Val Demings

Potential For Four New African American Senators

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There have been 11 African American Senators in the 234 years of US Senate history.

Presently, there are three—Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina; and Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

Prominent earlier African American Senators included Democrats Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama of Illinois; Democrat Kamala Harris of California; and Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts.

Now, there is the possibility of four additional African American Senators, if fortune works out.

They include: Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin; Cheri Beasley in North Carolina; Charles Booker in Kentucky; and Val Demings of Florida.

Barnes is competing against Ron Johnson in Wisconsin; Beasley againast Ted Budd in North Carolina; Booker against Rand Paul in Kentucky; and Demings against Marco Rubio in Florida.

All of these races are tight in polls, except Booker against Paul in Kentucky, where Booker is at a major disadvantage.

Also, Warnock is in a tight race against Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia, with both being African Americans.

Potential For Democrats To Gain Multiple Senate Seats In Midterm Elections Of 2022

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The potential now exists for the Democrats to gain multiple Senate seats in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

With six Republicans Senators retiring, at least three of those seats could go to the Democrats, along with three Republican Senators running for reelection having troubles in their reelection campaigns.

Pennsylvania with John Fetterman; Ohio with Tim Ryan; and North Carolina with Cheri Beasley, all have a good shot to win what have been Republican seats.

Additionally, Florida with Val Demings and Wisconsin with Mandela Barnes could see the defeat of Marco Rubio and Ron Johnson. And the longest serving Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, running at age 89 for another six year term, also has a tough race from retired Admiral Michael Franken that should not be ignored.

Four Democratic Senators have major challenges to keep their seats—Mark Kelly in Arizona; Raphael Warnock in Georgia; Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada; and Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.

Also, Mike Lee in Utah has a strong independent, Evan McMullin, trying to defeat this loyal Trumpite, and Democrats are backing him.

Rand Paul in Kentucky has a strong African American opponent in Democrat Charles Booker, and the defeat of Paul would be welcome, but unexpected.

In Missouri, Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine will try to stop Republican Eric Schmitt, another tough race without an incumbent, but Schmitt favored to win.

The possibility of up to a 4-5 seat gain for Democrats is in the cards, if the present trend in polls continues!

Results Of Tuesday’s Primaries Indicate The Upcoming Midterm Elections Favoring Democrats

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The feeling is developing that Democrats are going to have an unexpected advantage in November’s Midterm Elections.

The strong support of Florida Democrats for Charlie Crist and for Val Demings portend, hopefully, difficult races for Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio. It would seem that both races will be close, and the hope is that the Democratic nominees, the strongest possible nominees, have a good chance of victory, but it will not be easy in any sense.

DeSantis is acting more every day like an authoritarian tyrant, and there is pushback on his actions that centralize too much power in the governorship, and give us a hint of the horrors of this man, were he to run for and win the Presidency in 2024.

Rubio has been a lazy and unprincipled Senator, who did not even want to run for reelection in 2016, but did after his failed Presidential candidacy in that year. But his total obsequious nature toward Donald Trump makes him clearly a weak, indecisive figure, who has no concern about the danger to American democracy of the former President, whom he once condemned harshly.

In New York, moderates won out over “progressives” in a number of Congressional races, including Dan Goldman (who was engaged in the prosecution of Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial); Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee; and Sean Patrick Maloney, the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Also, in upstate New York, in a Congressional election to elect a person to finish a Congressional term of someone who resigned, seen as a battle over abortion rights, Pat Ryan, the Democratic nominee and strongly for abortion rights, defeated a Republican, and this is seen as another sign of the strong support of Democrats, Independents, and some moderate Republicans for abortion rights to be insured, following up on the Kansas state abortion vote in July!

Two Key Republican Senators To Defeat In November: Ron Johnson And Marco Rubio

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Two key Republican Senators who are targets to be defeated in November’s Midterm Elections are:

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin

Marco Rubio of Florida

Both have served 12 years in the Senate, and both have horrendous records, but the battle to retire them will not be easy.

Johnson defeated twice the outstanding Democratic Senator, Russ Feingold, a major tragedy, and he has been a “loose cannon’ and a total Trump supporter, including refusal to reject the “Big Lie” that Trump won the election, and to acknowledge Joe Biden as President.

His most likely opponent is Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, who is African American, 35 years old, and would be a refreshing addition as a progressive reformer to the US Senate.

Rubio has demonstrated that he is ultimately interested in running again for the Presidency as he did in 2016, making clear he does not appreciate being a Senator, and seeing it only as a stepping stone. After saying he would not run again in 2016 for his Senate seat, he changed his mind and ran and won again. But he has shown lack of courage and conviction and his willingness to kowtow to Donald Trump, who insulted him immensely, but now he continues to back the former President and his “Big Lie”.

His opponent will be Congresswoman Val Demings, who is African American, 65 years old, with a long career in law enforcement, and head of the Orlando, Florida Police Department, before serving in a Central Florida Congressional seat since 2017. She has been inspirational as a speaker and advocate for progressive reform.

US Senate Races Crucial For Both Democrats And Republicans In 2022

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As in every even year, the US Senate faces one third of its membership facing election contests this November.

Six Senators are retiring, five Republican (Richard Shelby of Alabama, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania), and one Democrat (Patrick Leahy of Vermont).

Besides these six open seats, 28 other Senators are running for reelection, with a total of 20 Republican seats up, and 14 Democrats.

