May 13, 2020

"If Garcia indeed wins, expect Democrats to downplay the loss by saying that the special election is too idiosyncratic to draw lessons for the fall."

Writes the NYT reporter Jennifer Medina, as the Republican Mike Garcia leads the Democrat Christy Smith in the 25th Congressional District. Garcia is ahead by a 12-point margin — after 79% of the votes are counted in Los Angeles county and 56% in Ventura County.
Garcia, a political newcomer, leaned heavily on his credentials as a former Navy pilot. His logo resembled jet wings and nearly all of his ads showed him in front of a plane....

Supporters of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a “landslide” and saying that he represents the “first domino” in a line of Republican wins this year....

51 comments:

Gusty Winds said...

I would bet she (the Dem) will pull out and amazing come from behind victory like the Dems that flipped GOP seats in California in 2018. Most lead on election night, and then the "real counting" began.

Kirk Parker said...

Amazing! I would have thought the New York Times would be leading that official narrative charge, not criticizing it.

Nonapod said...

Supporters of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a “landslide” and saying that he represents the “first domino” in a line of Republican wins this year....

I'm always skeptical of these sorts of "first domino" narratives that the media seems to love, particularly when talking about Democrat upsets. But I've had this sense of something really big coming for a while now, at least since last year. There's all these little things coming together, all these differnent events that have happened. I just feel that a lot of people are very tired with constantly being told stories that prove to be false over and over again.

Bay Area Guy said...

"If Garcia indeed wins, expect Democrats to downplay the loss by saying that the special election is too idiosyncratic to draw lessons for the fall."

Heh! Thank you Althouse for the laugh generated by the NYT/Dem Party line stenographers.

If Garcia loses, it's a Dem tidal wave against Trump this Fall!

If Garcia wins, isolated incident!

By the way, Garcia's a Navy pilot. We like those fellers (and gals, too).

Michael K said...

That was a red district with Simi Valley and that area of LA County so it is not a big revolution,. It is just going back to traditional politics. California has gone crazy the last 20 years. Maybe sanity is returning but we have not yet seen what ballot harvesting can do.

Rick.T. said...

Yes. When it reflects favorably on the Republicans, one can never go from the specific to a more general point. Only when it reflects badly.

AllenS said...

Did you forget, or not know about Tom Tiffany's win in Wisconsin?

Drago said...

If Garcia wins it would put the magic number for republicans at 17. 17 seats would need to flip to retake the House and there are currently 30 democrats who won in 2018 occupying seats in Trump-voting districts from 2016.

However, there are still a significant number of republican retirements (the final wave of retirements due to the jig being up that they are really just democrat-lite like Paul Ryan and Justin Amash (I-China)) and that is going to make it very difficult to win that many seats.

However, in a potentially very positive sign, Garcia's win, with an impressive backing of republican pols in CA, may have figured out how to match the democrat vote harvesting tactics to ensure the elections are more even in CA where so many Trump districts were taken by the dems days and weeks after the election was over because the cars kept pulling up to the curb and dropping off more and more ballots that the dems judges said were okey-dokey.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

They have until Friday to harvest ballots for the D vote. Nothing works in CA anymore.

Drago said...

Bay Area Guy: "By the way, Garcia's a Navy pilot. We like those fellers (and gals, too)."

But he is a Trump supporter and Inga has explained since 2016 that make Garcia a treasonous traitor.

And she has never taken that charge back.

n.n said...

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
h/t Shakespeare

#PrinciplesMatter

Drago said...

AllenS: "Did you forget, or not know about Tom Tiffany's win in Wisconsin?"

I don't think anyone forgot about this election but the dems are already spinning this as a bad bad BAD sign for Trump that Tiffany won +14 in a 2016 Trump +20 district, as if a record turnout Presidential election is precisely equivalent to a special election in the middle of all this other stuff.

But then again, if you are a dem, you gotta find a True Believer Silver Lining somewhere.

n.n said...

If Garcia loses, it's a Dem tidal wave against Trump this Fall! If Garcia wins, isolated incident!

Above normal. Below average. 50 shades of climate change.

Bay Area Guy said...

"But he is a Trump supporter and Inga has explained since 2016 that make Garcia a treasonous traitor."

Yeah, but we like you more than we dislike Inga, so we mostly ignore her.....

Carry on, Iceman.

Mark Jones said...

I'll believe he's won when he gets sworn in. Until then, I fully expect the lying, cheating power-at-all-costs Democrat scum to "find" as many ballots as needed to make sure the Democratic candidate making an "amazing" come-from-behind win at the last minute.

Iman said...

Grenell just released the names of the 0bama admin dildos who requested the unmasking of Flynn.

Jim at said...

Referendum on Trump!

Yancey Ward said...

