November 2nd was Election Day for communities around the country. While these were local elections, they may serve as bellwethers for what is to come nationally next year in the highly anticipated Midterms of 2022. If nothing else, the local elections of 2021 were a referendum on the Radical Left’s War on Law Enforcement. The results of some key races and ballot measures provide a clue for where the country stands on policing a year after George Floyd and at the halfway point between the Presidential Election of 2020 and the Midterms of 2022.
Notable Races:
Eric Adams Wins NYC Mayoral Race
Out of control violent crime, especially shootings and murder, have plagued New York City since last summer when radical Leftist Mayor, Bill De Blasio, defunded the police department by a billion dollars and ended its plainclothes street unit. While De Blasio doesn’t appear to be bothered by the deadly disaster he has created in the city, constituents clearly cared as both candidates for mayor focused heavily on restoring Law & Order. Eric Adams served over 20 years in the NYPD and is currently Burrough President in Brooklyn. He ran on a vow to return sanity to the streets of New York, support the police department, but also lead the charge at any necessary reforms or improvements police in the city can make. Adams is a self-proclaimed Progressive, who was able to thread the needle on his approach to abandoning De Blasio’s anti-police policies. His win will hopefully bring a welcomed restoration of peace to many parts of the city suffering over the last year.
Ann Davison Wins Seattle District Attorney
Just a couple years ago, Ann Davison was a member of the Democrat Party. But now she is the first Republican to win office in Seattle in 32 years. Davison ran in the race for Seattle District Attorney, following a year which saw entire parts of the city handed over to anarchist rioters by the mayor, Democrat Jenny Durkan. On her campaign website, Davison declared “I firmly believe the office of the City Attorney was created by our charter to be nonpartisan — not a place to pursue a radical agenda that will impair the safety of our city and the people of Seattle.” She ran against a Leftist opponent who wanted to end misdemeanor prosecutions. Luckily, common sense won out in Seattle on Election Day.
Ballot Measures:
Question 2, Failed
Question 2 in Minneapolis was a measure we have been paying close attention to and scrutinizing since it first got cleared for the ballot. Minneapolis was the site of George Floyd’s death, and subsequently, the hub of the Defund Movement. Question 2 asked voters permission to amend the city charter to eliminate minimum staffing requirements for policing the city. It would have led to the introduction of the nation’s first “Department of Public Safety,” firmly controlled by the city’s Leftist government. Luckily, this measure failed causing a major setback for the Leftist Defund Agenda for the time being.
Issue 24, Passed
This legislation voted on in local elections in Cleveland, Ohio, asked voters to amend the city charter related to police oversight. Ballotpedia notes that this measure “the creation of the Community Police Commission to—together with the Civilian Police Review Board—oversee police conduct investigations and discipline, report and advise about police-community relations, and oversee police training and recruitment.” The new oversight commission is required to be “demographically representative” of the city, and changes membership qualification requirements, asking for lawyers who have represented police brutality victims and transfers oversight power over to the city’s mayor, instead of the chief of police. This amendment follows in recent trends of the Left’s quest to create greater political power in law enforcement and erode the role of police in its oversight. The budget for this commission must be equal to at least 1% of the city’s police department’s.
Proposition A, Failed
Proposition A in notoriously “progressive” Austin, Texas asked voters to enshrine minimum staffing requirements for the police department, in addition to other measures that would have strengthened law enforcement’s capabilities. Voters were asked to institute a minimum of 2 police officers per 1000 residents, provide funding for an additional 40 hours of police training per year, and incentivize becoming proficient in languages other than English for law enforcement officers. While this measure would have bridged the gap between overworking officers and building community cohesion, it appears that anything viewed as “pro-police” in the city ought to be vilified. Leftwing critics of the measure argued that it was being pushed by unfounded right-wing paranoia on the rising crime in the city.
Take-Away:
The elections of 2021 illustrate the failures of the Left’s radical agenda and attempts at dismantling American Law & Order. While the citizens of Austin, for example, rejected a ballot measure which would have been beneficial to their local law enforcement, the most important battles were won, like killing Question 2 in Minneapolis and hopefully ending the destruction of New York City. Both candidates running in that race were pro-police. Adams’ opponent was Republican Curtis Sliwa, founder of the renowned community watch group, The Guardian Angels. Moving into 2022, it is clear that pro-Law Enforcement candidates and policies have the momentum, and with the right candidates and advocates in place, 2022 may prove to be the comeback year for America’s police.
Image Credit: Photo by Roman Koester on Unsplash
While New York City was not the first city in America to target the police in its radical policy making post-George Floyd, few places have felt the brunt of these failures more than the Big Apple. So, it is no coincidence that two candidates up for election in the city’s mayoral race have deep connections to law enforcement in the city.
