The 2026 Election, 26th Edition. The hoping to avoid sitting on blisters edition.

Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

Abraham Lincoln.

October 18, 2026

When we last posted, we noted who we had voted for and why.

That post was on October 13, and it had already grown too unwieldy by yesterday to keep on keeping on, so we're starting a new one.  The last one was fairly up to date, but over the past, national and international events have made it plain that the GOP is hopelessly captive to a declining Donald Trump.

Some new items:

Who showed up for Wyoming’s US House debate and key takeaways

October 19, 2026

Tom Lubnau:  Governor's Debate — Louder And Faster Doesn’t Make It True

Gail Symons: Lies, Damned Lies And Statistics On Prop One

Joan Barron: Tax Referendums Hot Here And In Colorado

Cont:

October 19, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Victim of Russian missile strike:

Impeach Donald Trump and allow him, and Putin, to be tried for crimes against humanity.  Putin, Ukraine.  Trump, selling his sold for diesel to Russia, killing people extrajudicially off of South America and launching an illegal war against Iran.

Mark you, John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis,  Chuck Gray.  By not taking action, you are taking action.

Voters, are you voting for this?

October 20, 2026

Governor Gordon endorsed Eric Barlow in the Governor's race.

National Election Analysts Say Wyoming House Race Isn't A Slam Dunk For GOP

While others certainly are disagreeing, more and more it looks to me as if Gray may really be in trouble.  The GOP itself seems to be adrift here to some extent, given that people are drifting away from an increasingly erratic Trump.  People are sick of the Freedom Caucus, of which Gray was an original member, and Gray himself is deeply unpopular.

A question is whether Johnson's presence in the race hurts or helps Gray.  I suspect he hurts Gray by drawing away candidates that won't vote for Kinney, but you can argue it either way.

The local ballot:

October 21, 2026

Steve Harshman, Who Once Tried To Eliminate Property Taxes, Says He Can't Vote For Prop 1

October 22, 2026

"Pisses Me Off": Rock Springs Businessman Angered At Gov Candidate's Accusations

He should be angry.

Everyone who knows Bruce Pivic likes him and he's adamant that he didn't confront Alabama Becky about funding the University of Wyoming.

Not that people shouldn't confront Alabama Becky.  Based on her statements she's very ill informed.  She wanted, for example, UW to eliminate its German studies program, which it doesn't have.  She probably meant its study abroad in Germany program, which isn't the kind of thing that young Wyomingites only suitable for driving semi trucks and working in the oil patch, the only jobs suitable for young Wyomingites if you watch adds from the Carpetbagger class, need.

Golly gee, if Confederate great great grandpappy didn't need no German, well you don't either.

While she would like to see Wyoming become what Alabama was, that doesn't provide an excuse for asserting that it was Pivic who talked to her at a UW tailgate.  That's interesting in and of itself as Alabama Becky made a point of showing up at UW, even though the Freedom Caucus basically hates education and has really gone after UW.  He says he didn't, and he seems to have proven it, even managing to show that contrary to her description of Bruce as a man who spoke to her below head level couldn't be him, as he's 5'10". She declined to show her height, but a law enforcement record showed it at 5'9".  He'd be at face level.

Casper College Trustees unanimously approved a resolution outlining how Prop 1 could affect the college.

Wyoming's AAPG wrote an op ed for the Casper Star Tribune outlining potential harm to the geezer class by Prop 1.  

That's important as the measure is often camouflaged by its backers as a means of keeping the elderly in their homes, rather than carpetbaggers having more money in their bank accounts.  A major miss point is:

Currently, older Wyomingites benefit from the Long-Term Homeowner’s Exemption, which provides a 50% property tax reduction on home and land to qualifying homeowners who are 65 and older, and who have paid property taxes for 25 years. Proposition 1 only applies to “the assessed value of the dwelling” and states “...no more than one exemption shall apply to a single property or be claimed by a single owner per year.

Boomers, in other words, of average income, will screw themselves directly just by voting for this.

