Lou

After a nominating convention marred by long lines, hiccups in vote tallying, and a delay so long that one candidate opened bar tabs for attendees, the Massachusetts Republican party endorsed Mike Minogue as their candidate for governor.

The day stretched hours past schedule, to the point where a good number of delegates — more than 150 — left the arena, tired and frustrated, in between the contested elections for lieutenant governor and governor Saturday.

Once votes were tallied, Minogue, a former medical device company CEO and political outsider who has poured $12.5 million of his own money into his campaign, ended the day with a decisive 70 percent of the votes cast by party delegates, cruising his way to the party’s endorsement

Mike Kennealy, a former economic development secretary, was knocked off the Sept. 1 ballot after failing to secure 15 percent of the votes. Former MBTA general manager Brian Shortsleeve barely cleared the threshold with 15.5 percent.

Party chair Amy Carnevale told reporters last week that more than 4,000 delegates had qualified to attend the convention. Just under 1,800 ultimately cast votes for their choice of governor.

“Let’s get through this convention, and let’s get through it with respect,” state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said after a series of boos.

Republicans endorsed Anne Brensley, a Wayland selectwoman who ran her own campaign for lieutenant governor but was backed by Minogue, with 56 percent of the vote.

The party on Saturday also nominated several Republicans who ran unopposed Saturday, including John Deatonfor US Senate, Elizabeth Dionne for state treasurer, and Mike Walsh for attorney general.

Virginia voters approved a Democratic plan to allow them to redraw the state congressional map for the remainder of the decade — part of the partisan battle over redistricting happening in several states ahead of the 2026 midterm election. The proposed map would give Democrats a chance at winning 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, a dramatic shift from the current 6-5 split in the Virginia House delegation.

The vote was 52% – 48%

The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback for President Donald Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts. 

The Virginia redistricting referendum could help nullify Republican gains elsewhere.

Democrat Analilia Mejia has won a special election for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district keeping Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s old seat under Democratic control and handing a huge win to the insurgent progressive movement that powered Mejia’s campaign. Mejia beat moderate Republican Joe Hathaway 59.5% to 40%.

When all votes are in, Mejia will have overperformed Kamala Harris’s nine-point win in the district by around 12 points, give or take, another positive sign for Democrats ahead of this year’s midterms; other special elections around the country have seen Democratic overperformances of between 13 and 25 points.

The district’s transformation from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic-leaning area reflects broader trends in suburban voting patterns across the United States.

Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban was defeated on Sunday’s election. The opposition Tizra Party won a two thirds majority of seats in parliament: 135 – 57.

Orban is a far right authoritarian calling himself an illiberal democrat. He is strongly anti-immigration, worked to control the courts, stifle the media, ban books, attacked his opponents and is the lone country holding up support for Ukraine.

Orban is the strong best proponent of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Europe. Let me say that again. He is the best friend or Putin and Trump. Both of whom strongly supported Orban. Russia by trying to influence the election and US by sending JD Vance in person to campaign for Orban and for Trump doing the same virtually.

Sunday was a good day for Western Democracy and hopefully a harbinger of what is coming to the US in November.

Taylor defeated conservative Judge Maria Lazar in the race to replace outgoing Justice Rebecca Bradley.

Wisconsin voters Tuesday elected Madison-based Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor to a seat on the state Supreme Court, a decision that expands the high court’s liberal majority to five justices and cements liberal control until at least 2030.

Taylor, a former Democratic state lawmaker and former policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, defeated conservative Waukesha-based Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar in the race to replace outgoing Justice Rebecca Bradley, a member of the court’s conservative wing. Wisconsin Supreme Court justices are elected to 10-year terms.

The Associated Press called the election only 36 minutes after polls closed as early returns showed Taylor dominating the liberal bastions of Dane and Milwaukee counties, while leading or running close behind Lazar in rural counties.

