Another Split Decision In The March 8 Democratic Primary Contests

There were two primary contests Tuesday in Mississippi and Michigan that were favored to go in Sec. Hillary Clinton's direction on this International Women's Day.

Once again, the Black vote mattered as she stomped Sanders in Mississippi in another electoral blowout by an 83-17% margin.  Michigan however turned out to be a Sanders upset as the white independent and crossover Republicans vote helped Sanders as he eked out an upset victory that for now, has the Sanders peeps crowing until Saturday.   

A little reality check for sanders folks.  He's still trailing in the all important delegate count and in fact because of the Clinton blowout in Mississippi LOST ground because of the proportional allocation rules.

Clinton finished the night with 88 delegates while Sanders picked up 70,and she's now up 761 to 547 not including the superdelegates which Sanders still massively trails in.

On to the March 15 contests in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio.

Michigan And Mississippi Primary Votes Today

Two more primary elections are taking place today in Michigan and Mississippi in the wake of Sanders supporters getting all happy over their three caucus wins in Kansas, Maine and Nebraska while Clinton took Louisiana in another blowout fueled by Black voters.  

But what they conveniently forget to mention is that despite the caucus wins in (ho hum) predominately white states, by the proportional allocation rules, Clinton still walked away with 76 delegates while Sanders came away with only 64 delegates.

Drip, drip drip.   That's a +12 delegate gain for Clinton to add to her growing delegate lead, and it's only going to get better for her starting tonight..

Told y'all that failure to connect with Back voters would cost him the nomination.  And as the media finally does the deep tissue vetting of Sanders, a problematic picture is emerging even before he opened mouth and inserted foot in it during that Flint debate with the stereotype laced comment about Black people just in time for the Michigan and Mississippi primaries.  .

Michigan will be the big prize today with 130 delegates available, with Mississippi chipping in 35 more before this upcoming cluster of Saturday primary elections in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio that are worth 691 electoral votes.

And yeah, not only is Clinton leading in Michigan and Mississippi, she's also leading in all five states voting on Saturday,.  Black Democratic voters will have a major say in who emerges victorious.in the wake of Bernie Sanders continuing to fail to connect with Black voters.

Will be fun to watch it play out in a few hours.

Split Decision In Saturday Democratic Primary Contests

It was a split decision in Saturday's contests for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. 

There were two caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska, and a primary election in Louisiana.  While Sanders won the two Democratic caucuses in once again, predominately white states, Clinton won the Louisiana primary handily fueled by once again, the African-American vote.

The end result was that Sanders lost ground to Clinton despite the two caucus wins.  Blowout win in primary state worth 51 delegates trumps (pun not intended) two caucus wins in state worth combined 55 delegates split proportionately.

Lets look at the math.  Sanders won 37 delegates in Kansas and Nebraska to Clinton's 22.  but because he lost in Louisiana, Sanders only received 12 delegates while Clinton gained 39 delegates

Sanders total delegates add up to 49, Clinton received 61 which means that she increased her lead by another 11 delegates last night.   

Drip, Drip Drip.  And while that was happening, she continued to add to that massive superdelegate lead, with more commitments coming her way in the runup to a critical week of contests starting on Tuesday.

Tuesday's contests will talk place in Michigan (130 delegates), Mississippi (36 delegates) and the Democratic caucus in Maine in which 25 delegates will be available.

And FYI,  Michigan and Mississippi have large Black populations, Maine doesn't.

This is the lead in to the five Democratic primary contests in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio in which 691 delegates will be up for grabs and once again, Sanders supporters, Black voters will have a major say in who wins those states.

And FYI, just another reminder that early voting is happening in Florida right now..

Clinton is inching closer to that magic number of 2.383 delegates, and we'll have a better idea how close she is to the prize that eluded her in 2008 after this weekend.

