Tag: Ben McAdams

Kim Raff for The New York Times NEPHI, Utah — In the suburbs of Salt Lake City, Representative Ben McAdams, a freshman, was grilled by constituents about the “socialism” and “anti-Semitism” that they saw coming out of the new Democratic House. In Michigan, Representative Haley Stevens was asked about her ability to counter what one voter deemed the bigotry of some of her freshman colleagues — a concern fueled partly by remarks from her counterpart in nearby Detroit, Rashida Tlaib — and “the negative attitude they bring to Democrats.” And on a rainy Saturday in Spotsylvania County, Va., one woman stood up in a town hall to remind Representative Abigail Spanberger that while she was the first Democrat to hold that seat in nearly 50 years, the majority of the rural enclave had voted Republican. “Since the Democrats are now the party of death and taxes,” the woman said, as Democratic supporters scoffed and grumbled, “just how do you propose to effectively represent the taxpayers of Spotsylvania?” It was Democrats like Mr. McAdams, Ms. Stevens and Ms. Spanberger who secured the party’s House majority, political moderates who won districts often long represented by Republicans. Their talking points appear to be resonating with some voters the Democrats will need next year if they are to keep their majority — and the voters determined to flip the districts back. Richard Hansen, a Republican county commissioner and one of the two dozen constituents who attended the town hall in Nephi, a mountain town of 6,000, shared a wish with the Utah Democrat: “I hope they don’t corrupt you.” “They won’t,” Mr. McAdams pledged. I don’t know where the Democratic Party will go, but I tell you what, I will stay in the center. They also accuse Republicans of hypocrisy in their accusations of anti-Semitism in the Democratic ranks, set off by Twitter comments by Ms. Omar, who implied that American support for Israel was fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group. “It didn’t come as a shock at all,” Ms. Stevens said in an interview after a town hall in Milford, Mich., a General Motors town, referring to the questioner who asked about anti-Semitic remarks. “We will see,” she added as she left. People can tell you anything.”

Women across the country were elected at a historic rate. At the national level, Jennifer Rubin summarized: “Women will hold at least 96 seats in the House, a record; at least 23 members of the U.S. Senate and nine governors will be women. In fact, the 2019 Legislature will see a record-number of women – 25 women will serve, 19 in the House and six in the Senate. Of course, most of those women were elected by Democrats — but I keep bringing that up and people keep shoo-shooing me, so it must not mean anything. There are seven newly elected female legislators this year — six are in the House, five are Democrats and five flipped a seat from a man to a woman. After the November election, Nevada became the first state with a female-majority Legislature. In fact, Utah’s history, as the Better Days 2020 campaign has so adeptly educated, is defined by strong, powerful, passionate women. Utah was home to some of the country’s first female legislators, female doctors and female poets. So let’s take the dirty out of the word feminism and embrace all the firsts yet to come. I think 2019 will be that year also.