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23: So, About That Election
61 Plays2 years ago
Reflecting on the 2022 midterm elections, my own thoughts as my term as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner comes to an end, and the fact that all these political pundits were wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wronggggg.
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Transcript
Brittany's Return to Podcasting
00:00:12
Speaker
Oh, hi again. It's me. It's me, Brittany Geneva. My podcast Geneva says the one that I haven't posted, I think since January and it's now November. Y'all don't know what kind of year
00:00:30
Speaker
I have had, let me just say, I mean, not trying to make excuses. And I know if you see me on Instagram, it's gonna look like everything's been beautiful. But I've been through hell a little bit this year. Like I've had very high highs and very low lows. So, you know, that'll be another episode. But I was not in a place to be producing no podcasts. So I'm coming back. I mean, at this point, you know, I know y'all don't trust me.
00:00:58
Speaker
Y'all don't trust me. Would I trust me either? I don't know. Anyways, child, I'm here. And at least as of today, you know what I mean? I got plans. Not only am I obviously trying to be more committed to the pod, but I've also
00:01:17
Speaker
expanded I guess you could say Geneva says so now if you go on Instagram it's the Geneva says of course without the though it's not available so the Geneva says on Instagram and it will be my podcast and my commentary as well as like my travels and my exploration like all of this in one one
00:01:40
Speaker
blog so to speak of just like experiences you know i'm talking about experiences and on the show i'm. Living experiences in the world and taking videos of it so you know podcast slash vlog situation that Geneva says on instagram.
Brittany's Political Insights
00:01:58
Speaker
and I am very serious about it and I am going to have a lot more time to dedicate to it. More on that later. But I, yeah, so anyways, I'm back. Hi. And I want to talk, I have a lot of thoughts in my head about like election stuff. I'm going to try to avoid
00:02:22
Speaker
the thoughts that you can just see everywhere on Twitter. Oh my god, Twitter right now. That's another episode. Anyways, and talk more about, you know, in general, sorry, I burped. I don't know if you guys could hear that. Talk more about like,
00:02:38
Speaker
some takeaways from this like, you know, like national and state midterm election, as well as here in DC. So I also have some thoughts about like the DC elections. And then I also, you know, I'm I'm a month and a half basically away from not being an ANC anymore. So talk a little bit about that too. So yeah, that that's my plan for this episode. Yeah, I like
00:03:08
Speaker
I just am so, I'm so annoyed. I'm so annoyed that these pundits got on TV and the radio and the news podcast and spoke for weeks and months about the red wave.
00:03:28
Speaker
Red wave, that's the wave of redness. And we are just gonna, the Dems are gonna get eviscerated and everything's gonna be hell. And I just, I promise you, and I'm upset because I never published this. I didn't tweet about this or anything, but I was speaking specifically, I remember a conversation with my mom in a conversation with my friend Antonio, where I said, I do not believe the pundits. Like I said that like months ago. I remember it so clearly, like it was yesterday. I do not believe them.
00:03:58
Speaker
I do not think it's going to be the red wave that people are talking about. And I think that Biden saved a lot of his good shit for closer to the election on purpose.
00:04:09
Speaker
So he came through with some good policy things, obviously, you know, the student loan forgiveness and some other things, you know, climate change and other things that he addressed closer to the election so that it could be fresher in people's minds and have momentum going into the midterms. And so I was like, I really don't, first of all, I don't think it's gonna be this like everybody hates Biden moment. And then two, even though like, is he the most exciting president? No, but does he need to be? No.
00:04:39
Speaker
And then number two is I don't think that this whole like election denier everybody's with Trump is it is the thing that it seems like it is obviously crazy people are louder and more noticeable and are going to be covered in the news and
00:04:59
Speaker
you know, they're all over the Internet and the Marjorie Taylor Greens of the world. But at the end of the day, like, I don't think that that's representative of the Republican Party. And I remember telling my mom, I said,
00:05:11
Speaker
Yes, I think people are going to vote for Herschel Walker in Georgia because they want control of the Senate.
