The Midterms: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[AmazonGrace]

This made me happy: 

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-crucial-significance-of-lucy-mcbaths-win-in-georgias-sixth-congressional-district

[GreyhoundFan]

The fabulous Kate McKinnon was back as Laura Ingraham on Saturday Night Live:

 

[47of74]

Some good news out of Wisconsin today;

Quote

Republican Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has conceded to Democrat Josh Kaul.

Schimel announced Monday that he would not seek a recount, even though state law allowed it because the margin of his defeat was less than 1 percentage point.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

  The runoff election between Hyde-Smith and Espy will be held the day after the rally. I want to be wrong, but I think Hyde-Smith is going to win this race. ?

[GreyhoundFan]

"These are the undecided races two weeks after Election Day"

Spoiler

It’s been two weeks since Election Day, and while the matchups that captured national intrigue are officially over, there remain a handful of outstanding races yet to be called.

First, a quick primer on what has been resolved:

Democrats in the most high-profile, too-close-to-call races effectively all admitted defeat over the weekend. In Georgia, Democrat Stacey Abrams did not officially concede, but she acknowledged that her GOP opponent, Brian Kemp, would be the winner of the state’s gubernatorial election, though she refused to say his win was legitimate after widespread accusations of voter suppression. In Florida, Andrew Gillum, who conceded on election night and then retracted it when the closeness of the gubernatorial race triggered a machine recount, didn’t get near close enough to overcoming Republican Ron DeSantis’s lead. And the Senate contest in Florida, which had the best, although still unlikely, chance of flipping, narrowed only slightly after a manual recount and so, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson admitted defeat to GOP Gov. Rick Scott.

The tight races that were called in the days after Nov. 6 were all breaking for Democrats until Monday, when Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones conceded to GOP Rep. Will Hurd in the 23rd District of Texas, a race that was decided by just under 700 votes. Until this week, Jones was so committed to contesting the results that she even attended last week’s orientation for new members in Washington.

There remain five races where there is not yet an official winner. In each of them, the Republican incumbent is defending the seat.

Senate in Mississippi

There’s only one Senate race yet to be decided, and that’s in Mississippi, where none of the candidates secured 50 percent of the vote, so the highest vote-getters, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, will face each other in a runoff election on Nov. 27. Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to replace Sen. Thad Cochran last spring, will likely emerge victorious next week in a deep-red state that President Trump won by nearly 18 points. Hyde-Smith bested Espy by only one point, but would have won easily had she not lost 16 percent of the votes to conservative Chris McDaniel, who ran as a third-party candidate.

But Republicans aren’t taking anything for granted. The runoff may be closer than they are comfortable with, considering they already face a slim majority in the Senate. Democrats are hoping for a large turnout of black voters — Espy is black, as is more than one-third of the state’s population. Potential Democratic presidential contenders Sens. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) went down this week to campaign for him. And Trump is planning to hold a rally for Hyde-Smith next week. The star power descending on the state suggests Republicans are not confident and Democrats see an opening.

Utah’s 4th District

Rep. Mia Love, the only Republican African American woman in the House, seemed like she was headed for defeat but recently pulled ahead of Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams by several hundred votes, giving her a fighting chance. But late Monday night, McAdams was up by more than 700 votes and declared himself the victor, saying there weren’t enough provisional ballots to be counted for Love to overcome him, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Love was considered among the most vulnerable Republicans this year and like many in her situation tried to separate herself from Trump. After Election Day, when it was believed that Love had lost, Trump named her among the Republican incumbents who lost because they distanced themselves from him. “Mia Love gave me no love and she lost,” Trump said. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”

New York’s 22nd District

Democrat Anthony Brindisi has declared victory over GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney. There are still absentee ballots to be counted, but Tenney would need to win most of them to overcome Brindisi’s lead. Unlike many vulnerable Republicans who distanced themselves from the president, Tenney embraced Trump, who even came to the district in October to raise money for her. Though Trump lost New York handily in 2016, he won the district by double digits.

New York’s 27th District

GOP Rep. Chris Collins is holding on to his lead over Nate McMurray, but absentee ballots are still being counted. Collins was indicted in August on insider-trading charges, but that did not deter voters. Though McMurray is a long shot, he still came to Washington last week for freshman orientation.

