A brief look back at some themes at all levels from the most recent election on November 6th.

Federal

The US House of Representatives has each of its 435 seats come up for reelection every two years, it's an amazing thing that the power of incumbency allows the two-year swing between the two parties to usually be minimal, especially when the prevailing mood goes one way or the other.  Thus, it was of little surprise that with the retirement of many prominent Republicans in the House and an aggressive anti-Trump sentiment in the press and halls of academia, that the switchover to a Democratically- controlled congress was in the cards.  

At the same time, Trump and other Republican strategists wisely concentrated their main efforts on defending and picking up Red state senators, in order to (likely) switch three more seats in their favor in the other chamber, which has only a third of their seats come up every two years.  Effectively, I see this focus as a bit of genius on Trump's part.

Had Trump picked up both parts of the legislature, as he had during an ambitious first two years, the expectations placed upon him would have been a lot greater, the drumbeats for change would have been much stronger, once his term ended in 2020 and went for reelection.  With the division, he has a logical scapegoat, particularly when (not if) the House's Democrat leadership overplays their hand, and gets trumped.  

In two years time, the public will be fatigued by the strident partisanship and the Democrat-led house investigations, impeachments, and impediments will show what they offer as they get nothing accomplished (except with Trump's and the Senate's permission) and fully make the case for another legislative switch and Trump's reelection.  And a fresh mandate, one that they would have a hard time implementing with a small minority in the House.  Mark my words, this gain by the Democrats spells their disaster in the 2020 election.

State 

The Democratic Party had their own genius behind the election.  They got their base motivated by offering three proposals (legalizing marijuana, anti-gerrymandering, and voting reform) where a yes vote was definitely beneficial for their party, and attractive to independents.  Yet the proposals were neutral enough in character to not excite the Republicans to get to the polls to vote against them. 

Democratic candidates lined up for these proposals, Republicans came out against.  All three proposals won, along with those Democrats running for state office:  Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General.  It also likely helped the winning margin in the US Senate race, where John James lost by about 6 percent to incumbent Debbie Stabenow.  Regionally, Michigan's senate and house remained in Republican hands, but by a bit less; state Democrats would say it is due to the gerrymandering of Michigan districts the Republicans did in 2011.

Look for some cooperation between the legislature and the governor on issues that she ran on, but don't expect this honeymoon to last long if the new governess pushes a more progressive agenda.

Local

The Mason County Commission and other county offices continue to have officers run unopposed or with token competition, as it was this year.  Since the controversy involving the wind farms died down, people just haven't been getting involved with running for the commission.  Only when an incumbent retires or resigns, does their seem to be any interest in county seats.

In Ludington, it's much the same.  In 2017 and 2018, four city council positions were vacated and replaced by city council vote.  At least two candidates applied each time.  Yet, three of the five council spots that came to the public for vote featured only the incumbent, two of which were appointed.  The two open positions saw the insider candidates Steve Miller (mayor) and Cheri Rozell (4th Ward) win convincingly over Bill Dustman and Kandi Fugere.  Insiders are defined as those already serving the City in one of its many boards who get additional boosts from the local newspaper's ingrained biases.  

Bucking a recent trend, Angela Serna, an opinionated outsider candidate inched her way past a non-exceptional appointed incumbent, Wallace Cain.  He was exceptionally good at defending the policy and actions of the City, even when it was obviously unethical or illegal.  If she remains undaunted by the status quo inertia omnipresent in the current city hall, her election could usher in a new era of citizen involvement at meetings and in future elections.  

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Trump booting Sessions to the curb is also an important move as his replacement will undoubtedly be more marijuana friendly and more akin to allow pot to be legalized at the Federal level. This will be as important as his boxing in Democrats in the next race.

On the other hand one overlooked consequence of Democrats winning the big 3 in Michigan politics is that with the passage of Prop 1 Michigan will now become the number one "magnet state" for all the potheads in the Midwest. Maybe Gretchen will change the Pure Michigan ads to Pot Michigan. Couple that with an increase in welfare benefits as Granholm did in her tenure and Michigan will be the new home for the unemployable Democratic voter along with their government support system. No wonder locally there is a influx in the construction of low income housing. Be prepared to be blown away again.

