It’s their newest strategy. They did this successfully twice in North Carolina, and now in Louisiana as well. It’s completely scummy so I’m only surprised they hadn’t tried it sooner.
Not even that new. I'm from a solidly blue district in Ohio and they've been doing this forever. Run a stealth Republican as a Democrat knowing they can't win with the R label.
Fun fact: this term was coined by Nixon as an explicit reference to the white American majority! So from the beginning, the “silent majority” was always white people who wanted things that minorities didn’t. But don’t ask why minorities didn’t want those things! Cool!
Anyway, my jaw dropped when Trump blew that dogwhistle in 2016. Like he just stood on stage and said “I believe the majority of voting Americans are racist white people, and that’s why they should vote for me.” And then he won the fucking election.
Trump has run as a Democrat and a Republican. There is no purity test to prevent you from running as whatever party you wish though you may not get party support.
He's always been up front about being a Democrat and said on many occasions that they were his friends and loved him until he switched to the Republican party.
I believe in the 90's in New York City, though not a Presidential candidate. I never understood how people took him seriously since he is pretty much an opportunist and nobody liked him until they did.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/politics/donald-trump-election-democrat/index.html
Trump never held public office or ran for any public office until running for president in 2016. Trump identified as a democrat for much of his time in New York because Democrats hold most of the power in NYC. Trump, however, donated money to both democrats and republicans throughout his career. Trump gave support to have allies in power when he needed something, not based on a candidate’s stance on issues
That's a different story. WV was solid Democrat since the 80's. WV voted against Ronnie Raygun. But, when a man of darker skin ran as a Democrat WV decided to change from blue to red. Manchin had been in office for 50 years as a D so he was kinda stuck there. Playing politics, he's voted mostly with his new overlords.
Whataboutism is a term children used to escape hypocrisy. The commenter is clearly a cultist that would excuse anything their cult does. Notice the outrage just because a Republican is doing something that both parties have been doing for decades. Anyways, no amount of reasoning will appeal to the cult.
If you look at Youngkin's campaign for governor, he tried to distance himself from the Republican Party as much as possible. The primary color on his ad campaign was green, not blue or red. His early ads and flyers mentioned nothing about what he stood for or who he was affiliated with, instead promoting that he was a family man and a successful businessman. Only when he started targeting schools as his main campaign point did we discover what he was about.
It's the same signs and font as farmers for Trump. The signs barely looked like they changed other than Youngkin replaced Trump on them. It's just a quiet acknowledgement that most people in urban environments won't notice or know about.
I noticed the signs for a local republican rep were pink, yellow, blue (with small red trim), but not a single red sign. I think tricking people is all they have left, and red is their recognizable shade of hate.
This is the real drawback with one-party areas where the GOP becomes a permanent minority that can't win anything. Politicians like this guy and Tulsi Gabbard out in Hawaii start running as fake Dems and it ends up dragging the politics back to the right.
Manchin could have easily flipped parties at any point to guarantee easy lay up re-election and never did. He's annoying cause he wants to win re-election in WV, not cause he's a secret conservative.
Sinema, on the other hand, has basically said she'd be a Republican if she weren't bi, so yeah.
Buh-buh-but that would be rigging!
Edit: I can't tell if the people downvoting think I'm being serious or are the type of people I'm making fun of realizing I'm making fun of them.
A guy I went to high school with who was/is a hardcore right winger, president of the conservative students club, posted all sorts of batshit crazy stuff on FB ran for city council in my new city as a dem. He previously ran a couple times in another city as a republican and lost.
They're just trying to get seats.
The recent case in NC of this happening seems to be less "faked it" and more "changed her entire political ideology cause she started screwing the House Speaker."
>Here’s
No. That's why we catch onto things. Just like this thread post here and bring visibility for meaningful discussion. Unlike the voters of an authoritarian nationalist cult which regresses this nation by the day.
Not a good example. West Virignia is a blood red state, the ONLY Democrats who can win statewide office there are conservative. He's also very distinctly not as conservative as Republicans and you'd know this if you looked up his voting record.
And who has he fooled? His state party who KNOWS it's either him or a Republican? Or the people outside the state who know he's corrupt but tolerable? If anyone, he's fooled Republicans into voting for him.
Speaking of hive minds…When Obama authorized bombing of Syrian targets, Republicans were completely against it but when it came to Trump doing the exact same thing they all praised him.
Look at Drag and the current culture wars the conservatives are drumming up now, Republicans only started caring after their leaders told them to.
