By Louise “Lou” Fischer–
Despite the disinformation campaign led by the soon-to-be-evicted resident of the White House and his band of merry sycophants, we do have a clear-cut winner of the presidential race. Every living, breathing, and fully compos mentis human in the world knows that Joe Biden and the Bay Area’s own Kamala Harris won, and no amount of toddler temper tantrums, frivolous court challenges, or baseless claims of fraud will change that.
Huzzah and let us rejoice, the presidency will no longer be a daily reality show of authoritarianism, racism, and science denial led by a lying liar who lies all the time. Trump knows he lost. The only reason he is dragging this out is to fleece his followers out of donations to retire his campaign debt and pay his future legal fees. A con is a con and a grifter is always going to grift.
What is deeply troubling is that almost half the country voted for a sociopath who does not even have the skill to be a school crossing guard let alone leader of the free world. If you voted for Trump, you are officially dead to me. However, I probably should not use that expression given the current surge of coronavirus cases and Trump’s inability to control the pandemic; you actually might be very sick or even dead soon, so stay healthy but don’t ever speak to me again.
Recap of Federal Elections
Democrats held the House majority, but instead of gaining seats as predicted, Republicans flipped more seats than expected. Nancy Pelosi’s “Big Fat Greek (or Italian or Jewish etc.) Wedding” comprising the “United Colors of Benetton” will be losing some wedding guests. That said, a few more votes here and there and we would have had a horribly shocking upset by Republicans. The final numbers are not in yet, but the Democrats hit the magic number of 218 (as of this writing) to retain control of the House (out of 435 seats in case you skipped class when “co-equal branches of government” was taught in 5th grade).
Control of the Senate was the Democrats white whale, but like the quest of Captain Ahab, they were foiled again. This one really hurt; I thought we were going to send some folks packing. Yeah, I’m looking at you Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, and Thom Tillis. Don’t get too comfortable; we’re coming for you again in 6 years.
Democratic candidates flipped Colorado and Arizona, but lost Alabama. Congratulations, Alabama, you elected a Senator who did not know the 3 co-equal branches of government (5th grade slacker!), but he did lead the ‘Bama Tigers to an undefeated football season in 2004, so I guess that’s what counts in Alabama.
There is one last-gasp chance for Democratic control: if Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win their runoff elections in January, we will retake the Senate and have a prayer of a functioning government, otherwise we’re looking at 2 more years of gridlock, so give until it hurts and then some.
Final Results of Local San Francisco Elections
Board of Supervisors
District 1:Connie Chan; Marjan Philhour kept it close, but ultimately lost by 0.36% after 6 rounds of ranked choice voting (RCV).
District 3: Aaron Peskin (incumbent)
District 5: Dean Preston (incumbent)
District 7: Myrna Melgar should send “thank you” cards to the Supervisors who put Prop A on the ballot in 2002; without RCV she would have been out of the 1–2 runoff, having come in third in the first round of voting.
District 9: Hillary Ronen (incumbent)
District 11: Ahsha Safai (incumbent)
Board of Education
Jenny Lam (incumbent)
Mark Sanchez (incumbent)
Kevine Boggess
Matt Alexander
Community College Board
Shanell Williams (incumbent)
Tom Temprano (incumbent)
Aliya Chisti
Alan Wong
BART Board, Districts 7 and 9
Lateefah Simon (incumbent)
Bevan Dufty (incumbent)
Louise (Lou) Fischer is a Former Co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a proud graduate of the Emerge California Women’s Democratic Leadership program, was a San Francisco Commissioner, and has served in leadership positions in multiple nonprofit and community-based organizations.
Published on November 19, 2020
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