Hopefully, everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.  I’m sure people are still recovering from the election.  I will try to be brief.

National 

It is perversely entertaining to watch trump unravel rather than come to grips with his election loss.  This farce is being prolonged by Fox News’ efforts to regain its status as trump’s preferred propaganda outlet.  Entertainment value aside, this appears to be simply sound and fury signifying nothing.  Hopefully, that will be the epitaph for trump’s time in the White House.

What is vitally important nationally are the two runoff elections for U.S. Senate seats in Georgia.  Democrat Jon Ossoff (electjon.com) is in a runoff against Republican incumbent David Perdue and Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock (warnockforgeorgia.com) is in a runoff against appointed Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler.  News reports suggest that both Perdue and Loeffler have figured out how to use their positions as Senators for their personal enrichment.  Undoubtedly, Republicans approve of Perdue’s and Loeffler’s savvy to recognize opportunities presented by their federal offices and capitalize on those opportunities.

The fact that both Senate races reached runoffs and that Joe Biden won the presidential vote in Georgia, coupled with trump’s attacks on both the Georgia electoral process and Georgia’s Republican governor and secretary of state, suggest the Democrats can win both runoffs.  Democratic wins in both races would give each party 50 seats in the next US Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.  It can’t get more important than that.  Early runoff voting starts in Georgia on December 14 and election day is January 5, 2021.  I know money is tight and I know we’ve all already made a lot of political donations this year.  However, if you can help Mr. Ossoff and Reverend Warnock, I encourage you to do it.

Local

The 2020 election is over.  It is time to prepare for the 2021 election.  One major county office will be on the ballot in 2021: Clerk of the Clermont County Municipal Court.  This is an attractive office to hold.  It pays well, has good benefits, and has other jobs under its control.  The Republican incumbent has reduced the hours the office is open, has reduced the services provided, and has made it more difficult for people forced to deal with his office.  He should be as vulnerable as a Republican can be in Clermont County.  We need a strong candidate to run for this office.  If you know of someone, please talk to the person, or give me a heads up and I’ll be happy to talk to them.  This is an opportunity to break the Republican stranglehold on county offices.

The rest of the 2021 ballot will have races for municipal councils, township trustees, and school boards.  These offices are important for several reasons.  These offices are responsible for many of the local issues, like street repair and whose children can ride a bus to school, which affect people’s everyday lives.  Service in these offices lets people build a resume of public service on which they can run for higher office in the future.  Remember that a former Republican member of Congress, unfortunately returning to a seat in the Ohio House in January, began her political career as a Miami Township Trustee.

These are also non-partisan races.  This allows people to run for office, win, and build credibility, relationships, and a track record before they must overtly identify with a party.  There is nothing wrong with overtly identifying as a Democrat, many of us do it every day.  However, we must acknowledge the reality that, in Clermont County, it doesn’t matter how sensible a candidate is.  Many people will stop listening the moment they find out she is a Democrat no matter what she has to say.  Running good people in these non-partisan races gives them an opportunity to get “a foot in the door” with voters and establish credibility before they must overcome that additional hurdle.

Again, the key to taking advantage of these opportunities is getting good people to run.  Except for Municipal Court Clerk, these are part-time jobs in the officeholder’s locality.  The issues are local, not national.  The races cover small geographic areas that are relatively inexpensive to campaign in.  If you know someone whom you think would be a good candidate, perhaps someone you met while volunteering in the 2020 election, please talk to them or tell me to talk to them.

Stay safe.