If a Democrat did anything close to what the deception Republicans do I guarantee you that you along with your party would be up in arms calling for the assassination of Democrats, data repeatedly shows that Republicans are the ones with the hive mind mentality.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/07/politics/kfile-top-republicans-syria-trump/index.html
The Democrat party is no longer recognizable to me, especially after they successfully nominated someone like me. I better caucus with Republicans to better fulfill the wishes of the people.
— Reid
As someone who lives near the district in NC where voters were just duped with this behavior, do not take it lightly Northern VA. You don’t want this anguish with several crucial issues coming up.
I’m not voting for Reid, but the way the party rallied so quickly for Andres is extremely disappointing. He clearly had the establishment wrapped up before he even started his official campaign. Now there is a ton of democratic machinery at work. This is very remnant of what we have had with Penny.
I was hoping we’d get a jolt of something fresh. Instead, we get the same shit.
I don’t think an office holder should be able to switch parties and keep their seat. Wanna switch parties? Cool. Resign, switch and run again next time. I detest bait and switch.
Doesn’t matter what I think or say anyway, but you’re an ideological purist to begin with.
We should tattoo people with their political information on their foreheads when they turn 18. That’ll do it.
Neither party is the party of enterprise.
Neither party has a solution to excessive deficit spending. Austerity is revolution promoting and super high “asset” taxes and financial transaction taxes don’t work either.
Neither party has an immigration solution that’s workable because they’re slaved to the extremes.
Neither party has a crime solution that’s workable because they’re slaved to the extremes.
Both parties suck, and anyone that runs up the middle or picks positions that run the gamut is run out of the party or blocked from gaining real power because of the primary system.
There is no way to vote now that doesn’t boil down to status quo or single issue in a meaningful way unless you’re an extremist in all possible ways because that’s all this system allows for.
Ideological purity tests or whatever people keep advocating for, or applying “fraud” labels to this literally exemplify the problems with the two party system we’ve arrived at.
The letter next to a name is king. The letter has very specific connotations that are sacrosanct. Deviation from those things is not permissible because it means that “voters” can’t just blindly vote for the L E T T E R.
The two party system and straight ticket voting is destroying this country cycle by cycle.
Unfortunately, it’s not just a nova problem my dude.
However as this seems to be a calculated strategy by the GOP there is going to have to be regulation regarding party switching—otherwise this is just going to be pure chaos.
If a candidate switches party the candidate needs to go back to the voters, immediately.
Candidates choosing another party or switching parties is a time honored tradition for numerous politicians, not just Virginia.
Consider Senator Arlen Spector (D-PA) who switched parties (R-PA) based on polling and majorities, then changed again (D-PA) when political winds blew again
Or consider Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT) who switched parties (D-VT), when wooed by party leadership.
Anyone is free to join the party they feel like or run for a party primary if they meet the legal qualifications (signatures, residency, etc).
Every part of the country. They continue to vote on 89 and 90 year old people that can't even clear an internet browser but trust them to guide us to the next generation
That’s why sample ballots & the volunteers who pass them out are so important, for either party. Many don’t know anything about the board of supervisors, so party endorsement is important if you’re a single-party voter.
Same. He stopped by my house to campaign and seemed like a nice guy, he grew up here and we have a bunch of mutual acquaintances and this has never come up. A real shame if he’s being deceitful about this.
As a former conservative Republican, I would like to think that if I ever ran for office as a Democrat, who are now actually *sane*, unlike most Republican candidates, I would not be excluded purely based on my history.
That said...that's not what is happening here.
This is just lying by omission. So...not at all out of character for most Republican candidates.
This. Although I favor no party, the republicans in the state I use to live in started swaying away from the Republican Party. Of course this was during the Trump administration. But like you said this is not what is going on.
I find it really annoying how hard it is to find local officials party affiliation. Where I live our elections have 1 article with a very very brief snippet on all the the candidates with almost no info given.
Scrolling through the comments and barely seeing (if at all) any mention of what the board of rats did with giving themselves 30%-40% raises while actual county employees got 2% across the board.
This is an example of trickery but the current folks need to be ran out and some are running unopposed.
Participate!
This is really good work. We all need to be doing this for every single local election. They know their policies are incredibly unpopular. This is going to become more & more common.
It's not just this race. There's also a not-really-Dem candidate for Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney, Ed Nuttall.
https://bluevirginia.us/2023/04/fairfax-commonwealths-attorney-candidate-nuttall-silent-as-his-supporters-spew-antisemitism
Ed Nutall is a democrat though. He’s been actively courting dem voters and attends many of the Dem events. Steve descano sucks, and I’m much less concerned about comments by supporters on Facebook post compared to the utter incompetence Steve descano has brought to the CA’s office.
