Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib defeated her Republican opponent in Michigan’s 12th congressional district election on Tuesday, securing a fourth term as the only Palestinian-American woman in the US Congress.
The Associated Press called the race with just 18 percent of the votes counted.
Tlaib secured 77 percent of the vote, defeating the Republican Party’s James Hooper who received just 19 percent of the vote.
Her victory comes amid the backdrop of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians so far and has been diplomatically and militarily supported by the Biden-Harris administration for more than a year.
Tlaib has been a vocal critic of the war, calling for the US to withhold weapons from Israel. Her opposition to the war on Gaza and support for pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses have drawn harsh criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
- Alsephina ( @Alsephina@lemmy.ml ) English75•20 days ago
Who could’ve guessed that appealing to far-right republicans — who are going to vote republican anyway — wouldn’t be a winning strategy?
- jonne ( @jonne@infosec.pub ) 51•20 days ago
Yeah, Democrats are always doing Republican-lite, then they’re surprised that doesn’t peel off voters on the right that will just always vote for the real thing anyway.
- menemen ( @menemen@lemmy.ml ) 26•20 days ago
It is actually worse. It confirms the right wing standpoints and thus leads to a general societal swing to a more right-leaning worldview. This is basically what framing is. You can see this very well here in Germany, were basically the whole political spectrum nowadays presents views that would have been considered far right just 10 years ago.
- Schmoo ( @Schmoo@slrpnk.net ) 5•20 days ago
They also make the mistake of thinking that in order to appeal to conservative voters they have to be conservative. I have more often gotten through to conservatives with socialist economics and anarchist political philosophy than I ever could when I was a liberal trying to sway them on cultural issues and basic welfare.
And after getting through to them they started to come around on the cultural issues too.
- jonne ( @jonne@infosec.pub ) 3•20 days ago
Yep, Trump got so many union members to vote for him even though he’ll probably get Musk to run the NLRB. Maybe they should’ve shouted that message from the rooftops instead? Instead they didn’t even let the Teamsters boss speak at the convention (he was allowed to speak at the RNC).
- NoneOfUrBusiness ( @NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io ) 67•20 days ago
Fucking learn from this, DNC.
- jonne ( @jonne@infosec.pub ) 53•20 days ago
We need to go more to the right!
— Democrats, every time they lose
- nilloc ( @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de ) English6•20 days ago
No, sadly, we probably need to stick to old white men. Just not as old as Biden was.
- queermunist she/her ( @queermunist@lemmy.ml ) 16•20 days ago
Like Obama?
- nilloc ( @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de ) English4•20 days ago
He was half white, and male, 2/3rds of what appears to be necessary to win.
Not to mention the fact that it was 16 years ago when he was elected. I in college for the 2000 election and have been watching the slide since it was stolen. I told myself that we could swing back when Obama was elected, and thought we’d be ok last night too.
- jol ( @jol@discuss.tchncs.de ) 1•20 days ago
Nah, black people are cool. They have funny handshakes, bro. But an Indian president will need a couple decades more to win the racist vote.
- Piers ( @Piers@beehaw.org ) English6•20 days ago
I really think if the only thing that changed was Kamala’s race and gender we’d have woken up to different news today.
Then you are delusional, rich, and need to actually be oppressed even a little bit in life.
- OBJECTION! ( @Objection@lemmy.ml ) 1•20 days ago
In addition to Rashida Tlaib winning her district, Tammy Baldwin and Elissa Slotkin both won their states, when Harris lost. How does your narrative possibly make sense of that?
- UpperBroccoli ( @UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 10•20 days ago
They will not. They will do what they always do:
- rely on people being pissed off enough after four years of Rep rule to vote for the Dems no matter what
- rely on a few select ‘free’ topics (abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights etc) to show how different they are, when they are mostly exactly the same when it comes to topics that matter to most voters daily (ie topics that affect them personally, like their own economic situation)
I recon the only thing that could actually make them shift to the left is strong opposition from the left, basically a left Ross Perot, if you want. One that collects all the votes of the people who were too disillusioned this time around to actually vote, and then basically says “Shift to the left enough, be a real alternative, and you can have these”. Without someone or a party like that, no, they will not change. They will continue to further the interests of billionaires, just like the Reps.
