Racist politics finally caught up with them

New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada have become expectations for us. With Arizona, it would be nice for the Southwest to develop as a Blue wall of sorts.

The South is seeing changes too, with Texas and Georgia trending blue. North Carolina has been blue a few times, as well, and has emerged as a swing state. Roy Moore was an awful candidate in Alabama, but the fact that Doug Jones won at all says something.

The Prairie/Western states may be longer-term projects. Have the Dakotas ever gone to a Democrat other than LBJ or FDR?

It's interesting to me that the Midwest/Rust Belt states are almost certainly swing states, having trended toward conservatism in recent years. I believe part of this is subtle racism as a reaction to the demise of industrialization. And the fact that we underestimate the role of rural politics. There are more hunters and gun owners in a place like Wisconsin than many people think. It's not all Madison.

I also believe there's been a sustained effort to counteract racism in the South, whereas racism in the North has been allowed to slide because "We didn't have slavery" and "We let people use our lunch counters." It would be wise for Democrats to re-invest effort in the Midwest/Rust Belt. Blue collar workers have no business voting for Republicans, but here we are.

The entire Southwest has moved our way in recent years. People tend to forget that in 2000, the Presidential race in New Mexico was closer than it was in Florida - I think Gore won NM by 300 votes or something. And now NM is reliably blue. Colorado and Nevada have moved our way as well, due to demographic changes. Nevada also benefited from a fast-growing population and a lot of ex-Californians. The same thing is happening in Arizona now - growing more diverse by the month, and many moving into the area from California. I wish that some of that Colorado blue would bleed over into Wyoming! Denver is only 100 miles from Cheyenne - I wish that we could get some blue love into Wyoming!

As far as the South goes, I think it's really a sleeping giant. The large African-American population as well as the growing Hispanic population and migrants from the Northeast will eventually flip the South as well. When that happens, the Republicans will be fucked in the presidential race for awhile. May it happen quickly!

Regardless of what changes are happening, though, the fact remains that the South (and a few other Southwest/Western states) are experiencing population booms. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, etc.

If Democrats don't have a sustained plan to compete and regularly win in those states going forward, then we're going to be at a fundamental disadvantage, regardless of who the candidates are. Texas now firmly holds more electoral votes than New York. Florida is getting to be that way too.

Sometimes I think that Democrats made a mistake in ignoring the South for so long. Georgia is closing in on 1/3 of the population being African-American, and Mississippi is approaching 40% African-American. Couple that with the growing Hispanic/Latino population and the influx of old liberals from the Northeast, and soon there will be nowhere for the Republicans to hide.

Virginia has turned blue in Presidential elections for the same reasons - Demographic shift and the growth of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC. I’m hoping maybe that a similar dynamic might eventually affect South Carolina - large black population, and the booming suburbs of Charlotte that are over the state line into S.C. in my own N.C., I had great hope when Obama won the state in ‘08, but then came the 2010 disaster when Republicans took over the NC legislature for the first time in 100 years. Hopefully this is the year when we kick them to the curb for good.

To save some time. Two big reasons:

1.
The Increase in Latino, black, and Native American voters, most voting Democratic.
2.
Suburban voters switching from Republicans to Democrats since the 2016 election. (And you remember who won that election.)

Personally I’d like to think that after tyrants like Joe Arpaio, Russell Pearce, Jan Brewer, and crackpot candidates who think we should pay doctors with chickens, and not to leave out current unelected crackpot Senator McSally, Arizonans have finally “Had it!”