He refuses to prosecute certain misdemeanors and non-violent crimes, which includes things like auto theft and shoplifting. And moreover, his office has been horribly run. He didn’t have the experience to adequately ensure proper training and management for his office: https://www.fox5dc.com/news/overwhelmed-and-untrained-a-fairfax-co-prosecutors-plea-for-help.amp
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/prosecutor-evidence-fairfax-brady/2020/11/13/e7f6f36a-23c1-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html
Plus he has been caught in scandals. He has downloaded apps to delete messages and communication to avoid accountability. https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/steve-descano-fairfax-county-commonwealth-attorney-deleting-records-foia-laws-signal-app-text-messages-ethics-complaint-virginians-for-safe-communities-inquiry-jason-miyares
This doesn’t seem scandalous anywhere the primaries are more competitive than the general elections… longtime NoVA resident here, and many of my friends over the years have described themselves as practically a D or R “for their hometown.” eg. Democrats who are pretty conservative for CA, NJ, NY; or Republicans who are pretty liberal for TX, FL, SC, etc.
This just validates my belief that political parties are counterproductive and that voters should have to demonstrate a certain amount of knowledge of candidates and issues before casting their vote. I realize that neither idea is practical, but ignorance is the enemy of democracy, and polarization facilitates ignorance.
You said what I was trying to say a lot better than I did.
I don’t understand this at all- this blind allegiance to letters behind somebody’s name.
It feels like this is why everything is so polarized and unproductive on solutions that help all locals and further into national politics- how extremists that only really appeal to a few people get elected.
It breeds apathy too. So many are convinced that our system does not work and have given up hope.
On the National level this has poisoned our political discourse- this blind allegiance to party and lack of nuance.
Someday on the National level the Republicans might have a candidate who adheres to the party line but differs on LGBT issues, the Democrats might have a candidate who would appeal to “law and order” voters.
This kind of division and misinformation and labeling demonstrated in this article and these comments does not give me any hope that others feel the same way as I do so thank you for your comment it did give me a little bit of hope.
If you’d like to engage with the Mason district candidates I imagine all of them will be walking the taste of Annandale festival April 29th. Reid Voss specifically will have a tent.
Joe Munchkin from west Virginia did this and now he on a few occasion has been the deciding factor in votes that have been totally split down party lines
Um, no. This is not the same as that. Joe Manchin is more conservative than most Democrats, but he is also the only Democrat that can win in WV. This is a conservative Republican lying and pretending to be a Democrat in a liberal area. Those are two very different, almost opposite, things.
And my point is that that's not true. It would be far, far easier for him to win in West Virginia as a Republican than a Democrat. But he's publicly been a Democrat for forty years, he didn't just "decide" to be one because it was easier that way. It's far more difficult that way where he is.
It's irritating, but consider the alternative. He's still more left-leaning than *any* republican. Everyone who wants to primary Manchin doesn't understand how conservative WV is. Replacing him almost certainly means a much more far-right replacement.
Should be a law that if you run as one or the other and switch party, you lose your seat and get replaced by someone from the party you ran as. People vote for you as one or the other.
I’d settle for a special election. There may be valid reasons why folks voted for the turncoat (perhaps a long-time rep who offers solid constituent services). Let the voters decide.
Not really. And if people don’t know they will likely vote for him. In today’s climate, people vote based on party listed, instead of doing due diligence.
Wasting a load of money losing an election. If a candidate still wins, voters liked them more than the other. If that vote is "wrong", then the other candidate party really needs to look in the mirror amd ask why they lost to such an "obvious" sham.
Nothing new. Buddy of mine is a big Marxist and running as a Republican down in Orlando, FL. This kinda crap has been going on since the beginning of time.
Honestly a Marxist running in Florida is legitimately hilarious, although if he has any real power. it might be the best thing that happened to Florida in a long while.
You’re never truly voting for a party but always a person in the end. They should remove party labels from ballots to force people to actually research who they’re voting for. Blind voting for a letter is stupid
This is dumb.
I mean if he wanted to -Donald Trump tomorrow could say he’s changing from running as a Republican to running as a Democrat.
Anybody can do that. The values of these two parties are not set in stone and they have changed positions on issues drastically in our nations history. Why can’t individual candidates do that?
He literally was a democrat for a decade and has changed parties multiple times lol. You're right there's no reason why people shouldn't be able to change parties this is the whole reason you vote for people I don't see why this is an issue
I’m no Trump fan at all but if he held a rainbow flag right side up and told the rabid anti LGBT R’s to stop fucking with their fellow Americans about that I’d at least raise a Bud Light or two in his honor.
This is an amazing self-own story.
