I live on the edge of NC38, a stones throw from NC34, and the more I think about Abe Jones and how out of touch he is with his constituency the more I wonder how he seems to be in touch with what is best for DTR and his constituents.
I understand NC38 had a large POC population that has been in food deserts where fresh foods are rare and things like lotto tickets and cheap beer are. However, being the swing vote against sports betting and citing that it could bring “prostitution and exploitation” is very ham fisted as states as conservative as Tennessee and as Puritanical as Massachusetts get the message that he won’t.
At the same time, he voted for HB805 last August, an anti-BLM, anti-protest bill, going against most of the NCGA Dems. Given that Jones lived through the Civil Rights Movement, experienced segregation, the whole nine yards, why would he be against something that most of his constituents are for.
Was DTR so hard up in 2020 that their only option to run was a 68 year old retiree who can’t seem to read a room? And why did nobody primary him in 2022? How did DTR end up with a very conservative NCGA rep when clearly they can do better? Or is this a disconnect? Am I alone here?
Who’s being gerrymandered here? And is this a point that DTR and areas to the north are disenfranchised?
Is Jones serving his constituents? Or is he just blind to all of them? How nobody decided to run against him enrages me as he is not fit to serve, especially as he runs well to the right of his constituency.
The thing about lotteries, sports betting, and other forms of gambling is that they have both progressive and conservative voices against them for different reasons.
But who is Abe Jones? A true progressive wouldn’t side with the Republicans on an anti-BLM bill especially when they’re a black person who grew up under Jim Crow. Nor would they say that sports bettimg would lead to prostitution when we haven’t seen Richmond or Nashville become havens of sin. Those are not progressive takes, those aren’t even Democratic takes.
As I see it, DTR has no representation in the NCGA because who is he representing? Not me. And he’s running unopposed, what fun.
That seems to be a different Bill than @jdb820 referenced.
A piece of text from that bill.
Any person who willfully engages in a riot is guilty of a Class H felony if in the course of the
riot the person brandishes any dangerous weapon or uses a dangerous
substance.
So, if I am reading this correctly, if you are inebriated, have weed or some other narcotic in your system and you are charged with rioting, you can be slapped with a felony charge on that alone. Personally, I think that’s a slippery slope since pot chills you out and one beer might be interpreted as having used a dangerous substance.
I also wonder how far they stretch the meaning of dangerous weapon? Clearly by this definition, all those folks who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6th and had baseball bats, flag poles, guns, etc., could be charged with a felony under this law in North Carolina depending on that interpretation.
I guess I need to see the vote on the bill he is talking about, because otherwise that looks like the August anti-riot bill HB 805 being mentioned. And Abe Jones was a No vote.
Jones is still wayyyyyyyy too conservative for DTR. And old.
Am I the only person in this godforsaken state that wants sports betting, abortion protections, LGBTQ protections, happy hour, a higher minimum wage, worker protections, and fully legal weed? Because from the way things are going this state is coming across as too dense when Virginia is kicking our butts at everything. Might as well move to Danville or South Boston where people have rights and hope, those cities would make a killing if they could get people and jobs from NC.
A lot of these things, and sports betting and happy hours in particular, are things that voters in this district may favor in the abstract, but are not especially interested in. The number of people for whom sports betting or happy hours is an issue that would in any way influence their vote is like you and three other guys, sure.
I can tell you that for many voters in the district, their top issues are the quality of public schools and/or reducing crime. Those are also core functions of the state government. A lot of people care very deeply about the quality of the local schools, and that concern influences their vote.
But, yeah, if you want sports betting and happy hours and don’t give a damn if the local schools are great or shitty, by all means, go ahead and leave Raleigh and move to … [checks notes] … Danville, Virginia?
So the only thing that matters in elections are schools? Why should we pit issues against issues?
NC can be like Northern Virginia, New Jersey or Connecticut if it tried. Its possible to have all those things. Those areas prove it.
Right now Virginia is kicking our butts at everything and has more hope. If only this state would stop voting for Republicans and debased conservative Democrats. If NC drags its heels further they will see a brain drain to the north.
Pitting issues against issues is literally how elections work. Literally the point of elections.
Anyway, the question animating the thread appears to be how this district elected a representative that does not share all of your esoteric political preferences. That’s why. It’s not that people are uniformly opposed to this stuff. But very few people care about it at all, and they care a lot about other stuff.
It’s all a matter of perspective. I grew up and lived in SC before moving to Raleigh, and NC feels blue compared to SC. As a liberal in SC, my vote counted for essentially nothing. Whereas here in NC, I feel like there is at least some shade of purple going on.
And with companies like Apple, Facebook, and google, bringing in more people from the west coast and northeast, the purple will gradually turn more blue. Much like VA has in the past 20 year. The transition will feel slow, but it is coming.
At the end of the day, it’s about voting. Kansas taught us that power earlier this week when the voters there shocked the country.
The reality is that older, more conservative voters actually vote.
Clipped from a quick Google search: As with past elections, a higher share of women (68.4%) than men (65.0%) turned out to vote. Voter turnout also increased as age, educational attainment and income increased. Voter turnout was highest among those ages 65 to 74 at 76.0%, while the percentage was lowest among those ages 18 to 24 at 51.4%.
With the margin between red and blue in a state like NC being so small, we have the capability to change things if we are just willing to participate at the same level as our parents & grandparents.
I have a theory that idealism plays into the young not voting. “What’s the difference?” & “They’re both the same” are things I’ve heard repeatedly from the young who choose not to vote, or throw away their votes on non-viable 3rd party candidates and write-ins. With the overturning of Roe and real threats to marginalized citizens coming out of some SCOTUS justices’ mouths, I think that the young might want to reassess the political landscape.
Ultra conservatives are reaping their reward for being disciplined in voting and playing the long game. Tons of them hated Trump and voted for him anyway to ultimately get what they wanted. There’s a story to learn here for progressives. You can either participate in moving the ball forward, even if it’s not as forward or as fast as you would like, or suffer the consequences of having it move backward. When you do participate, your voice will matter more to the party. Parties know who is voting and who is not. If you are not voting, why should the party pay attention to you? To sum it up, it’s as if conservatives vote to get what they want while progressives won’t vote until they get what they want. IMO, it’s a losing strategy for progressives.
Not to come across like an a** but in what world do want NC to function and act like NJ or Connecticut? I love a pork roll egg and cheese but beyond that I don’t think there is much I want to borrow from NJ from a governance perspective…
It’s a stretch to say Virginia is ‘kicking our butts’ with everything. Sure, maybe they won some economic proposals here and there over NC but it goes both ways. As @rgmedd pointed out, they recently voted in a Republican governor. They’ve proposed some of the typical red meat for the right, virtual signaling, culture war stuff you’d see from other states (looking at you deep south or Florida). ‘Banning’ critical race theory, something not even taught, was something they were proposing in the state. I haven’t looked into seeing if that bill actually passed.
Additionally I think I saw they’ve pushed back recreational sales of legal weed too another couple years since he came into office. This was something they touted as being the most progressive from a southern state. As @John pointed out with Kansas’ recent vote, let’s see if there’s an appetite for VA to touch abortion.
I’ll say this, democrats here in NC were fools for not doing more prior to 2010. I know hindsight and yada yada, but it seems like they were caught with their pants down. Once republicans had control, they entrenched to make sure they would never lose power. Democrats could have put so many constitutional amendments on the ballot, or even changed how those referendums are done to be more inline with other states, giving more power to the people. It’s just unfortunate, because it will likely be decades before democrats can regain control.