We’ve been hearing it for months now: “The November 6 election is the most important midterm election in decades.” That’s largely, of course, because all three branches of the Federal government are currently in tiny Republican hands, and November 6 should be a gauge of the American people’s tolerance for an administration and its allies who have been anything but tolerant.
But because Trump is not on the ballot and the Senate map is terrible for the Democrats this year (it looks much better in 2020), the only real opportunity to rein in the power of the national Republican Party is for Democrats to take back the U.S. House of Representatives. So what can Wallingford voters do on Tuesday, November 6 to make sure that happens (or, I suppose, doesn’t happen)? Besides calling your friends in Issaquah and Wenatchee, not much.
Our outstanding Democratic incumbent congresswoman, Pramila Jayapal, is on your ballot, and she will win in a landslide. So will Senator Maria Cantwell. But there are several statewide initiatives which could help Washington state pave the way with progressive policies that could potentially spread nationwide (or at least to California).
To keep that from happening, huge corporations like Chevron and Coca-Cola have pumped millions of dollars worth of political advertising into Washington state initiative campaigns to persuade voters to side with big business over the environment or your health and safety on November 6. They do this every election season…because they can and because it works.
In order to defend against the dishonest and ubiquitous advertising from multi-national mega-corporations, I write a voter’s guide. I do this for every election and few guides have been easier to write than this one, because unless you are tied to Big Oil, Big Sugar, or the NRA, this ballot is darn easy to fill out.
But don’t take my word for it. In addition to Doug’s Voter’s Guide, there are great resources out there to inform yourself on this year’s election. A good place to start is with the websites of the candidates and issues themselves. King County’s election page provides links to them all. Beyond that, you can check out The Stranger’s endorsements and recommendations from the Progressive Voter’s Guide.
Those last two guides look a lot like mine, because, well, this year’s ballot is kind of a no-brainer. Disagree? Let me hear it.
Blind allegiance to just vote democrat across the board…sad
Blind racist to just vote republic across the board…sad.
Not that I’m republican….but why is it racist to vote republican?
Because the media and Socialist leadership says it’s so
Instead of answering my question you call me racist and/or clueless…guess that settles it.
MMMM deciding what is nicest to say is difficult. I found that after countless incidents I chose to report insults & -calling to owner of blog & made possible suggestions re actions which could be taken to keep comments civil. You may consider how important this concern is to you. You may remember other ideas proposed in this blog by self & others. ( comment re comments)
indeed
Thanks for reading!
Lets see: With all the talk of WA being one of the most regressively taxed states, we are told to vote “no” on an initiative that would ban soda taxes. It doesn’t get much more regressive than a soda tax, since it impacts poor people the most. But the city council seems to think it knows better than us what we should put in our bodies.
And then we are told to vote “yes” on the hug-a-thug initiative 940, which is guaranteed to drive even more cops out of Seattle. And at a time when crime is spiraling out of control, thanks to the city council, SPD has been without a contract for four years. SPD staffing levels are what they were at in the 1970’s, so you can’t even count on them to come during an active emergency, nevermind for home break ins and car prowls.
Sure, vote against Trump on the national house and Senate races, as I did. But if you’ve had enough of our local nanny state telling you what’s best for you and enabling vagrants to take over our parks, assault people, and steal your property with no fear of persecution? Take Doug’s “voter guide,” and vote against it.
Just to be clear on the soda tax thing … as I understand it, 1634 won’t touch Seattle’s tax, as it has already been enacted. So having enacted the tax, we dictate to other jurisdictions that they may not. At the request of the soft drink bottlers, who have been treating us with the most transparent contempt – I’ve gotten four big glossy campaign flyers in the mail, and the closest any of them comes to saying a thing about soft drinks is that one refers to a tax on “everyday beverages”, while they make absurd implications that they – soft drink bottlers – have stepped forward and spent all that money to prevent insidious taxation of real food items. Soft drinks are a regressive tax – they extract money from you twice, first you overpay for the item itself and then you pay for the diabetes and other conditions, and indeed poor people are hit the hardest.
You understand it correctly.
Thank you
if anyone thinks the tax will “only” be for mean ol’ sodas and sweetened beverages, you are delusional. next up, mean ol’ bad snacks like potato chips, etc.
we’ll need to make up the difference when the council banishes taxes on tampons, etc because its mean to women.
this city is/has lost its mind.
Indeed…where to draw the line. I’ve read that red meat is bad for your health as well….better start taxing it fast.