^^^yes that's the main point of the act. Stolen from a column I posted in SCOTUS thread

Quote :

"The demise of Section 2 of the VRA, which prohibited states from unlawfully splitting members of racial and language minority groups between electoral districts as a way of diluting their voting power, will have a profoundly adverse impact on voting rights and will make American democracy even less representative than it already is. "

Also I'm not sure why cael quoted my post for all that

5/20/2026 7:00:22 PM

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/us/politics/poll-democrats-midterms-house-senate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.61R5.X4h1NUup_ozA&smid=url-share

A lot to unpack here. I guess the 2 things that most caught my eye was dem leaning independents overwhelmingly dissatisfied with dems, and 52% of dems wanting to move to center to win

More wanting to move to center on immigration and lgbtq+, than to the left, gets an honorable mention

I think the argument the lefties would make is we have went to the center and it got us trump, and that all the energy and enthusiasm to show up this cycle is on the left end of the party. Thats fair to an extent. I say give them what they want this cycle. Best case scenario they win, worst case...we don't listen to them in the future

5/21/2026 8:09:46 AM

Why is it that if the left loses once and they're done forever, but the center can lose over and over and over?

5/21/2026 10:38:04 AM

Quote :

" More wanting to move to center on immigration and lgbtq+"

moving to the center is actually moving to the right

there is no reason to take rights away from people. it’s a total non-starter.

5/21/2026 10:43:09 AM

^^to be fair I did say I wanted the left to get their way this cycle

5/21/2026 11:15:00 AM

Quote :

" Tom Steyer: "I'm totally in favor of trans athletes in high school. When you understand the vulnerability, the stress, the danger of being a trans kid and you understand almost half of them try to commit suicide. Then you think we're gonna punish those kids, we're gonna cut them off from team sport. It's like, no we're not" "

5/25/2026 10:22:25 AM

Doesn't seem like a policy winner.

5/25/2026 10:27:40 AM

Quote :

"Ok well hes out, who else they got to root for?"

5/25/2026 10:39:47 AM

Quote :

"keeping an eye on https://www.mahanforgovernor.com/ these days"

[Edited on May 25, 2026 at 10:51 AM. Reason : looks like Becerra currently has the odds]

5/25/2026 10:47:10 AM

He's a darling for people like me and you but doesn't seem to be catching on, definitely won't make it to the last 2. Beccera doesn't inspire, steyer is buying his way to the runoff and is trying to out-left the field, and Hilton...those are top 3 vote getters i think

5/25/2026 10:53:20 AM

yeah that's about right

5/25/2026 11:00:49 AM

Quote :

" “Trans folks are people, and we owe them the ability to protect them and their rights,” Becerra said, emphasizing that there are “probably more Americans getting hit by lightning than trans Americans wanting to play in girls sports.” He suggested that Californians have already spoken on the transgender issue in sports after state lawmakers rejected bills to ban trans athlete's participation in girls sports. “Does the sports federation, does the school district say it's possible? If they say it's possible, that means the community has said yes,” Becerra said while reminding Californian’s his background in fighting for marginalized communities long before it was a popular idea. "

Quote :

" “This is an exceedingly rare situation in practice, but one for which sports leagues ought to have the space to work with their stakeholders (players, parents, coaches, etc.) to set and consistently apply eligibility requirements.” “For my son’s younger recreational soccer team, I don’t see this ever being a relevant issue and I think it would be exceedingly unfair to bar transgender youth from participating,” wrote Mahan. “For my daughter’s competitive league, in which young women routinely earn scholarships and go on to play in college, this could be a real question. Title IX helped create long-overdue opportunities for women and girls in athletics, and those protections and opportunities should be protected. "

They all answer the question basically the same way.

5/25/2026 1:47:17 PM

5/27/2026 4:33:07 PM

https://bsky.app/profile/esqueer.net/post/3mmzbqnjixs24

Quote :

" Here is Tom Steyer personally supporting high school trans athlete AB Hernandez. I don't think I've ever seen a candidate as brave as Tom Steyer in his explicit support for trans folks. It says a lot that it took a self funded billionaire not dependent on donors to do it."

hell yes

5/29/2026 4:04:22 PM

This is a stupid issue to prioritize when you are out of power, TBH.

5/29/2026 6:23:30 PM

The democrats are out of power in California?

5/29/2026 7:21:41 PM

I was thinking nationally. Celebrating taking preferred stands on a fringe issue that affects almost no one and gets immediately weaponized and pisses a lot of people off. Good for Tom. Good for California. Nationally, the issue is toxic. Perhaps in the future it won't be.

5/30/2026 3:24:30 AM

Yep. There are other issues to prioritize that have broad support. News cycles have changed, what a California dem says in his state house race easily gets turned into a national thing. Local democrats have to begin to realize that they hurt the party nationally when taking stands on fringe, right wing uniting issues. It’s just reality now.