Louisiana Democratic Primary Today

After racking up big Super Tuesday wins in seven states and the American Samoa caucus, the Democratic race to the nomination and accumulating the 2,383 delegates continues for Sec. Hillary Clinton and her challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The big prize for today is Louisiana, with 51 delegates available in its primary election. There will also be two caucuses in Nebraska (25 delegates) and Kansas (33 delegates) happening before we move on to Tuesday's contests in Michigan (130 delegates), Mississippi (36 delegates) and the caucus in Maine in which 25 delegates will be available.

This is the political appetizer before next weekend's cluster of five Democratic primary contests in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio in which 691 delegates will be up for grabs.

And in bad news for Sanders supporters, need to remind y'all that Florida, Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have large percentages of African-American voters with early voting happening in Florida right now as you peruse this post.. 

Here's the rest of the Democratic primary and caucus schedule. 

Sec. Clinton is building momentum, superdelegates are endorsing her and it's looking more and more like she is going to be the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on whoever comes out of the GOP KKKlown Car., which at the moment appears to be Donald Trump.

You can try to keep hope alive as a former Democratic nomination candidate once said, but the obese opera singer is warming up her lungs to sing that 'It's Over' aria.

We'll see how that plays out starting tonight.
    . 

Congrats Jenifer On Your Historic Win!

While everyone was focused last night on the big Super Tuesday delegate fight between the presidential candidates from both parties, a little trans history was made in Houston on election night.

Jenifer Rene Pool, who has made three runs for Houston City Council, shifted gears and ran for the Democratic nomination in the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race to see who would take on longtime Republican commissioner Steve Radack.

Pool racked up a decisive win against her Democratic primary challenger, racking up 78% of the vote.  She becomes the first out transperson to win a primary election contest in Harris County and the state of Texas, and now takes on the formidable challenge of unseating a longtime conservative incumbent on Harris County Commissioner's Court.

Congrats on your history making achievement Jenifer!   Now let's take it to the next step and get you that seat at the Harris County Commissioner's Court table!
 

The Democratic Super Tuesday Big Winner Is...

Hillary Clinton!

To the consternation of Sanders supporters, the momentum continued for Sec. Clinton as she captured seven states and the American Samoa caucus while Sanders won his home state of Vermont as expected, Oklahoma, and the caucus states of Colorado and Minnesota.

Just as in South Carolina, the power of the Black vote asserted itself as Clinton not only captured the big delegate prizes Tuesday night of Georgia (117) and my home state of Texas (252), she took Massachusetts out of Bernie's backyard.

Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia also went for Sec. Clinton, and her wins during her Super Tuesday victory march through the South and elsewhere have been fueled by overwhelming Black voter support.  Black voter support kept her close in Oklahoma.

Next up on the Democratic Party primary schedule are March 5 contests in Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska, March 6 in Maine, and March 8 in Michigan and Mississippi.

There were also local primary races in the various Super Tuesday states for state legislature, judicial and other seats I'm still waiting for results on.

One result I very happy about was that state Rep. Jessica Farrar curb stomped homobigot Dave Wilson in the TX 148 Democratic primary race.

The shocker of the night locally was transphobic state Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), who pushed two anti-trans bills in the 2015 session we killed, was beaten in her TX 150 GOP primary race by Valoree Swanson for being in her opponent's words, "Not conservative enough'.

Karma is not only a you know what Rep Riddle, it wears a dress and stiletto heels.

But in some trans political news, Jenifer Rene Pool is handily beating her opponent in the Harris County Precinct 3 Democratic primary race.

I'll have a better idea when the rest of our Harris County results come in and I get a chance to peruse them in the morning

It's Super Tuesday!

In a few hours the polls are opening across eleven states for people to cast their ballots in the Democratic primary battle between Sec Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

After posting her own blowout win in South Carolina, Sec. Clinton is seeking to keep that momentum going in the Super Tuesday states and collect the lion's share of the 1017 delegates up for grabs with the help of the Black vote.

Voters in America Samoa, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and my home state of Texas will be headed to polling places and caucuses.

