Underreported Fact: Four of the Six Governorships in True-Blue New England Are Currently Held by Republicans

The usual caveats apply: This being New England, the home of Fisherman's Feast Socialism, the Republicans in question aren't (presumably) any kind of real conservatives.

Still -- surprising, isn't it? Reporters just suddenly spazzed out when they heard of this, nearly a year after the election.

On Sept. 19, Politico congressional reporter Burgess Everett tweeted that he suddenly "[Remembers Vermont has a Republican governor]." His tweet prompted Seung Min Kim, a fellow Politico reporter who covers the US Senate, to reply that she "[Learns Vermont has a Republican governor]." That, in turn, instigated a response by Wall Street Journal congressional reporter Byron Tau: "[Googles the name of Vermont's Republican governor]."

To which Phil Scott, Vermont’s Republican governor, responded that he "[Is Vermont's Republican governor]."

The moment was comical but also insightful, underscoring just how little Washington's political class knows about who holds the executive power in the Northeast.

Here’s the surprising truth: It's not the Democrats.

Last November, while most of the country was either cheering Donald Trump's presidential win or making an appointment with their therapist about how to cope with the results, New Englanders in four out of the region’s six "blue" states -- Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine -- woke up the next morning with four Republican governors.

Salena Zito quotes an analyst remarking that the reason no one knows about this is that the #WrongParty made unexpected gains. If the situation had been reversed -- if two red governorships flipped to two blue ones, instead of what actually happened -- it would of course have been front-page news all over the country, a salve for wounded progressive psyches.

posted by Ace at 05:17 PM

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