Georgia Senate Race Analysis
00:05:17
Speaker
But I don't think people are going up for Herschel Walker. I think Republicans are going to hold their nose and press his name so that he can, so that they can have control of the Senate. And I think, I think like the most extreme ones will. And I think the run of the mill Republican is going to skip
00:05:34
Speaker
the fucking thing and only vote for Brian Kemp and then leave. I don't even think they're even, they're just gonna look at them black men and say, ah, somebody else make that decision, right? So I said, I don't think Walker's gonna run away with it. And I don't think that across the nation, all of these other like crazy election deniers are going to just like sweep anything. Like I just never thought it, you all. I never thought it.
00:06:04
Speaker
And then I was right. And now I wish I had said more earlier about how I never thought that it was going to happen, because now I look so fucking convenient being like, see, I always knew you were wrong. But I did. Like I I never thought that it was really going to happen. And now we are seeing that not only is the red wave not even a thing, it's actually like Biden is actually like historically one of the best like presidential showings in a midterm, like
00:06:34
Speaker
This has not been a rejection of the Democratic Party at all. It's strongly looking like the Dems are going to hold on to the Senate. And then even though it's going to go to a runoff in Georgia, no, these Republicans are not going to go back and vote for Warnock because it's not there. The Dems are going to have a majority anyway. It's going to be 50 to 49. So voting for Warnock is just going to make them have a tie, which will obviously be broken by Kamala Harris. So there is no incentive to go out and vote for him to get
00:07:02
Speaker
to be the majority party for the Republicans and then and they're not going to be at the polls anyway to vote for Kemp. So I think it's going to fucking be a blowout in the runoff. So I'm like, ah, like this has been actually an amazing showing for the Democrats. I think on the House, there's still a lot to wait to see, but I think it's going to be
00:07:29
Speaker
If the Republicans do gain the majority, it's going to be modest. It's not going to be like this massive majority. And I think like when it comes to, you know, a lot of the statewide races that people were watching, governor's races and things like that, none of the election denier secretaries of state won, which is like really important because we know that the secretary of state really oversees elections. None of them won. None, 0.0 of them won.
00:07:55
Speaker
And a lot of the governor's races, Democrats sailed right in. Dr. Oz, who the fuck cares about Dr. Oz? The guy who had the stroke. Okay, people have different abilities every day. The man can still do his job. People were the pundits were making such a big deal of that. It's not a big deal. So it's just like across the board, nothing was what was predicted.
00:08:21
Speaker
All of the times where abortion was on the ballot, abortion, one pro-abortion rights, one, which is super, super, super encouraging because the fucking pundits, once again, Democrats are not thinking about abortion. Abortion is not an issue that they're going to go vote on. Yeah, it is. It is. You guys actually don't know what you're talking about because it is. It is an issue that people care deeply about.
00:08:48
Speaker
And at the end of the day, people do not wanna see a woman's right to make her own decision over her body, just be eviscerated, particularly by men who don't even know what a period is. Find that video, find that video on Instagram where this woman was asking men basic questions about periods and they did not know. And I'm like, I hope you don't have sex with women because you will get her pregnant because you don't even know how her body works.
00:09:18
Speaker
Huh? You don't even know what's going on in there. You should at least know that from the standpoint of you're not trying to get a woman pregnant or or you are trying to get a woman pregnant. Maybe like if it's your wife and you want to have kids, you also should know what's going on in there so you can understand, you know, when are the prime times to shoot up the club. So either way, I'm like these men just for their own self interests don't know enough about a woman's body. But certainly men of that ilk should not be making any decisions for us. So
00:09:48
Speaker
That abortion did end up being a huge issue, and it is an issue that the Democrats absolutely came out and voted for. So I'm like, oh, like the wrongness of the pundits to me is like. When are we when are we going to stop listening to them? Because at the end of the day, like they are just people who have to go to work every day and keep their job.
