TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2026
Willa Cather's Nebraska: The Houston Rodeo lives on in our mind. But from there, we could take you to Kansas.
As Jericho's walls crashed down last week, something highly unusual happened in that well-known American state. On Tuesday night, with Election Day done, the New York Times reported a fact which would be repeated all over cable news:
Democrat Wins a Kansas Senate Seat for the First Time Since 1932
The Rev. Adam Hamilton on Tuesday became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Kansas since the Great Depression, according to The Associated Press, stunning Senator Roger Marshall, a one-term Republican.
Mr. Hamilton, a centrist from the Kansas City area who was registered as a Republican until February, rode voters’ frustration with the economy and disenchantment with Mr. Marshall to the upset victory. Mr. Marshall had campaigned with President Trump in the final days of the race and received late financial support from the national Republican Party, but it was not enough.
Mr. Hamilton, in capping his pulpit-to-politics journey, became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Kansas since 1932.
It was a fact so nice, they stated it twice! And as a matter of fact, it's true:
The last Democratic senator from the state of Kansas was Senator George McGill—in 1932! He was elected in 1930 to replace outgoing Vice President Curtis, then won re-election two years later.
There had been no Democrat since!
No Dem since 1932! But as the Times report continued, this subtle suggestion appeared:
"There had been subtle signs in recent years that Kansas was shifting to the left, electing a Democratic governor for two terms..."
That was also true! But regarding that two-term Democratic governor, she was hardly alone, and she was nothing especially new. Here are the winners of the last ten gubernatorial elections in this, the Sunflower State:
Elected as governor of Kansas:
1990: Joan Finney (D)
1994, 1998: Bill Graves (R)
2002, 2006: Kathleen Sebelius (D)
2010, 2014: Sam Brownback (R)
2018, 2022: Laura Kelly (D)
2026: Cindy Holscher (D)
Governor's Holscher's win is still unofficial, but it seems to be a foregone conclusion. Axios explains here.
(Governor Sebelius, of course, went on to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Obama. As for Obama, he's still said to come from Kenya if you watch the "American Garbage" which gets spewed on the pitiful Fox News Channel.)
At any rate, in six of the past ten elections, Kansans have elected a Democrat to serve as governor. And they've sent female Democrats to the State House every single time!
("These are the days of miracle and wonder," Paul Simon declared on his Graceland album. But how can we make that proclamation be true? How can we access that grace?)
Six of the past ten elections! These have been the judgments of our fellow citizens, the fellow citizens we can also honor as Kansans. They'd been slow to send a Dem to D.C., but they've been sending female Dems to the State House on a regular basis. Go figure!
As a manifestation of Americana, we're always eager to steer you toward Willa Cather's My Antonia, in which Cather expresses her admiration for the tenacity of the vibrant and admirable "immigrant girls" who worked to build the state of Nebraska.
In the part of the book we most admire, her gender-switched narrator says this about that part of this expanding nation at that particular time:
The older girls, who helped to break up the wild sod, learned so much from life, from poverty, from their mothers and grandmothers; they had all, like Ántonia, been early awakened and made observant by coming at a tender age from an old country to a new.
[...]
I always knew I should live long enough to see my country girls come into their own, and I have...
They had learned so much from their mothers and grandmothers! That's part of what Cather has her narrator say as he describes "the rich farms where that first crop of stalwart Bohemian and Scandinavian girls are now the mistresses."
Those words from Cather are sacred text here, though in the chapter to which we refer, the narrator is more concerned with the physical beauty and personal vibrancy of the "immigrant girls" in question than with the material success their devotion to duty created.
That said, American voters chose to move many women into State Houses this year. For us, that story begins with the scrappy messaging of first-time candidate Amy Acton (Ohio), but it quickly moves on to Governors-elect Bottoms in Georgia and Hinojosa in Texas, along with a raft, or perhaps an ark, of others.
(NBC News: "Record number of female governors elected.")
In this way, the gruesome misogyny of our nation's raft of under-developed bros was widely rejected by voters this year. Governor-elect Hinojosa took us to a distinctive part of this very large nation with this part of her victory speech:
“I am a daughter of the Rio Grande Valley, where the people embody the work ethic and values of our great state, where no one would have imagined that one day, a little girl from the RGV would stand before you here as the next governor of the greatest state, Texas. But God had a plan, and the people of Texas had a plan, too.”