Georgia’s 7th District

As of late last week, GOP Rep. Rob Woodall had won reelection by less than 500 votes over Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux, but because the margin of victory is less than 1 percent, Bourdeaux has asked for a recount. It’s unlikely to change the results, but it still means this race is not quite over.

 

[47of74]

It's official, Mia Love has been defeated

Quote

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D) defeated incumbent GOP Rep. Mia Love by fewer than 700 votes in a hotly contested race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, turning the district blue for the first time in six years.

The race had been initially too close to call, with both McAdams and Love at different points taking a slight edge over each other. In the end, the Associated Press called the race for the Democrat on Nov. 20.

Polls had showed McAdams with a slight edge over Love, with Sabato's Crystal Ball shifting her race from a “toss-up” to “leans Democrat” just days before the election.

Love had faced an uphill battle in the district, where President Trump's approval rating has been underwater amid a midterm election that has been widely framed as a referendum on the president.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

13 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

The turnout i 2018 is great. Still, less than half of the people eligible to do so voted. I wonder how many would vote if there was no voter suppression...

[AmazonGrace]

Over here in the parliamentary elections it's about 70 % of the eligible voters who vote.  It's pretty stable, doesn't change much from election to election.  The elections are on Sundays and a lot of people have the day off anyway. If you can't make it to your local voting booth on Sunday you can vote in advance all over the country in locations such as post offices or supermarkets, no excuses or explanations are needed or asked.  If you're in the hospital and can't get to the elections the elections may come to you. You need an ID to vote but then you need an ID to drive, to get a bank account, to travel abroad and so on, so most people have one even if they don't plan on voting. (You can buy cereal without ID tho).  I have been automatically registered to vote since I was 18 so they send me the paperwork at home automatically without any signing up or checking the registration or signature comparisons or any other stupid hoops I need to jump through. All I need to do is keep my address current in the post office so that  the letters reach me in time and so that they know which district I'm eligible to vote in and can tell me where my Sunday voting place is.  No one asks for party affiliation or race or ethnicity or any such thing in the process.

The voting system is a bit different from the USA. There are 200 people in the parliament and 13 voting districts. In my district they elect 17 members of the parliament, not just one.    For the most part the districts stay the same for decades and are divided by the same established geographical areas that are relevant elsewhere in local government  so gerrymandering for political purposes is not an issue. If there's  a big change in the population size of an area it mostly means that the number of reps elected in the district decreases or increases by one.    We have hundreds of candidates that are divided into lists by party affiliation. This way, it's not an all or nothing thing, there are several minority parties that can get reps in the parliament and  if you vote for someone who doesn't get elected your vote counts toward his or her party success anyway and may help propel one of the top candidates in their party ahead.   

  I  show up, check the list for the number of the candidate I want to vote for,  show the workers my ID, get a paper ballot, write a number, have the ballot stamped and drop it in a sealed box. It's a 20 minutes walk to the polling place,  the voting usually takes me about a minute, ten if there is a line, and 20 minutes to walk back home.  After the polls close at 8 pm. it takes about an hour to have the preliminary results on TV and the final results are clear by midnight. No one is worried about voter fraud, there's rarely any reason to sue anyone as a result of an election,  and as far as I know there are no instances in which the party that got fewer votes won the majority in the parliament. 

Anyway, voting seems real simple to me and I think it should be simple everywhere.

[fraurosena]

I've posted about how things work over here before, but it's pretty much the same as @AmazonGrace says. It's simply the most democratic way to vote.

[CTRLZero]

My daughter needed an absentee ballot, and I was amazed at the hoops she needed to jump through to obtain one, including writing a paragraph explaining the reason she was not able to go to her local polling place on election day.  Apparently, the application is reviewed by a panel which makes the determination whether or not to send the voter a mail-in ballot.

She was traveling on election day for a work conference in another state, and was determined to vote, but it wasn't made easy for her to do so.  She said (according to the form she filled out) if there were medical reasons a person could not get to a polling place, a doctor's verification was needed.

I've been voting mail-in (Washington state) for years, no questions asked.  She lives in Pennsylvania and was just astounded at how difficult it was to get a ballot.  I bet other people don't bother, so good for her.  It's too bad she didn't need a note from mommy, I'd have given them an earful (or eyeful, as it was a written excuse).

It's just so troubling that there are any roadblocks whatsoever to voting.  It should be the opposite, making it easier for every eligible person to have their vote counted.