And the Casper Mountain Fire District weighed in:

Casper Mountain Fire Protection District outlines potential financial impact of Proposition 1

That's going to be another irony of this, if it passes.  Some retiree from California will build their dream home in the woods and have it burned up, and then be pissed off.

Speaking of voters screwing themselves:

Natrona County eyes two school closures. One is 40 miles away, the other is right around the corner

One of the schools is in Midwest.

‘It’ll Kill The Community’: Midwest Rallies To Save Grades 6-12 From Chopping Block

In a real irony, former House District 58 representative Patrick Sweeney went to the Midwest town hall on the subject.  Long serving Sweeney was ousted by current representative Bill Allemand after the district was redrawn. Alleman was a complete asshole to Sweeney in a debate and ran, that time, as firebrand Freedom Caucuser.

He survived a challenge from Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer whom he became crosswise with over a proposal to place the Radiant nuclear generator plant north of Bar Nunn, something Bar Nunn could not have stopped. Bar Nunn's city council meetings became the bizarre focus of the topic however with outraged populists even accusing some city council members of taking bribes, an absolute absurdity.  Radiant eventually grew tired of the matter and decamped to Tennessee.  Allemand, for his part, was arrested not all that long after for drunk driving.  He's one of the few surviving members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, barely hanging on to his seat.

Allemand is apparently backing fanciful thoughts of declaring the school to be a charter school or forming a new school district, neither of which will occur  It was really admirable of Sweeney to go out and speak to a group of people about their plight, which is concerning, which their votes for Allemand helped bring about.  It's the classic Leopard's won't eat my face situation. 

Voters had a chance, as noted, to dump Allemand in the primary for a really good candidate.  Allemand barely survived that challenge, and is going to be a completely worthless House member if he's reelected.  He's one of the few Wyoming legislative candidates facing a challenge in the general, and in his case there are two candidates seeking to take him on, Keenan Morgan (D), and Joe Porambo (L).  Morgan has put up a billboard near the Center Street underpass in Casper.  He holds the typical slate of Democratic views.  I don't know anything at all about Porambo.

In news that's nearly non news:

Barrasso, Hageman, And Lummis Endorse Chuck Gray And Eric Barlow

I"m disregarding Facebook in general as comments there by anybody about anything are extreme, but I noted that there are still some people who are upset that Hageman hasn't endorsed Bextel. They seem less upset about Chuck not doing so, perhaps because expectations for Chuck are low in general.  There's a real "get real" aspect to this.  It's hard to see Hageman putting an anchor around her neck in the form of Alabama Becky and then jumping off the GOP boat.  That wouldn't help Hageman a bit.

On that, however, another aspect of this is that Hageman just doesn't need the Freedom Caucus anymore.  It's dying out in the field, a victim of self inflicted wounds.  Hageman was once a big colleague of Cheney's and wasn't afraid to stab her in the back, there's no reason she'd go to breath new life into the dying carcass of the Freedom Caucus.

Chuck is a founding member of it, but he's dangerously close of seeing his adulthood dream of being a real boy, um politician, evaporate.  He's sure not going to step out in the line of fire either.

And so we have the irony of Trump endorsed Hageman and Gray, both of whom were darlings of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, endorsing Eric Barlow, whom they hate.

Basically, they observed the dying body on the deck of the train station and have boarded the train leaving town.

October 23, 2026

It would appear that Gray is in trouble:

Tom Lubnau: A Party That Wants to Flush Fifty Years of Winning

Lubnau is spot on in his comments.  The GOP has told huge numbers of rank and file Republicans in the state that they are not welcome in the party.  I'm one of them.  This year, while I'm still registered as a Republican, I took my votes elsewhere for the House and Senate.

What's more, I'll say something Lubnau didn't. The GOP isn't run by Republicans at all. They're Dixiecrats.  They should be the ones who are not welcome.