Did God have a plan? We can't tell you that. But human talent emerges in the Rio Grande Valley, as it once emerged in Cather's windswept Nebraska. That fact became clear again this year.
Back in Kansas, Candidate Hamilton became that first Democratic senator in a very long time. As with the remarkable win by the very young Candidate Talarico in Texas, Hamilton's "pulpit-to-politics journey" came from within another American tradition.
In the report we've just quoted again, the New York Times starts to explain:
Mr. Hamilton, the founder of the 24,000-member Church of the Resurrection, the largest church in Kansas and the nation’s largest United Methodist congregation, also had particular strengths.
He presented as a sure-footed centrist with decades of experience working crowds. He proved to be a strong fund-raiser. And before he made a single campaign promise, many in Kansas were familiar with him from TV broadcasts of his church services.
He had been been on TV and he isn't a nut. Kansans have now sent him to Washington. Regarding his starting point, this:
At this site, we don't hold religious views or religious faith, but we're aware of the fact that large numbers of people do. We Dems have often handicapped ourselves with snarky reactions to matters of faith.
As we explore our nation's highly varied roots, we'll start right there on the morrow. Lauren Jackson will be saying that it's Senator Warnock who started this most recent electoral awakening.
Wedded to our Americana, we'll mention Dr. King too.
Tomorrow: Matthew 25 lies at its heart, Lauren Jackson declares
It is odd that Somerby equates the Kansas election of women to political positions with Willa Cather's My Antonia. First, My Antonia is set in Nebraska, not Kansas. Second, it extols the virtues of immigrant women, not native women. Third, Antonia only leaves the farm to work in the nearby town (as a maid) prior to marriage. After marrying, she works side by side with her husband on their farm, raising children and doing the farmwork that the other immigrant girls were doing on their own nearby farms. That is admirable and hard work, but it is not progress for those girls, of the sort that these political choices in Kansas obviously are. So, Antonia is not a feminist hero, even if she is an admirable example of the hard work that permits immigrant to the US to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Somerby, who admires the physical attributes of Antonia as described in lush detail in Cather's book, relates Antonia to political Democratic women largely because they are all women, not because of any greater similarity between them.
Somerby keeps emphasizing the supposed gender-bending of Cather, something suggested by a literary critic but not established by Cather herself. Somerby pretends that the young boy Jim admires the physicality of Antonia in such lush detail because Cather was a lesbian and thus her character of Jim expresses her own admiration of the physical beauty of German and Norwegian immigrant girls. It makes more sense that Jim shows the very distinct paths in life of young boys who grow up on the same plains as those immigrant girls. The boys lust after the immigrant girls but do not marry them, preferring the socially appropriate native women from the town (Cather explains). Jim goes on to a big city career in publishing while Antonia sticks to the traditional farm wife role. It is this contrast in destinies that Cather is portraying with Jim, not a lesbian admiration of the same qualities Somerby himself swoons over.
Willa Cather was not an avowed feminist but she strongly resisted having her own life restricted by gender roles. THAT is her main point in My Antonia, as is stated several places in the novel where she explicitly contrasts Jim's career opportunities with those of the immigrant girls. The lesbian interpretations of Cather's life are also not something she herself acknowledged. Cather gives Jim the publishing success that she herself pursued in life. That isn't gender-bending, it is equality craving. Cather didn't want to be a man, she wanted men's privileges. That is obvious in her life and this novel.
It is unsurprising that Somerby misunderstands Antonia and Jim (whose crush on Antonia does not survive into adulthood) and that he doesn't understand that Cather portrays Antonia's strength of character, not just sweat glistening on sun-browned skin. Somerby repeatedly uses this book for his own purposes, ignoring those of the author. That is insulting to Cather and should be embarrassing to Somerby, if he weren't so clueless.
This is like every guy who has ever called a woman lesbian for rejecting his advances. Cather tried to live a life independent of the demands of patriarchy, so men define her as lesbian for rejecting the female role. So does Somerby in his ongoing simplistic references.
Calling feminists "lesbians" has been a go-to move of the patriarchy as it defends itself against feminist criticisms.
DeleteMy mother grew up on a farm in Illinois. She wore jeans and a short-sleeved men's shirt the rest of her life. Growing up in California, I thought that was her idiosyncrasy, but I later discovered that this was common throughout the midwest among farm women.
DeleteWilla Cather adopted men's dress and wore pants and men's shirts during her lifetime as a writer and unofficial feminist. Did she adopt that style because of farm life and midwest culture for farm women, or because she was a lesbian, as Somerby claims, or to publicize the limitations of women's clothing when trying to do actual work.