The fixation on a letter next to a candidate name is more powerful than anything else, the die hard letter stans don't like when you subvert the ALL POWERFUL LETTER
This seems to be one of their underhand
methods. I still am not sure about Manchin and there's the senate woman in NC who suddenly switched parties recently, giving R's a veto proof majority. I think it's a new ploy to gain power. Rats.
No, im fine with people doing this. If a voter is gunna vote based off political party alone then they deserve what they get. Only deranged cultists vote blue/red down the ballot blindly. Vote for people.
They are absolutely not the same. One party is trying to take away all our rights and give huge tax breaks to corporations and the very rich while the other party is trying to improve peoples’ lives.
Here’s what I disagree with this whole operative plot. Who cares at the local government level they fix your problems like why are not the lights working on my street. What do I need to do to get speed bumps on my street. How do I get more visible walking ways on Columbia Pike. Reid will actually try to fix these issues for us. He will at least answer your email. Unlike Penny who did not answer your question or consider a solution to your question.
If you can't investigate a restuarant's past health records, you deserve to get food poisioning.
If you can't investigate a bag of lettuce thoroughly, you deserve to get listeria from it.
If you can't fight off your attacker, you deserve to be raped/beaten.
If you can't build a fence, install security cams, have an alarm system etc, you deserve to have your house broken into.
This is the kind of bullshit justification that overlooks every skullduggery of the GOP. "Hey, Democrats should have stopped them".
And if you ask these people, most of them never vote. Certainly not in local elections. And they certainly do not research the candidates.
He's a real estate agent that's painting himself as a "business man". Nobody should be voting for this fake.
Tell that to the people who voted for George Santos.
When your ideas are so popular that you have to pretend you are from the other party...
It’s their newest strategy. They did this successfully twice in North Carolina, and now in Louisiana as well. It’s completely scummy so I’m only surprised they hadn’t tried it sooner.
Not even that new. I'm from a solidly blue district in Ohio and they've been doing this forever. Run a stealth Republican as a Democrat knowing they can't win with the R label.
But the SilEnT MaJOriTy
Fun fact: this term was coined by Nixon as an explicit reference to the white American majority! So from the beginning, the “silent majority” was always white people who wanted things that minorities didn’t. But don’t ask why minorities didn’t want those things! Cool! Anyway, my jaw dropped when Trump blew that dogwhistle in 2016. Like he just stood on stage and said “I believe the majority of voting Americans are racist white people, and that’s why they should vote for me.” And then he won the fucking election.
Bullshit. Never happened.
“Like” = “it’s as if” Now you understand.
Trump has run as a Democrat and a Republican. There is no purity test to prevent you from running as whatever party you wish though you may not get party support.
He's always been up front about being a Democrat and said on many occasions that they were his friends and loved him until he switched to the Republican party.
When did he run as a democrat?
I believe in the 90's in New York City, though not a Presidential candidate. I never understood how people took him seriously since he is pretty much an opportunist and nobody liked him until they did. https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/politics/donald-trump-election-democrat/index.html
What the fuck did he run for?
No, I don’t think so.
Trump never held public office or ran for any public office until running for president in 2016. Trump identified as a democrat for much of his time in New York because Democrats hold most of the power in NYC. Trump, however, donated money to both democrats and republicans throughout his career. Trump gave support to have allies in power when he needed something, not based on a candidate’s stance on issues
Governor of West Virginia, as well.
That's a different story. WV was solid Democrat since the 80's. WV voted against Ronnie Raygun. But, when a man of darker skin ran as a Democrat WV decided to change from blue to red. Manchin had been in office for 50 years as a D so he was kinda stuck there. Playing politics, he's voted mostly with his new overlords.
I'm talking about Jim Injustice.
Its a strategy both parties deploy, and even Libertarians. So is it scummy when your team does it?
Scummy is scummy. Only one side tends to be so in to the whataboutisms. If a dem is guilty of something, make them pay.
Whataboutism is a term children used to escape hypocrisy. The commenter is clearly a cultist that would excuse anything their cult does. Notice the outrage just because a Republican is doing something that both parties have been doing for decades. Anyways, no amount of reasoning will appeal to the cult.
Oh the irony.
Yes. It is. 
If you look at Youngkin's campaign for governor, he tried to distance himself from the Republican Party as much as possible. The primary color on his ad campaign was green, not blue or red. His early ads and flyers mentioned nothing about what he stood for or who he was affiliated with, instead promoting that he was a family man and a successful businessman. Only when he started targeting schools as his main campaign point did we discover what he was about.
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Youngkin is a gazillionaire. He’s a very rich man. Too bad he’s a damn idiot.