[AmazonGrace]

41 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

My daughter needed an absentee ballot, and I was amazed at the hoops she needed to jump through to obtain one, including writing a paragraph explaining the reason she was not able to go to her local polling place on election day.  Apparently, the application is reviewed by a panel which makes the determination whether or not to send the voter a mail-in ballot.

She was traveling on election day for a work conference in another state, and was determined to vote, but it wasn't made easy for her to do so.  She said (according to the form she filled out) if there were medical reasons a person could not get to a polling place, a doctor's verification was needed.

I've been voting mail-in (Washington state) for years, no questions asked.  She lives in Pennsylvania and was just astounded at how difficult it was to get a ballot.  I bet other people don't bother, so good for her.  It's too bad she didn't need a note from mommy, I'd have given them an earful (or eyeful, as it was a written excuse).

It's just so troubling that there are any roadblocks whatsoever to voting.  It should be the opposite, making it easier for every eligible person to have their vote counted.

This is just nonsensical imo. It would probably be a lot easier and cheaper to send the absentee ballots automatically to everybody than to put up a panel to talk about this and waste doctors' time  to tell them if you're sick enough.  

[Audrey2]

I grew up in Ohio and in the early 90s I needed to get absentee ballots, as my college was about three and a half hours from my home (but still in Ohio).  I remember having to go to the board of elections and I think I needed to explain that I was going to be out of town at college on election Day as I remember. After moving to Arizona, it seems like I could just request an absentee ballot instead of going to the polls on election Day without stating a reason why. Now I live in a vote-by-mail state and I really like that. It's fascinating how different the state voting rules are.

[47of74]

6 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

My daughter needed an absentee ballot, and I was amazed at the hoops she needed to jump through to obtain one, including writing a paragraph explaining the reason she was not able to go to her local polling place on election day.  Apparently, the application is reviewed by a panel which makes the determination whether or not to send the voter a mail-in ballot.

She was traveling on election day for a work conference in another state, and was determined to vote, but it wasn't made easy for her to do so.  She said (according to the form she filled out) if there were medical reasons a person could not get to a polling place, a doctor's verification was needed.

I've been voting mail-in (Washington state) for years, no questions asked.  She lives in Pennsylvania and was just astounded at how difficult it was to get a ballot.  I bet other people don't bother, so good for her.  It's too bad she didn't need a note from mommy, I'd have given them an earful (or eyeful, as it was a written excuse).

It's just so troubling that there are any roadblocks whatsoever to voting.  It should be the opposite, making it easier for every eligible person to have their vote counted.

In Iowa it's fairly easy to vote in advance.  No explanations needed at all to vote.  I always vote early, and these days straight fornicating D too all the way down the goddamn line.  I plan to raise all holy hell if the Republican fornicate sticks try to eliminate early voting here in Iowa and sue them into the middle of the next millennium. 

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

My daughter needed an absentee ballot, and I was amazed at the hoops she needed to jump through to obtain one, including writing a paragraph explaining the reason she was not able to go to her local polling place on election day.  Apparently, the application is reviewed by a panel which makes the determination whether or not to send the voter a mail-in ballot.

She was traveling on election day for a work conference in another state, and was determined to vote, but it wasn't made easy for her to do so.  She said (according to the form she filled out) if there were medical reasons a person could not get to a polling place, a doctor's verification was needed.

I've been voting mail-in (Washington state) for years, no questions asked.  She lives in Pennsylvania and was just astounded at how difficult it was to get a ballot.  I bet other people don't bother, so good for her.  It's too bad she didn't need a note from mommy, I'd have given them an earful (or eyeful, as it was a written excuse).

It's just so troubling that there are any roadblocks whatsoever to voting.  It should be the opposite, making it easier for every eligible person to have their vote counted.

We have a state election here on Saturday. For the fourth election running I will be interstate (sigh heavily). So I pre-polled last Saturday, along with my husband and quite a number of other people. The pre-poll places have been open for about two weeks now I think and people who can't vote on Saturday for whatever reason have been turning up since then. I could also have requested a mail in ballot, or turned up to the interstate polling place on the day (if I had been near it). I have previously voted in the next electorate across (by accident, the boundary had shifted by a couple of streets since the last election so the polling place had ballots for both electorates as well as a couple for every other electorate in the state in case someone happened to be away from home but needing to vote.) Partly because we have compulsory "turn up and get your name ticked off*" they try to make it as easy as possible for everyone to vote, no matter where they are likely to be on the actual day. I don't think I even showed ID this time actually (was carrying a child) - just told them my name and address, and affirmed that I hadn't already voted ("I'm not that organised. I can't even get here today without a child in tow...")

