With exponentially fewer voters and no Electoral College or District boundary rules in the way, one's vote for mayor counts a gazillion times more than their vote for president. And the mayor makes decisions that directly affect your everyday life, so it might be a more impactful vote too. But for some reason, everyone wants to debate national politics that doesn't actually impact them and over which they have no control. But, whatever, don't vote -- just means my vote counts for more.
In what universe does a vote for president doesn't effect their lives? My mom and millions of others get free healthcare cuz of the expanded subsidies. Close to 1.5 million Texans got free healthcare under biden due to his expansion of obamacare. Ridiculous statement
I don't think JV was trying to trash the presidential vote. I think it was just hyperbole, emphasizing that too few people pay attention to local elections, which are also very impactful upon our everyday lives.
More impactful than a possible national abortion ban if trump wins? Trump is on record promising he will overturn bidens signature climate change bill which is on pace to cut co2 emissions by 40% by 2030. Close to 29 million people get free broadband internet cuz of bidens infrastructure bill which trump promises hell overturn. Close to 40 million Americans get affordable Healthcare cuz of bidens expanded subsidies. The 2024 election will be the most important election of our lifetime
Your mom presumably also drives on local streets, visits local parks, gets city trash service, municipal water, local police, on and on. Real estate values impact the well-being of her community, as do the quality of the schools. That's great the feds did something impactful for her and I wouldn't deny it. But only a fraction of the national stuff we talk about end up having a direct bearing on any individual, while mayoral decisions affect everyone living there.
You have no chill. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge you bring regarding the Democratic party and the Biden administration, but you are always in hyperdrive, or at least you come across that way. It's okay to say that local elections are important without that being taken as a frontal assault on the importance of the president.
I'm middle eastern. Its just the way we speak and are over aggressive with everything. If you have Arab friends you'd know lol. Sorry
Except that it's unlikely that there's going to much difference in the local streets or trash service depending on who gets elected mayor. On the other hand, national elections more often than not affect your federal taxes, which has a huge impact on people. And they affect whether we engage in wars, impact the Supreme Court, decide on our national infrastructure spending (which affects your local roads, parks, etc), clean water policies, etc. It's likely that Biden vs Trump affected the average Houston voter's life more than the differences between Whitmire vs SJL will.
Leadership makes some difference. You can see in the decline in the rust belt how some cities like Pittsburgh managed to pivot and others like Detroit didn't do as well. Now, there were many more factors than just leadership there, but leadership makes a difference in those crucible moments. And, sure, the trash here will get picked up here one way or the other (just as you can say our sovereignty will be protected no matter who is president). But how we do it is going to have implications for the long-term health of our community which will in turn influence our own lives. Houston is facing a budget issue right now where we don't collect enough taxes to pay for all the services we enjoy. And, those services are, let's say, spotty. Pot holes in streets, recycling pick-up is routinely late, our firefighters are underpaid, our police force is understaffed. The candidates have had different approaches on how to address it -- Whitmire wants to improve operational efficiency, Lee wants to go hunt for more federal money, Gallegos (who is now out, I guess) wants to increase taxes. Some have the TIRZ, which have increased the disparity between rich and poor neighborhoods, in the crosshairs. The wisdom and execution of each of these plans will impact how nice a place this is to live. Which one is more impactful is a bit hard to judge. Some of federal politics is probably easier to follow because, when it is relevant, the impacts can be large. Meanwhile local politics have smaller effect, but it's also more everyday and ever present. They're both important and in different ways. But you actually get to have a say in what we do locally. Whereas your vote in national politics is very small, and in the case of the presidency I'd say actually statistically inconsequential.
As for election updates, all propositions passed except the one that would push back judge retirement ages: Texas voters pass 13 propositions in constitutional amendment election | The Texas Tribune