00:10:17
Speaker
Like I was thinking about this the other day. They are just people who get paid to have opinions. And so they can't keep, you know, they can't show up to work opinionless because that's their living, right? That's how they're paying bills. So if they show up to work and they say, you know, the polls are actually kind of inconclusive. There's not a clear trend emerging. It seems like it's too early to tell.
00:10:45
Speaker
think you goodbye. You know, that's not what we hired you to do. But if they come to work and say, oh, there was a little tiny, itsy weensy little indication that it could be a red wave. All right, I'm just going to go all in on that because I get paid to go all in on something.
00:11:03
Speaker
And that's what they do. And suddenly it is a media created, pundit invented political story that has no grounding in reality. And I just like enough of the pundits, enough, like enough, enough. We know the pundits don't know what they're talking about. We know the polls are not indicative of anything. These polls are not reaching Gen Z.
00:11:31
Speaker
These polls are not even reaching me, a millennial, because I don't have a freaking landline phone. How are they even polling me? And then I get these text messages. Will you take our poll? No, I'm not clicking the link in the text message. What are you talking about? Or I get these unknown calls and they leave a message. Hi, we'd like to get your opinion. I'm not calling you back. What do you mean? I don't even want to talk on the phone to people I like.
00:11:59
Speaker
I'm not calling you back on the poll. So do you know who's taking the poll? Old people who like to receive a phone call, who would like to just chat, you know? And that is not representative. It's no shade to those folks. But it's not representative of what people think. Polls are so skewed, not representative of the population by any means.
DC Elections and Social Dynamics
00:12:22
Speaker
And the pundits know that.
00:12:24
Speaker
But they're still going to say what they got to say so that they can keep a job. Anyway, so that's that on like national statewide shit. I'm just very happy to say that there was no red wave and the Democrats are very likely going to keep control of the Senate, which is which is good, which is good.
00:12:48
Speaker
So that's like national, whatever. And then on the DC front, like different stuff to like parse through here in DC, because it was very interesting to me, like leading up to the elections, like, so I, okay. I live in DC. I have lived outside of Atlanta or outside of Georgia for 10 years. And I.
00:13:14
Speaker
like saw and heard more Georgia political stuff than I had any DC stuff, right? Like I, cause I think I, I, um, previously have donated to the democratic party. And then I also did some stuff with the collective pack, which is a pack that represents like a lot of progressive like black candidates.
00:13:39
Speaker
And so between these different entities, my text messages, my emails, Jesus, oh my gosh, the text and the email of Lord blowing up with whatever candidates were like important to the Democratic Party, which were like the ones in Georgia. So I was just constantly inundated with like Warnock, right?
00:13:59
Speaker
But I actually barely saw much from any candidates here in D.C. until like two weeks or like four weeks before the election, when suddenly my inbox was like overflowing with flyers from different candidates. And here in D.C., the real sort of like racist to watch where the city council. So the way that the council works is like each. So we have what are called wards, which can loosely be
00:14:29
Speaker
compared to counties. And so we have eight wards. And so there is a city council person for each ward. And then there are additional city council people who are city-wide. So they are not just specific to a ward. They're called at-large councilmen or council people. And they just represent all of DC.
00:14:53
Speaker
So it was the at-large council candidates who were like doing the most campaigning and like, you know, that was the race to watch. And there's always a ton of people that run for at-large council. It'd be like 10 or 12 candidates and you're only voting for two.
00:15:10
Speaker
So I was keeping an eye on that, but honestly, I wasn't seeing a lot from many candidates, but the two candidates that I heard and saw the most were Kenyon McDuffie and Anita Bonds. Doesn't matter if you know who they are, but there are two candidates here in DC, both black, both very visible here in where I live in Ward 8. Both Democrats and
00:15:39
Speaker
Both endorsed by by people who I trust like, you know Loosely, I would call like influencers in DC or just like people whose opinions sort of matter to me We're both like cool with Anita cool with Kenyan and then I've met Anita bonds and we've had some interaction through ANC and I liked her and she seems very active, you know so and she you know, yeah, so anyways both of them were
00:16:07
Speaker
I like them, and both of them, notably, were pretty visible here where I live. So I think I've said this before, but just to remind you all, DC is divided in two sides. So there is the Anacostia River that runs through DC, and west of that river is the majority of DC.
