Three Wins Today: Sept 7, 2025
Politics is far more complicated than you want it to be.
Okay, we need to talk about Zohran Mamdani, or rather, not Mamdani, cause this isn’t actually about him, which is a really important piece of this. No one wants Rep Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) and Chuck Schumer (NY) to endorse Mamdani cause it will help his campaign. In fact, no one is considering how a possible public endorsement would affect Mamdani at all. Everyone’s eyes are laser focused on Jeffries and Schumer and what an endorsement could mean for them.
Mamdani has said time and time again that he is talking to both Rep Jeffries and Sen Schumer at length and they are all on the same page. Rep Jeffries just said he is not talking to Andrew Cuomo or Mayor Eric Adams and Mamdani corroborated that at as well.
An endorsement is a strategic public display of support. Remember Taylor Swift? She endorsed Kamala the night of the debate, which was a year ago Wednesday. Do you think she didn’t support her before? It’s not like she watched the debate and was like, okay, that was the final piece of the puzzle, I support her now. She and her team chose to most strategic time to endorse. The time when it would be the biggest story and give her the biggest boost. That is the POINT of an endorsement.
Beyoncé, who’s song Kamala used from day one, didn’t officially endorse till a week before the election.
Yes, I know, musicians are different than politicians, but the point is the same. It’s about strategy.
If Jeffries and Schumer endorsed, how would that go? Social media would continue to use them as scapegoats dissecting every word of the endorsement, and no matter what either of them said, there would be a lot of “too little too late” or “DO SOMETHING” or “we know how you actually feel.”
Who would that be helping? Would Mamdani get a boost because of that? I certainly don’t think so. In fact, I think it could hurt him. He has been incredibly strong and that controversy would make him look weak. It would be an opportunity for Cuomo or Adams to make a statement that divides his base and hurts his chances. They are just DYING to find a circular firing squad angle to expose.
Nothing, not a single thing in politics is black and white. There is not one thing that exists in the political world that you can look at one angle of and say “I get it!” and be right. So just like everything else, the art of an endorsement, and it is an art, is complicated. It’s not just signalling support, it’s more. You don’t want strategy and calculation, you want magic.
Fantasy books are called fantasy for a reason.
On that happy note, our wins!
See how Doomerella handles this information at the end of the post!
Oregon
Fri, Sept 5 - Republican State Rep, Cyrus Javadi (HD-32) will be running for re-election as a Democrat. That wording is very important, because unlike the former Democrats who have become Republicans in the last few years, he did not do it after getting re-elected. He’s announcing now because he’s announcing his re-election bid. It’s complicated to change parties when you’re still in office, but this is far and away the most ethical way.
And it’s not like this is a huge surprise to people who have been paying attention to his voting record this year, either. In fact, he and his Dem colleague, Tom Andersen (HD-19) were almost in Friday’s wins before Rep Javadi even made this announcement.
On Aug 31, Reps Andersen and Javadi announced they are introducing a bill to ban all law enforcement, except those undercover or SWAT, from covering their faces. I didn’t include it only because Oregon Capitol Chronicle made a compelling argument that it’s too complicated a win for me to fully break down the pros and cons in an encouraging way in this series, so I scrapped it.
The point being, while Rep Javadi has been a Republican, he’s been one in name only since June, one of the first things he said in his announcement here on Substack.
And I want to talk about a few quotes from this article cause I think they bring up several important points.
Then came the so-called “book bill.” Republicans framed it as stopping pornography in schools, ignoring the fact parents already can challenge any book. The real issue was whether kids—gay kids like my son, Black kids, Muslim kids—could still find stories on the shelves that reflect their lives.
I voted yes. Democrats voted yes. Republicans voted no.
And here’s the thing: opposing this kind of censorship isn’t about being “woke.” It’s about being American. The First Amendment doesn’t exist to protect the majority view; it exists to protect the minority, the unpopular, the voices some people would rather not hear. Conservatives used to understand that silencing ideas is the first step toward the tyranny of the majority. I haven’t forgotten.
