Special Election megathread (5/21: CA-20)

[TJ in Oregon]

If I looked correctly, in 2018 Stivers beat the Democrat by 1 point in Franklin County’s part of the district, and by 5 in 2020. Im guessing this is the suburbs of Columbus and not the city itself, right?

Kinda, Columbus city lines are some of the worst in the nation and it forms a large portion of the county anyway so some of the district includes the city. It does include Upper Arlington although the remaining suburbs are bit more down to earth such as Grove City. After that it includes some actual urban precicnts in some very ugly arms because Stivers wanted to represent some rich bank areas. It is gerrymandered but more to Stiver's desire for certain constituents than a partisan gerrymander. Democrats at the time didn't really complain about the Columbus map afaik besides some of the weirder shapes.

Edit: the district does include partisan gerrymandering  but thats due to how it takes Athens away from the 6th district which by now is actually a D friendly move due to how Republican the 6th is while this remains only slightly R. The rest of the Ohio map is a pretty extreme partisan gerrymander though.

The lines between OH-15/OH-3 was one of the main pinch points for getting the map passed actually. The original map had somewhat different lines when it was passed, and then the Democrats began collecting signatures to get the map overturned in a referendum. Ohio's constitution allows bills to be passed with a third-thirds vote that is 'emergency' legislation and cannot be overturned by referendum. So what ended up happening was the Ohio Republicans convinced a few Democrats in the Black Caucus to support the 'emergency' map by making OH-3 a minority opportunity seat by moving some white areas out and some more racially diverse areas in.

[TJ in Oregon]

The main question I have is why Fudge even wanted to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first place.

[TJ in Oregon]

The main question I have is why Fudge even wanted to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first place.

She didn’t. She wanted Agriculture and she spoke publicly about how she thinks black Cabinet members are often shunted to HUD.

Then why did she say yes? To my knowledge the president has no ability to force HUD upon an unwilling candidate.

[TJ in Oregon]

If Republicans were smart, they would rally behind Kunze in order to, via redistricting, draw her into a competitive/fair suburban Columbus seat — one that she could hold through the decade. Her views on abortion/guns (which I disagree with) are honestly quite irrelevant.

Other Republicans, probably the majority of the party see no point in having her in office. If we're going to get a Democrat anyway, why not a real one? I'll take my gamble on someone else, thanks.