April 23, 2026
Republicans are basically freaking out after Virginia's voters sent redistricting to the legislature, guaranteeing Democratic gains in the state's House of Representative representation. Donald Trump declared that the vote was stolen, which is utter nonsense, but which was predictable.
He will claim the same about November's election as well, which is going to go very badly for the Republicans, and he will pull out no stops to try to steal that election.
That scary predication aside, the fall's election is getting pretty predictable right now . Republican's have committed political suicide by reelecting a demented not too sharp octogenarian real estate developer to the office of Presidency, one he is not actually legally qualified to hold.
They deserve no pity, even if the country does.
One group of people who are tiresomely not worth of pity are the far right MAGA crew that likes to predict a civil war, as if they're going to storm out of their suburban homes and fight somebody. That's complete baloney. This is not going to result in a war of any kind. It might end in violence however as MAGA has already tried to subvert the last election and probably will try to do so again.
On this, there's been a substantial increase in firearms ownership by liberals, a trend that hasn't received much notice. It falls into two categories, one being political liberals who are just exercising their Second Amendment Rights. One columnist the other day noted that where there are large groups of right wing armed figures the police almost never act badly during demonstrations and is urging that left wing people do the same. It makes sense, frankly. This is a tactic that was taken by black activist groups during the 1960s and 1970s. Liberals, in my view, should do this in part because it makes sense but also in part due to the fact that right wing Second Amendment groups have rolled over like a pet dog for Trump. Indeed, in the last issue of The American Rifleman some NRA member wrote a letter to the editor arguing, well, gosh, if there's a protest, best just to stay away, you know, . . . something completely contrary to the positions of the organization in the past.
The other group are people who probably have real reason to seek self protection and tend to be in the political such as tranvestites and homosexuals. That frankly makes real sense to me. The late Charlie Kirk like to claim that tranvestites were inordinately responsible for mass shootings, which is not true, but that sort of rhetoric really does give a good reason for them to arm themselves.
The redistricting came about due to Trump insisting that it be done in Texas and Gov. Abbot agreeing to do it. The fact that other states could do the same thing apparently never occurred to the dimwits running the GOP, or at least to the chief dimwit and his Texas minions. Now the Democrats have done it twice and have gained ground in the effort, although a similar effort in Florida could change that.
Or not. Trump has lost such a following amongst Hispanics that the Texas redistricting may actually have the same effect, on a less dramatic scale, in that state.
Indeed, Texas is interesting in this regard as Republicans are howling about how a slim majority of voters can "deprive" the remainder of representation, which is an intellectually weak argument. Nobody was deprived of representation, even though gerrymandering overall is bad. Anyhow, it was the voters of Virginia who passed the redistricting plan, albeit only by a slim majority. In Texas it was done by legislative fiat, even though Democrats, not Republicans, are the majority party in terms of registration in Texas. Texas's districting outright suppresses Democratic votes, something that will come back to haunt the party in Texas.
At any rate, the GOP's actions are truly an example of the Forrest Gump observation, "stupid is as stupid does". So much so that a person is really entitled to wonder at this point how dim those in charge right now really are.
Closer to home, where the GOP remains solidly in charge but there seems to be a real chance that the Freedom Caucus is going to really suffer in the fall, the following dates need to be kept in mind.
Party Changes
The state of Wyoming passed legislation affecting when a registered voter is allowed to change their party affiliation.
- You MUST appear in person in the Elections office on or before May 13, 2026 to declare or change your party affiliation.
- NO party changes at the polls on Primary Election Day.
- Qualified voters who are not yet registered will still be able to register and choose their party on the day of the Primary Election.
Absentee Voting
The timeframe for voting absentee has shortened from 45 days to 28 days.
- Absentee ballot request may be made by phone, mail, email, online or in person.
- Your ID is required to vote in person or to pick up a ballot.
Absentee voting for the Primary Election: July 21 - August 17, 2026
Absentee voting for the General Election: October 6 - November 2, 2026Wyoming's Voter ID Law
Effective July 1, 2021, Wyoming voters will be required to show an acceptable form of identification when voting in person. There are many ID options for you to use to prove your identity. Visit the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office website for more information.
A couple of observations.
One is that you used to be able to change party affiliation at the polls, but the state's GOP got that changed out of fear that all five of the state's remaining Democrats would change party at the poll and vote for Battling Bob LaFollette.
It's a stupid fear. Any Democrats who were going to do that did it years ago. The law actually just locks people into their current party, but the propaganda value of this lives on as the real Democrats, the Dixiecrats, like to continually complain that the GOP is backed with RINOs. It is, they are the RINOs.
Another observation is that you have to show "an acceptable" form of identification, so if you are going to vote, bring it. The Secretary of State's office provides the following as "acceptable:
- WY Driver's License or ID Card
- Tribal ID Card
- Valid US Passport
- US Military Card
- DL or ID Card from Another State
- University of Wyoming Student ID
- Wyoming Community College Student ID
- Wyoming Public School Student ID
- Valid Medicare Insurance Card*
- Valid Medicaid Insurance Card*
- Valid Wyoming Concealed Firearm Permit
Mostly because this was the pet project of California Carpetbagger Chuck Gray, I'm going to bring my driver's license, my military ID, and my concealed firearm's permit. I'm also going to ask everyone manning the polls to see their ID's. If I have to prove I'm an American citizen, well they should have to do so as well.
The other thing is that the candidate registration date is also coming right up. It actually runs through May 29, but this year, I'd get that done by May 13 if I was going to run, which I'm not going to (probably).
cont:
And now there's a new candidate for the Senate, Sam Mead from the well known Mead family. That makes the candidates, on the GOP side (no Democrats have announced):
Harriet Hageman
Jimmy Skovgard
Samuel Mead
Mead is probably a pretty serious contender. His website, which is probably not the best way to judge things, shows him to be the best serious candidate to announce, if we disregard Skovgard, who isn't mounting much of a campaign so far.
The first flyer for Steve Freiss, running for House today, arrived in which he tries to maintain he's like Reagan and Trump, which is patently absurd in that Trump and Reagan are nothing like each other.
Footnotes:
"Thus always to tyrants", the state motto of Virginia.
Related threads:
Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.
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