Saturday, August 24, 2024

David Handley will be NAT nominee in Wilkonshire gubernatorial race

BRADFORD, Wilk. -- Wilkonshire Nationalists will have a young nominee for governor, who, if elected, could become the youngest governor in state history.

The five-way race for governor among Wilkonshire's Nationalists has come to an end, with Lt. Gov. David Handley taking the most votes.

Handley hardly won a mandate from voters. Under Wilkonshire law, whichever candidate wins a simple plurality, or simply the most votes, wins the primary election. Handley won just 23.49%, respectively.

But that 23% was more than any of his four opponents. Former state Attorney General Reed Powell came in a close second place, winning 21.58%, while state Sen. Dean Albaugh was right behind with 21.42%, respectively.

Businessman Michael Pike was not far behind the top three; Pike earned 19.39%, while state Rep. Rod Winkleton trailed significantly with only 14.13%, respectively.

That means Handley, a two-term lieutenant governor who has served closely with outgoing NAT Gov. Tom Durick, will take the reins of the state party and attempt to lead the Wilkonshire NAT to an historic fifth consecutive term in the governor's office.

Nationalists have controlled Wilkonshire's governorship for almost 16 years, with both Durick and his predecessor Caroline Jepsey serving two back-to-back terms.

Conservatives, meanwhile, are itching to wrest control of the governorship from Nationalists. Only one Conservative has ever held the state's governorship since statehood, and it was only briefly -- for just over a year. 

That lone Conservative governor was former federal Attorney General John Agnew, who served as the state's interim governor until his election to the federal Senate in 2010.

Now, after a nearly 16-year dry spell, Conservatives are anxious to hit the pavement and make their case to Wilkonshireans.

"After 16 years of failed Nationalist policies, Wilkonshireans are hungry for common sense conservative policies that put the people, the taxpayers, and public safety first," state CNS chairman Don Teaguen told the NPF.

It's a common theme among the three Conservative candidates seeking their party's nomination.

Tara Hadley, the former mayor of Christon and a twice-failed nominee for governor, is running for the third time in a row.

Hadley, who came exceedingly close to winning the governorship in both 2020 and 2016, has leaned in heavily to right-wing conspiracy theories. She attributes both her losses for governor to cheating and errors in the secretary of state's office, and she has made law and order a central theme of her campaign.

"As mayor of Christon, I saw first-hand the crime we have in this state, and I saw the failed liberal policies at the state level that sent violent criminals to rehab instead of prison. I saw how imbecilic Nationalist politicians let violent criminals out of prison early. I saw how repeat offenders were booked into jail for a couple hour and then released back into the community, even after dozens of arrests and convictions. I've seen hundreds or thousands of Wilkonshireans who have had their cars stolen, their homes broken into, who have been assaulted by homeless people and victimized by gangs. And Nationalist politicians have done nothing to stop the assault on public safety in this state," she said in a recent TV interview.

Teaupederie businessman Charlie Dunn had similar criticisms on crime, although he has eschewed many of the conspiracy theories Hadley has embraced.

"I think the Nationalist party and Nationalist party politicians have failed our state," Dunn said in a TV interview with the GBC last week. "We have record crime. We have record inflation. We have record bad scores in our public schools. We have record traffic in the Bradford-Christon corridor. We have record office vacancies in downtown Bradford and Christon and elsewhere. I think it's time for a change. I think people are hungry for change."

Federal Senator Bob Mellon, who is also seeking the CNS nomination for governor, agrees, but was more pointed in his criticism.

Mellon, known for his colorful language and humorous quips, told GBC Radio that "Liberal Nationalist politicians have put Wilkonshire in the toilet" with their "failed liberal policies."

"How much longer will the people of Wilkonshire tolerate liberal politicians who fail to get criminals off the street. Who spend all our tax dollars on pointless social programs that don't actually help anyone. Who worry more about climate change than the economy. Who have lost more jobs than just about any other state in this country. How long will Wilkonshireans stand for it? I can tell you, from all my traveling around this state and from all the hundreds or thousands of people I meet every month, I can tell you that Wilkonshireans are mad as hell. And they're ready to fight for change," Mellon said.

Nationalists dispute those Conservative talking points.

Handley himself, in a sit-down interview at the Wilkonshire State Fair this week, said Conservative complaints about crime are "overblown."

"Governor Durick and I and others have been working to expand our prisons and jails so we can get more criminals off the streets. We're trying to reform our bail process, so that it's fairer and more equitable for all Wilkonshireans. And we're working to hire more prosecutors and public defenders so that our court system is more efficient and can handle the increased caseload," Handley told local journalists.

Conservatives say that's not enough.

"Adding more prosecutors and public defenders helps, but it's not enough. Nationalists politicians directly exacerbated the crime problem in this state. They gave criminals a free pass and let them out of jail with no repercussions, with no stipulations. And now they've realized their policies are disastrous, and they're trying to fix it," Charlie Dunn told a group of undecided voters at the Circaylah County Fair last week. "At least they're trying to fix it and they're doing something. But we wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for all the failed NAT policies and failed politicians who put us in this mess."

Nationalists insist the Wilkonshire economy is on the uptick. After the pandemic, with remote work increasing, corporate rentals in high-rise buildings did plummet, as they have done across the nation and in all first-world countries. But just last week, Bradford city officials said two large companies leased office space in the city's central business district.

