When Rep. Elizabeth Esty was caught up in a scandal over her failure to deal with an abusive staffer, she retired, throwing open the race to replace her. She represents Newtown, Connecticut and the surrounding area, which is highly affluent with pockets of concentrated poverty/2
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One of those pockets is the Berkeley Heights housing project, where Jahana Hayes grew up. Despite a teen pregnancy that temporarily derailed her high school education, she went on to become the 2016 National Teacher of the Year /3https://www.cbsnews.com/video/teacher-of-the-year-jahana-hayes-inspires-students-to-face-the-worlds-challenges/ …
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On May 2, just two weeks before the nominating convention,
@JahanaHayes jumped into the race to replace Esty. Mary Glassman was already in, and had statewide name ID and a ton of money in the bank. It wasn’t supposed to be close. /4Show this thread -
But
@JahanaHayes came to win: The Berkeley Knights, a drumline from her old project less than 4 miles away, came out to show support. If Hayes wins, she will be the only Black man or woman serving in Congress from ALL of New England.https://twitter.com/CourantPhotogs/status/996145449580056576 …
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At first, there weren’t going to be speeches, but somebody made a motion to hear the candidates, since Hayes was so new. A bunch of delegates fought that, but lost. Then they drew straws to see who’d get to go last, and Hayes won that. Some delegates demanded a re-draw! /6
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After the speeches, on the first ballot, nobody got 50%, so it went to a second a second ballot after the third-place finisher,
@MannySanchezCT, dropped out… /7Show this thread -
There was a screen on the stage flashing the vote totals. It was the same stage Hayes would have walked across to get her diploma in 1990. It showed that she had pulled off a stunning upset, winning a majority of delegates, 172-168. The place went nuts. But it wasn’t over… /8
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The chair kept the vote open for an excruciating amount of time as Glassman’s team worked the delegates. The chair for the town of New Britain made three separate changes. The vote was gaveled, Glassman declared the winner…/9
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So
@MaryGlassman won the party nod, but voters still have a say. The primary is in August and@JahanaHayes has a shot -- but needs an awful lot of money. I’m not telling you what to do, but here’s her fundraising page https://secure.actblue.com/donate/teamhayes … Story:https://theintercept.com/2018/05/21/jahana-hayes-connecticut-democratic-primary/ …Show this thread -
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Wait, something good happened?
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Keep reading :(
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Ugh. Never mind. Money. Great story though!
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Thanks for giving this the attention it deserves. As a delegate that attended that night it was confusing to watch; in over 15+ years as a delegate I (nor anyone else in attendance) have ever seen a vote left open that long, for no apparent reason other than to change the outcome
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I was at the State Convention this weekend, it was clear-cut. They announced when voting closed & followed with an announcement that there would be 10 mins for any changes, even announced an exact cut off time. This did not happen Monday. So who decided to leave it open, and why
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The party of 'Rig again... till you get it' 
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Yep. The Democratic Party is against “hacking our democracy” unless they’re the ones doing it.
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Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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You can just keep the voting open to let your chosen candidate try to convince people to change their vote?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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