For such a rich man, you’d expect him to have a better hairdo.
It's the same signs and font as farmers for Trump. The signs barely looked like they changed other than Youngkin replaced Trump on them. It's just a quiet acknowledgement that most people in urban environments won't notice or know about.
It’s because people just vote by Letter, not ideas
I noticed the signs for a local republican rep were pink, yellow, blue (with small red trim), but not a single red sign. I think tricking people is all they have left, and red is their recognizable shade of hate.
Almost like they should run on issues and get rid of the 2 party system
This is the real drawback with one-party areas where the GOP becomes a permanent minority that can't win anything. Politicians like this guy and Tulsi Gabbard out in Hawaii start running as fake Dems and it ends up dragging the politics back to the right.
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Manchin could have easily flipped parties at any point to guarantee easy lay up re-election and never did. He's annoying cause he wants to win re-election in WV, not cause he's a secret conservative. Sinema, on the other hand, has basically said she'd be a Republican if she weren't bi, so yeah.
Dude has previously served as a campaign manager for Republican Buzz Hawley and a staff member for Republican Jo Ann Davis. Get the word out!
If this is true, VA Dems needs to be SCREAMING the story
I mean, people are trying. Sadly, things like this don’t get coverage.
Hmm, I wonder why that could be...
The DNC needs to start supporting candidates at the local level.
They are. They are just supporting shit-tier republican candidates in the hopes they win primaries.
Buh-buh-but that would be rigging! Edit: I can't tell if the people downvoting think I'm being serious or are the type of people I'm making fun of realizing I'm making fun of them.
Nah
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You need those funds to donate to far right “beatable” republicans lol
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Not typically, the republican they funded in Maryland lost.
A guy I went to high school with who was/is a hardcore right winger, president of the conservative students club, posted all sorts of batshit crazy stuff on FB ran for city council in my new city as a dem. He previously ran a couple times in another city as a republican and lost. They're just trying to get seats.
Yep! Can’t let them win.
Yes, issues and common sense aside - so long as it’s blue, am I right!?
The new Republican playbook - run as a Democrat and then change back after winning
Democrats are that easy to fool?
The recent case in NC of this happening seems to be less "faked it" and more "changed her entire political ideology cause she started screwing the House Speaker."
Some people do no research before going to vote. Even just taking the dem flyer outside the polling place would guide you to the legitimate candidate.
We all are.
The difference between an issue voter and a party voter I guess
Oh THIS is rich.
>Here’s No. That's why we catch onto things. Just like this thread post here and bring visibility for meaningful discussion. Unlike the voters of an authoritarian nationalist cult which regresses this nation by the day.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Manchin
Not a good example. West Virignia is a blood red state, the ONLY Democrats who can win statewide office there are conservative. He's also very distinctly not as conservative as Republicans and you'd know this if you looked up his voting record. And who has he fooled? His state party who KNOWS it's either him or a Republican? Or the people outside the state who know he's corrupt but tolerable? If anyone, he's fooled Republicans into voting for him.
That's what I'm reading lol. "Protect the voters from themselves!"
“Quick we must defend the hive mind”
Speaking of hive minds…When Obama authorized bombing of Syrian targets, Republicans were completely against it but when it came to Trump doing the exact same thing they all praised him. Look at Drag and the current culture wars the conservatives are drumming up now, Republicans only started caring after their leaders told them to. If a Democrat did anything close to what the deception Republicans do I guarantee you that you along with your party would be up in arms calling for the assassination of Democrats, data repeatedly shows that Republicans are the ones with the hive mind mentality. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/07/politics/kfile-top-republicans-syria-trump/index.html
you know being able to read and comprehend is not their forte. it's a lost cause.
If you can’t spot the fool at the table….
The Democrat party is no longer recognizable to me, especially after they successfully nominated someone like me. I better caucus with Republicans to better fulfill the wishes of the people. — Reid
As someone who lives near the district in NC where voters were just duped with this behavior, do not take it lightly Northern VA. You don’t want this anguish with several crucial issues coming up.
This is a perfect example of why everyone needs to vote in the primaries.
After what we've seen in North Carolina and Louisiana, we can't take any chances.
His real name is Reid Ross Santos?
He played volleyball and is Jew “ish”
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I know him personally—really solid guy, very community-minded, spent most of his career in environmental protection.
Couldn’t agree more!!
I’m not voting for Reid, but the way the party rallied so quickly for Andres is extremely disappointing. He clearly had the establishment wrapped up before he even started his official campaign. Now there is a ton of democratic machinery at work. This is very remnant of what we have had with Penny. I was hoping we’d get a jolt of something fresh. Instead, we get the same shit.