The main thing I miss about pre-polling is the democracy sausage - for the fourth time running I am missing out!!

*technically you don't have to vote... I'm not sure anyone can/will say anything if you get ticked off, take the ballots and put them straight in the box on your way out the door again.

[Maggie Mae]

12 hours ago, fraurosena said:

The turnout i 2018 is great. Still, less than half of the people eligible to do so voted. I wonder how many would vote if there was no voter suppression...

In some states it would be more. But in my state, I think it would be the same. We have absentee ballots available to anyone, no reason needed. We have weeks of "early voting" and ballots printed in various languages. We've got fun stickers and polling stations are easy to get to. 

But some people just don't want to vote. There were some minor incidents - there always are as long as I've lived here. But that doesn't account for the 4% turnout in some precincts. I looked through one of those apps that mines your contacts and tells you if they voted or if they missed elections, and it seems like even educated people are blowing it off. I don't get it. 

[GreyhoundFan]

10 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

My daughter needed an absentee ballot, and I was amazed at the hoops she needed to jump through to obtain one, including writing a paragraph explaining the reason she was not able to go to her local polling place on election day.  Apparently, the application is reviewed by a panel which makes the determination whether or not to send the voter a mail-in ballot.

She was traveling on election day for a work conference in another state, and was determined to vote, but it wasn't made easy for her to do so.  She said (according to the form she filled out) if there were medical reasons a person could not get to a polling place, a doctor's verification was needed.

I've been voting mail-in (Washington state) for years, no questions asked.  She lives in Pennsylvania and was just astounded at how difficult it was to get a ballot.  I bet other people don't bother, so good for her.  It's too bad she didn't need a note from mommy, I'd have given them an earful (or eyeful, as it was a written excuse).

It's just so troubling that there are any roadblocks whatsoever to voting.  It should be the opposite, making it easier for every eligible person to have their vote counted.

It's medium-difficult here in Virginia. There are a list of acceptable reasons to vote absentee and you have to let them know which applies to you. We also have voter ID requirements. I am hopeful, however, because the Dems have finally cut the Repug super-majority in the state house to a razor-thin margin, so the Rs are already starting to agree to things that even a year ago were out of the question, like medicaid expansion. Hopefully modernizing the voting system will be one of the things that can be done sooner, rather than, later.

[AmazonGrace]

Cindy Hyde-Smith Attended Segregationist High School: Report

Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith graduated from a high school  that was established by white parents who didn’t want their children attending class with black students, according to a new report. Hyde-Smith’s attendance at the Lawrence County Academy, referred to by the Jackson Free Press as a “segregation academy,” is documented in a 1975 yearbook.This yearbook, named “The Rebel,” features a photo of cheerleaders alongside their school mascot, who is “dressed in what appears to be an outfit designed to mimic that of a Confederate general [and] offers a salute as she holds up a large Confederate flag.”Among those pictured is Hyde-Smith, who was a sophomore at the time, according to the yearbook caption. Hyde-Smith was recorded at a campaign event saying she would be comfortable attending a public hanging. She later issued an apology. The gaffe is thought to have bolstered her opponent, Democrat Mike Espy,  who is African-American, in a runoff election for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Hyde-Smith characterized the report as a low blow from the "gotcha liberal media," according to The Hill.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cindy-hyde-smith-attended-segregationist-high-school-report

[47of74]

I guess Steve King was busy. 

 

That or she's courting the racist fuck stick vote for 2020.

[GreyhoundFan]

Cindy is certainly the perfect Dumpy-style Repug:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

There is just one House race that has not been settled.

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — The midterm elections were weeks ago — Nov. 6 — and Thanksgiving has come and gone. So the election results for the U.S. House of Representatives should finally be complete, right?

Well, almost.

With Republican Mia Love’s concession on Monday to Democrat Ben McAdams in Utah’s 4th Congressional District race, Democrats will have a 234-201 edge over Republicans when the new class of the House of Representatives convenes in January. That’s a pickup of at least 39 seats for Democrats.