And in Albany County:

The Feud: Albany County Sheriff's Race Pits Two High-Profile And Combative Opponents

October 23, 2026

And the start of the attempted 2026 Coup commences:

Trump administration sues to block Senate race certification in Alaska if Republican loses

As this is the first part of what will be a desperate effort of the Trump administration to cling to power, we'll start a new edition.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 25th Edition. The casting the vote edition.

2028 Election, Abortion, Brent Bien, Christian Democrats, Clerico-fascism, Communism, Fascism, French Fourth Republic, Lies, Populism, Predictions, Republican Party, Solidarity, Subsidiarity, Taxes, Wyoming Freedom Caucus,Aaron Appelhans, Daron L. Wyatt, Mississippi, police, Robert Short, Tamara Trujillo, Wyoming (Albany County)2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Ana Cordova, Chuck Gray, Constitution Party, Democratic Party, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, James Byrd, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Steve Harshman

Additional Labels:

The 2026 Election, 26th Edition. The hoping to avoid sitting on blisters edition. More labels.

 

Pandemic Part 10. A new paradigm?

 

February 17, 2022

The Center for Disease Control estimates that, taking the massive spread of Omicron around the country into account and the final relatively high vaccination rate in the country, 73% of the nation is now immune from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e. COVID 19.

Nobody is really sure exactly what that means.  But it might mean that we're entering a phase where the virus doesn't disappear, but it's much less disruptive to society.

It's still the case, however, that it remains a danger for the unvaccinated.

March 1, 2022

Wyoming's public health emergency shall expire on March 14.

March 21, 2022

A new variant of Omicron has developed, which is about 30% more transmissible than the already more transmissible Omicron.  It's spiking in Europe and in Hong Kong has caused an outbreak with a massive death rate, mostly concentrated in the unvaccinated elderly.

China has reported its first deaths in many months.

According to experts, the world is about 50% through the probable course of the pandemic.

April 14, 2022

Over 1,000,000 Americans have now died from the COVID 19.

July 22, 2022

President Biden has COVID 19.

At this point, two members of our four member family also have, with one having had it quite recently and finding it awful, but being grateful accordingly for having been vaccinated.

A new, more traditional type of vaccine, has now been approved.

September 20, 2022

On 60 Minutes over the weekend, President Biden stated; "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over."  The HHS Secretary later confirmed that position.

Epidemiologically, it isn't over, but then neither is the plague's pandemic either.  The statement has been criticized, with 400 people per day dying of the disease, but by and large it reflects the mood of the public which has largely gone back to a new post Covid introduction, world in which COVID 19 is part of the background.

December 15, 2022

The new defense spending authorization includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense rescind vaccination requirements for troops because, well because that's the idiotic sort of thing that politicians like to stick into bills.

All of the troops should be vaccinated.

December 24, 2022

China, which has not accepted western vaccines, reported 37,000,000 new vaccinations in a single day.

January 2, 2023

A new variant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, now makes up 40% of the new cases in the U.S.

And Covid is still killing.

January 20, 2023

Governor Gordon Tests Positive for COVID-19

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon has received results of a COVID-19 test that showed he is positive for the virus. The Governor is experiencing only minor symptoms at this time and will continue working from home on behalf of Wyoming. 

March 1, 2023

The Washington Post broke a story that the Department of Energy issued a report believing, with "low confidence", that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in a Chinese lab.

A really good analysis of this story can be found here:  

Why Scientists, Lawmakers & Diplomats Care Where COVID Began

In actuality, the Biden Administration early on ordered governmental intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of the virus' origin.  Eight intelligence agencies were assigned to the tasks, two of which have concluded, but with confidence doubts, that the virus was natural in origin. Two, we know now, felt the opposite, with it already known since 2021 what the FBI felt, with "moderate confidence" that the origin was a Chinese lab.  Two just haven't reported.

None of this kept some from claiming that it's now proven that the virus originated in the lab.

FWIW, private scientists, as opposed to intelligence agencies, overwhelmingly feel that it originated due to animal transfer in the Wuhan market.