Chris Taylor won by 20 points, an overperformance of 21 points compared to 2024’s Democratic presidential results. And that’s 10 points over the last Supreme Court race, which was also won by the Democratic-backed candidate.

Shawn Harris lost by 11.8 points, but pulled off the largest Democratic overperformance in a House special election since President Trump took office. Harris outperformed the Democratic 2024 presidential results by 25 points.

Shawn Harris was running to take Majorie Taylor Greene’s seta in the most heavily Republican seat in Georgia. In 2024, President Donald Trump won this district by 37 points. Marjorie Taylor Greene won this seat by 29 points.

**We have the power and are claiming it together. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.**

Crowds of people protested Saturday against the war in Iran and President Trump’s actions, in “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. and in Europe. Minnesota took center stage, in what organizers said were mass demonstrations involving more than 8 million of people.

U.S. organizers had estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. On Saturday, they estimated that more than 8 million participants took part in more than 3,300 events worldwide.

Massachusetts hosted 169 events across the entire state.

Around 180,000 people packed the Boston Common on Saturday for the “No Kings” rally, protesting the Trump administration, according to organizers.

The rally lasted over two hours despite the frigid temperatures, with speakers like Senator Ed Markey and Governor Maura Healey calling on rally-goers to make their voice heard at the polls. 

“Bottom line here is that for 250 years we haven’t had kings in Massachusetts, and we’re not going backward,” Healey said. “Donald Trump is a walking, talking constitutional crisis every minute that he is inside the Oval Office,” Markey said.  The Dropkick Murphys performed at the event and lead singer Ken Casey got the crowd fired up. “Taking back the meaning of patriotism. You know it’s been so co-opted by the MAGA movement, which has really twisted the meaning of patriotism. This is patriotism standing up for what’s right,” Casey said to the crowd. 

Here in Danvers, the No Kings Rally was at the 114 Bridge. The bridge was packed as were both sides of the street. There was a lot of energy in the crowd fed by the constant sound of honking cars and thumbs up from the passing cars.

Similar experience in Middleton, with people lining the both sides of the street in front of the library.

The experience in both Danvers and Middleton was the same as occurs at all rallies across the country. They are peaceful, joyful, energetic, hopeful and determined.

There was a person who walked thru the crowd in Middleton wearing his Trump shirt. Everyone gave the appropriate response which was to ignore him and in some cases to smile and wish him well. Nice job. Of course, I cannot understand why people support Trump, likely the worst human being in the country, and what would drive a person to dig out his Trump shirt and walk around the rally. But we support everyone’s first amendment rights even of those who are trying to take them away from people they do not approve of.

Florida Democrats flipped two legislative seats Tuesday night in their biggest election night in years.

In the shocker of the night, Democrat Brian Nathan defeated Republican Josie Tomkow in the Senate District 14 race by 408 votes.

In the only state Senate election on the ballot, Democrat Brian Nathan, a Navy veteran, union organizer, and first-time candidate, shocked Republican state Rep. Josie Tomkow in the Hillsborough County Senate District 14 contest, winning by just 408 votes, taking 50.25% of the vote to Tomkow’s 49.75%.

The seat has been vacant since August, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed GOP incumbent Jay Collins to serve as his lieutenant governor.

Tomkow had a huge fundraising lead over Nathan and was a heavy favorite in a district that Collins won by 10 points in 2022, the last time the seat was on the ballot. Donald Trump won it by more than 7 points in 2024.

In the Palm Beach County House District 87 race that includes Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, Democrat Emily Gregory, a first-time candidate with a public-health background, defeated Republican financial adviser Jon Maples, 51%-49%, in a district that Trump won by more than 10 points in 2024.

The third race was in House District 51 in very red northern Polk County, a seat made vacant after Tomkow resigned early to run for the state Senate District 14 seat.

There was little drama there, as Republican Hilary Holley, executive director of an agriculture nonprofit organization, defeated Democrat Edwin Pérez by eight percentage points, 54%-46%. That district went for Donald Trump in 2024 by more than 13 percentage points.