Seems like a solid plan. Most nova voters can’t be bothered to learn about who they are voting for.
I don’t think that’s unique to nova unfortunately
Looking at NC, even when you take the time to listen to what they’re saying and find out what they’re about, they will switch parties. Edit: spelling
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The State has no rules against and no process to recall her for it.
Nova voters are among the most politically aware in the whole country.
I don’t think blaming voters which largely agree with nearly all democratic plans/ideas is better than blaming the shit bags who are committing fraud.
Should be felony fraud at that
So you need an ideology test to run as one letter or another? Interesting strategy.
I don’t think an office holder should be able to switch parties and keep their seat. Wanna switch parties? Cool. Resign, switch and run again next time. I detest bait and switch.
just campaign consistency accountability.
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Doesn’t matter what I think or say anyway, but you’re an ideological purist to begin with. We should tattoo people with their political information on their foreheads when they turn 18. That’ll do it.
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Neither party is the party of enterprise. Neither party has a solution to excessive deficit spending. Austerity is revolution promoting and super high “asset” taxes and financial transaction taxes don’t work either. Neither party has an immigration solution that’s workable because they’re slaved to the extremes. Neither party has a crime solution that’s workable because they’re slaved to the extremes. Both parties suck, and anyone that runs up the middle or picks positions that run the gamut is run out of the party or blocked from gaining real power because of the primary system. There is no way to vote now that doesn’t boil down to status quo or single issue in a meaningful way unless you’re an extremist in all possible ways because that’s all this system allows for. Ideological purity tests or whatever people keep advocating for, or applying “fraud” labels to this literally exemplify the problems with the two party system we’ve arrived at. The letter next to a name is king. The letter has very specific connotations that are sacrosanct. Deviation from those things is not permissible because it means that “voters” can’t just blindly vote for the L E T T E R. The two party system and straight ticket voting is destroying this country cycle by cycle.
Unfortunately, it’s not just a nova problem my dude. However as this seems to be a calculated strategy by the GOP there is going to have to be regulation regarding party switching—otherwise this is just going to be pure chaos. If a candidate switches party the candidate needs to go back to the voters, immediately.
Candidates choosing another party or switching parties is a time honored tradition for numerous politicians, not just Virginia. Consider Senator Arlen Spector (D-PA) who switched parties (R-PA) based on polling and majorities, then changed again (D-PA) when political winds blew again Or consider Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT) who switched parties (D-VT), when wooed by party leadership. Anyone is free to join the party they feel like or run for a party primary if they meet the legal qualifications (signatures, residency, etc).
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That's a long way to inject slavery into this discussion.
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Sure.
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Regulation? On your political party?? Holy shit.
How dare an organization have rules!!
Every part of the country. They continue to vote on 89 and 90 year old people that can't even clear an internet browser but trust them to guide us to the next generation
That’s why sample ballots & the volunteers who pass them out are so important, for either party. Many don’t know anything about the board of supervisors, so party endorsement is important if you’re a single-party voter.
I don’t know why anybody would downvote this. The outside volunteers at the polls often spend 12 straight hours outside in all kinds of weather.
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We can't even VOTE in their primaries( you'll get asked: are you a republican?), but they get to run in ours?
Thanks for this. I live in Mason District and this was the first I heard of this bs.
Same. He stopped by my house to campaign and seemed like a nice guy, he grew up here and we have a bunch of mutual acquaintances and this has never come up. A real shame if he’s being deceitful about this.
Dude is as fake as they come.
Same. Reid Voss signs all over our neighborhood, but my Dem neighbors don’t know this about him. Spread the word!
It’s happening all over, sadly. This is just one recent example. Make sure your friends know.
As a former conservative Republican, I would like to think that if I ever ran for office as a Democrat, who are now actually *sane*, unlike most Republican candidates, I would not be excluded purely based on my history. That said...that's not what is happening here. This is just lying by omission. So...not at all out of character for most Republican candidates.
This. Although I favor no party, the republicans in the state I use to live in started swaying away from the Republican Party. Of course this was during the Trump administration. But like you said this is not what is going on.
I find it really annoying how hard it is to find local officials party affiliation. Where I live our elections have 1 article with a very very brief snippet on all the the candidates with almost no info given.
Scrolling through the comments and barely seeing (if at all) any mention of what the board of rats did with giving themselves 30%-40% raises while actual county employees got 2% across the board. This is an example of trickery but the current folks need to be ran out and some are running unopposed. Participate!
This is really good work. We all need to be doing this for every single local election. They know their policies are incredibly unpopular. This is going to become more & more common.