We'll see when the polls start closing at 7 PM ET which way the Democratic contest goes after voters in the 12 primarily Southern states have their say in who should be the person who gets our party's nomination in not only the presidential contests, but a long list of state and local races and judicial seats.

If early voting was available in your Super Tuesday state and you didn't get the opportunity to participate in it, hope you take the time to do so today.

In Texas. polls will be open from 7 AM-7 PM and I hope you exercise your right to vote.

Clinton Massively Blows Out Sanders In South Carolina

After Sec. Hillary Clinton's six point win in Nevada, the next election contest in the 2016 Democratic party primary schedule is the South Carolina primary.   In this one, African-American voters would get a major say in who would become the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee and divvy up the state's 53 delegates.  

Tonight Black voters in South Carolina served notice that the road to the Democratic nomination comes through Black Democratic voters.  In 2008, 55% of the voters in South Carolina's Democratic primary were African-American, and they made up an astounding 61% of the electorate today

Told y'all Bernie fans that your candidate's failure to build a convincing case for Black voters to vote for him was going to cost him, and tonight Clinton has won South Carolina in a massive blowout fueled by Black voter turning out for her.

The rout was so complete networks were calling the election within minutes after the polls closed there. Sanders according to exit polling lost the African-American vote 86-14%, and it played out in the election results.   With 99% of the votes counted, Clinton leads Sanders 73.5% to 26.0%, and has swept every county in the Palmetto State.



This butt kicking has been brewing for several weeks, and anyone who was paying attention to the primary election so far could have seen this coming.  Clinton's dominance of the Black vote in South Carolina carried her to a blowout win and getting 39 of the state's 53 delegates.

And what's more ominous as we come to Super Tuesday on March 1 is that six of the Super Tuesday states, Alabama, Arkansas. Georgia,, Tennessee, Virginia and (ahem) Texas have sizable African-American populations, and I don't think that Sanders will fix his problems with African-American voters between now and Tuesday.

2016 South Carolina Democratic Primary Today

In a few hours the Democratic voters of South Carolina will start heading to the polls to determine who will win their state's presidential primary and how they will apportion the states 59 available delegates to this summer's convention in Philadelphia.

It's looking good for Hillary Clinton right now as she seeks to build on the momentum of her win a few days ago in Nevada and keep it going into the critical March 1 Super Tuesday contests.

Sec. Clinton is maintaining her huge double digit polling lead overall and her big lead with African-American voters in this state despite attempts by Sen. Bernie Sanders to reach out to this critical Democratic voting bloc.  African-American voters will comprise up to 50% of the people casting ballots in this primary contest.

But as any political observer will tell you, the only poll that matters is the one being conducted at the ballot box, and we'll see who wins when the polls close later tonight at 7 PM EST.  

Sanders Wins NH Primary In Blowout

I expected this to happen, and it did in terms of Bernie Sanders getting a big win in the New Hampshire primary.

With 89% of the ballots counted, Sanders has 60,0% of the vote to Clinton's 38.4% and the withdrawn Martin O'Malley's 0.2%. Sanders also made some history tonight by being the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential election primary contest and picked up 13 delegates to 9 for Clinton.

Since Bernie people like to try to make comparisons to 2008, remember the second place finisher in the New Hampshire Democratic side went on to win the nomination.

But Sanders realizes that this 2016 contest is not even close to being over, and the race now moves from two states with overwhelmingly white populations in Iowa and New Hampshire and favorable turf for him to more diverse primary states in Nevada (26% Latinx population) and South Carolina (27% African-American population) who so far are not 'Feeling The Bern' like white millennials are.

And Black voters, who are the base of the party, aren't Feeling the Bern' for many reasons, including the major one that he called for a primary challenge of President Obama back in 2012.

These next two contests on February 20 in Nevada and February 27 in South Carolina are must wins for Bernie to prove that he actually can get non-white Democratic support with the March 1 Super Tuesday contests looming.