- NauticalNoodle ( @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ) 7•20 days ago
So, I’m just pondering here, but it seems to me that it’s a bad Idea to run an unpopular presidential candidate because when voters choose to stay home, they also take their down-ballot votes with them.
- NoneOfUrBusiness ( @NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io ) 3•20 days ago
Very true. I was wondering why the GOP won the Senate but that makes perfect sense.
Do not support genocide. It is that easy!
- nondescripthandle ( @nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 56•20 days ago
Dont expect the Democrats to learn anything from this because their Billionaire donors would rather they lose by promoting policies that don’t threaten profits than win and cost the donors money.
- PolandIsAStateOfMind ( @PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml ) 23•20 days ago
Their billionaire donors don’t lose, that’s the point. Reps are following the same main purpose of allowing barely restricted capital accumulation.
To know what happens in US politics when the donors are seeing even the distant possiblity of losing one day, ask Black Panthers for example.
Im very familiar with the BPP and model my contributions to direcr action orgs around their principles as well as the desire to set up parallel power structure. Without the rank and file or our own power structures, there is no foundation or material support for revolution. We’re not even in a position where violence could help us yet. In short, unfortunatly, at this point it seems things need to get worse before they can get better, if they can get better.
- NauticalNoodle ( @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ) 27•20 days ago
This makes me glad. I obviously wasn’t hoping for much from this election to begin with, but I’ve been finding a lot of silver-linings since the news started coming in. Shout out to Nebraska
and Floridafor their cannabis legalization ballot measures.- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English18•20 days ago
Florida’s cannabis legalization ballot measure failed…
And thanks in part to Michigan voters, we have a president who will fuck over Gaza even more. Great success.
And so the voter blaming begins.
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English10•20 days ago
Anybody who failed to vote Harris shares the blame, it’s fairly obvious lol
- PolandIsAStateOfMind ( @PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml ) 11•20 days ago
Change your nick to Weyoun
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English6•20 days ago
Watch an episode of DS9 maybe? Sisko is the literal embodiment of a person who is willing to make the tough choice that he personally finds unethical, but knows will be better for the world as a whole.
- PolandIsAStateOfMind ( @PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml ) 14•20 days ago
Like supporting genocide for a hegemonic empire? Again, that’s Weyoun, even his rhetorics about “tough choice for greater good” is neraly the same as yours, Weyoun.
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English2•20 days ago
Enjoy your fascist dictator then
- MrSpArkle ( @MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca ) 2•20 days ago
For them to accept this they would have to value their principled fantasies less than the fascist reality they have enabled.
- jonne ( @jonne@infosec.pub ) 24•20 days ago
Why not blame Democrats for not meeting voters where they are?
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English4•20 days ago
I mean, I do? Trump massively outperformed Harris in swing states, so clearly Harris’s campaign wasn’t able to meet swing state voters where they are. Literally, these were the only people who matter in the US election under the current rules (sadly). Of course Harris swung right, and of course it didn’t work well enough, but not doing it would have been worse…
I hate politics as much as the next person, but god damn. Recognize the game is what it is, play it as necessary, and then move the needle where you can. Sheesh.
- NauticalNoodle ( @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ) 20•20 days ago
Short of putting boots on the ground or dropping a nuke there is no way to “fuck over Gaza even more.”
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English17•20 days ago
The one thing I’ve learned from experience w/ Donald Trump is that he finds a way to make things worse.
- NauticalNoodle ( @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ) 13•20 days ago
That’s a very broad statement that I can’t argue with because I have no intention to defend Donald Trump. Wiith that in mind I imagine anything he does to Gaza is just in line with what Biden or Harris would have also done but probably dumber. They had over a year to make us believe otherwise.