AI says: "While some women still grab an oversized men's plaid shirt or a spare pair of men's jeans out of convenience or hand-me-downs, most modern women farmers no longer rely on men's clothes.
Instead, the agricultural industry has seen a massive boom in dedicated women's workwear."
That workwear now includes oversized pants and overalls with pockets. AI says: "Modern women's workwear offers built-in tool loops, gusseted crotches, moisture-wicking materials, and proper sizing that matches the heavy demands of livestock, market gardening, and equipment operation."
A surprising number of important feminists have been lesbians.
DeleteYes, but the point is that adopting men’s privileges doesn’t make someone a lesbian. Concluding that men cannot be changed might.
Delete"Somerby equates the Kansas election of women to political positions with Willa Cather's My Antonia," thereby "us[ing] this book for his own purposes."
Delete"This is like every guy who has ever called a woman lesbian for rejecting his advances."
You're right. I can see no difference whatsoever.
My Antonia glorifies White European settlers and their "self reliance" while ignoring the plight of indigenous people who had settled the land long before, and while ignoring the enormous role the government played in the land being settled.
DeleteMost feminists are not lesbian, and it is easy to understand why a lesbian is more likely to be a feminist. Feminists face significant oppression, even moreso if one is a lesbian.
Somerby does try to draw a connection between contemporary women finding success in politics in the Midwest and My Antonia, but it does not make sense.
10:20 suggests Somerby's interest in My Antonia conflicts with the author's actual experience and intent in a similar manner to how some males insult women that reject them as being lesbian. That seems like a fair assessment. My Antonia can cut against Somerby's agenda so he just repurposes My Antonia to fit his agenda.
Somerby comparing the pluck and courage of contemporary female politicians to the pluck and courage of female immigrants in the plains “does not make sense” to you?
DeleteSo, you conclude, Somerby’s interest in the book must be akin to calling a woman who has rejected him a “lesbian”?
Whoo, boy!
It is not an appropriate comparison. Those women weren’t pursuing the same goals. There is no similarity except that they were all women.
DeleteI have read the book. Have you?
No.
Delete
ReplyDelete"Men", "women", dontcha know, Bob: these words are a tool of white supremacy!
There aren't any "men" and "women" in this brave new world, only the sainted retarded Dumbocrats and the deplorable magats!
...you're welcome.
Fuck off
DeleteMen only commit most crimes, because of who they are.
DeleteMost men do not commit crimes. Who are the criminals then?
DeleteI have committed many crimes, but I’ve never been caught, so they don’t count.
DeleteMost crimes are committed by White males.
DeleteMost crimes are committed by White males in the Trump Administration. (FIFU)
Delete"We Dems have often handicapped ourselves with snarky reactions to matters of faith."
ReplyDeleteThis is such a lie. Snarky reactions to the right wing's misuse of faith to manipulate voters is not the same as mocking "matters of faith" as held by religious people.
For example, when Democrats mock Trump's faith, which is obviously insincere, that is not mocking faith but mocking Trump's ignorance, his con, his own disrespect for religion.
How does Somerby suppose El-Sayed feels about his faith? Did Democrats mock El-Sayed's faith during this past midterm election or did we support his right to practice his faith while Republicans called him a jihadist? Ditto for Mamdani and Ilhan Omar and others of divergent faiths.
Somerby's bromance with Bill Maher seems to overlook the way Maher has always knocked religion. Not that Bill Maher is any kind of Democrat. He is a self-professed Libertarian who nevertheless disrespects all faith, a right to practice enumerated in our Constitution. Not to mention that Democrats are huge on protecting individual rights, even ones we may not hold ourselves.
Somerby is a huge asshole and he reminds us of that every day when he writes crap like this about religion, as if Democrats were all godless demons, as proclaimed by the right wing (and here we see today's conservative talking point about the left).
Agree.
Delete"Wedded to our Americana, we'll mention Dr. King too."
ReplyDeleteYes, Dr. King is exactly like Antonia and Texas longhorns.
Definition: "Americana refers to a broad collection of artifacts, symbols, traditions, and creative works that are characteristic of the history, geography, folklore, and cultural heritage of the United States."
Dr. King does not belong in a category of artifacts. He led a civil rights movement that was the struggle of black people to be treated with the same dignity and respect, accorded the same rights and privileges as white people in our nation. He is part of history, not a collection of knick-knacks, representing the aspirations of historically mistreated, downtrodden people, who are still fighting for equality in political contexts.