We'll see how those contests play out over the rest of this month.



 

And The 2016 Iowa Caucus Winner Is...

Nobody yet.   It's still a razor thin race between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders with several precincts outstanding..

The first event of the 2016 presidential primary season happened last night in the Iowa Caucuses. In the 99 counties across the state, both Democratic and Republican voters headed to 1061 locations all over the state to support their respective candidate choices for their party's presidential nominations.


They started at 7 PM CST, and while the GOP one was over early with the junior senator from Alberta in Ted Cruz upsetting Donald Trump for the win.

As of this writing the Democratic contest between Clinton and Sanders is razor thin and has yet to be called.

One of the other results from tonight is that former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley suspended his campaign after his poor showing in the Democratic caucus, and Mike Suckabee Huckabee finally exited the GOP race after his poor showing in the GOP one.

With 97% of the precincts reporting, Clinton is up by a razor thin 49.8% (22 delegates) to Sanders 46.6% (21 delegates) with O'Malley capturing just 0.6% of the vote percentages.  

The 2016 race to the White House is now in the vote casting stage and the next battle in which actual ballots will be cast will be next Tuesday, February 9 in the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire.   There will be a crucial Democratic debate moderated by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday which should be fun to watch.

We'll know who won this on the Democratic side in a few hours.

TransGriot Update: The winner is Hillary Clinton.  But doing so, she made history by becoming the first woman to win the Iowa caucus.   Hopefully she'll be making more history as this continues.

Live From Las Vegas, The Democratic 2016 POTUS Debates!

After suffering through the horror of multiple GOP presidential debates that had the feel of a reality TV show, finally the Democrats get in the game with the first of their six debates from Las Vegas being televised by CNN starting at 7:30 PM CDT with Anderson Cooper as the moderator.

Vice President Joe Biden won't be there since he still hasn't decided whether he will jump into this race, but Democratic primary front runner Hillary Clinton will be in the Wynn Las Vegas house along with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.

In addition to wondering when will VP Biden get in the game, there is still the desire in Democratic Party circles to see more than just the six DNC sanctioned debates that is being echoed by people such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and former DNC Chair Howard Dean..

The call for additional debates have led to protests in front of DNC headquarters in Washington DC and heckling of DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a recent New Hampshire Democratic party event..

And frankly, I'd like to see more debates as well.

Until that happens, the political junkie in me will take the opportunity to watch this one presidential debate that I suspect will be far more substantive on policy than all the GOP ones combined.

Trans Woman Making Bid To Run NC Democratic Party

In 2012 Janice Covington Allison was one of the thirteen trans delegates to the Democratic National Convention being held in Charlotte, NC. 

She was also the first trans delegate ever from the state of North Carolina  and has held leadership positions in the North Carolina Democratic Party's LGBT Caucus..

Now she is running to lead the Democratic Party in the Tarheel State.

When the party's Executive Committee meets in Raleigh on February 7, she will one of a large field of candidates to lead the party in the wake of former Party Chair Randy Voller stepping down.

And if she is successful in winning the job, Allison would become the first out trans person ever to lead one of the major political parties at the state level.

“I know that I will have great barriers to overcome, because I will be the first transgender woman in our country’s history to seek out a state’s Democratic Party chairmanship,” Allison said in a recent news release. “However, I think because our party is the party of the future, acceptance and diversity, I will be accepted, based on my ability to do the job.”

We'll find out on February 7 if that happens for her.  You know I'm hoping it does.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/05/4452136/two-more-candidates-running-for.html#storylink=cpy

Jeri Hughes Running For Gertrude Stein Club Presidency

I've mentioned a few times in my posts about my trips to Washington DC longtime trans activist Jeri Hughes.  When I'm inside I-495 and chilling at her I get the opportunity to have some long and thoughtful conversations about the state of the trans community and countless other subjects with her every time I'm in her presence.