March 18, 2023

Recent evidence points to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market as the source.

April 11, 2023

President Biden declared the COVID emergency to be over.

August 22, 2023

Declared over or not, two new strains are on the loose and a new booster should be available mid September.

April 12, 2024

The CDC has found there's no link between the COVID vaccines and cardiac arrest in young people.

Not that this is a surprise.

It'll make no difference in the anti-scientific atmosphere of the day. A society that can believe that legalizing marijuana, which is largely untested and wholly unregulated, and that Donald Trump won hte 2020 election, will still believe that the vaccine is risky, but cause it wishes to.

June 15, 2024

Reuters has revealed that during the height of the pandemic, the US ran an anti-vax campaign in the Philippines to try to undermine Chinese efforts there.

There's no excuse for that whatsoever.

November 18, 2024

Is it the flu or is it COVID? One at-home test can tell you

January 26, 2025

The Central Intelligence Agency revised its report on the origin of COVID reporting, with low confidence, that a Chinese laboratory is to blame.

This was a report that was completed during the Biden Administration and was just now released.  It's being released now is unfortunate, in that it comes during the Trump Interregnum which is packed with people who generally have a contempt for science, which this will slightly fuel if anyone notices it given all the distraction at the present time.  Most Scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species.

May 21, 2025

The Trump Administration is limiting vaccine updates to those over 65 or in high risk categories, and requiring extensive testing for new updates.

August 20, 2025

The American Academy of Pediatrics is strongly recommending COVID19 shots for children ages 6 months to 2, putting it in conflict for the first time with HHS, lead by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, which doesn't recommend the shots for healthy children.  The AAP's recommendation is based on science, the HHS's by waiving a fryer chicken above Robert F. Kennedy's head while singing the Hockey Pokey.

The HSS point of view will get people killed, which means RFK Jr. has blood on his hands.

October 21, 2026

Wyoming student test scores uniformly reach or exceed prepandemic levels for first time

Last prior installment:

Pandemic Part 9. Omicron becomes dominant

The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.

Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met.  Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.

I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.

Tara Nethercott.

The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.

Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.

May 13, 2026

Woman Sued By House Candidate Reid Rasner Urges Ban On Frivolous Lawsuits

I was aware this legislation had been introduced.  Frankly, Anti SLAPP provisions are really tricky as they're based, basically, on pre judging a litigants intent.

June 10, 2026

Lawmakers revive proposal to remove Wyoming property taxes

The money has to come from somewhere.  Property taxes rise because in no small part new people come in and overpay in the local housing market, and otherwise inflate it.

A better idea would be to have an unrealized sales tax on the sale of real property from other states that

 is used by a person within five years of moving to Wyoming.

August 13, 2026

Lawmakers reject proposal for online court records, streamed hearings

Thank goodness. This idea was outright unworkable.

August 29, 2026

Things are going to be rough from now until the the beginning of the next legislative session as the members of the deposed Freedom Caucus be a general pain.

At Least Five Lawmakers Walk Out Of ‘Absurd’ Joint Committee Meeting

August 30, 2026

The WFC food fight at the legislature continues as Chip Neiman took to Facebook to pout over Senators walking out of the recent pointless joint meeting.

As Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, I’m entrusted with the responsibility of appointing legislators to standing committees. It’s a charge I didn’t take lightly upon my election to the Speakership.

I’m proud of the members of the House Minerals and Appropriations Committees for finishing the job they took up for the interim pertaining to local government infrastructure funding and the Wyoming Business Council. 

Today, the Senate walked out on Wyoming cities, towns and counties. Conversely, the House committee members remained steadfast in order to deliver the strongest local government funding model seen in decades. This bill will fund local infrastructure and benefit every local jurisdiction and citizen.

The Legislature isn’t a place for turf warfare. 

