We Survived the Election!!

I had decided that after Ann's visit, which was a wonderful break for me, I was going to devote as much time and energy to the election as I possibly could. My major concern was leaving Rosie alone for much longer than usual. In any case, I was kept very busy:

• Canvassing every weekend. This was my first time doing it and I will definitely do it again. It was not at all as I had imagined and it is nice to talk to people.
• Holding signs by the road a week and a half before election day. We did this primarily because they kept removing our roadside signs. One day the signs would be up for both parties, the next there would be only GOP😡! So, we decided to make larger signs and have people hold them during morning and afternoon rush hours. I worked 4 of the 7 days and got pretty good at it. The first day, I was the only one to show up, but I did it alone for 2 hours!!  After that, we had 5-7 people at our location and each day we got better and more positive responses. Mark both of these activities as WAY outside my comfort zone, but I became more comfortable with both.
• Attending Friday night socials at Democrat Headquarters, attending Meet and Greet with our local candidates, etc. For the first time in decades we had almost a full slate of candidates running against GOP candidates - usually, they are unchallenged! Our candidates were young, enthusiastic and informed, and I think they have started a trend that will continue.
• At the same time, I was involved with the newly formed Lowcountry Coalition Against Hate (LCAH), which held a forum with the 6 Mayoral candidates, one of whom was a Holocaust revisionist. Rather than focusing on their platforms, the theme was leadership qualities and civil discourse. It was well attended and received good coverage in both the local papers and TV channels, even though it was put together on short notice.

• I also got to meet former Sec. of HUD under President Obama, Julian Castro, who is considering running for President in 2020. He was low key, very pleasant and knowledgeable. His and his twin brother Joquin's personal story is inspiring and he is someone who truly knows what can be achieved here when the government works for the people. Shown with him are Ryan Martz, one of our local candidates, Mayra Rivera-Vasquez, Beaufort County Chair, and the owner of the restaurant, who is from Mexico and this was his first time voting in an election!! He was thrilled to meet Sec. Castro and to have us all there. Chris and Reyna were with me and we thought we had our photo taken with our guest of honor, but when I checked my phone, there was nothing there.....pooh!
• Took Reyna to vote early (and her son voted on election day). She has also spoken to friends and relatives about how they vote. She has become active and informed and seems to really enjoy it. One day I got a text from her: 

        Reyna: Bolton?

        Me: John Bolton??

        Reyna: Yes. Don't like him!

That made me laugh out loud.  I told her that in exchange for encouraging her political awakening, she has taken me to all the best homemade Mexican food places. I now know the Tamale Lady on the island who sells loads of tamales from her home. Somehow I think I won on that exchange, though it is not helping my efforts to lose weight!!

The day after the election, I was wrecked and felt terrible. Why I planned so many things for the remainder of the week, I don't know. Rhonda and I were going to see Bohemian Rhapsody on Wednesday and around 3PM  I called and asked if we could do it the following day. I don't think I could have sat through it and stayed awake! We did see it the following night when I was feeling much better. It was very good and I'm glad we waited so that I could enjoy it.

Initially, I was really down about the results but, as time has gone on, I feel much better about it. I think part of it was that Gillum, Abrams, and O'Rourke didn't win, although there are now recounts in two of those races. Here I am with Joe Cunningham the Sunday before the election. He is now our Democrat representative to the US House!! WE FLIPPED MARK SANFORD'S SEAT!!

Secondly, we flipped the US HOUSE bigtime!! There were so many women, people of color, LGBT people, two Muslim women elected - such diversity! My hope is that the tone of politics, especially as it is now, will change with the addition of more women. I am encouraged by all of that.

I don't have a lot of my agenda for the coming weeks as I am longing for some downtime at home - and, Lord knows, there is enough here to keep me busy!! I will have to do the Liberal Ladies' newsletter over the next few days, but that is something I can do here. It will be nice to take a break from politics for a while before we gear up for 2020. No doubt, that will be a challenge, too.