I also know she's proud of living in the District, and I was happy to discover courtesy of an October 31  Washington Blade article that she is running for the presidency of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club when the group holds its officer elections on November 18.   

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club was founded in 1976 and is the voice for TBLG Democrats in Washington DC.  It is also the founding chapter of the National Stonewall Democrats and according to their website one of the oldest Democratic Clubs inside I-495.

If she is successful, Hughes would become the first trans person to serve as the Gertrude Stein club’s president but wouldn't be the first elected to a leadership position in that organization.   Transgender and Democratic Party activist Julius Agers served as the club’s vice president two years ago.

Best of luck Jeri and hope I have some wonderful history to report on come November 18.

2012 DNC-President Carter's Speech

Unlike the Republican Party who are ashamed of their former presidents especially POTUS 43, we love, revere and still respect ours. 

One of the things that pisses me off is the hatred and lies pimped by conservafools about our 39th president, Jimmy Carter.   Until Bill Clinton came along, he was the POTUS who had the love and respect of the African-American community and still does.    He had the most diverse cabinet in US history, appointed many African-Americans to federal posts in his administration and the federal judiciary, and got Israel and Egypt to come to Camp David and sign a peace treaty that till lasts to this day.

You can also thank Jimmy Carter for the fuel efficiency standards on your cars, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and the shift in emphasizing human rights when it comes to conducting our foreign policy. 

So when the first night's events of the DNC occurred I was happy to see this video of our Nobel peace prize winning former president and world renowned humanitarian endorsing the current Nobel prize winning president in this video.

It also blew up the conservalie they were telling in their media that the Democrats would be 'scurred' to have President Carter make an appearance at this convention.  (snicker, snicker)

DNC 2012-Rep John Lewis Speech

"Today it is unbelievable that there are Republican officials still trying to stop some people from voting," he said. "They are changing the rules, cutting polling hours and imposing requirements intended to suppress the vote. The Republican leader in the Pennsylvania House even bragged that his state's new voter ID law is 'gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state.' That's not right. That's not fair. That's not just."

DNC 2012- Eva Longoria's Speech

I love Eva Longoria and enjoyed her DNC speech last night    I also love the fact this Corpus Christi born Tejana is a Democrat.  


There were rumors in Texas political circles that she was asked to run for the US Senate seat being opened up by the retirement of Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R) in this cycle but declined it so that she could continue in her role as the co-chair of the Obama campaign.   

Here's the video of her speech




The Hateraid aimed at her by conservafools will commence in 5...4...3...2...1...

DNC 2012-Kerry Washington's Speech

Y'all long time TransGriot readers know how much I love actress Kerry Washington, and much of it stems from the fact she is a supporter and ally of trans women and had a major role in the 2008 Obama campaign

I particularly enjoyed one exchange I watched when she's appeared on Bill Maher's HBO show  in the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign and eviscerated Michael Steele 

She spoke on stage during the DNC last night in Charlotte, and here's the video of the speech.

DNC 2012- President Obama's Nomination Acceptance Speech

The video of President Obama's DNC presidential nomination acceptance speech in Charlotte, NC.

DNC 2012-Trans DNC Delegates Getting International Attention

The 13 trans delegates (and hearing rumors they have discovered a 14th delegate) are deservedly getting a lot of positive attention and positive press coverage for our community

There's a story about them on AFP (Agencie France Presse)  and is a concrete example of the well deserved media attention for this distinguished group of DNC trans delegates that is going international. 


Thanks to y'all for representing our community with class and dignity during DNC 2012

• Super Delegate: Barbra Casbar Siperstein
• Dana Beyer, M.D.
• Kylar William Broadus
• Janice Covington
• Chris Land
• Daria Lynn Lohman
• Lesley Rebecca Phillips
• Marisa J. Richmond, Ph.D.
• Diego Miguel Sanchez
• Jamie Dianne Shiner
• Melissa Sklarz
• Meghan Stabler