I worry for the future of the Wyoming Legislature. I encourage those new members coming to Cheyenne, to remember who they serve; not a committee, a chamber or any particular lobbying outfit, they serve the people of Wyoming. See less

Neiman notes that he's Speaker of the House in the legislature, which is true, but he's on his way out and is a lame duck.  The complaint that the "Legislature isn't a place for turf warfare" is really rich given that the WFC acted like the first Vandals in Rome in Cheyenne.  If it's turf warfare, they started it.

We're going to see a lot more of this.  The WFC has been kicked to the curb, but like the the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) in the Battle of Berlin, it's going to see that everything is destroyed that it can destroy before it goes.

One common theme we're now seeing in connection with the WFC losing is this one that appears in the comments to Nieman:

Me too! We are quickly becoming a blue state, just as Charlie Kirk predicted!😢

I've scene that more than once now.

People who make that comment are deluded.  I don't know about this person, but they're likely also carpetbaggers.  Wyoming is a conservative state, but it's not a Turning Point USA Southern Bible Belt state.  This is why traditionally there was no support for restricting abortion much here (which I do feel should be restricted, and indeed illegal) and nobody cared much whether somebody was a homosexual or not, which apparently is also no longer the case.  The local view, and it was expressed in the Democratic and Republican parties, wsa "I don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone".  The WFC didn't want to leave people alone.

As for Charlie Kirk and his predications, I'm increasingly in the "I don't care what  Charlie had to say" camp.  I don't mean to sound like a Kirk basher, but those politicos and their followers that are Kirk acolytes increasingly don't impress me.  Kirk was brought to UW by one of his collegiate admirers who went on to work for Hageman and get canned for following Francoist website, with the same fellow then managing Chuck Gray's campaign.  That's a good enough reason not to vote for Gray, although were are are plenty of other reasons not to do so.  Anyhow, Kirk never reflected a Wyoming point of view.

September 3, 2026

Wyoming lawmakers change course on property tax reform amid signs of waning support

This is a result of the defeat of the WFC, and that Wyomingites did not rise to the occasion to take advantage of a bevy of potential exemptions, at least one of which was in my view likely illegal.

The last year made it increasingly obvious where local funding came from for municipalities and counties, which likely helps explain this.

It also signals the death spiral of a WFC dream.

September 23, 2026

Outspoken Veterinarians Kill Bill To Let Non-Vets Do Livestock Pregnancy Checks

I'll just be blunt about this.  

The same sort of dumb ass movement that backs crap like raw milk as being safe, home delivery by midwives, and "denturists" making dentures without a dentist support stupid ideas like this.

Scientific idiocy has always been part of American culture.  It's why people go to chiropractors and think its like going to the doctor.  Or why people wear brass bracelets, or take ivermectin for Covid (a really bad and dangerous idea).  Or why they think vaccines or dangerous.  Or why they think Robert F. Kennedy makes sense on anything.

It really needs to stop.

October 9, 2026

Wyoming lawmakers take steps to further restrict online gaming

Task force ditches Wyoming-run health insurance plan idea, mulls unorthodox service models

Wyoming Lawmakers Push For A Near Ban On Parents Giving Alcohol To Their Children

October 17, 2027

The Bitterenders:

Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers vote to sponsor election bills, reject dark money resolution

Monday, October 16, 1911. Plot against Taft and Progressive Party meets for the first time.

A railroad detective discovered a plot well in progress to detonate a rail line that President Taft was to travel over later that day.

The National Urban League was created.

The first meeting of the Progressive Republican Party occured.  It endorsed Senator Robert La Follette for President, but that would not stick.

It's odd to think that in 1911 the Republican Party was a center right party that was been threatened by Republicans to its left.  The Progressive Party was an outright liberal party.

Today, of course, there's an attempt to threaten the Republican Party in Wyoming with a challenge from the very hard right.

Philadelphia took game two of the 1911 World Series.

Last edition:

Sunday, October 15, 1911. Battle at Tepoztlán.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, 1911 World Series, 1922, baseball, Ejército Libertador del Sur, Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Philippines, Women, Zapatistas

2028 Election, Part I. The Preview of Coming Attractions Editions.

December 19, 2025

 And the 2028 Presidential Season has begun.  Erika Kirk of Turning Point USA has endorsed J. D. Vance.