This should give the Democrats the advantage in gaining seats, and if even one seat is added, the Democrats will have control, and if two seats are gained, the unreliability of Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia will not have as much impact and influence in holding up Democratic Party goals for legislation.

On the other hand, if the Republicans gain just one seat, Mitch McConnell becomes Majority Leader, and this will hamper the remainder of the Joe Biden Presidency in this term.

The best hopes for the Democrats are to win Ohio with Congressman Tim Ryan, who was a Presidential contender in 2020; North Carolina; Pennsylvania; Wisconsin; and Florida, where Marco Rubio faces challenge from Congresswoman Val Demings.

THe best hopes for the Republicans are to win Arizona, where Mark Kelly faces a tough fight; Georgia, where Reverend Ralphael Warnock has a serious challenge; Nevada, where Catherine Cortez Masto has a close race; and New Hampshire, where Maggie Hassan has a challenging race.

Florida Needs A Democratic Governor And Senator After The Midterm Elections Of 2022!

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The state of Florida, third largest in population, has become, sadly, a very RED state, totally corrupt and incompetent politically!

Florida Republicans are among the worst in the nation, now putting into place voting restrictions in a state which had no issues at all with the counting of the results of the Presidential Election of 2020.

It is hard to say who is the worst Republican officeholder.

Is it Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Rick Scott (former Governor), or northern Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz?

Or is it Governor Ron DeSantis, the “Mini Trump”, who is slavish to everything Donald Trump?

DeSantis copies Trump in every way imaginable, and sees himself as a Presidential candidate in 2024.

But so does Rubio, who tried for the Presidency before in 2016, was condemnatory of Trump in that year, and now is slavish to him.

And also planning to run is Rick Scott, who, until Ron DeSantis became Governor, was the worst Governor imaginable, but has now been surpassed in evil and divisiveness by DeSantis.

It is clear that Florida needs a Democratic Governor and Senator after the Midterm Elections of 2022, when DeSantis and Rubio come up for election.

Former Republican Governor Charlie Crist, now a Democrat, has announced for Governor, and it is expected that the only statewide Democratic officeholder, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, will also run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Former Orlando police chief and Congresswoman Val Demings is also expected to run for either Governor or Senator, and she could be a major threat to Marco Rubio, while Crist and Fried challenge DeSantis.

The Best African American Female Vice Presidential Choice For Joe Biden

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The African American Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart today published a piece, in which he discussed four prominent African American female contenders to be Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential running mate.

Capehart wrote about Georgia former state legislator Stacey Abrams; Orlando, Florida Congresswoman Val Demings; former National Security Adviser and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice; and California Senator Kamala Harris.

Capehart made the case for all four women, and concluded that he believed that while all four are qualified to be Vice President, and potentially succeed to the Presidency, that Kamala Harris was his choice.

This blogger and author wishes to say that Capehart is correct, that Kamala Harris is the best qualified, and in my mind, the only other one of this group who is ready to take over the Presidency on a moment’s notice is Susan Rice with her foreign policy experience, but no elective experience.

Abrams is interesting, but has never been a leader on the state executive level, and Demings has her police chief background, but has only been a Congresswoman since 2017.

So assuming that Joe Biden decides to pick a woman of color, it makes the most sense to select Kamala Harris.

If however, he decides to avoid race as a factor, then his best choice is Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The odds seem good one of these Senators will be the ultimate Vice Presidential choice for Joe Biden.

Strategies For Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential Selection

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Former Vice President Joe Biden is forming a committee to consider who should be his running mate for Vice President.

The choice of a future Vice President and possible President is crucial, so many of the proposed choices should not be seriously considered.

Any Vice President has to have the experience, the knowledge, the intelligence to take over on a moment’s notice.

That person needs to be much younger than Biden, who will reach 78 two weeks after the Presidential Election of 2020.

Such a person has to have the success of being an officeholder with state wide success.

Such a person should likely not be a Governor, as such a person should be kept busy dealing with the CoronaVirus Pandemic, not running for Vice President.

Such a person should not come from a state where if such person became Vice President, that state’s Senate seat might switch to the Republicans.

So already, just from what this author and blogger has stated, it is his belief that Elizabeth Warren, Stacey Abrams, Gretchen Whitmer, or Michelle Lujan Grisham, and any member of the House of Representatives should automatically be eliminated, such as Val Demings of Florida.

So who is on the list, and clearly stands out, and has already run for President, giving much needed extra national exposure?

Two US Senators are the finalists, with the reality that the Democratic Presidential nominee has always selected a US Senator as a running mate since 1944, except twice.

In 1972, it was George McGovern who chose Senator Thomas Eagleton, but he was forced out due to fears because he had undergone psychiatric treatment, and was replaced by Kennedy brother in law Sergeant Shriver.

And in 1984 ,Walter Mondale blundered in naming Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice Presidential choice.

It should also be pointed out that those two times were the most disastrous for the Democrats, running against second term candidates Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and in both elections, McGovern and Mondale only won one state and Washington, DC in the Electoral College.

Those two US Senators are Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, with California certain to have a Democratic replacement in the Senate.

But Minnesota is much more uncertain, although right now that state has a Democratic Governor, Tim Walz.

But in a followup election after a temporary appointment, Minnesota could not be guaranteed to elect a permanent Democratic replacement in the US Senate.

So while either Harris or Klobuchar (age 56 or 60) are the two best choices, Harris has a slight edge in the sense her Senate seat is safely Democratic, but either woman would make an excellent VP, and a potential President of the United States!