Democrats have a chance to contest a lot of gubernatorial seats across the country.
On offense, you start with a place like Texas. Democrats have a chance to oust three term incumbent Governor Greg Abbott, who is a friend of Christian nationalists, a proponent of school voucher, and fiercely anti-immigrant.
The Democrat in the race is Gina Hinojosa, who comes from the Rio Grande Valley and is running because:
“Greg Abbott has done more to harm public schools than any governor in Texas history. And I just got mad again… That anger fueled me to do this.”
Democrats can also play offense in Nevada, where the incumbent is Joe Lombardo. He’s a former sheriff, friend of the billionaire class, and a champion of Trump. He’s up against Aaron Ford, who is attorney general in the state, former Senate majority leader, and a former math teacher. He’s running on an affordability agenda, including making data centers pay for their own clean energy.
In the jump ball category, we have a place like Ohio where Amy Acton is going after Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire former DOGE co-executive.
Another jump ball is in Florida, where Ron DeSantis is finally headed for the exit. The Democrat is David Jolly, a former Republican House member who still speaks the centrist language. Said Jolly of himself:
“This guy jolly, he’s a Democrat, but he’s talking about local control. He’s talking about keeping government out of your life. He’s a capitalist that believes in the private sector, but recognizes there is a role for government in housing, health care and education.”
Jolly is up against Byron Donalds, a House member from Florida who is a relentless Trump hype man, but has recently been caught scrubbing his website of mentions of Donald Trump — a sign of the times?
Anti-incumbent fever is everywhere, even in blue states, even in places like Oregon. The governor, Tina Kotek, has been on the scene for a long time, and voters there are, frankly, impatient for more progress.
That’s led some folks to take a look at Christine Drazan, a former House minority leader, current state senator. Brazen doesn’t present like an extremist, but she governs like one. She led a walk-out on behalf of fossil fuel companies to prevent a vote on a climate bill. She’s fiercely anti-abortion, but she’s got a gentle touch, and the polling is close.
Why do governorships matter? Governors play an important line of defense against the authoritarian impulses of the current president, and they can also move the needle to advance things like election protection, data center regulation, health care, and reproductive freedom.
And in the South, places like Georgia, they can start to reverse or block the racist redistricting that’s been happening in the wake of the execrable Calais decision.
This is Tim Dickinson reminding you that the blue wave is only as big as you make it. So get out there and vote.
