Watching the returns come in for the 9th District North Carolina special election proves that hope springs eternal in the human heart. The Republican won, and then the commentary started. Oh..My..God!

Everybody took credit for the win, including DtheT/crazy. Dems were lambasted for not turning up. The local public television guy got closest to the reality of the situation, saying the Bishop campaign just did a better job of getting out the vote. But let’s look at the facts.

Geremandering (recall named for Ellsworth Gerry) puts the NC 9th at a Republican +8 standing, per the Cook Political Report. Only a few districts anywhere in the country have flipped those – one in Georgia that had been redistricted after the 2010 census to include more suburban, rich, white folks, and another in Minnesota where voters are capable of just about anything …Jesse Ventura…’nuf said.

So digging deeper into the numbers, McCready lost by about 4,000 votes – 4 times the number he lost by to the previous Republican candidate – a guy named Harris who hired cheaters to throw away absentee ballots and likely cause McReady to lose. But I digress. This time, one county flipped big time – Robeson County.

According to the local paper, their state senator, a popular guy named Britt, was good friends with the Republican winner Bishop in the state house. Britt campaigned hard and in a very organized fashion for Bishop. Also, Bishop helped the Lumbee Indians, who make up a large portion of Robeson County, with some state legislation. Finally, there was a Lumbee Indian Democratic candidate on the ballot in 2018 that likely helped McReady. No Lumbee Indian in the 2019 election repeat.

So there you have it – it wasn’t Trump, it wasn’t lack of turnout from the Dems, it was local politics and a lazy local Dem party that had taken a lot of these normally Democratic voters for granted. Who said all politics is local?Tip O’Neill is credited with it..and he’s probably right. Just look at a political map of the US of A. Notice any color trends? Trump will win in 2020. Really. Sorry, folks…big sigh..