00:16:34
Speaker
And what used to be wards one through six, but now a little bit of ward eight is on the other side of the river. So those areas are more mixed, like across the different wards, some are very white, some are more black, and most of it is just a mix of everybody. And then on east, over here, east of the river, which is mostly ward seven and ward eight,
00:17:04
Speaker
It is black. It's black over here fully, like 99 percent black. It is poor. It is underdeveloped. It is all the things that are stereotypical of an all black part of a big city. So people over here are very
00:17:29
Speaker
cognizant of how they are seen and treated by politicians, right? Like if you are campaigning and I don't see you over here, you don't exist, period. Like it is the most cut and dry thing for people east of the river because this area has already been so forgotten, been so overlooked, been so disconnected that
00:17:58
Speaker
the there's very much an awareness of like, we we already know what you think of us. So if you can't even bother to come over here and show some care in my community, then like, get the fuck out of my face, like very clearly. And like, that's what it was with these candidates like, as many people
00:18:23
Speaker
as ran for city council, the only ones I ever saw over here were Kenya, McDefany, Anita Bonds, the two that I voted for, and the two who won. And to me, I'm like, duh. Like, to me, that's such a duh. Like, it was not even seeing that they won. I was like, oh, of course they did.
00:18:42
Speaker
But then I look on the, you know, what they call like the Beltway papers, like the DC papers that are, you know, breaking down, you know, the Washington Post, you know, the Hill, you have DC ist and you have all these other outlets that break down the election results. And there were so many people, pundits, again, you damn pundits saying like,
00:19:05
Speaker
Well, I cannot believe Elisa Silverman lost. She was like, she was an at-large council person, very progressive, reasonably popular. We actually worked together on some redistricting stuff. And I didn't even consider voting for her. So, hmm. But oh, my God, I can't believe Elisa Silverman lost. And I'm like, I can't. I never saw her ass over here. I never even heard her talk about Ward 8. Like, what?
00:19:33
Speaker
And so then all the pundits are finding very like long-winded ways of saying like, I guess the blacks didn't like her. Cause all of a sudden the end of the article is like, it seems that race may have played a bigger factor than expected with many people in predominantly black areas of the city seeming to favor candidates who have had more of a longstanding commitment
00:20:00
Speaker
to areas in Ward 7 and Ward 8. And I'm like, girl, you found a lot of words to say the Blacks just didn't like her. Let's just say what it is. The people east of the river don't F with anybody who doesn't F with them. It is that freaking simple, right?
00:20:19
Speaker
And to me, I can't understand why that's still a surprise or, you know, why is that? Why can't we understand that? Like y'all people here vote too. We have terribly low voter turnout. I ain't going to hold you. The voter turnout is abysmal, but it is not.
00:20:41
Speaker
that much worse than the rest of the district, especially in a midterm. And with low voter turnout, that also means that like small margins matter. So even if you come here and it gains you a couple hundred votes, a couple hundred votes will matter in the end. Like Alyssa Silverman narrowly lost. So that means she had, she could have won, narrowly won if she had actually come over here. And I just don't, why is
00:21:10
Speaker
Oh, why is that confusing? Why is that confusing? All the pundits in the papers acting so confused. Duh. Of course she wasn't going to win a citywide election if she didn't engage with people in this part of the city. You all.
00:21:31
Speaker
Ah, of course, of course, you know? Or I should say, I should say, if she didn't engage with this part of the city more than the other candidates, right? Because if nobody is, then I guess they're all equal. But Anita and Kenyon are, were very strongly over here. So compared to them, it's like, who is you? So,
00:21:57
Speaker
And that really reflects to what I learned in my ANC experience.
Brittany's Community Engagement and Achievements
00:22:03
Speaker
Remember that the woman who was an ANC before me had been in the role at least 10 years. That's what I could find on the board of election archives. And I moved here and shortly thereafter decided to run for office against a woman who had been in for 10 years. And I was like, whew, let me make sure.
