A Year After Trump's Presidential Election, Voters Reject Trumpism

The messaging was clear: Americans will stand up against Trump's divisive rhetoric and hate-driven policies.
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Via Flickr Creative Commons.

Via Flickr Creative Commons.

Fibonacci Blue

By Wendoly Marte

What a difference a year makes.

This week marks one year since America voted Donald Trump into our highest political office. In just one year, Trumpism has tested our country’s moral fiber, pitted Americans against each other and turned our global allies against us. It’s been a dark year for America, and that’s putting it mildly.

But this past Tuesday injected a much-needed boost of hope and optimism into the hearts and minds of the American people ― myself included. In red states and blue states, Americans cast their ballots in droves, denouncing Trumpism and all the hate and division that comes with it.

Love conquered hate in Virginia, where voters propelled Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam to victory over Republican Ed Gillespie, who embraced Trump-style tactics only to see his strategy backfire on election day. In fact, 34 percent of Virginia voters said they voted in part to express opposition to Trump, according to exit polling. Virginians also rebuked Trump’s and Gillespie’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, electing the first ever Latinas to the House of Delegates.

This election day was a referendum on Trump’s anti-LGBTQ policies, from the transgender military ban to discriminatory bathroom bills. Virginia elected its first openly transgender lawmaker, Danica Roem, who unseated “chief homophobe” and 13-year incumbent Robert Marshall. This wave of inclusion also spread westward, where the Minneapolis City Council elected the first openly transgender Black woman to its city council; and all the way to Seattle, which is celebrating the election of its first openly-lesbian mayor[A1] .

It was also a day full of historic firsts for women in cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, which elected its first African-American female mayor; in Manchester, New Hampshire, which elected its first female mayor; in Topeka, Kansas, which elected the city’s first Hispanic mayor; in Milledgeville, Georgia, which elected its first female mayor, and in Santa Barbara, California, which elected its first Latina mayor.

Democrats rode the anti-Trump wave to victory in the Garden State, where Democrat Philip Murphy trounced Republican Kim Guadagno by a 13-point margin. They shook things up in Hoboken, where residents elected New Jersey’s first Sikh mayor. And one of the proudest victories of the night took place in Maine, where the governor’s antipathy to the Medicaid program lost bigly: 59 percent of Mainers voted for a ballot initiative to expand Medicaid access to 70,000 low-income people across the state. After a year where Republicans have tried non-stop to repeal the ACA and decimate Medicaid, voters stood up and showed that what people really want is more access to quality affordable health care, not less. Trump’s anti-health care policies were even a liability in red states like Georgia, where Democrats backing Medicaid expansion picked up three seats, and in swing states like Florida, where the mayor of St. Petersburg, an outspoken supporter of the ACA, won his re-election bid.

From coast to coast, these stunning victories should be a wakeup call for Republicans and Democrats alike. It’s only been a year, but a new CNN poll tells us what we already know: Americans are fed up with Trump’s divisive rhetoric and hate-driven policies, and we’re taking our grievances from the streets to the ballot box.

Last Tuesday, grassroots organizers ― everyday people like you and me― stood up against hate and fear. We broke down barriers, defended our values, and sent the GOP a clear warning: Americans are not willing to stand idly by while the GOP attempts to tear holes in our social safety net, gutting programs that working families depend on ― like SNAP and Medicaid ― to line the pockets of billionaires through massive tax cuts. We reject their attempts to erase the progress made by the Affordable Care Act and other achievements of the Obama era. It’s time for Republican lawmakers to wake up and remember who they work for: not industry lobbyists and special interests, but the American people. If the GOP continues to push its repeal-and-replace efforts, its draconian budget and its heartless tax reform bill, they can expect an even more embarrassing defeat next November.

Because we are taking our country back, one seat at a time.

Wendoly Marte is a field organizer for the Center for Community Change Action.

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