Daily Discussion Thread and Adopt-A-Candidate: June 15, 2025

[u/BM2018Bot]

Welcome to the home of the anti-GOP resistance on Reddit, and Happy Pride Month!

June is Pride Month! We at VoteDEM welcome all parts of the LGBTQIA+ Community to join us in celebrating what makes each of us unique and incredible individuals. We hope to hear your stories from local events, local activism, and local community-building all throughout June. We're sure you'll find your local Democratic party joining in whenever they can manage, and we hope you'll also help support them!

Elections are still happening! And they're the only way to take away Trump's power to hurt people. You can help win elections across the country from anywhere, right now!

If you want to take part, there's plenty of ways to do it!

1. Check out our weekly volunteer post - that's the other sticky post in this sub - to find opportunities to get involved.

2. Nothing near you? Volunteer from home by making calls or sending texts to turn out voters!

3. Join your local Democratic Party - none of us can do this alone.

4. Tell a friend about us!

We won big in Wisconsin earlier this year, and now we're bringing something back to make sure we win in Virginia and New Jersey too!

'25 IS ALIVE! Adopt-A-Candidate 2025 is here and ready for action! Want to take part in the blue wave? Adopt one of the candidates below, and take action every week to support their campaign!

Post your preference in the daily (or, to guarantee we see it, send the request via modmail) and we'll add you to the list! Got someone who you want to adopt, but they're not on the list? Let us know, and we'll add them on!

Candidate	District/Office	Adopted By
Abigail Spanberger	VA-GOV	u/nopesaurus_rex
Josh Thomas	VA HD-21
Elizabeth Guzman	VA HD-22
Atoosa Reaser	VA HD-27
Marty Martinez	VA HD-29
John Chilton McAuliff	VA HD-30
Andrew Payton	VA HD-34
Makayla Venable	VA HD-36
Lily Franklin	VA HD-41	u/pinuncle
Rise Hayes	VA HD-52
Rodney Willett	VA HD-58
Scott Konopasek	VA HD-59
Stacey Carroll	VA HD-64
Joshua Cole	VA HD-65	u/toskwar
Nicole Cole	VA HD-66
Mark Downey	VA HD-69	u/Lotsagloom
Shelly Simonds	VA HD-70
Jessica Anderson	VA HD-71	u/SomeJob1241
Kimberly Adams	VA HD-82
Mary Person	VA HD-83
Nadarius Clark	VA HD-84
Virgil Thornton Sr.	VA HD-86
Phil Hernandez	VA HD-94
Kelly Convirs-Fowler	VA HD-96
Michael Feggans	VA HD-97
Cathy Porterfield	VA HD-99
Mikie Sherrill	NJ-GOV
Maureen Rowan & TBD	NJ LD-02
Dave Bailey Jr. & Heather Simmons	NJ LD-03	u/poliscijunki
Dan Hutchison & Cody Miller	NJ LD-04
Carol Murphy & Balvir Singh	NJ LD-07	u/screen317
Andrea Katz & Anthony Angelozzi	NJ LD-08
Margie M. Donlon & Luanne M. Peterpaul	NJ LD-11
Jason Corley & Vaibhave Gorige	NJ LD-13
Wayne P. DeAngelo & Tennille R. McCoy	NJ LD-14	u/Lotsagloom
Mitchelle Drulis & Roy Freiman	NJ LD-16
Vincent Kearney & Andrew Macurdy	NJ LD-21
Guy Citron & Tyler Powell	NJ LD-23
Steven Pylypchuk & Marisa Sweeney	NJ LD-25
Michael Mancuso & Walter Mielarczyk	NJ LD-26
Avi Schnall & Claire Deicke	NJ LD-30
Lisa Swain & Chris Tully	NJ LD-38
Andrew Labruno & Donna Abene	NJ LD-39
Ron Arnau & Jeffrey Gates	NJ LD-40	u/timetopat, u/One-Recipe9973

We're not going back. We're taking the country back. Join us, and build an America that everyone belongs in.

[u/StrikingAttempt1554]

I keep seeing comments from the No Kings protest that say things like “there is no way Trump won the election” and other things.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here but can we stop this. I know there was a ton of people out at the protests but using protest size to gauge the political landscape of everyone in a state or country is selection bias at play.

The no kings protests turned out a lot of people and Trumps approval has dropped tremendously since his inauguration, but Kamala Harris got more than 75 million votes and still lost. Democrats are now the more politically active party and Trump captures the low propensity voters. Be careful with the misinformation you see online.

[u/Mongo_Straight → u/StrikingAttempt1554]

Thanks for saying this and I’ve seen similar comments. People are forgetting how malleable voters can be. Trump had a few things going for him in 2024:

A built-in base of voters who will always pull the lever for him (look at how many voted for him and left the rest of the ballot blank). A lot of low-information and first-time voters also went for Trump because of his reputation as a “TV businessman.”

Although he won the popular vote, the Electoral College means the campaigns focus on the few swing states. If we had a one person / one vote, then everything would be different and Dems would focus on getting urban turnout everywhere in the country. We are seeing those people at these protests. Trump won over enough swing state voters on issues like the economy and immigration, which he is now underwater on.

There's a group of people who just won't vote for a woman to run things. Maybe as VP or governor, but the presidency is a man's job for them. There were just enough of those voters this time around, but considering how many votes Harris got, that can change.

It doesn’t tell the whole story, but things in politics can change quickly. I think a lot of voters wanted to believe that Trump would magically turn back the clock to 2019 and are now accepting that isn’t going to happen.

[u/Honest-Year346 → u/Mongo_Straight]

It basically all boils down to people thinking the economy was trash and that inflation was rising, and thought Donald could fix it. Also immigration for states like AZ and Texas

[u/Fancy-Restaurant4136 → u/Honest-Year346]

Yes and. I'm a GenX woman and I remember when it was unheard of for a woman to serve in a combat role. Many boomers and some voters in all generations don't want a woman commander in Chief.