First off, I want to say that it sounds like his gay son played a very big role in the cracks between him and his former party becoming chasms. Secondly, it’s important to see how in line Democratic priorities are with many old school Republicans. It’s easy to forget that the concept of Freedom of Speech was once a Republican cornerstone. It’s not that our priorities have changed, but our way of framing them has. We talk about them stealing words from us, but we are doing it pretty successfully too.
Not because Democrats are perfect, they’re not. But they’re acting like a governing party. They’re willing to debate ideas on the merits. To defend constitutional principles. To protect minority rights. To do the unglamorous, often thankless work of actually fixing things.
This is our message. This is what is winning us elections now and will continue to do so. And this is what so many on the left refuse to acknowledge. This is why the Dems are still working on fixing roads in the face of fascism. It can’t be a one pronged approach. Dismantling fascism happens in big and small ways and we can’t replace one with the other.
Time after time this past session, it was Democrats who stepped up to support the priorities of the coast, even though I wore the other team’s jersey. It didn’t matter to them. What mattered was whether the policy worked.
This is why Democrats keep talking about bipartisanship. The only way we show that we are the better party is by literally being the better party. By showing that we care about you even when you don’t care about us. And, in some cases, like with Rep Javadi, they end up wanting to be part of the party that cares about them.
So these are just some of my take aways. I hope you read the piece yourself, I found it incredibly insightful into the inner workings of how we are succeeding even when every pundit and journalists wants to convince you otherwise.
Welcome to the Democratic Party Rep Javadi!
Virginia
Wed, Sept 3 - Democratic nominee for Virginia Governor, Abigail Spanberger hits back against a new anti-trans attack ad.
In her “Mom” ad, she say:
I'm Abigail Spanberger, mom to 3 girls in public school. Nothing matters more to me than the safety of all our kids, and as a law enforcement officer, I went after child predators, so it really angers me to hear these lies about who I am. I believe we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities. As a mom and as your governor, I will be focused on making our schools the best in the nation. Span Berger for governor, service, country.
Republicans know their ideas are not popular. So they have to create distractions to make sure we can’t get our message across, but Spanberger wasn’t phased.
Instead of letting them control the narrative, she threw their language back at them. “I believe we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities.” Republicans are always saying that politics should not be in schools, and yet they are the ones bringing it there.
I think her response is virtually flawless and a great example of twisting Republican messaging to our agenda.
I know some people are going to say it’s not a strong enough response, but please remember, if she wants to have the ability to protect trans kids, she has to get elected first. And I know for sure that Winsome Earle-Sears will make sure they are in far more danger than even right now.
Eagle Rock, California
Fri, Sept 5 - Employees in the California Fast Food Workers Union who work at the Eagle Rock Subway went on strike after their store was shut down on Wednesday by the health inspector for a rat infestation the manager refused to do anything about.
Maria Maldonado, a field director for CFFWU told ABC 7:
The point is to hear workers' voices and hopefully they understand they have to do the right thing. Sometimes they prefer to save money, but they are risking the health and the life of employees and customers, too.
There are so many wins here. The only reason we know this story is because they went on strike. I say it all the time, we are the ones with the power. If we see or experience something wrong, it’s up to us to bring attention to it, and the same goes for if we see something right.
If the management does end up doing the right thing, it will be because of the strike AND the attention the strike gave the workers.
And I hope that I can come back with the win that they were compensated for the earnings they lost and, maybe Subway can do something about the ownership of this one.
Bringing attention to something unjust is a win even before we know what the outcome is.
So those are just some of today’s wins. I know they’re a bit more complicated, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve attention.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
Abigail has been working HARD long before the votes were finalized by primary. Also I hadn’t seen the attack AD before yesterday, and there have been plenty of ADs for both candidates.
Today was a GOOD day of wins. Thank you.