Category: Elections

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THE DIVISION IN CD 3 WAS NOT BASED ON RACE BUT ON INCOME AND EDUCATION–AND THE FUTURE FOR PROGRESSIVES IS BRIGHT.

  By 2026 Congressional Election, Elections, Philadelphia, Politics, Ward politics

(EDIT: I added the image of vote results with majority white ward excluded.. Thanks to Henry Prescott for sharing it with me. I suspect that if one excluded majority white divisions, one would find even stronger support for my analysis.) Some folks, like Ian Griffiths who often misinterprets quantitative, are drawing the wrong conclusion from the Inquirers analysis of the CD 3 race. The Inquirer data shows that Rabb came in last in majority Black divisions and came in first in majority white divisions. That simply DOES NOT MEAN that he came in last with Black voters and first with white voters. One simply cannot make that assumption based on this data. Why not? For the simple reason that there are very few divisions that are just made up of Black people or white people. Most divisions have a mixture. And there are differences between divisions that have nothing to… Continue reading

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Reject Fear, Embrace Change, Vote Rabb.

  By 2026 Congressional Election, Congress, Elections, Politics

Progressives or, indeed, anyone pointing to a new direction in political life, often find that as they get close to victory, some of their supporters begin to have doubts and fall away. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. pointed to this phenomenon in his account of the 1960 presidential election in A Thousand Days. Kennedy was ahead of Nixon in the campaign’s internal polls for much of the race. But then in the last few weeks the gap closed. Schlesinger’s explanation was that Kennedy was not only offering something new and different to the American electorate but was younger than the typical presidential candidate. And that combination ran up against the inherent conservatism of human beings. Most of us find change hard. We find new idea, new approaches, and new directions challenging. And that’s true even if we are dissatisfied with much of the status quo. We know what to expect from things… Continue reading

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Chris Rabb, Hasan Piker, and the Uncomfortable Practice of Liberal Democracy

  By 2026 Congressional Election, Congress, Elections, Jew Hatred, Politics

TL;DR Chris Rabb has been criticized for campaigning with Hasan Piker. Many Jews, including myself, are discomforted not just by antisemitism, but by anti-Zionism. And that’s true even when we are strong or even strident critics of Israeli politics. For most of our lives, we Jews have been spared the discomfort of having to work in political coalition with critics of Israel. But, mostly because of the extremist policies of  the Israeli government under Netanyahu, those days are over. How respond to this situation is perhaps the greatest test of our political acumen and morality many of us have ever faced. For given the stakes for our country and the world, we are going have to suck it up and recognize that Israel is now a contested issue and that we will have to both work with and vote for people who we also disagree with and want to challenge.… Continue reading

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These Are Not Normal Times. And That’s Why We Need to Elect Chris Rabb

  By 2026 Congressional Election, Congress, Elections, Politics

THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES. AND THAT’S WHY WE NEED TO ELECT CHRIS RABB TLDR; This country is in a deep crisis. We need bold leaders in the Democratic Party with a different vision for the future. No freshman member of Congress with no seniority is going to play a major legislative role. But AOC showed us that a new member with a talent for publica advocacy and connections to progressive advocacy groups can help move the country in the right direction. Sharif Street is the best of the establishment. But establishment policies and political practices can’t save us. Chris Rabb promises to be a very different kind of leader who will join with other progressive to give us the best chance to save our republic. THE WHOLE STORY I’ve said a few times that I like and respect Sharif Street very much. In any normal year, I could support… Continue reading

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Chris Rabb for US Congress

  By Elections, Politics

For the last ten years, I’ve mostly not endorsed candidates in Democratic primaries. The organization I headed, Pennsylvania Policy Center (PPC), prohibited staff members from making such endorsement. Having left the organization in February, I am now free to make such endorsement. And it gives me great pleasure that the first candidate for Congress I can endorse is Chris Rabb who is running for Congress in the 3rd district. Before telling you whyt I support Chris, I also want to note that if Chris were not running, I would enthusiastically support Sharif Street. Sharif and I got to know each other when we both ran and lost in the primary race  for Council at Large in 2007. I came to admire him then. And I’ve admired his work as a State Senator and worked closely with him during the last ten years. Sharif is a progressive Democrat. But I support… Continue reading

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Recommendations for Division 21 24

  By 2024

Here is our November 2024 election flier. Note that the official state website has not updated our polling location to the Lingelbach School. This will be done by October 25, 2024. Click here to read full-screen or download. Continue reading

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The best, uncertain case for Harris

  By 2024, Elections and Voting, US

I hope this is my last long post on the Democratic candidate for president. I’m going to do something here that may surprise some of you. I’m going to make the best argument I can for why I think Biden should step down. And in doing so, I’m going to respond to some of the claims I made the other day against him doing so. I’m doing this for a few reasons. One is that this is how I think. I always look at issues from a number of sides. Another related one is that I’m still remain unsure about what the right path forward is and the only way I’m going to be sure is by making the best case on both sides. And frankly, none of you who have been arguing with me the post has done a very good job of making that case or responding to… Continue reading

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The message not the candidate is the big problem

  By 2024, Economic Justice, Politics, Progressive Politics, Public Policy

Postcript, May 2025: I wrote this a few weeks before Biden stepped down. On the whole, I think that was a good thing because his inability to mount a vigorous campaign was a bigger problem than I realized at the time. But I still think the rest of this piece is right. Harris ran a good campaign in normal circumstances. That she lost by much less in battleground states, the only places where there was a campaign, shows this. But she did not develop a message and narrative that address the deeper frustrations most Americans have with their economic circumstances. Doing so could have helped her deal what became the the strong negative vote  that was mainly due to frustration with inflation and the border. In  an earlier piece, I argued that the debate about whether Biden should remain the Democratic nominee for President is missing the point.  It’s based… Continue reading

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Should Biden step down?

  By 2024, Biden, Elections

Since some of you asked, I’m going got to sum up my thoughts about whether Biden should continue as our presidential candidate with links to my earlier posts. The most important point I want to make is that this is not an easy call. So I would simply discount the views of anyone who thinks it’s obvious one way or the other. If they are adamant that he be replaced they either have an agenda or they are ignorant. If they are adamant that he stay they are taking loyalty to someone who has been in most respect been a very good president to an extreme—or they are ignorant. There are a couple of critical questions. First, is Biden demented or incapable of being president. I think the answer to this pretty clear. As I pointed out here https://marcstier.com/blog2/?p=10999 he’s not demented. He had a bad night which, as I… Continue reading

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Biden’s Talents and His Achievements.

  By 2024, Biden, Elections, People

One reason I think Biden has been such a good president. He doesn’t get swept up in the last moment but thinks ahead. He did that in getting out of Afghanistan early. I know many of you disagree but I think his policy in the Israel-Gaza war has been setting the stage for a new push to a peaceful settlement. (If only an Israel government would arise willing to grasp that possibility!) And on domestic policy he has been just brilliant . The way he maneuvered Manchin into support the inflation reduction act was absolutely and totally masterful, not just as a matter of political strategy but in adopting a very different policy strategy that Manchin would accept. He challenged his policy people to figure out a way to attack climate change with tax credit carrots instead of regulatory sticks in the IRA. By doing that he won over Manchin.… Continue reading