New York transplants asking about the general politics of the DC area
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Anonymous
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What the title says.
I am aware that educated urban metropolitan areas tend to vote blue, but are there not different shades of blue? My wife and I (we are a married lesbian couple) moved to the District of Columbia last year and we are both registered Democrats - though I am more fiscally conservative, my wife is basically socialist. We kind of missed the boat on DC local elections and as you very well know, we don't have federal representation. We both work in DC, but we are planning on moving to the suburbs (any metro line will do) and we are intersted in the political tenor of our potential new home. It's not the deciding factor, I'm more curious than anything else. Our main source of information about DC area politics is the Washington Post. Unrelated to politics, if given the choice I would pick Arlington, whereas my wife would pick Silver Spring. I'm interested to know who would find more political compadres and where, and who would be up for more contentious debate. Do different parts of the DC metro area vary in shades of blue? Are there any conservative enclaves? Any place known for kooky leftists (that my wife could hang with?) I don't imagine us being married lesbians would bother anyone. I suspect that my wife would take the edge off some of her socialist views once she starts paying some socialist taxes, but who knows, she's very good at rationalizing her arguments. |
Anonymous
| Takoma Park |
Anonymous
| If you want kooky leftists, look at Takoma park. Otherwise, everything is generally blue with people mostly to the left. Few Trump supporters, but more old-school Republicans in NOVA and Bethesda/Potomac. |
Anonymous
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Takoma Park is ground zero for the far left and known for ideology over intellect and passion over pragmatism. Lots of untalented arts and crafts wanna bees. Get ready for old lady crafts, cats, and bad pottery. They think they are the Berkeley of the east coast, they have never been to Berkeley.
Silver Spring is mostly faux liberals who couldn't afford Bethesda and are bitter about it. They are a very hypocritical group who brag about liking diversity while segregating themselves within their schools. Not a bright group but they will love you if you are gay ....as long as you are white. Kensington- pocket of conservative Catholics and people praying that when MCOS rezones they'll get out of Einstein and into BCC. Arlington -liberal or centrist democrat with a few establishment Republicans. More concerned with on trend kitchen remodels than politics though. Alexandria - liberal to centrist. Wants to be Annapolis, antiqu'ing becomes a verb in Old Town. Bethesda -where to start. Centrist to liberal left with closet Republican fiscal leanings. Locally turning right because they feel they get stuck with the bill for the loony policies coming out of TP and SS. There is a dress code. Potomac - republicans. |
Anonymous
| This is quickly going to turn into a thread about self-deprecating stereotypes of DC area neighborhoods and I'm here to sit back and enjoy. |
Anonymous
| Nanny state control freak statists totalitarians will love it here |
Anonymous
| South Arlington would be the best compromise for you. People in North Arlington typically espouse liberal views and vote Democratic, but they are more talk than action. Takoma Park is not a place for the fiscally conservative; indeed, many there are fundamentally hostile towards private property rights. South Arlington is less hypocritical than North Arlington, and more sane than Takoma Park. |
Anonymous
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I've got some.
Kentlands - If you have totalitarian leanings but couldn't must more than a C- average in school then the Kentlands is the place to be. You can join the HOA board and spend your evenings (after your 3 hour commute) measuring your neighbors windows ballasts and issuing HOA citations. First one to 300 citations, gets a coupon for Bucca di Beppo! Local politics are hot, hot hot with lots of debate around which door colors to approve. You wont get much left or right debate because its Stepford here. Everyone is identical. Darnestown Always wanted to live on a farm but hate farm animals and don't like to actually grow things? Darnestown is the place for you. Large, huge houses on basically multi acre empty lots with nothing but some ugly developer grade white pine trees -until they fall town. Sit back and sip wine while watching your landscaping crew mow endless acres of crabgrass. Politics - why yes of course. One of the most exciting and only events in the area is when the local church becomes a voting location. There is an old guy in a tiny house that was here before all the mega houses went up. He has a trump bumper sticker on his beat up truck. When friends from the city come out to see you, you can drive them by it -sort of like your own personal zoo exhibit. |
Anonymous
Takoma Park.
Montgomery County just elected Marc Elrich, the big fat leftist king. Move there and you may soon get to experience a socialist paradise. |
Anonymous
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Hyattsville
College Park University Park |
Anonymous
You do realize that you sound stupid, right? |
Anonymous
Stay in DC. People in the suburbs are pre-occupied with long commutes even when they take the metro and less politically engaged than in the city. The wait times for metro get longer the further out you go, parking at many is a pain, and walking home after dark is often not safe as there isn't the same foot traffic and lighted areas all the way back to your home as you find DC. |
Anonymous
Agreed with PP. I live in the suburbs and think DC would be the best place for you, especially given that you both work in DC. Why move. |
Anonymous
Con enclaves: The thing you'll notice in DC moving from other cities is that there are different kinds of cons here. In NYC you'll get a lot of the selfish, money-in-my-own-pocket damn-society conservatives. I can even understand them and where they come from; they're usually rational and educated, even if selfish. In DC you have some of those (but fewer) but you get the crazy ideologues - conservatives parachuted in from Liberty U and Koch jobs where they learn that democrats are evil and the government does 'violence' against people and the only way to fix the country is to donate to Jay Sekulow's 'charity', work for Scott Walker and condemn Drudge for being a bleeding heart. All the really crazy-insane conservative outlets are on the VA side - Koch, Scaife, Scott Walker's outfit, Paul Ryan's outfit, etc are all in Alexandria. So most people in Alexandria are normal, but you'll get some of the rightwing ideologue types. Kooky leftists: Takoma Park as others have said. Do you want to live in an urban neighborhood or drive places? What are you used to? |
Anonymous
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In DC: Petworth might work. Shaw. Dupont Circle, but it's super-gentrified now. H Street area. Bloomingdale.
Almost all of the District is pretty liberal (because people are educated about politics here). In fact the DC local politics is pretty surprising to outsiders, since in most places you assume the liberal political groups are coalitions of white educated people and minorities. Here in DC everyone's a Democrat and mostly everyone is a liberal; some of the people who are pro-corporate in DC politics will surprise you. |