And yes, it's way, way, early.

But perhaps its not surprising.  Trump's mentally departing the stage and chance are good that he'll be out of office in the next few months, Vance is probably looking towards his future right now.  His best chances for that position, of course, would be if Trump is escorted out of the building babbling about being the greatest and sent to a gilded retirement home.

But if that doesn't occur, the knives will be coming out before 2028.  Marco Rubio will not have sat through four years of soul corrupting dementia not to take a run at the White House.  No doubt others are in the wings.

One who may be in the wings, if I'm wrong on his being too demented to carry on in any fashion, is Donald Trump. Everyone keeps noting that he's constitutionally barred but he has no regard for the law in the first place and his threads to run need to be taken seriously.

On Vance, he's a true NatCon, although a recent convert to the philosophy, and his being backed by Turning Point means something, assuming that Turning Point doesn't fly apart or become highly diminished (which I think it will).  It's hard to know exactly what's going on, but it might be suspected that it's probable that Kirk's coming out now has the backing of other significant NatCon figures, who know that they need to put their man in power now (Trump really isn't their man, but their tool).  A figure like Rubio would turn the clock back.

And so the race is on.

December 22, 2025

It wasn't until listening to the weekend shows that I learned that Marco Rubio has endorsed Vance as well.

That's really interesting, and frankly surprising.

Cont:

And now the rumors are circulating, probably correctly, that Ted Cruz will be running.

Moreover. . . .

The NatCon nerve center and author of Project 2025 starts to come unglued as the Trump Administration does:

Top Heritage Officials Flee to Mike Pence’s Nonprofit as Think Tank Fractures

The conservative movement continues to splinter about how to deal with its most controversial voices

I've always thought Roberts' organization would maneuver to put Vance in power in 2026 and shove aside the Pine Tree flag folks, who don't have the intellectual capacity to run a government.  The risk has always been that they'd hold the hand they were dealt too long.

They may have.

And Pence, who didn't look like a good candidate before, is starting to with some folks.

September 23, 2026

Christie with President Zelensky

Chris Christie has made what is effectively an announcement that he's running for the Presidency in 2028.

Christie is a solid and real conservative and is not only seeking to obtain the Oval Office, but to stage a counter insurgency against the populist MAGAs.  This is a good time to do so, as the MAGA's are abandoning ship pretty rapidly as the bloom is off the Trump Stenchweed for everyone except the most diehard loyalist, many of whom are in the ignorant category.  The MAGA's are floundering around like fish in the deck with the two presumed 2028 candidates for the Trump thrown, Marco Rubio and J. D. Vance having real trouble dealing with a legacy they both want to take and to avoid.

Christie was a Trump supporter after his first run for office in 2016 and was part of the Trump transition team.  He got COVID 19 at a White House event, which shows how late he remained on Trump's team, sort of. It would seem that his loyalty was always somewhat cynical, as he never played that much of a role and his views don't dovetail with Trump's. Christie definitively broke with Trump on election night 2020 when he adamantly maintained that the election was not stolen and he's pulled away from him ever since.  He's a frequent guest on the This Week panel where he's been a very vocal opponent of Trump's, while still being a conservative.

Christie's announcement brought out tons of criticism, some of it from people like me who have always opposed Trump.  I understand that, but I feel it's unwarranted as Christie never compromised his own views and stood for them when the time came.  His support for Trump was likely self serving, as is J. D. Vance's and Marco Rubio's.  He's a real Republican, a real conservative, and in my view is a very good candidate.  It's early, of course, but in this environment, positioning himself early, before the November 2026 election, would appear to be a good strategy. 

I will note that the immediate opposition to Christie in some quarters is interesting.  As noted, I get those who are disgruntled as he supported Trump in the first administration.  But a lot of people just keep saying "he's fat". 

Yeah, he is. So was Taft. So was Cleveland.  So is Trump.

