"Ralph Northam and Phil Murphy register gubernatorial victories in races that will be interpreted as rebukes to President Donald Trump."
https://www.usnews.com/news/the-run/articles/2017-11-07/democrats-win-governorships-in-virginia-new-jersey
"Democrats won governorships in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, piling up twin off-year election victories that will calm the party's jittery nerves and be widely interpreted as a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump."
It's been one year since Trump won, & I was looking at a group text I sent out to family on November 8th, 2016: it has the word "devastating" & "grim". My family (all Latinos) voted for Hillary so it was not a good night.
But in reassuring news, similar to how my family viewed Trump & his policies last year, Trump has now become less popular with the public at large:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/08/opinion/pre-trump-post-trump.html
"In the 365 days since Donald Trump was elected president, the national mood has changed in some important ways. The most important of those changes is simply this: Trump has become less popular, and his political opponents have become more popular.
His unpopularity is now dominating the political scene. Democrats won a wave of victories on Tuesday, many in conservative areas. Congressional Republicans, for their part, are announcing retirements at an unusually rapid clip, fearful that Trump’s standing will drag them down in 2018."
Meanwhile, in typical Trump fashion, the Donald blamed Gillespie for the loss, tweeting that the Virginia GOP governor candidate did not do an effective job because Trump wasn't "embraced":
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trumpism-stumbles-in-virginia-and-republicans-fall-to-a-democratic-wave
“The Democrats are back,” Tom Perez, the Democratic National Committee chair, whose own job had been rumored to be at risk if Northam had lost, crowed. It may have been premature to declare a turn in national politics, but one looked very much to have occurred in Virginia. The anger of the past few months did not deepen the divisions between liberals and conservatives there. Instead, it triggered a general suburban revulsion, and a Democratic wave."
DNC chair Tom Perez whose own job (as reported above) "had been rumored to be at risk if Northam had lost" can declare "Democrats are back" but it will mean nothing if the GOP maintains control of the house in 2018.
The real test will be not only in the House but also in the state races next year. Democrats will have to compete against wealthy GOP donors & (as mentioned in the article below) against #fakeNews.
Although to be fair, in some state races last night, historic progress was indeed made:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/08/tom-perez-2017-election-wins-trump-244685
'But Perez noted smaller-scale wins for Democrats, including two seats in Georgia’s state legislature that strips Republicans of the supermajority needed for changes to the state constitution, as well as wins for Latina and transgender candidates in Virginia’s state legislature.
Organization and strong candidates in races up and down the ballot, Perez said, was the key to Democrats’ victories on Tuesday, bolstering the party’s defenses against attacks and “false news.”
“When we organize, when we make those relationships, when we're running candidates, then when the false news comes out, if you've organized and built those relationships with people, that false news doesn't penetrate,” Perez said. “You saw the ads in Virginia and elsewhere. Those ads — that dog didn't hunt.”'
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