Compared to mid-term primary elections of recent years, Tennesseans came out to cast their ballots and support their candidates this past week. I’m especially loving the remarks below from a recent article on Hamilton County:
Lenward Brackin Jr. said he usually votes early but didn’t ahead of Thursday’s election.
“I was coming no matter what — I’ve got umbrellas in the car,” he said… “I refuse to be mute on things that are important to me and the community.”
When it comes to Hamilton County Democrats, early voting turnout was a dismal 5,655 in 2014 but this year’s early voting tally shows a huge 65-percent jump to 9,338.
Meanwhile, over in the Caribbean our fellow U.S. citizens are obviously doing something right as can be seen below:
Despite a few minor issues, voters in the U.S. Virgin Islands managed to get through the primary without any challenges too difficult to overcome.
With the U.S. Virgin Islands and Tennessee now having completed their primaries, please take a look below to see who the Democrats Abroad Hispanic Caucus endorses for November’s General Election.
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TENNESSEE
Governor
Karl Dean (challenger to open seat)
U.S. Senate
Phil Bredesen (challenger to open seat) ←This would be a major Democratic victory
U.S. House of Representatives
TN-1: Marty Olsen (challenger to incumbent GOP Rep. Phil “I voted against stimulus funding, but when the money showed up I was there smiling and kissing babies” Roe)
TN-2: Renee Hoyos (challenger to open seat)
TN-3: Danielle Mitchell (challenger to incumbent GOP Rep. Chuck “My Constituents Love Me” Fleischmann)
TN-4: Mariah Phillips (challenger to incumbent GOP Rep. Scott “I have a 100% pro-life voting record, but -shhh!- we’ve had abortions, too” DesJarlais)
TN-5: Jim Cooper (INCUMBENT)
TN-6: Dawn Barlow (challenger to open seat)
TN-7: Justin Kanew (challenger to open seat)
TN-8: Erika Pearson (challenger to incumbent GOP Rep. David “Helping Puerto Rico Isn’t Important To Me” Kustoff)
TN-9: Steve Cohen (INCUMBENT)
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U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
Governor
Albert Bryan (challenger to Independent incumbent Gov. Kenneth Mapp)
U.S. Delegate to Congress
Stacey Plaskett (INCUMBENT)
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Why is a Blue Wave needed for this November? Republicans are destroying the American values we all cherish. Immigration: even our Founding Fathers and the Statue of Liberty herself are immigrants to the U.S.; yet, Dreamers’ fates remain uncertain while families are ripped apart at the border. And don’t forget about how “Mexico is going to pay for the wall” – remember that? Science: a noted climate and science denier was nominated and confirmed to be in charge of NASA out of all places. Voting rights: suppression efforts are well underway across the U.S., from pro-gerrymandering court decisions to closing polling locations to not having non-English voting instructions available to having “the right kind of identification” at the polls. The list goes on and on.
So do we rectify this?
Step 1: Make sure you are eligible to vote, then request your ballot, and then actually vote! For Democrats! You can easily request your ballot at VoteFromAbroad.org.
Step 2: Talk to every stateside and overseas American you know and tell them to do the same things mentioned in Step 1.
Step 3: Jump on the phones and help us get out the vote by calling fellow Democrats Abroad members and reminding them to vote!
-Michael Ramos
DA Hispanic Caucus