2021's Special Congressional and Gubernatorial Elections

Author's Note: This blog post was originally supposed to be published at 8pm PST on 1/14/2021, but was bumped up to 8:30pm to give extra time so I could finish it. This change will only be for this post. 

3/21 UPDATE: the information presented on this page (e.g. election dates) was accurate at the time of this post's original publication. Since all of the special elections detailed here have been assigned dates since the post's original publication, the information below is updated to reflect this. Note that the TX-6 special election information was also not originally included here, since the event leading to this election occurred after the original publication. 

Personal Comments on the Events of 1/6

Personal Comments on the Events of 1/6

Unlike normal content on this blog, this will be personal, informal, and from the heart, although I will also keep it relatively professional. What happened on January 6th, 2021 hit me personally because I served as a House of Representatives intern for CA-30 Rep. Brad Sherman (D), and another for the Appropriations Committee. I normally don't use this blog to share my personal opinions on current events, but I am going to make an exception this time because of the scale of what happened and how it impacted me. 

I'm going to say this openly and bluntly. What we saw last Wednesday was a coup attempt, and it is clear why this was done. The purpose was to intimidate the American people and Members of Congress, and halt our electoral processes under the guise that the 2020 elections were "rigged." This is despite the fact that (Trump-appointed!) career professionals in national security and elections administration have deemed 2020's elections the safest ever, and that there is no evidence of systemic fraud or electoral manipulation. And I am going to give my sincere appreciation for the Senate staffers who risked their lives to keep the electoral college vote certificates safe, as it has already been speculated that the mob could have destroyed the documents if they hadn't been moved. 

When I first heard about what was happening during my lunch break, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. What I was seeing was my former workplace (technically, I worked in the Rayburn House Office Building both times, but I frequently went over to the Capitol Building as part of my duties) being invaded by an uncaring and violent mob. As if that wasn't enough, seeing the footage of the mob destroying our historic Federal legislative building hit me hard. I was immediately worried not just about the physical damage that was being done, but about the personal safety of my former coworkers that still work there. This includes my former boss, Representative Sherman, who cosponsored the original impeachment articles against Trump in July 2017. Knowing that his life was at-risk because of this mob was something that made me very livid in the hours upon hearing about it. Finally, my appreciation also goes out to journalists on-duty in the Capitol who communicated news and footage of the event to Americans including myself, and in doing so, faced verbal harassment and physical aggression (including the destroying of equipment) from the mob. 

Fortunately, we should all be appreciative that this could have been even worse than it was. Eyewitnesses described and footage showed members of the mob planning to hang (Republican) Vice-President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the Senate. In addition, Britain's Daily Mail reported yesterday that the FBI is investigating whether the mob had plans to take Members of Congress hostage, based on photos of participants carrying handcuffs. Yet, the fact that these things were potentially planned by the mob further shows why this event is so despicable and shameful for America. I also give my appreciation to individual officers who did everything they could in the tense and anxiety-causing situation facing them, including the two officers who died as a result of the violence (one of whom committed suicide earlier today), and the officer who held off the mob as they advanced on the Senate Chamber, steering them in a different direction. 

Say what you want about ex-President George W. Bush, but his response is something I want to reiterate myself: What happened last Wednesday is something that nobody expects to see in any democratic country. This is the type of stuff that happens in non-democratic societies and countries with illiberal regimes. To see it happening in a democratic society should concern anybody, America or not. This will taint our international image going forward; the Center of Systemic Peace (which publishes the Polity Scores measuring the level of democracy per country) just downgraded us from a democracy to an anocracy on their ratings. 

Finally, like many others have commented in the last few days, I am just as disgusted and appalled about the disparity in police action relative to police treatment of social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM). What happened last week was similar to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation that began almost 5 years ago, where a White militia group took over a public locale and authorities gave lenient treatment to them during the occupation, compared to Black Americans in more "normal" situations. Already, there has been extensive talk contrasting the lack of extensive police action towards those raiding the Capitol and previous police activity to protect against, and stop social justice protesters in the past (including this past summer). This has to change going forward from now. I'm not necessarily advocating that those who raided the Capitol should have been subject to police brutality and violence vis-à-vis social justice protestors (including BLM), but there should be relative consistency with how and when law enforcement uses excessive force against different social groups. 

So that's it. 1/6/2021 will go down as one of the most shameful days in American history. When I do get this blog monetized, I will make sure to not monetize this post specifically.