019s first Muslim woman in the state house and first Palestinian ever elected to any public office in the state\u00a0\ud83c\udf0a\ud83d\udc99\u00a0#GAPol<\/a>\u00a0#Ruwa4Georgia<\/a>\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/Ib2t02v6dv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ruwa Romman (@Ruwa4Georgia)\u00a0November 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The question for many is how Democrats managed to avoid the catastrophe that polls increasingly predicted. High touch beat out high tech, according to Romman and other first time candidates who won.<\/p>\n

Romman\u2019s team knocked on more than 15 thousand doors, sent some 75 thousand text messages and made 9 thousand phone calls in the newly drawn 97th<\/sup>\u00a0district outside metro Atlanta, she said. And the message they got from voters was resoundingly clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard from voters who said, \u2018I want to vote for you because I know you will protect me,\u2019\u201d Romman explained. She added that Georgia\u2019s governor, Brian Kemp \u2014\u00a0who just won reelection, defeating his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams \u2014\u00a0has \u201cnot ruled out voting to ban contraceptives. People are very worried about that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abortion, inflation, democracy; it was all on the ballot in an election many saw in existential terms. And while predictions of a Republican rout began to spike in the waning days of the season, Democrats saw the best results for an incumbent president in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Romman beat her Republican opponent by 15 points in what she described as a hard-fought race that included anti-Muslim attacks from the opposing side.<\/p>\n

Exit polling from the Associated Press shows Democrats with a solid lead over Republicans among voters of color, though Republicans did see continued gains among Latinos. Democrats are also heavily favored among younger voters, with important implications for the 2024 presidential race as more young people reach voting age.<\/p>\n

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Voter preferences by ethnicity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Voter preferences by age.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI especially want to thank the young people of this nation\u2026 who voted in record numbers,\u201d said President Biden in a briefing with reporters Wednesday. He called the election outcome a \u201cgood day for democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For speakers on the call, despite inflationary woes and an unpopular president, the issue of abortion and reproductive rights remained front and center on many voters\u2019 minds, even among some Republican men.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spoke with white conservative men who said they could not vote Republican because of concerns for women\u2019s rights,\u201d said Romman. \u201cThis is something polls have not fully captured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gholar agreed. \u201cYou come for someone\u2019s rights and there will be consequences,\u201d she said, referring to the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. Gholar described the expected \u201cred tsunami\u201d as more of a \u201cdrop in the bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also echoed Romman, saying the polls that predicted a Republican onslaught failed to capture the \u201ctransformation\u201d happening across the electorate, and that too often polls play a decisive role in channeling party dollars to favored candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolling is linked to spending, and we must break that pattern,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need a new system to understand the new American majority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candidates of color fared well in other races as well, including in Texas, which is set to send its\u00a0first two Muslim representatives<\/a>\u00a0to the state capital, and in Minnesota, where\u00a0Black, Hmong and Latina women<\/a>\u00a0won seats in their state\u2019s legislature.<\/p>\n

In Maryland, Aruna Miller, who is of Indian descent, became that state\u2019s first-ever South Asian Lt. Governor. \u00a0\u201cIt is a real marker for the community and a continued reflection of the power of women to take leadership,\u201d Shekar Narasimhan, founder and chairman of the AAPI Victory Fund,\u00a0told India Currents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And in Connecticut, Stephanie Thomas is set to become the first African American woman in the history of New England to be elected secretary of state. \u201cThis is also the first time that two black people will serve at the same time in our executive branch,\u201d she noted, referring to\u00a0Erick Russel, who won his race for state treasurer<\/a>. Russel is the first openly gay African American to win statewide office anywhere in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were angry for what was happening with women, and they went for candidates who would protect those rights,\u201d Gholar stressed.<\/p>\n

She also emphasized the importance of candidate quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween Dobbs, promoting election deniers and attacking the safety net, Republicans did not help themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cDemocrats gave voters a strong group of candidates. That\u2019s why voters showed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image via\u00a0Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByPeter Schurmann Nov 9, 2022 Advocates...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54322,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54321\/revisions\/54322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}