Red State Poor States By Andrew Gellman

In the following essay I will be talking about the disadvantages and advantages of partisan elections for state politics. I will also examine the last couple year's election results and costs. Finally, I will discuss if partisanship made a difference in the vote, as well as if a judge should be decided by partisan vote. In the next couple paragraphs I will talk more specifically about these topics.

The political system of America is very different from other developed and developing democracies. Most notable is the increased power bestowed on the upper house of the parliament, the extensive power held by the Supreme Court and the dominance demonstrated by only two major parties. In the United States, third parties have the least influence on the world’s most developed democracy’s political structure. In this democracy, people are under the US Constitution of the governmental system as well as state government and other units of local government. Local government entails counties, districts and municipalities. The evolution of the American political party system has come a long way; with Hamilton and Jefferson being regarded as the founder fathers of the modern party system. These were heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups in the 18th century of American politics. Ever since, the country has maintained a party system that has two main parties that are relatively stable. These are Democrats and Republicans and have remained in contest for election every time since the 1860 presidential elections. Initially, the Republican Party was the dominant party but the Democrats later gained dominance. However, the two parties became closely competitive and neither of them has been notably dominant since the 1970s (O'Connor & Sabato, n.d).

Before comparing the incumbency advantage, the differences between Newark and Washington’s 7th congressional district have to be examined. While the incumbency advantage is very similar in each region, the physical and demographical difference couldn’t be starker. First, and most obviously, Sharpe James was running for mayoral position of Newark but Jim McDermott was running for the United States House of

The graphic shown below shows how states with higher populations like California, Texas, New York, and Florida can have a huge impact on the final election results.

Candidates won't bother campaigning in California or Texas because they know it's Democratic or Republican so that means swing states matter more and have more say in a presidential cycle. This equally mutes the minority voters in both of these states. Furthermore, the issues in small swing states often become key election issues, when they only really affect a small percentage of people.

Powerful political “bosses” in each party compelled urban residents into voting for favored candidates, who would then give kickbacks and bribes back to the bosses in appreciation for getting them elected. Bosses would also spend money to improve constituents’ neighborhoods to ensure a steady flow of votes for their machines. Trading jobs and services for votes, a powerful boss might claim the loyalty of thousands of followers; the bosses found lodging, gave gifts of food and clothing, and patched up minor scrapes with the law. In this sense, party bosses and machine politics actually helped some of the poorest people in the cities, adding to the illusion of urban

Texas is an interesting state when it comes to party affiliation because of the size of the state itself. On one hand, the state of Texas has 4 of the top 20 biggest cities in the United States including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin. With all of these large and mostly liberal cities, it is quite impressive that Texas has held onto top Republican offices since 1994. According to Will (2016) in his article, “A changing Lone Star State could change the GOP,” Texas is 84.7 percent urban, and, based on the history of urban states, they usually lean towards the Democratic Party affiliation. However, according to Sanhueza (2017) in his article “Why is Texas So Red, And How Did It Get That Way?,” with this urbanization the Republican party

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed saying that every man would have the right to vote regardless of their race. It was meant to give the right to vote to the African American citizens. Even after this was passed however, states in the South were still able to find ways to keep African Americans from voting. It was easy to still deny their right to vote because the amendment only says that laws cannot be made making race a requirement for voting. The most effective barriers created by the South to prevent African Americans from voting were grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and white-only primaries because they were legal and therefore did not directly keep a certain race from voting.

It’s no secret that wealth among the United States is unfair but it is also true in not being fair in Texas as well. Our poverty rate between 1980 and 2010 was

Most people believe that students do better in well-funded schools and that public education should provide a level playing field for children. Nearly half of the funding for public schools in the United States, however, is provided through local taxes, generating large differences in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities (National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a). Efforts to reduce these disparities have provoked controversy and resistance. Public school funding the United States comes from federal, state, and local sources, but because nearly half of those funds come from local property taxes, the system generates large funding differences between wealthy and impoverished communities. Such differences exist among states, among school districts within each state, and even among schools within specific districts.

David K. Shipler is the author of various books, including The Working Poor: Invisible in America. While this book is one of his most famous, Shipler also wrote Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Shipler was born in New Jersey in 1942, where he grew up and went to school. After highschool he attended Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, which is a Private Ivy League College and one of only nine colleges chartered before the American Revolution. After graduating college, he became a U.S. Navy Officer for two years. Shipler then became a New York Times new clerk; he covered domestic issues for five years and then traveled to Saigon for two years to cover issues involving

The United States has a federalist government meaning that it works similarly on two different levels; nationally, and on the state level. This means that not only are elections held on the national level, but every year state-wide elections exist where different issues are voted upon in state-wide referendum. Although these occur every year, mainly they have been seen as only being important, and therefore watched by the people within that state, rather than nationally. Even so, within the past few years, these state elections have become more important nationally. Whether that is through the issues being voted on, or the trends that winning seats may prove for further upcoming elections, these state-wide elections are becoming more important for individuals nationally.

in the Washington Post article,“Va. poll is a table of two states”, the writers Laura Vozzella and Emily Guskin discusses the political divide between Democrats and Republicans within the state of Virginia. This problematic divide can be seen in the specific churches, schools, neighborhoods, etc., that attract and repel specific party members. The article goes on to explain that these divisions result from cultural and lifestyle choices by each voter. For example, like minded Democrats desire homes that are a walkable distance from stores in contrast to spread out communities desired by Republicans. As a result, more and more Americans are living in political enclaves. However, many voters in the upcoming presidential election are not particularly

Capitalism has been the central force behind the growth of the United States’ progressive economy. Within such advanced economic system the chances of economic disparity are significantly high. In fact, over the past three decades there has being a steady increase in unequal wealth distribution among the economic classes. To sustain the current unequal wealth distribution among the classes of the American population, there are numerous factors that influence and shape this trend. For some members of the population it is alarmingly disturbing to know that recent statistics have shown that, “In the US [alone] the wealthiest 1% of its population owns more than the bottom 95 %” (Gutman). As for the difference in economic wealth, it resulted

People in large cities with a population of 50,000 plus tend to vote for the Democratic Party. The rural areas and small towns with a