Two Latino democrats have made history in Springfield
Jose Tosado has won the 9th Hampden District seat tonight, and Carlos Gonzalez has won the 10th Hampden District seat making this a very historic day for Latinos.
By: WWLP-22News
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Two Latino democrats have made history in Springfield - Video
Jerry Seib: What Went Wrong for the Democrats?
The 2014 midterm elections were good to Republicans. WSJ #39;s Jerry Seib spoke to Jim Kessler of Third Way about what went wrong for the Democrats. Photo: Getty Subscribe to the WSJ channel here:...
By: Wall Street Journal
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Jerry Seib: What Went Wrong for the Democrats? - Video
WASHINGTON - Pat Toomey is up next.
Republicans won control of the Senate Tuesday, but as Democrats look to quickly reclaim the majority, they see the Pennsylvania Republican as one of the country's most inviting targets, setting up what could be one of the hottest Senate races of 2016.
Democrats are eager for a shot at Toomey after seeing him beat Joe Sestak by just two percentage points in 2010, even with the tea party wave behind him. They expect a more favorable playing field this time around, and (they hope) help from star power in the presidential race.
Toomey "should be a stronger candidate in '16 than he was in '10 -- except one problem: Hillary Clinton," said former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. "I would love to be a Democrat running against an incumbent Republican senator in 2016."
Much as Republicans ousted red-state Democrats Tuesday, Democrats plan to go after the many blue-state Republicans defending seats in 2016, knowing that presidential campaigns bring wins in places like Pennsylvania.
Toomey supporters, like the Keystone State GOP guru Bob Asher, say the senator is "extremely well-positioned" to win anyway, given his record and acumen. But even the senators' admirers expect an onslaught.
"It's a challenging year for any Republican, particularly in Pennsylvania," said Alan Novak, a former Republican state chairman from Chester County.
Presidential races, he said, energize Democrats in places like Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs.
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Democrats' target in 2016: Sen. Toomey
Arlington Democrats dramatically split their votes in the County Board race Tuesday, demonstrating their typically strong support to top-of-the-ticket races for U.S. Senate and Congress, but turning away from their partys nominee for the most contested local office.
The countys voters, well known for their strong backing of Democrats, supported Sen. Mark Warner (D) with 71 percent of the 65,764 ballots cast, and congressman-elect Don Beyer (D) with 66 percent of the 63,147 ballots cast in that race.
Arlingtonians didnt then abandon the ballot 62,386 voted in the contest between Alan Howze (D) and John Vihstadt, a Republican running as an independent. But in that race, Howze took only 44 percent to Vihstadts 56 percent.
Howze won only 13 of the countys 53 precincts, mostly around Columbia Pike and the Metro corridors. He had lost a special election to Vihstadt in April when only 22,000 voters turned out, and Democrats hoped that he would surf to victory on the strength of the bigger electorate Tuesday, when a four-year term was at stake. Despite the 48 percent turnout, that did not happen.
Vihstadt, who based much of his campaign on opposition to the Columbia Pike streetcar which Howze supported, said his three-part message worked.
Arlington voters, Vihstadt said late Tuesday night, were yearning for a fresh perspective on a County Board many felt was an echo chamber and were concerned about spending priorities on a streetcar at a time when schools are overcrowded. He also credited the Washington Post endorsement which he said got the attention of a number of voters.
Jay Fisette (D), chairman of the Arlington County Board, said Wednesday that he and other board members have to take stock of what happened.
The voters sent a message, mostly about the Arlington-Fairfax streetcar, he said. I commit to fully digesting everything that happened yesterday and crafting a response.
Local Democratic chairman Kip Malinosky said Wednesday that some voters may have thought that Vihstadt was a Democrat, because his literature prominently featured endorsements from some Democrats, and he presented himself as a fusion candidate. Voters also expressed a desire for balance on a County Board that for 15 years (until the April election) was entirely made up of Democrats, Malinosky noted.
But Vihstadt, Malinosky said, ran a strong campaign and weve got a lot, a lot of work to do before the next county election a year from now.
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Arlington Democrats split votes to keep Vihstadt in office
As they awoke Wednesday, Democrats found many ways to soften the sting of the shellacking they took Tuesday night. The Senate map was bad. The party in the White House always suffers in midterm elections. Demography is still on their side in presidential elections.
However true, those efforts to find silver linings after a storm of repudiation ignore larger questions for the party: As they look toward 2016, just who are the Democrats and what do they stand for? Are they a party that narrowcasts messages to select constituencies think war on women and speaks largely in the language of fear? Or are they a party whose leaders can articulate a big, fresh and positive message?
Much has been made about the absence of a Republican governing agenda in this years campaigns. Democrats combing through results from Tuesday and from exit poll crosstabs can point to the fact that on some issues, the public clearly does favor them. But the small-bore issues on which Democrats tried to wage the campaign proved insufficient to the task of winning.
Raising the minimum wage is an example. The idea is hugely popular, but it did nothing to save Democratic candidates in what were supposedly contested races. Voters in Arkansas approved an increase in the minimum wage and at the same time tossed out Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor by a margin of 17 points.
Democrats will write off the Pryor loss as another example of the Republicans tightening their grip on the South voters in Arkansas also traded a retiring Democratic governor for a new Republican governor but no Democrat would have told you two days ago that Pryor would lose by the margin he did. Backing the minimum wage didnt help elsewhere, either.
The GOP gained control of the Senate Tuesday night, taking hold of the legislative agenda in that chamber. Here are three of the policies Republicans are likely to tackle as they take the reins in January 2015. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post)
If Democrats had a bigger, more appealing economic message, it was as hidden this fall as the GOPs governing agenda. The party is split between its centrist-business wing the wing long dominated by the Clintons and its populist wing, now symbolized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
One part of the party wants to attack Wall Street and tax the rich; the other is wary of that approach but nervous enough about the political impact of wage stagnation and income inequality and the restlessness on the left not to have formulated a clear alternative, if it truly believes there is one.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, already the presumed Democratic presidential nominee without having declared her candidacy, got so bollixed up over this that she misfired at a campaign stop in the closing days by declaring that businesses do not create jobs. She later blamed her mistake on trying to shorthand her message.
Democrats looking toward 2016 have reasons to think optimistically. They are more in tune with the rising electorate young people, minorities, unmarried women than Republicans. On social issues such as same-sex marriage or legalization of marijuana, their coalition already or soon will represent the majority position in the country. They are on the side of public opinion on climate change and immigration reform.
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Hard questions for Democrats as they look to 2016