I wouldn’t call Minnesota a “solid blue state” right now by any metric except that both of your US Senators are Democratic.
Your Senate is split 34–33 DFL–Republican and the House 65–67 (plus two vacant).
Your progressive governor has caved to pressure over a nonsensical scandal not to run again, and despite the fact that he was on the ticket as the VP, the Harris–Walz ticket only beat Trump – an insane fascist – by 50.92–46.68%.
Your representatives to the US House are split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
Those are great numbers to bandy about, but they’re different from being here and participating in the local politics.
Like many other blue states and many other places worldwide we’re suffering from a resurgence of right wing authoritarianism and political disenfranchisement.
But we’re actively fighting it, and winning. And doing far better than most other blue states.
We have a free school lunch program, we have excellent social programs, we have sanctuary status firmly in place for reproductive and trans rights.
Walz stepping back from the Governor seat is local politics inside the DFL. He’s been a lightning rod of hatred for our red/purple voters since COVID, and after being party to an honestly embarrassing loss on the national stage seems a good time to transfer power, despite his fantastic successes.
Okay, no, see, that’s all nice, and I’m glad you’re apparently doing well at a local level and fighting back against far-right authoritarianism. But words have meanings, and the numbers you can pretend all you want aren’t relevant don’t lie: you’re not even approximately a “solid blue state”.
2011: Senate 29–37 DFL–Republican; House 61–72
2013: Senate 39–28; House 62–72
2015: Senate 39–28; House 61–73
2017: Senate 32–34–1(V); House 55–75
2019: Senate 30–35–2(I); House 75–55–4(NR)
2021: Senate 31–34–2(I); House 69–59–4(NR)–1(IR)–1(I)
Because I think you completely missed the word “solid” or don’t understand what that means in terms of politics (nor do I think you fully understand what “blue state” means, because no, that doesn’t just apply to the presidential election, although that is a big part and is heavily correlated).
Sound like Washington. Our state GOP is basically just the craziest Trumpers you can imagine. Anyone with anyone even resembling a moderate position has found a home in the conservative wing of the Democrats (which, in fairness, is pretty fucking conservative).
We’ve been a solid blue state since the '70s. And we’ve only voted Republican 3 times since 1932.
Our GOP is already pathetic and impotent. Our local Democrats (DFL) are already significantly more progressive and effective than the DNC.
But this is adding fuel to the fire in a big way, no doubt.
I wouldn’t call Minnesota a “solid blue state” right now by any metric except that both of your US Senators are Democratic.
Yep. The entire reason Trump and co. are even here is to push the state red by interfering with the election (hence their demands for voter rolls).
Those are great numbers to bandy about, but they’re different from being here and participating in the local politics.
Like many other blue states and many other places worldwide we’re suffering from a resurgence of right wing authoritarianism and political disenfranchisement.
But we’re actively fighting it, and winning. And doing far better than most other blue states.
We have a free school lunch program, we have excellent social programs, we have sanctuary status firmly in place for reproductive and trans rights.
Walz stepping back from the Governor seat is local politics inside the DFL. He’s been a lightning rod of hatred for our red/purple voters since COVID, and after being party to an honestly embarrassing loss on the national stage seems a good time to transfer power, despite his fantastic successes.
Okay, no, see, that’s all nice, and I’m glad you’re apparently doing well at a local level and fighting back against far-right authoritarianism. But words have meanings, and the numbers you can pretend all you want aren’t relevant don’t lie: you’re not even approximately a “solid blue state”.
This doesn’t even just apply at the state level. For example, Clinton beat Trump by only 1.5% in 2016.
Blue State has a generally accepted meaning of ‘votes blue in the presidential election’.
Doesn’t mean that 100% of our politics is democratic.
Are you arguing this for any particular reason?
Because I think you completely missed the word “solid” or don’t understand what that means in terms of politics (nor do I think you fully understand what “blue state” means, because no, that doesn’t just apply to the presidential election, although that is a big part and is heavily correlated).
What state is bluer, by your measurement?
… Is this a joke?
And some of those like New Mexico I wouldn’t even call “solid blue”. Dude, you can still be proud of your state and acknowledge reality.
Funny that NJ is often called a purple state (for a few very good reasons) but the state legislature is basically 2:1 democrat to Republican
I’m not sure how you’re getting downvoted, I think people are just determined to be wrong
Sound like Washington. Our state GOP is basically just the craziest Trumpers you can imagine. Anyone with anyone even resembling a moderate position has found a home in the conservative wing of the Democrats (which, in fairness, is pretty fucking conservative).
If we were solid blue then the country side would also be voting blue but they don’t. Therefore we are a purple state.