Somerby's choice of such an inappropriate word to describe a black historical figure shows his lack of appreciation for both the black struggle and King himself, as a person who died a martyr to the cause of civil rights.
Somerby needs to erase today's essay and start again. He can't seem to write anything without insulting people today.
Blow it out your ass. MLK is a symbol of the civil rights movement.
DeleteNo, he is not a symbol. He was an actual man who did things that advanced the civil rights movement. He was a leader of his community.
DeleteAI says: "Symbols do not have intrinsic or natural meanings; instead, their significance is socially constructed and learned through socialization."
MLK had intrinsic significance through his acts as an activist. He is important because of his accomplishments, not solely what he stands for.
It can be argued that civil rights are inherent to all people. It can also be argued that our Constitution is a socially constructed artifact and thus can be a symbol. But MLK himself said things and did things that transcend the symbolic coding of his skin color or his status as a reverend. He was a human being, a person, someone who helped advance civil rights for everyone in our society. He was not a socially constructed symbol. He was real.
Get off your high horse, symbolically of course.
DeleteFuck off, literally
DeleteI know how to fuck, but I don’t know how to fuck off, literally.
DeleteLike beat off, except you go somewhere else to do it.
DeleteThat’s not literally fucking off.
DeleteWhen Hegseth raped that married Republican woman, he pulled out and beat off to ejaculate.
DeleteThat way he could avoid having to pay for an abortion if she got pregnant, plus it might leave less evidence of his crime.
This was when Hegseth was cheating on his second wife with the woman that became his third wife. Yes, in raping that woman Hegseth was cheating on both his second wife and the woman that became his third wife.
For Republicans sex is not about sharing intimacy or enjoying pleasure, it is about dominance.
Why not all three?
DeleteThey don’t know how to be intimate.
Delete11:34,
Deletemaybe try not to let AI tell you everything.
Only right wingers denigrate education.
DeletePete Hegseth won’t go quietly.
ReplyDeleteImagine how awful you have to be at your job to have some Republicans want to impeach you, even though you're a white supremacist.
DeleteIt is sufficient that he just go.
DeleteVoters are selecting women for office because they believe it is less likely women will be accused of sexual assault, less likely they will get us into wars of adventure, less likely they are hyped up on too much T, less likely they will try to grift their way into multi-millionaire status to impress the bros, and more likely they will do something to help their constituents, due to that famous female empathy (which Cecelia obviously lacks). Yes, these are stereotypes, but there are studies showing that women are more conscientious, more law-abiding, less violent, and better readers than men, all traits useful in public office.
ReplyDeletePowerful women are just as bad as powerful men.
DeleteThe problem isn't having power but using that power in the wrong ways. We have had good presidents who were powerful but used their power for good not evil, as Trump does.
DeleteDeclaring power a bad thing just when women attain some is unfair. The achievements of Frances Perkins are an example of what can be done by a woman given power to enact her ideas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins
She was the first woman to serve in a cabinet post.
To be clear, Trump is a bad president.
DeleteTrump is a bad human. Hell, he’s a bad primate.
DeleteIt's true, I've seen him fling poo, a time or two.
DeleteAnd yet he can’t climb trees.
DeleteCecelia is a man pretending to be a woman.
DeleteTrump is a demon pretending to be a human.
He is so mad he can't climb them he orders them chopped down.
Delete7:22 is a weirdo acting like one.
DeleteKansas now turning blue over time is not surprising when one considers the recent former Republican governor Sam Brownback who instituted the "Kansas Experiment" where Kansas went all in with Milton Friedman/Arthur Laffer neoliberalism and it was such a colossal failure that the state has been slowly turning blue ever since.
ReplyDeleteBob not mentioning this pertinent circumstance is very on brand for his right wing vanity blog.
I've watched a lot of commentary on the Kansas results, none of which has mentioned Brownback. I guess the whole world is a right wing vanity blog. Or you're not so smart.
DeleteNebraska has mostly mollisol grasslands that are some of the most fertile and productive soils on earth. The sod there is not particularly "wild" or compacted and not that difficult to break up. Tillage is one of the most damaging activities to soil, degrading aggregate stability along with risks of erosion and rapid decomposition of organic matter. Excessive tillage played a significant role in the Dust Bowl era.
ReplyDeleteI heard there was a drought also too...
Delete