00:22:24
Speaker
I get my butt out there so that people know who I am. And that's why I won. When people would say, like, if you ask somebody, like, why did you vote for Brittany? Oh, I'd see her out all the time. Oh, she came to my door multiple times. Oh, yeah, I saw her. I saw her out. I would see her here and there like literally so many people. It was just like because I saw you. Right. And because you were here, you were present.
00:22:53
Speaker
I, you weren't just trying to run, but never be in the community. You were in the community. I clearly saw you out and about. And that's why I want you guys, like not on like my platform or like my deep promises to the community, literally my presence and, uh, you know, appearing to care enough about the community to be in said community. Right. And that's how I was able to be.
00:23:18
Speaker
a 10 plus year incumbent, right? And like, speaking of which, I didn't seek reelection, as you all know, and
00:23:26
Speaker
The previous woman who I beat, she ran again, as well as another woman who was a young woman like me who actually grew up here. And guess what? The young woman won. I said, oh, oh, so they just tired of the old lady. I'm sorry, but they just tired of her because as soon as she had a little competition, all the competition is winning. OK.
00:23:52
Speaker
And I definitely was supporting behind the scenes Miss Bryant, the woman who won. And so I'm very excited for her to take over. And unlike my predecessor, I'm going to be there and I am going to help her out. And I'm going to answer her calls when she has questions. And I am going to be very much like wanting her to succeed because I actually like am not
00:24:18
Speaker
trying to be selfish here. I just want everybody to be great. So I'm really excited about that. I'm excited to be going out with a bang. Like I was really tired and really like not in an ANC mood for a while, but I got a second wind largely thanks to another commissioner who her energy brought up my energy. And so we are like
00:24:43
Speaker
We are getting things done at the end of this term. Like we started a grant program and we're giving grants to local community organizations. And we're like, there's this ongoing issue with Verizon and KIPP, which is a charter school here and like this infrastructure issue.
00:25:00
Speaker
and I've been like negotiating that. I freaking feel like a lawyer slash politician slash, I don't know, but I'm like negotiating. Like I have been on the phone, I have been writing letters, okay, trying to get the outcome that the community wants and we are close to getting it, hallelujah. So I really been like putting in work here on my way out the door. And so I'm very proud, like,
00:25:26
Speaker
even, you know, folks who have not been in my corner throughout this term have even had to acknowledge like, OK, I see what you're doing. You're working hard. I was always working hard, but thank you. So I definitely, you know, y'all, I'm looking forward to who y'all know, I'm looking forward to the end. Oh, my God, I'm looking forward to the end. But I'm not going out like, you know,
00:25:54
Speaker
with a bad attitude or anything like that. I'm going out like with a bang and really trying to make sure that people succeed. But, you know, I just think like, yeah, you know, this is just, it's interesting for all of these different things to be like coming together at once, you know, with the ANC experience and then just like looking at how DC elections unfolded, looking at the national elections and statewide elections and everything. It's just like,
00:26:22
Speaker
A lot of things were like surprising but not, you know, and really show that like there actually is some hope to be had from a political perspective. Like I'm really hopeful. I'm really glad. This whole like on the ANC front, all of the different commissioner races in my area, like
00:26:44
Speaker
pretty much all came out with good results. And I'm like, okay, I think the next commission is gonna be really strong. I'm really excited to see what they do. So I think there is this moment of people realizing that it's time to dig in and not let these crazy bad actors take over. And so I'm really, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.
00:27:12
Speaker
Oh, my gosh, I went really long. That's what happens when you don't do a podcast in 11 months. Oh, if you listen this long, like shout out to you. Like I if you listen to me for this long, you really love me and I love you too. So this is Brittany Geneva. This is Geneva says follow me on Instagram at the Geneva says.
00:27:35
Speaker
And I will be back because I'm actually about to do another podcast now. So at least there's going to be one more podcast after this. Bye.