I voted NO on the gerrymandering amendment because it is a strategic error that betrays democratic values devised by corrupt party insiders not our true leaders like Abigail Spanberger or Barack Obama

I have been supporting pro-democracy candidates for over two decades and have supported winners like Barack Obama who was hailed as an organizer not just an orator. But unfortunately the Democratic Party has betrayed their supporters by failing over and over again to change course toward “fighting with fire” which is basically “fighting autocracy with autocracy” via almost exclusive loyalty to campaign donors over their own strategists, organizers, volunteers and voters.

For example, Obama’s biggest mistake is handing over the key to the DNC to establishment insiders almost immediately including Debbie Wasserman-Schulz who had to resign before the 2016 DNC Convention began due to her attempts to rig the primaries.

Kamala Harris didn’t lose because of “affordability” she lost because Democrats don’t listen to voters and that includes poll numbers that said Joe Biden was going to lose.

It is time for an intervention as arguing with Virginia Republicans about their hypocrisy doesn’t excuse our own hypocrisy. It is more strategic to be disciplined and practice what you preach.

I appreciate the authentic concern of many of my fellow Democrats about Trump’s efforts at mid-decade redistricting but Abigail Spanberger won 8 districts in November so I voted NO on the 10-1 map because i don’t think gaining a couple more seats during a Blue Wave year is worth compromising democratic values and public support for our candidates.

All politics is local and most Virginia voters don’t care about what happened in California or Texas they want fair maps. I congratulate Maryland Senators for understanding how to play “Big Picture” Chess not just “Reactionary” Checkers.

What is next if this doesn’t work? Do we try red district voter suppression to level the playing field against republican voter suppression?

Democrats who want to fight smart not just harder should vote their conscience and their brain or at least make sure to hold the party accountable moving forward. Anyone telling you our democracy is at stake has not been looking at the generic ballot polls or betting markets lately.

I appreciate the temporary and limited scope of the redistricting amendment, but it is ultimately one of the many gambits that corrupt Richmond insiders have used to distract their supporters from the type of party complacency and corruption that led to Joe Biden receiving the red carpet to run again and Donald Trump being elected for the second time.

For example, if Virginia Democrats wanted my support or the support of other Fairfax voters they would have not voted to force a casino onto Fairfax County this week against the wishes of local residents and elected officials. As I shared on substack, this is a declaration of war on our community and I won’t bow to any politician to accept this reckless act of greed by leadership. I cannot imagine a more blatant party grift literally benefiting professional grifters in the gambling industry.

This is following leadership blocking meaningful “good governance” bills this session like expanding Ranked Choice Voting even to school board races or instituting any real campaign finance limits that could prevent casino corruption by entrenched incumbents.

This culture is led by the party chair Lamont Bagby as his political consultant Ben Tribbett, a big casino and 10-1 map advocate, just got sued for defamation by Spanberger’s Chief of Staff as part of the internal redistricting drama. Meanwhile, his finance chairman recently got busted for child porn leaving Abigail to put out a statement for him.

Democratic Party of Virginia leadership also has the nerve to use redistricting as an excuse to delay their elections for an entire year when they could have got it done just a few months later in June according to the revised January 24 DPVA Party Plan. They also have deleted their meetings from YouTube so I have no idea when or how this vote happened.

Meanwhile, my local VA-11 Democrats have deleted their meetings from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee web site since November. They are delinquent in their duties and need to step down.

Abigail Spanberger should not make the same mistake that Obama made and allow the party to continue its corruption to avoid hurting people’s feelings. They are ultimately nobodies that are easily replaced because they offer nothing to our candidates. The donors will just give their money to the next person in line.

Any voter or elected official upset about ICE or Iran or any other crime by the current administration must realize that the Democrats have been either intentionally, or at minimum unintentionally due to gross incompetence, complicit in his rise to power by taking every chance they get to scam their donors, members and social media followers without taking an ounce of responsibility for their actions.

Although I think the new generation of leadership is an improvement, many of the same players are involved in the DNC that engineered a failed coronation process to choose the democratic nominee in both 2016 and 2024. It is composed of sheep that would rather cower in silence than rock the boat by demanding a winning candidate.

Our party leaders would rather Democrats spend their time and money on reactionary “MAGAcrat” tactics like “tit for tat” gerrymandering than empowering them to lead. I know because they have been refusing to listen to smart candidates and organizers for decades as they may praise Barack Obama but they operate like he was never born.

The bottom line is I voted YES for the flawed but successful redistricting amendment in 2020 like Abigail Spanberger, Tim Kaine, Jennifer McClellan and many other democratic leaders without qualification about whether other states gerrymandered at any time later.

Regardless of the latest appeals from Obama and Spanberger, the truth is neither of them have ever supported gerrymandering and I believe they still don’t really believe in this referendum.

Obama turned his OFA organization into All On The Line (Redistricting Action) in 2019 and there was no catch that wanted to stop gerrymandering only if Republicans stopped gerrymandering. Meanwhile, Spanberger participated in an interview with Bryan Tyler Cohen during her campaign last year where she mocked the idea of redistricting again.

Meanwhile, we know Senator Kaine and Senator Warner proposed a 9-2 map as they were attacked on social media and told to sit in the “cuck” chair and voters were told if they didn’t support the 10-1 map they were in the Epstein Files by Senator Louise Lucas twitter account which is run by our friend Ben Tribbett.

I would like our true leaders to stand up to the angry mob and their demagogues for a change. During the 2024 Virginia Democratic Convention, the state party left the entire congressional delegation off the agenda and they all spoke to a near empty room including Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton’s farewell speech due to a debilitating illness. That should have been the end.

The truth is the Virginians For Fair Elections campaign was force-fed on Virginia by powerful outsiders like Hakeem Jefferies and rich out-of-state donors as well as the Richmond insiders who thought they could maybe even get themselves elected as Members of Congress if they rigged the maps the right way. Unfortunately, “Vote Blue No Matter Who” Democrats are eating it up and don’t know they are being played if they don’t demand better.

I won’t be another dupe for “MAGAcrats” anymore. They are betraying and distracting us from real change.

They might be progressive on paper but politically speaking they are weak and incompetent leaders like Trump because they are corrupt and self-centered like Trump.

DNC Chair Ken Martin has said he wants to “democratize the democratic party” and take on the consultant class. I agree.

As an advocate for Ukraine on Capitol Hill i see how they understand democracy better than the Democrats and that is why they win. Last year there was an attempt to roll back their independent oversight agency and citizens rose up in protest to reinstate it and that led to exposing corruption that threatened Zelensky’s leadership. We need to learn from them and demand more accountability.

Regardless of how you vote make your voice heard and demand a seat at the table.