It's weird to think being fat would be a reason not to vote for a person, while being a serial polygamist isn't.

We should mention the Democrats as well.

No Democrat has announced or even gone as far as Christie with an announcement of intent to announce.  That's likely a wise strategy as announcing in advance of the November election will give absolutely desperate Republicans something to focus on.  An interesting development has happened, however, in that Gavin Newsom has been clearly testing the waters but came out saying he would not run if Kamala Harris does.  Presenting a united front against the GOP is a good strategy, to be sure, but in 2028 the Democrats will not face Trump and the need to be united early may not really be there.  Moreover, Harris is a terrible candidate.  Harris would fit the mold, however, of Democrats re-running failed candidates.

September 25, 2026

Prior Pritzker logo.

JB Pritzker, who Trump likes to insult for being fat, even though Trump is fat, has effectively thrown his hat in the ring as well as of yesterday.

Pritzker is 80 lbs lighter than he was this time last  year.  

An interesting thing here is that we now have two ex Governor's from east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason Dixon line running for the GOP ticket.  It's over two years until the 2028 election, but it's still noteworthy as this could very much reflect a shift in the GOP.  Donald Trump is a New Yorker, of course, but he's basically from the State of Television.  The last Republican President who was a true East Coaster was George H. W. Bush of Maine.

September 29, 2028

Robert Reich reports that Rahm Emanuel is thinking of running on the Democratic ticket.

The Rahm Bomb

And Reich is worried.

He should be. 

I don't know that much about Emanuel, but I do know that the Democratic Party can blaze a way to defeat like no other.  Given a chance to simply walk into the White House, and right now it's looking like they have one, they'll mess it up by picking a candidate that's unelectable.

Let's be perfectly frank about 2024.  Donald Trump won in no small part as the Democrats picked two completely lousy candidates.

Joe Biden was obviously suffering from mental decline and allowed to run until it simply couldn't be ignored.  Then they went to the next worse option, Harris.

I warned at the time that Harris was a bad choice, at which time I urged that they pick Tammy Duckworth.

Why can't Democrats get a clue? 

Why isn't anyone suggesting that Tammy Duckworth replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket?

Nope, Kamala Harris with her high pitched whiny voice and completely unworkable personality.  

Uff.

There's plenty of rumors afoot that Harris is going to run again, which his repeating the mistake the Democrats made with Hillary Clinton.  People didn't like Clinton, at all.  The Democrats kept acting like her failures weren't her failures.

There's a serious risk that the Democrats do that again, and figure, sure she lost to Joe Biden in the primary, and sure she lost to a demented septuagenarian in the Presidential election, but, by golly, that means nothing.

Which of course has nothing to do with Emanuel. . . or maybe it does.

Emanuel is from the Clinton and Biden administrations.  It's really clear that a lot of people are really trying to put distance between the past and the present and are disgusted with politicians in general who symbolize the past.  About the only Democrat of old who could win now would be Barack Obama, and he can't run (although if the GOP finds some illegal way to run Trump. . . ).  The Democrats need to move forward.

They also need to ditch the Baby Boomers like the stenchy worn out gym shorts they've become.  There ought to be an age limit on anyone running in 2028.  I'd put the cap at being born in 1965, which is the upper year for Generation Jones.  If the Boomers haven't gotten things right by now, they're not going to.

On this, the Democrats also need to get Bernie Sanders to shut up.  Nothing says Gerontocracy like having a million year old man running around as the voice of "progressivism"  

Duckworth, fwiw, would be a good candidate.  Amy Klobuchar would as well.

Basically, if you were born before 1965, or had a position in a prior administration, stay out.

Pritzker, I'd note, makes that cutoff.

So does Republican Chris Christie.

October 5, 2026

Rahm Emmanuel was on Meet the Press this weekend. He's clearly running, and frankly he sounded perfectly reasonable.  I was impressed.

Additional labels:

2028 Election, Part I. The Preview of Coming Attractions Editions. Additional labels.