Sunday, November 17, 2019

Louisiana 2019

After being forced into a runoff by Donald Trump and state and national Republicans when he failed to win a majority in Louisiana's nonpartisan open primary, incumbent Democratic governor John Bel Edwards won a second term.  And because his Republican challenger (I could tell you his name, but that's irrelevant) was his only opponent, that means that Edwards was re-elected with a majority.
Once again, Trump tried to make a state gubernatorial election about himself and his agenda, and once again the voters rejected him.  Trump's popularity in Louisiana actually made the election close, but enough of the voters realized that they shouldn't vote for a Republican for governor just to please Trump.  They'll gladly vote for a Democrat if they feel that the Democrat is on their side and is governing the state effectively.
Edwards is no liberal despite his party affiliation. He's pro-life, and he also supports gun rights, as do most Louisiana residents.  But he's also been a very effective governor, having expanded Medicaid and having been responsive to natural disasters such as hurricanes  which Trump's environmental policies will make common and more dangerous occurrences of in the Pelican State for decades to come.  This is how a Democrat wins an election - by being responsive to the people.  And though Louisianians are deeply conservative, the country at large is more politically balanced and more reasonable, and Democrats need a pragmatist presidential nominee who doesn't go too far in one direction or the other - especially when we're in no position to try any progressive, European-style social democratic experiments (again, we were in such a position in 2016, but not now) - and that bodes well for anyone who's running for President as a Democrat in 2020 who wants to take a more cautious approach.    
And we'll need a cautious approach, given the ongoing appeal of Trumpism. The victories of Edwards in Louisiana and Beshear in Kentucky merely treated symptoms of Trumpism.  The disease goes merrily on.

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