Real Vote. First one of the election season. A primary. Other than school board elections, my state only votes for anything on even numbered years. My county has a dominant party, at least where the population clusters, so the primary determines who will hold office in my own districts, statewide, and in Washington.
Open seats this round. A lot of them. Term limits give us a new Governor. There's a certain musical chairs to vacancies with our Lt Governor wanting to be Governor, Congressman wanting to be Senator, term limited County Executive wanting statewide office, state senators wanting statewide office. Then their slots need to be filled. My state rep decided he was in over his head. No shortage of people wanting his place. New County Executive. President of County Council wants to serve as County Executive, so her position becomes vacant. It was a long ballot, though not an onerous one.
As a voter, I have become different. The October 7 attacks by Hamas happened over there. The responses of different American constituencies happened over here. Some of the alliances made me very uneasy. I voted Jewish. I met or knew all the Jewish candidates. The Governor wannabe was the most capable. The other two I trusted.
Fundamentally, people have two generally valid ways to select representatives. One is whose proposed agenda matches my preferences, the other is who would I hire. My inclination has been to go the latter route. I know that no candidate is a clone of mine. During a term of office, events of various types will arise. The person who can handle the twists and turns succeeds better than the rigid ideologue. There are exclusions. Fists in the air with river to the sea is an exclusion. Not that I fear the outcome, but I can anticipate other policy branch points.
After due diligence, I came to the poll with a single remaining dilemma. One candidate, the favorite, had proven herself a capable state legislator with a personally progressive agenda. She would set it aside to secure majorities for legislation that she sponsored or that others sponsored but she found merit. No question of her competence as a crafter of law. That's fine for the senate of a small state, one of about two dozen people. It may be very different as an at-large representative in a body of 435 much more diverse individuals and regional interests. Her very real skill at creating alliances may be overwhelmed. I can see her posing with The Squad, voting with that group, people who I would evict from my party were it practical to go that route. As I tapped the icon on the screen, I sure wished that the man who opted for the state capital instead of Capitol Hill, a person highly capable and in alignment with my mind, would have selected a DC career instead. Alas, he has a physician wife, newborn son, young step children and preference as an executive rather than one of a large body of people. He got my vote for Governor. The capable state senator got my vote for US Rep, though with great misgivings.
The tally will not happen for a few more days. Then a general election, where surprises are few. At least for this particular office, we can have a do-over in two years.
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