Rep. Raul Grijalva's win in Arizona gives liberals something to cheer

[pampango]

Source: Los Angeles Times

One bright spot for Democrats on election night: Liberal stalwart Rep. Raul M. Grijalva apparently held onto his congressional seat representing southern Arizona.

Grijalva, a four-term representative who had easily won reelection in the past, got into trouble after urging a boycott of his state once it enacted a tough immigration law in April. Grijalva, 62, said the law would promote racial profiling.

With 99.6% of precincts reporting, Grijalva held a lead of 48% to 46% over McClung on Wednesday morning. Grijalva declared victory, but McClung had not conceded.

On Monday the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appeared inclined to agree with the federal judge's July ruling, which said the controversial law, SB 1070, usurped the federal government's sole authority to regulate immigration.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-pn-grijalva-20101104,0,6067353.story

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Grijalva is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It's nice to have him back.

[DFLforever]

1. Very good news.

I always felt he'd make it.

[truthisfreedom]

It's a dupe, ladies and gentlemen.

Only a dupe.

[truthisfreedom]

2. McClung to his loss as long as possible.

[Jefferson23]

3. Excellent news, congrats to all those sane Arizona voters! n/t

[Bette Noir]

4. Good. I see his district includes Yuma and Tucson.

I've been avoiding Arizona, apart from the official boycott, because I feel just plain unsafe. It would be nice to see friends in Tucson, and the wildflower bloom in Organ Pipe. With Grijalva in charge, it'd be okay.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. And the Progressive Caucus as a whole did very well in the election

Of the 70 members who were running this year (some retired, lost their primaries, or are Senators not up this year), 67 were re-elected.

Here is the list, which I compiled using the New York Times figures for each state and Wikipedia's list of Progressive Caucus members:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=503347&mesg_id=506065

[indy legend]

6. How about that. Most real progressives won and most of the

blue dogs lost. There's a lesson to be learned here, but damned if the dems will ever learn it.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Yes, the lesson is don't try to run in a swing district or a district where the GOP is the majority

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Most of them have the luxury of representing overwhelmingly Democratic districts

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Ya know, Freddie, it's been the conventional wisdom to run DLCers in

Republican districts for so long that the poor low-information voters in those districts probably think that the DLC represents "the radical Left." Running a real progressive who can convey understanding of the local situation and offer concrete ideas might blindside the voters.

In any case, I've observed over the years that voters love feisty politicians. They love the feistiness more than they care about the actual positions. Minnesota just elected a Republicanite state legislature, but the same rural districts that did that ADORED Paul Wellstone, who managed to have a fan base among leftists, the VFW, and farmers.

[blondeatlast]

15. I live in Maricopa County--and that's how our state party rolls, if they even bother

to offer us candidates.

Grijalva is much loved statewide; I take so much pride in him even though I can't vote for him.

[ThatsMyBarack]

7. I'll take this as a PLUS!

Any bit of blue power from any red state makes me happy! :woohoo:

[Rozlee]

10. Eat that, McCain and Kyle!

After their "Bandido" racist slur campaign against Grijalva, I'm bumping and bopping in my happy dance. I can't believe how they endorsed and laughingly encouraged racist poster depictions and campaign ads against him. McCain, Kyle, and McClung, eat shit and cry!

[reggie the dog]

22. they tried to say Grijalva was a member of the Banditos

biker gang??? The Banditos are to be feared, they are more violent than the hell's angels... Do those people even know who they are talking about?

[laughingliberal]

11. K & R nt

[felix_numinous]

12. Liberal reps in red states are worth gold.

That includes all you Duers here who vote for them!! :thumbsup: :applause:

[66 dmhlt]

14. And here's even MORE good news ...

> We still have 50 states – not the 13 Teapublicans envision … AND blacks still count as a whole person, not the 3/5 Teapublicans would really like to see

> In almost every high-profile race with a Teapublican lunatic, the Teapublican lost: O’Donnell, Angle, Miller, Buck, Raese and Paladino are all gone! (OK – we’re stuck with Rand Paul for 6 years.)

> Dressing up as Nazi is still over the line, as Ohio’s Teapublican Rich Iott was soundly trounced

> My fellow Missourians still like puppies, as Amendment B outlawing puppy mills passed (but not by much)

> Meg Whitman single-handedly goosed the California economy by spending over $163 MILLION of her own money (Thanks, Meg … they needed that!)

