Tag Archives: elections

How student activists win: Update on APUSH in Colorado

Posted on November 12, 2015 by David S. Meyer

Remember when high school students walked out of the public schools in Jefferson County Colorado earlier this year? They were protesting a number of administrative and curricular changes underway that threatened their educations. (We discussed it here.) A newly elected … Continue reading →

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The Scottish referendum: what victory looks like.

Posted on September 19, 2014 by David S. Meyer

In real life assessing social movement victories or defeats is rarely like figuring out which runner breaks the tape in a sprint.  Achievements are virtually never all that activists demand–or want–and apparent defeats are not always what they seem.  Look … Continue reading →

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Scoring the Tea Party at the polls

Posted on August 26, 2014 by David S. Meyer

Almost from the outset, the Tea Party movement committed to an electoral strategy to get what its adherents wanted–or at least some of what they wanted.  By 2010, the movement had largely moved from the town halls and streets to … Continue reading →

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Tea Party business

Posted on June 26, 2014 by David S. Meyer

Maybe the more important story of the conservative, mostly unsuccessful, primary challenges to incumbents isn’t the few victories nor the political shifts rightward from scared legislators.   Maybe the big story is the money, millions dumped into primary campaigns by challengers … Continue reading →

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Is the Tea Party at the polls?

Posted on June 12, 2014 by David S. Meyer

A professor beat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th district’s Republican primary; pundits are competing to find the right metaphor (earthquake?).  The common capsule description is that Dave Bratt, a professor of Economics at Randolph-Macon College, represented the … Continue reading →

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Activism in office

Posted on December 29, 2013 by David S. Meyer

Kshama Sawant joins the Seattle City Council this week, and her support for socialism seemed newsworthy to the editors of the New York Times. The headline notes that the election makes Sawant “a rare elected voice for socialism.”  Sawant campaigned … Continue reading →

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Immigration divides the Tea Party

Posted on May 21, 2013 by David S. Meyer

Or not?  Conventional wisdom among Republican regulars was that the Party’s harsh “self-deportation” posture was costly in the last election.  Party establishment figures pushed for quick action on immigration reform to put the issue behind them so that they might … Continue reading →

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Occupy is an unprotected trademark

Posted on May 14, 2013 by David S. Meyer

Sarah Maslin Nir produced a nice piece in the New York Times that identified–and poked at–the ever-increasing diversity of people and groups claiming to be Occupy. After Hurricane Superstorm Sandy hit New York, Occupy activists focused their efforts on helping … Continue reading →

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Tracing the progress of same sex marriage

Posted on December 14, 2012 by David S. Meyer

Molly Ball’s excellent article in The Atlantic traces the development of the ongoing campaign for marriage equality.  Ball notes that 2012 was a watershed for the gay rights movement; after losing in state referenda 31 times, advocates of gay marriage … Continue reading →

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Occupy and the 2012 elections

Posted on November 23, 2012 by David S. Meyer

Unlike the Tea Party, the Occupy movement wasn’t visibly invested in the elections.  Occupy groups didn’t endorse candidates, even candidates who came out of the Occupations.  Occupy groups didn’t raise money for the elections, didn’t form PACs, much less SuperPacs, … Continue reading →

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