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Election ’18

Like many others, I spent most of Tuesday evening tracking midterm election results. Some preliminary thoughts:

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In a relatively short period of time, Colorado has gone from red to purple to blue. I wonder, though, how deep this new identity is? Colorado’s population has boomed in recent years, but how many of these new transplants — a large percentage of whom presumably have contributed to this shift — will stay long term in the state? When — optimists will say if — the crash comes, will many of them move on?

There was an odd contradiction in Colorado’s results. While voters went blue when it came to electing officials, almost all ballot measures associated with Democrats failed. I don’t quite know what to make of this, but it’s certainly notable. Perhaps the new major voting bloc — unaffiliated voters — shaped this.

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On the national side, the House of Representatives flipping is par for the course in a midterm election. However, something new that will impact the Jewish community is the election of several progressive candidates who are not supportive of US-Israel relations. Whether this will impact the overall Democratic position on Israel is too soon to say, but it’s certainly not positive.

Calls for subpoenas and investigations of Trump were immediate. I hope that Democrats don’t use their new majority to spend another two years talking about Donald Trump. How about getting back to what lawmakers are hired to do — pass laws?

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Diversity is a big story, with many women and people of color being elected to Congress, including the first Indian woman. While such milestones are notable, what matters most to me is a lawmaker’s performance. Is it exciting that Jared Polis will be Colorado’s first Jewish governor? Yes. But what I care more about is whether he will be a good leader. I hope he will be.

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Florida passed an amendment allowing former felons to vote. I am extremely heartened by this. I see no reason why people who have served their sentence and paid their debt should be barred from participating in the political process. If people pay the consequences for their bad choices, they should not be barred thereafter.

Shana Goldberg may be reached at [email protected]

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