Get in power nationally then talk about trans rights.

5/30/2026 8:06:35 AM

The media is going to focus on it no matter what Dems do

Maga are going to focus on it no matter what Dems do.

Paxton, Miller and Trump are calling Talarico transgender, I've seen that everywhere I've only seen the Steyer thing here.

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 9:55 AM. Reason : If politicians can't be courageously compassionate, might as well start the country over ]

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 10:01 AM. Reason : E]

5/30/2026 9:53:00 AM

No, you really shouldn't.

I don't think it's fair or rational to compare many millions of blacks who were first literally enslaved and then systematically oppressed with however many trans kids want accommodations to play high school sports. I'm persuadable on a lot of issues, but this one is just a culture war loser. Not looking to get into another argument with immovable object TGL3, though. rwoody, you're good.

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 10:11 AM. Reason : Oh, I see your edit. But not in response to me. Did you realize these were not comparable?]

5/30/2026 10:09:55 AM

I’ll forever be ok with being on the side of protecting a vulnerable minority regardless of people calling it a “culture war loser”

anyways:

https://bsky.app/profile/evanurquhart.bsky.social/post/3mn2vlneyqk2g

Quote :

"Did you see this??? An entire 50 PERCENT of Democratic voters under 30 want the party to MOVE TO THE LEFT on transgender issues. Comparing with other issues polled, it's second only to healthcare as an issue younger voters want to see the party move left on."

5/30/2026 7:00:54 PM

This is a thread about party messaging. In my opinion this message doesn't land with the electorate writ large, and is not going to for quite some time. It's obvious. You can do more of what you define as good through action rather than constantly generating obviously controversial soundbites to be seized upon by your only too willing opponents.

5/30/2026 8:18:30 PM

or you can lead like Steyer, Mamdani, AOC, and others who actually have a spine when it comes to protecting the vulnerable

Quote :

"rather than constantly generating obviously controversial soundbites to be seized upon by your only too willing opponents."

fuck those opponents. Dems who don’t give a fuck what those bigots have to say are actual leaders as opposed to being spineless people who are worried about appealing to bigots

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 8:31 PM. Reason : .]

5/30/2026 8:27:32 PM

Or you could be pragmatic about winning and not so damn rigid. That said, I'm all for purity tests etc. Let's see what happens. Win win situation for me

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 8:33 PM. Reason : One could say having a spine means winning]

5/30/2026 8:32:48 PM

^^
Unfortunately you need to persuade a few bigots or at least people who don't see things as clearly as you always believe you do to actually win outside of places like California and New York. Personally, I'd still vote for these candidates, and I respect their integrity and intent, but you double down on the most fringe stuff. I would think you should be able to recognize the chilling effect this has on the Average Joe voter who doesn't even understand this stuff at baseline, but you demonstrably don't, or you are fine to just keep on losing until we have literally nothing left so long as your personal ideological purity is persevered. It doesn't seem to matter how many times this is pointed out to you, or by whom. But I know you won't be swayed.

You can't win an election by capturing 50% (!!) of 18-29 year-old idealogical Democrats. But congratulations (?) on the progress (?) mainstreaming a fringe issue so candidates can never NOT talk about it. It's gonna play well for us, I'm sure.

5/30/2026 8:55:34 PM

^^^and to pile on. I absolutely care what the bigots say, unfortunately they’re in power and in order to wrest away that power in order to actually have good action Dems have to message on their own terms and stop making this in to an issue they engage in.

5/30/2026 9:05:05 PM

Quote :

"Personally, I'd still vote for these candidates"

5/30/2026 9:07:13 PM

^^ the party who is currently in power has been systematically dismantling the Voting Rights Act for decades.

do you think that the Dems should start appealing to them in order to gain votes?

5/30/2026 9:16:03 PM

Now see…that’s an actual winner of an issue. They should be hammering on that, on affordability, on Iran. Just stop talking about fucking trans issues until they are in control at the national level

5/30/2026 9:22:30 PM

Quote :

"The media is going to focus on it no matter what Dems do Maga are going to focus on it no matter what Dems do. Paxton, Miller and Trump are calling Talarico transgender, I've seen that everywhere I've only seen the Steyer thing here."

5/30/2026 9:32:43 PM

I haven't seen the trans thing. I've seen the vegan thing, talafreako, and low t talarico, but haven't heard any transgender comments

5/30/2026 9:39:27 PM

Oh nvm just found it. I thought he just said something about eating soy

[Edited on May 30, 2026 at 10:10 PM. Reason : Was just inside 30 min but wouldn't let me edit]

5/30/2026 10:09:40 PM

^^^ cant quote silence.

5/30/2026 10:27:59 PM

yeah, man

not taking a stand is what the people want

not cowardly at all

5/30/2026 10:57:04 PM