And in the education sector, math and reading scores were better this year among Wilkonshire students than scores were in the last five years.

"It's taking us a while to recover from the pandemic. From the financial impact, the impact to our kids, the impact to our infrastructure," Handley told voters at the State Fair. "But we are slowly improving. And if we elect pragmatic, level-minded leaders, we will continue our sensible recovery. We will come out stronger than we were before. If we elect reactionary Conservative politicians who want to completely upend everything and cause upheaval, that will set us back."

Handley's fellow NAT opponents for governor held largely similar views. Powell, the former state attorney general, espoused more middle-of-the-road views, telling voters the night before the primary election that Nationalists had to appeal to disaffected independent and even Conservative voters.

"We can't win statewide elections this year if we aren't reaching out to folks on the other side," Powell said in a campaign stop in Evanston, in the far eastern Wilkonshire suburbs of Lanakis.

Rod Winkleton, another centrist, had similar views.

"People are mad at the Nationalist party because we've been in power for decades now and people feel like they're not much better off," Winkleton told reporters at a campaign stop in rural Nephariles County in the north-central part of the state. "We have to build a coalition of our team plus some others who might otherwise vote the other way."

Businessman Michael Pike agreed, telling reporters in the state capitol of Newberry last week that "A strong economy and business-friendly policies are not a Nationalist or Conservative thing, they are a common sense thing."

But state Sen. Dean Albaugh pushed a more left-wing, liberal agenda. Albaugh's progressive populist policies resonated with poor voters, rural voters and blue collar voters. 

Albaugh assailed Conservatives' proposals to cut taxes for wealthy Wilkonshireans. He eviscerated Conservative candidates for suggesting corporate tax cuts. And he blamed state Nationalist leaders for being too moderate.

"We don't win by moving to the right on all these issues. We win by standing up and telling voters, 'This is what Conservatives want to do, and this is what we will do.' If we compare and contrast and present the dichotomy clearly, voters will move to our side, because the voters know the Conservative ideology is flawed," said Albaugh last week while campaigning in suburban New Dunslee.

As the party's official nominee, what direction the state party takes as it heads into the fall general election will largely be up to David Handley and his campaign.

The lieutenant governor has championed progressive policies, but has so far not drifted far to the left. He calls his policies "Pragmatic Progressivism."

The NAT nominee for lieutenant governor, James Marlowe, an African-Grassadellian activist from inner-city Christon, is considerably further left on the political spectrum than Handley.

Marlowe narrowly beat former federal Sen. Tom O'Hearn to win the NAT's nomination for lieutenant governor. 

In his victory speech, Marlowe pledged to "nudge" Handley and state Nationalist leaders further to the left.

"We've had liberal-lite policies for years now. We've had two centrist NAT governors. And we're grateful for their leadership. But the time for economic equity and equal opportunity for all Wilkonshireans is here, and we're not going to pass up that opportunity.

Marlowe calls himself a "socialist," and does not shy away from the term. Conservatives have pounced on his left-wing views, already airing TV commercials that show video of Marlowe describing his socialist views.

"James Marlowe is a radical left-wing activist and a self-described 'socialist.' And now he's the mainstream of the Wilkonshire Nationalist Party," a narrator says in a pro-Conservative campaign commercial.

The state CNS is confident that twice-failed lieutenant governor candidate Tom Rose, a former pastor, will prevail against the overtly liberal Marlowe.

"I'm confident voters will look at their two choices for lieutenant governor and they'll see a radical socialist on one side, and a reasonable, pro-business, pro-capitalist pastor on the other side. I think they'll back Tom Rose quite easily," said state CNS chairman Teaguen.

Although Marlowe is decisively left-wing, and his politics may be soundly rejected in the vast rural reaches of the state, he is popular among minorities. And he previously ran for federal Senate in 2022, losing to Conservative incumbent John Agnew. But while his run for Senate was unsuccessful, it gave him increased name-recognition and allowed him to build alliances around the state.

Furthermore, Marlowe's left-wing racial equality policies resonate in urban areas like Bradford and inner-Christon.

The statewide elections for governor and lieutenant governor may largely come down to which party's voters turn out to vote on election day.

Wilkonshire is a battleground state, and has roughly the same number of NAT and CNS voters. In 2016, Tom Durick (N) beat Tara Hadley (C) in the race for governor by just 11,000 votes out of more than 2.3 million cast.

So the state is used to close elections. And Wilkonshireans may need to prepare for close races this time around too.


***Wilkonshire NAT Primary Election Results -- Governor -- Official Results***

318,243 292,286 191,361 262,631    290,126 Total Votes:1,354,647 
HandleyPowellWinkletonPikeAlbaughVTO: 17%
23.49%21.58%14.13%19.39%21.42%

No comments:

GNN Headline Wire

GNN News is a subsidiary of Zimmer Media Corp. GNN is headquartered in Grassadellia City and has local affiliates in 95 cities in all 24 states and in peripheral territories.

Write to us at:
GNN News
46001 W. Greenley Ave.
Grassadellia City, DMG 98112-4600

Or call: 1-800-322-0890

Which political party is the most 'pro-women?'

Popular Posts

Blog Archive