On the ballot harvesting, the Republicans just need to play the game at the level of the Democrats- it really is that simple.

Big Mike said...

Can a hard core Republican downplay the win? The was a district that was historically Republican but was won by telegenic Katie Hill in an upset a year and a half ago. The margin suggests that there may be a bit of a backlash brewing, thanks to Newsom’s incompletely sane handling of the coronavirus lockdown and Pelosi’s sham impeachment hearings. But it’s hard to say for sure, and easy to read too much into the results.

Drago said...

Iman: "Grenell just released the names of the 0bama admin dildos who requested the unmasking of Flynn."

Guess who on January 12, 2017?

JOE. BIDEN!!!

But remember, Li'l joey knew nothing about the Flynn investigation!..which is why he was reading the reports and requesting unmaskings!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

So, no evidence the russkus hacked the DNC. None. Zippo. (Per Crowdstrike CEO under oath)

Documentation which proves Brennan buried the evidence Putin wanted Hillary to win and had his boys rewrite the now clear hoaxy Jan 2017 Intel "report" to push the lie that Putin wanted Trump to win.

And for 4 years ALL the Washington insiders and media hacks knew all of this...and still they keep lying to this day.

This is why the dems are keeping the country locked down: to keep everyones attention off their crimes.

Daniel Jackson said...

The results are not even close. The usual tactic of challenging the ballots has no basis. The lack of Democratic response to Garcia's win is from SHOCK.

From shock comes cognitive dissonance.

bagoh20 said...

I know a lot of people in California, most are lefties. Nobody seems happy with Dictator Newsome. I think he might be in trouble next time, but as hard as it to believe right now, this virus madness will pass, and those suckers will forget how he treated them like children and subjects.

Gunner said...

If Republicans do great in California this year but only so-so in the rest of the country, Democrats might finally get rid of Nonsense Nancy.

wendybar said...

Biden is an unmasker. Tick tock Obama administration....time for Prison!! Gitmo awaits!!!

Inga said...

“But he is a Trump supporter and Inga has explained since 2016 that make Garcia a treasonous traitor.

And she has never taken that charge back.“

Ha, it’s never been taken back because it was never made. Drago lies...yawn.

Inga said...

AllenS asks Althouse...
“Did you forget, or not know about Tom Tiffany's win in Wisconsin?"

Drago answers as to Althouse motives ...
“I don't think anyone forgot about this election but the dems are already spinning this as a bad bad BAD sign for Trump that Tiffany won +14 in a 2016 Trump +20 district, as if a record turnout Presidential election is precisely equivalent to a special election in the middle of all this other stuff.

But then again, if you are a dem, you gotta find a True Believer Silver Lining somewhere.”

Drago seems to think he knows what Althouse and/or other Dem voters think at all times. He seems to be including Althouse in his “True Believer” mischaracterization.

Temujin said...

Everyone should know this and be on alert for this: The polls have been historically bad over the past decade and a half. Just as our politics and national discourse became more heated and hate-filled. The journalists have proclaimed it is their duty to be part of the resistance and really, this was nothing more than them publicly coming out of the closet. We've all known they have been Democrats with bylines for years. As have the broadcast media. I would not expect any of the pollsters to be any cleaner. They haven't been for years. Why would they this time? They'll be worse.

So any notion of how this party or this person is leading in the polls needs to be understood from the very real position that every one of these is mostly likely a plant of information designed to take away your enthusiasm, your willingness to fight. As much as Trump is too bizarre for words, the reality is that he has been pilloried in a way that has never been done to anyone holding that office. And with all that, up until the Wuhan Virus was shipped to us, our economy, trade agreements, and slashing of regulations were giving us the best economy we had ever seen. EVER.

There are entire large organizations funded by zillionaires whose job it is to bring down Trump and other Repubs- from all angles. So the fact that yet another election comes by and the 'experts', looking at both Wisconsin and California, were not even close, should give you an idea of just how bad this election cycle is going to be.

Do your own homework. Don't get excited about polls that meet your hopes. Don't get down when they tell you it's all over and you don't stand a chance. They're paid to be full of shit. Keep that in mind. They are paid to mislead you. Paid to take the wind out of your sail. Paid to make you feel as though you were an outcast holding unpopular views.

I think there will be a lot of people surprised at how this thing turns out in the fall.

wendybar said...

And Obama's Chief of Staff is on the list. Obama is up to his eyeballs in the corrupt unmasking.....

brylun said...

@Yancey Ward: The Republican vote is highly motivated; the Dem vote is not so motivated.

So, processes like ballot harvesting (or vote by mail) favor the party whose voters wouldn't otherwise take the time and effort to physically show up at the polling place and vote.

Earnest Prole said...

Two weeks of vote harvesting should fix that for Democrats.

Readering said...