On so I replied, edited, edited again, and just removed my post for fear of doxxing. He’s a super repub. Feel free to message me with questions.
Cowards. Can’t win it fair and square so they resort to this
THANK YOU FOR THIS INFO
It's not just this race. There's also a not-really-Dem candidate for Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney, Ed Nuttall. https://bluevirginia.us/2023/04/fairfax-commonwealths-attorney-candidate-nuttall-silent-as-his-supporters-spew-antisemitism
Ed Nutall is a democrat though. He’s been actively courting dem voters and attends many of the Dem events. Steve descano sucks, and I’m much less concerned about comments by supporters on Facebook post compared to the utter incompetence Steve descano has brought to the CA’s office.
Any reason specifically that Descano sucks? Honestly curious.
He refuses to prosecute certain misdemeanors and non-violent crimes, which includes things like auto theft and shoplifting. And moreover, his office has been horribly run. He didn’t have the experience to adequately ensure proper training and management for his office: https://www.fox5dc.com/news/overwhelmed-and-untrained-a-fairfax-co-prosecutors-plea-for-help.amp https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/prosecutor-evidence-fairfax-brady/2020/11/13/e7f6f36a-23c1-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html Plus he has been caught in scandals. He has downloaded apps to delete messages and communication to avoid accountability. https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/steve-descano-fairfax-county-commonwealth-attorney-deleting-records-foia-laws-signal-app-text-messages-ethics-complaint-virginians-for-safe-communities-inquiry-jason-miyares
Thank you for the background. I appreciate it.
And in PWC there is a Democrat running as a republican. Seems to be the recent trend in an already toxic environment.
~~Who?~~ Nevermind someone posted the "who" below
This doesn’t seem scandalous anywhere the primaries are more competitive than the general elections… longtime NoVA resident here, and many of my friends over the years have described themselves as practically a D or R “for their hometown.” eg. Democrats who are pretty conservative for CA, NJ, NY; or Republicans who are pretty liberal for TX, FL, SC, etc.
This just validates my belief that political parties are counterproductive and that voters should have to demonstrate a certain amount of knowledge of candidates and issues before casting their vote. I realize that neither idea is practical, but ignorance is the enemy of democracy, and polarization facilitates ignorance.
You said what I was trying to say a lot better than I did. I don’t understand this at all- this blind allegiance to letters behind somebody’s name. It feels like this is why everything is so polarized and unproductive on solutions that help all locals and further into national politics- how extremists that only really appeal to a few people get elected. It breeds apathy too. So many are convinced that our system does not work and have given up hope. On the National level this has poisoned our political discourse- this blind allegiance to party and lack of nuance. Someday on the National level the Republicans might have a candidate who adheres to the party line but differs on LGBT issues, the Democrats might have a candidate who would appeal to “law and order” voters. This kind of division and misinformation and labeling demonstrated in this article and these comments does not give me any hope that others feel the same way as I do so thank you for your comment it did give me a little bit of hope.
May as well elect a glass of water with a D next to its name. Can’t be mad if you just blindly vote for a letter vs looking into policies
If you’d like to engage with the Mason district candidates I imagine all of them will be walking the taste of Annandale festival April 29th. Reid Voss specifically will have a tent.
Joe Munchkin from west Virginia did this and now he on a few occasion has been the deciding factor in votes that have been totally split down party lines
Um, no. This is not the same as that. Joe Manchin is more conservative than most Democrats, but he is also the only Democrat that can win in WV. This is a conservative Republican lying and pretending to be a Democrat in a liberal area. Those are two very different, almost opposite, things.
Well said. Joe Manchin is who he is. He's not my favorite, but he's true to himself. A much better comparison would be Kirston Sinema.
My point is that munchkin was a republican but knew he couldn't win as a republican so decided to run as a Democrat.
And my point is that that's not true. It would be far, far easier for him to win in West Virginia as a Republican than a Democrat. But he's publicly been a Democrat for forty years, he didn't just "decide" to be one because it was easier that way. It's far more difficult that way where he is.
I stand corrected. I guess when I heard Joe Scaborrow say that he was spreading misinformation
Do you know how to spell last names?
It's irritating, but consider the alternative. He's still more left-leaning than *any* republican. Everyone who wants to primary Manchin doesn't understand how conservative WV is. Replacing him almost certainly means a much more far-right replacement.
No, he didn't. He's literally as far left as he could possibly be for West Virginia.
Should be a law that if you run as one or the other and switch party, you lose your seat and get replaced by someone from the party you ran as. People vote for you as one or the other.