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English7•20 days ago
So then the logic here is “vote for a candidate who is at least as bad for Gaza, but will also fuck up the rest of the world”. Or “don’t vote for the candidate who will be obviously less damaging for the rest of the world, even though my action won’t help Gaza at all”.
Even if you assume Harris would have been just as bad for Gaza… I mean it’s patently clear that the only choice is to vote for the lesser of two evils and then raise hell that you need better policies from them.
- queermunist she/her ( @queermunist@lemmy.ml ) 10•20 days ago
The collapse of America would be less damaging for the rest of the world than its continued existence.
- jonne ( @jonne@infosec.pub ) 4•20 days ago
The only potential silver lining is the end of the American Empire. They already pushed BRICS into dedollarisation, and another 4 years of Trump will hopefully cause the EU to finally go their own way too.
Then again, this was already going to happen anyway and I would’ve rather seen someone sane manage this decline instead of Trump.
- NauticalNoodle ( @NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ) 4•20 days ago
Voting for a lesser evil is still being complicit in some degree of evil.
- BakerBagel ( @BakerBagel@midwest.social ) 18•20 days ago
Maybe the ossue was Democrats trying to appeal to Republican voters, who would rather vote for Republicans and get everything they want instead of only some of what they want.
- the_sisko ( @the_sisko@startrek.website ) English3•20 days ago
In many elections, that would make sense. But in this election, there was a sizeable group of Nikki Haley Republicans up for grabs, who clearly didn’t want to vote Trump if they could get an alternative. Is there a group of leftists who may have turned out in larger numbers if Harris had swung left? Yeah, maybe. But is that group anywhere near as large as the Haley Republicans, and are they present in swing states? No and no.
- BakerBagel ( @BakerBagel@midwest.social ) 20•20 days ago
Clearly that failed, and will continue to fail. There is no sich thing as a never Trump Republican because he gives conservatives everything they want. Democrats will continue to lose until they vreak away from Regan style neoliberalism. They need to start offering actual solutions that benefit workers like universal healthcare, returns to pension plans, and housing reforms.
- Grapho ( @Grapho@lemmy.ml ) Español1•20 days ago
But how will they get that superPAC money then?
- queermunist she/her ( @queermunist@lemmy.ml ) 13•20 days ago
The only hope Gaza ever had was the Axis of Resistance, no matter who won they were facing annihilation and forced displacement. North Gaza is the blueprint for the rest of the Strip. Only if Israel is defeated can Palestine be free.
- Waffle ( @Waffle@infosec.pub ) 8•20 days ago
I hope she’s happy with the outcome.
- matcha_addict ( @matcha_addict@lemy.lol ) English8•20 days ago
I don’t think she’s happy that her own party’s presidential candidate failed to capture their own constituents by using trump as a scapegoat
- Yeller_king ( @Yeller_king@reddthat.com ) 6•20 days ago
Gaza gets wiped out even faster now on top of all the other bad things the GOP want.
Not that I believe that Gaza dissenters mattered at all in this election. I’d be amazed if even 1% of voters considered it a factor for their vote.
- StinkySocialist ( @StinkySocialist@lemmy.ml ) English18•20 days ago
I think what you’re supposed to take away from this is actual left wing candidates who are against genocide did well this election. A big part of why Kamala lost is because she did not have high voter turnout from the left. She spent most of her campaign trying to appeal to moderate right-wing voters who did not vote for her. And she also did not get the turn out of the left because of it. She should have been trying to appeal to farther left voters by promoting actual left Wing ideas and not sicking the police on anti genocide protesters.
But hey it don’t matter, not like we’re ever going to get to vote again anyway
- AntiOutsideAktion ( @AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml ) English11•20 days ago
Wiped out faster? Based on the stern red lines that cannot be crossed put down by Biden?
Locked in the basement of your mind palace.
- Linkerbaan ( @linkerbaan@lemmy.ml ) English7•20 days ago
Blue MAGA cannot fathom a universe where one of the two candidates isn’t a literal Nazi.