And speaking at the local level I hope  Angela Serna is prepared to be ostracized by the city council much the same way councilor Wanda Marrison was during her term. Grow some thick skin Angela. They will be gunning for you as an outsider. Use both the internet and the meetings to get across your views.  Do not expect any help from the local media, you will be alone until the next election cycle.  

Whenever Angela goes out on a limb to do what's right, she won't be alone because I and hopefully others will be there with her-- which is probably why the limb breaks.  My fear is that she will suffer the usual fate of city councilors who weigh the voices of their official peers over the voices of their fellow citizens.  

I would advise all citizens that there are two sides for almost every issue, and don't expect Angela, Cheri, or other councilors to be on the side you choose.  But you need to expect well developed rationales when they do go against what you honestly believe is best.  Be cognizant that the choice for a councilor to make should not be easily came by for controversial issues, and all too often they hear their fellow officials painting one side as essential, when the exact opposite is best.  You need to elevate your voice when that happens rather than complain after it's already been written in stone.  

I know that I may likely need all of my two minutes at the end of meetings in the upcoming year to support the two new youths if they try to buck the old guard.  I hope others can too.

As I see it the Republicans completely botched this election as far as the House in D.C  is concerned. With so many Reps. leaving open seats and not supporting Trump and sitting on their hands for the last 2 years, they have opened the door for the Dems to start investigations on all sorts of matters dealing with Trump and his supporters. Sessions is a joke and should have fired a long time ago.

With Dems in control of the top jobs in Michigan there seems to be no place to go but down, excluding taxes of course. 

Trump and his team will have to endure the onslaught over the next two years, which I have confidence he will, in order to reap the rewards of the 2020 election.  With Pelosi, Schiff, Watters, Nadler, Cummings, etc. out front blithering and blathering, I guarantee Republicans, Independents, and even some Democrats will be ready to end it all and very energized to do so.  Trump will actually see a lot less resistance in his own party when new Republicans ride his coattails.  But he does have to make it through the gauntlet.

I sense that we will see Michigan return to a reliable blue state in the near future with all of the three proposals passage help.  I sense a change in the marketing of Michigan too:

In Ludington's Fifth Ward, The LT has learned Wally Cain has submitted a petition for a recount of Fifth Ward votes at the end of the week.  We will try to provide more information on this development as it develops.

I guess we all know what's going on in Fl. and Az. right now, so, why not Ludville too, cheaters that want to pull out some more uncounted ballots, sickening.

What's involved in a recount? Does it recount the electronic ballots? Does someone physically have to put the paper ballots back through the counter box? How much will this cost? Seems like there would be more chance of error with someone rehandling paper ballots? Is there oversight?

Serna won by a margin just under 0.8%, which, though small, doesn't generally trigger a recount even at the state level.  Michigan recounts at the local level are codified under Act 116 of 1954 where a party must fill out a petition alleging mistake or fraud.  The process thereafter is complicated, just read the law provided and you'll find why sometimes those who win elections lose because the other side has a better lawyer(s). 

Thanks for that link, X. That is lengthy and complicated code. So Wally must have some accusation of fraud or mistake being made? Or can he just say, Angela's win was too close, let's count again and see if we missed some for me?

Oh, Cain is not going to make any accusations of fraud, he'll just say it's so close, let's count it again to be certain. Meanwhile, a few years ago, during the Mayoral race, Cheri Stibitz lost by about 5 or 10 votes to Kaye Holman. Cheri didn't ask for a recount, and her loss was much much closer than now, so, go figure. I think that count Was Rigged in Holman's favor too, and that was an election to sincerely recount.

I got to report that Wally Cain has a clear case of mistake and fraud.  Back in the middle of 2017, the council made a glaring mistake in choosing Cain over other qualified candidates, and ever since, he's been committing fraud on the electors of the Fifth Ward who never voted for him until a minority did in November 2018.  

I doubt he made his case any stronger to the petition committee by recently getting a tattoo on his forehead so that Ludington citizens can remember his name better by remembering his last meaningful act as a Ludington city councilor.  Thanks for the needed mnemonic, councilor-appoint.

Funny X.

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