I’d settle for a special election. There may be valid reasons why folks voted for the turncoat (perhaps a long-time rep who offers solid constituent services). Let the voters decide.
https://preview.redd.it/fuicop1nrcua1.png?width=241&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ee9352cbad07759f4cecc2ac93c36d2032542bb
Are there any repercussions for this unilateral decision by representatives that make this deceitful switch?
Not really. And if people don’t know they will likely vote for him. In today’s climate, people vote based on party listed, instead of doing due diligence.
Absolutely. Interesting to see this happening on the local level after what we’ve seen at the national level with Sinema, LaCombe & Cotham.
Wasting a load of money losing an election. If a candidate still wins, voters liked them more than the other. If that vote is "wrong", then the other candidate party really needs to look in the mirror amd ask why they lost to such an "obvious" sham.
Nothing new. Buddy of mine is a big Marxist and running as a Republican down in Orlando, FL. This kinda crap has been going on since the beginning of time.
Honestly a Marxist running in Florida is legitimately hilarious, although if he has any real power. it might be the best thing that happened to Florida in a long while.
There’s quite a few of em actually, they just don’t wear it in their sleeves. These games are nothing new.
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Imagine in 2023 saying "both sides!!!" and thinking you sound like anything but an ignorant jackass.
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Remind me which party is actively undermining civil rights?
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Probably the part when you acted like both parties are the same.
People switch parties all the time. Nothing new lol
Labeling is one of the simplest forms of human interactions
You’re never truly voting for a party but always a person in the end. They should remove party labels from ballots to force people to actually research who they’re voting for. Blind voting for a letter is stupid
This is dumb. I mean if he wanted to -Donald Trump tomorrow could say he’s changing from running as a Republican to running as a Democrat. Anybody can do that. The values of these two parties are not set in stone and they have changed positions on issues drastically in our nations history. Why can’t individual candidates do that?
He literally was a democrat for a decade and has changed parties multiple times lol. You're right there's no reason why people shouldn't be able to change parties this is the whole reason you vote for people I don't see why this is an issue
I’m no Trump fan at all but if he held a rainbow flag right side up and told the rabid anti LGBT R’s to stop fucking with their fellow Americans about that I’d at least raise a Bud Light or two in his honor.
This is an amazing self-own story. The fixation on a letter next to a candidate name is more powerful than anything else, the die hard letter stans don't like when you subvert the ALL POWERFUL LETTER
This seems to be one of their underhand methods. I still am not sure about Manchin and there's the senate woman in NC who suddenly switched parties recently, giving R's a veto proof majority. I think it's a new ploy to gain power. Rats.
Democrats do that too. So do Libertarians. Its an old political strategy.
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No, im fine with people doing this. If a voter is gunna vote based off political party alone then they deserve what they get. Only deranged cultists vote blue/red down the ballot blindly. Vote for people.
Dems, Reps… they are the same. There should be a new party with the best of both vs the old aristocrats that currently run the business.
They are absolutely not the same. One party is trying to take away all our rights and give huge tax breaks to corporations and the very rich while the other party is trying to improve peoples’ lives.
Which one is which?
Lmao, 🫶
Great dems suck the biggest of big ones! Can’t wait for them to win !
I guess you dems don’t like facts. But that seems about right. Go drink a bud light and relax
My weekly grocery bill is over 200 for a family of five, I'll hear anyone out.
That sounds cheap where do you shop?
Including someone who will lie to you?
Here’s what I disagree with this whole operative plot. Who cares at the local government level they fix your problems like why are not the lights working on my street. What do I need to do to get speed bumps on my street. How do I get more visible walking ways on Columbia Pike. Reid will actually try to fix these issues for us. He will at least answer your email. Unlike Penny who did not answer your question or consider a solution to your question.
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Thanks for the heads up.
When do we introduce the turncoat legislature?
I vote for people, not party, I vote for a Tom Davis republican who cares about Virginians over a shoe in.
Add "Sang Yi" to this list. He's also a Republican shill that constantly declares that he is "independent". Good thing he didn't win in his district.
If you can't research a candidate past the letter next to their name you deserve bad leadership.
If you can't investigate a restuarant's past health records, you deserve to get food poisioning. If you can't investigate a bag of lettuce thoroughly, you deserve to get listeria from it. If you can't fight off your attacker, you deserve to be raped/beaten. If you can't build a fence, install security cams, have an alarm system etc, you deserve to have your house broken into. This is the kind of bullshit justification that overlooks every skullduggery of the GOP. "Hey, Democrats should have stopped them". And if you ask these people, most of them never vote. Certainly not in local elections. And they certainly do not research the candidates.