> And the Rasmussen “poll” has now been thoroughly documented to put its thumb – AND index finger – on the scales to purposefully tip them in favor of Teapublicans (Thanks, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/live-blogging-election-night/#rasmussen-reports-polls-were-biased">Nate Silver of 538 ... we knew that, but we needed that!)

[gratuitous]

16. Well, it's so easy for progressives in ultra-liberal bastions like Arizona

:crazy:

[lonestarnot]

17. Yeah! One fucking troop trying to stop the pen building! Thank you Raul! We love you!

:party: :bounce: :party:

[Boudica the Lyoness]

18. I was hoping he'd be the Interior Sec two yrs ago.

Instead we got that horrible Ken Salazar.

[HughMoran]

19. That is good news.

Go Raul!

[thelordofhell]

20. Arizona got fucked, but at least we still have a couple progressives

When President Obama took our Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, it set the stage for what happened here election day. That one action gave republican jan brewer almost 2 years of incumbency. Also, Janet would have slapped a veto on sb1070 (the immigration bill) so fast it would have made heads spin. When jan brewer signed that bill, I knew we were fucked because it gave a powerful wedge issue to run on. It's going to be nightmare here in Arizona for a while now folks. Racist and sexist bills will come poring out of the legislature to be signed immediately.....funding for schools, the poor, and the elderly will be slashed to nothing....and republican cronies will make shady money hand over fist. I'll say it again, Arizona is fucked!!

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[pinboy3niner]

21. The co-chair of Brewer's campaign thinks she'll stand up to Pearce...

...on additional anti-immigrant legislation. But the Republic's E.J. Montini says that's a pantload...

Pearce set to take on the role of 'governor' by E.J. Montini, Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/11/04/20101104Montini1104.html#ixzz14KnRhVJX

It's great that Raul won a tough re-election battle, despite the state going even redder. :toast:

[Roy Rolling]

23. YAWN

Yeah, I'm cheering right now. I'm cheering that all the Democrats that refused to run on the party's accomplishments and challenge Republicans on ethical and moral issues have been put out to pasture. Can't, for once, progressives be on the offensive instead of on the defensive? They seem to be always answering Republican questions instead of asking Republicans to justify their shortcomings and verify their unsubstantiated claims. And don't whine "Fox News"....how about finding a way to neutralize such propaganda? You would think the leaders of American progressives would be smart enough to craft a workable strategy.

[last_texas_dem]

24. Win keeps Republican House gain at 60 (Grijalva)

Source: CNN

>>> (CNN) – Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva has won a fifth term in the U.S. House after narrowly defeating Republican Ruth McClung, a physicist, according to a CNN projection. Grijalva prevailed with 49 percent of the vote, compared to 45 percent to McClung.

The Arizona Democrat found himself in an increasingly competitive race after he announced his support of a boycott of Arizona businesses in response to the state's controversial new immigration law. McClung was heavily out-raised and out-spent but received the backing of prominent state Republicans, including Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. John McCain, as well as from former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. President Obama carried the district 57 to 42 percent in 2008.

Nine other U.S. House races remained unresolved, all in districts currently held by Democrats. Republicans had a net gain of 60 seats as a result of Tuesday's midterm election.>>>

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/04/win-keeps-republican-house-gain-at-60/

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It's good that both Grijalva and Giffords (it looks like) were able to hold on against the wave. It looks like AZ was one of the scariest states for Democrats this year. (Jan Brewer? Really?)

[Ozymanithrax]

25. So they haved a 21 seat majority... n/t

[last_texas_dem]

26. If the statuses of the current uncalled races hold, it looks like they may pick up 4 more

CA‐20, NY‐25, IL‐8, and TX‐27 (bleh...)

[David__77]

28. Not CA-20.

Almost all the ballots left are in Fresno and Kern and will push Costa to a two-point victory. Even an GOP analyst said so in a newspaper article. No losses in CA, which as a Californian makes me proud.

[last_texas_dem]

29. Oh, that's good news...

It's always interesting to see how the outstanding ballots from particular areas can swing a particular race, even when there are relatively few of the overall total left to be counted.

[Tx4obama]

27. But it ain't over. There's still something like 8 or 9 house seats that haven't been called yet. n/t