Light turnout in lightly publicized race. I live in LA and was not aware of it until POTUS started claiming fraud over in person polling place.

hstad said...

Mike Garcia has won! Of course the Dems have their propoganda machine in overdrive. Look at the imbecile Silver from 538 already crowing several days ago about idiotic polls, this early in the election cycle. Propaganda 24/7. But Dems don't hold your breath. The declassification of most intelligent reports on Russiagate, Unmasking, etc., is going to kill your party. Looks like Brennan hid the real intelligence - Putin wanted Hillary to win Presidency because he could control her not Trump. LOL - "unmasking" is a "Felony" people Dems are going to jail. Now that's what wins elections. Remember Watergate - this is 100x worst. Turn out the lights the Party is over!

Leland said...

Christy Smith conceded to Mike Garcia just before the hour. It's over, or maybe. She is a Democrat, and they've been known to change their mind (not that Mike Wallace would admit it). But it is over.

heyboom said...

There is no excuse for not having a final count by the next day at the latest. This simply buys time for the typical malfeasance by the Dems

Kevin said...

"If Garcia indeed wins, expect Democrats to downplay the loss by saying that the special election is too idiosyncratic to draw lessons for the fall."

Hell, they're still saying that about Trump from 2016.

Drago said...

Readering: "Light turnout in lightly publicized race."

LOL

Exactly the way Putin wanted it...right readering?

Drago said...

hstad: "The declassification of most intelligent reports on Russiagate, Unmasking, etc., is going to kill your party."

As readering can explain to you, the democrats only spied on and used the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to frame republicans because the Germans were going to spy on and frame the republicans from the West.

Drago said...

Temujin: "There are entire large organizations funded by zillionaires whose job it is to bring down Trump and other Repubs- from all angles. So the fact that yet another election comes by and the 'experts', looking at both Wisconsin and California, were not even close, should give you an idea of just how bad this election cycle is going to be."

Conservatives should be aware that in 2016 large "republican" campaign consultants and consulting firms purposely drove down Trump turnout in many areas.

If you think about it you might come up with precisely what that would occur: The establishment republican consultants understood that a large % of Trump voters in 2016 were NOT republicans and the republican consultants wanted to keep down the number of democrats/independents who would come out to vote for Trump because it might also increase the number of votes for down ballot democrats.

I'm not sure that dynamic is still as present in a 2020 scenario but now you can be sure some of the republican establishment firms would certainly be happy with democrat wins across the board.

Kathryn51 said...

New CNN polling (trying to stay on-topic re: Garcia):

Biden way ahead nationally, but. . .

There's also a poll within the poll of 15 battleground states: AZ, CO, FL, GA, ME, MI, MN, NV, NM, NH, NC, OH, PA, VA, WI - with Trump up 52-45% in them. In '16 these states went for Trump 48-47%.

Drago said...

Kathryn51: "New CNN polling (trying to stay on-topic re: Garcia):

Biden way ahead nationally, but. . .

There's also a poll within the poll of 15 battleground states: AZ, CO, FL, GA, ME, MI, MN, NV, NM, NH, NC, OH, PA, VA, WI - with Trump up 52-45% in them. In '16 these states went for Trump 48-47%."

Sssssshhhhhhhhhhh!

The lefties/dems still don't understand anything about the electoral college and now is not the time to clue them in.

The dems still think that entire states are literally "gerrymandered".

Michael K said...

The Democrat has conceded. Pretty early, before all the harvested ballots come in. Probably a novice.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Republican Mike Garcia picks up Katie Hill's California seat as Dem candidate concedes race

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Don't get cocky, DRago.

We are up against corruption standing on a schitt pile of stilts.

Banjo said...

Menage a trois doesn't translate into votes nearly as much as the left thinks.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Readering,

"Light turnout in lightly publicized race. I live in LA and was not aware of it..,,"

That's because they don't yet have the internet in Reseda:)

Darkisland said...

Bay AreaGuy,

I don't think Garcia is a "Navy pilot" I'm pretty sure he is a Naval Aviator.

The army and air force have pilots.

The Navy has aviators

John Henry

Iman said...

The Democrat has conceded. Pretty early, before all the harvested ballots come in. Probably a novice.

Ain't it the Truth...

FIDO said...

Michael K

It is impossible to vote harvest an election when you need every single one of the 31% uncounted to be Democrat to eek out a win. It tends to raise eyebrows and encourage the plebs to have referendums which rarely work well for the Democrats.

Big Mike said...

The Navy has aviators

The Navy also has pilots. They maneuver ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths.

Big Mike said...

The Navy has aviators

The Navy also has pilots. They maneuver ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths.

Drago said...

Darkisland: "The army and air force have pilots.

The Navy has aviators"

Perfectly true, but its hard to get people to understand that.