Today we get our report card
In sports you get your report card at the end of every game. It’s right there on the scoreboard. The team you play for, or the team you root for, either won or lost. There’s no having to guess. Politics is different. There aren’t a lot of report cards. Even when there are, you usually have to figure out how to interpret them. That is, of course, with one specific exception.
If you really want to know how things are going in politics, look no further than a one-off election where the demographics are fairly evenly matched between the two parties. That election will serve to tell you which side has the momentum, which side has its act together, and which side is on track to win the big election.
If you’re looking for one of those “report card” elections, look no further than today’s special election in New York’s 3rd House District to replace George Santos. This is a district in which both parties have recently won. It’s a race that’s rated “toss up” by the nonpartisan ratings outlets. It’s a race whose results tonight will tell us where we are with regard to November 2024.
Tonight’s results will answer a lot of questions. Do the Democrats still have the momentum to keep outperforming like they’ve done in the past few election cycles? Moreover, did you and I do enough to help put the Democrats over the top in this very winnable race? Did I steer your attention toward this special election often enough? Did enough of you actually bother to donate five bucks, or do an online volunteer shift, or retweet Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi’s fundraising links?
We’re about to get our report card tonight. It won’t be the only report card we get between now and November. But it will be the first one of 2024, and it will be one of the purest report cards we’re going to see. If we lose tonight, we’re going to have to reexamine everything we’re doing (or not bothering to do) before November. And if we win tonight, we’ll want to start doing more of what led us to victory. We’ll know in just a few hours.