But one congressional race in California is still not quite over. The tight 21st District race between Republican Rep. David Valadao and Democratic challenger TJ Cox was called by media outlets for Valadao after election night. But the race isn’t settled.

Election officials are still counting ballots and Valadao’s election night lead of nearly 5,000 votes has shrunk into the hundreds. That’s out of well over 100,000 cast.

Whatever happens in that race, Democrats have made major gains in the House, picking up the most seats for the party since the election after Watergate in 1974. Their gains are still not as large as the 2010 midterm Republican wave, in which the GOP picked up 63 seats. Republicans gained 52 seats in 1994.

And while Republicans lost dozens of seats in the House, they remain in control in the Senate. The 51-49 margin they held before the midterms is now 52-47, heading into Tuesday’s special election in Mississippi between GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy.

Republicans will control the House and Senate for just a few more weeks, as lawmakers rush to complete spending legislation before a Dec. 7 deadline.

Newly-elected House members are continuing their orientation this week. And on Wednesday, Democrats will carry out a caucus vote, to consider whether Rep. Nancy Pelosi will become the next House Speaker. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-MD is seeking to return as House Majority Leader and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-SC, in the No. 3 position, House Majority Whip.

Before the holiday break, 16 Democrats signed a letter saying they would not vote for Pelosi. But some have reversed their position, and no one has stepped up to run against her.

Pelosi is expected to get majority support from her party this week, ahead of a final House floor vote in January.

 

[fraurosena]

Oh, wouldn't this be delicious irony?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Google joins list of companies seeking refund of campaign donation to Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith after ‘public hanging’ comment"

Spoiler

Google is the latest company to demand a refund of a campaign contribution it made to Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi because of what critics say are her racially charged comments, including one about a “public hanging.”

Google late Monday joined a growing list of companies — including Walmart, AT&T and Pfizer — asking for their donations back ahead of Mississippi’s Tuesday election, where Hyde-Smith is facing Democrat Mike Espy, a former U.S. agriculture secretary who is black.

Hyde-Smith, who has been endorsed by President Trump, became the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress in April after she was appointed to replace Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who had stepped down because of health problems.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign has been roiled by revelations that she embraced Confederate history at several points throughout her career. On Nov. 3, Hyde-Smith was recorded saying it’d be a “good idea” to make it more difficult for some groups to vote. Then a video posted to Twitter showed the senator saying at a Tupelo campaign stop that if a local rancher standing next to her “invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”

Mississippi long had a reputation for lynching African Americans, many by hanging.

After Hyde-Smith initially refused to apologize, despite outcry from her colleagues and the public, powerful donors were unsettled. The requests for donation refunds came rolling in, with most donors specifying that they had donated to Hyde-Smith’s campaign before the video of the “public hanging” comment surfaced. She subsequently made a limited apology during a debate with Espy, saying her remarks had been “twisted” for political purposes.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign has dismissed her comments as jokes or exaggerations. But her words carry a heavy weight in Mississippi, a place with a dark history of racial violence and injustice, including one of the worst lynching records of any U.S. state. Her opponent, Espy, would be its first African American senator since Reconstruction.

U.S. tech giants have been among donors denouncing Hyde-Smith and asking for their donations back. Earlier this month, Google confirmed that its PAC had donated $5,000 to Hyde-Smith on Nov. 2.

“While we support candidates who promote pro-growth policies for business and technology, we do not condone these remarks and would not have made such a contribution had we known about them,” Google said through a spokeswoman at the time.

This weekend, Facebook confirmed that it had similarly sought a refund of the $2,500 donation it made to Hyde-Smith in September.

“The recent public comments made by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith do not reflect the values or mission of Facebook,” Facebook said through a representative. “Our PAC contribution was made before these comments were made, and we have asked the Hyde-Smith campaign to return our campaign donation.”

A third tech company that donated to her, Amazon.com, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its plans to seek a refund of its $2,500 donation. The contributions were made in May and June, according to FEC records. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Major League Baseball is another high-profile donor asking for its money back. The organization said its donation “was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend.” On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that civil rights advocates were calling for a boycott of the San Francisco Giants after it was revealed that the Giants' biggest shareholder, Charles B. Johnson, donated $5,400 to Hyde-Smith’s campaign. Johnson’s attorney has said that Johnson may try to have his donation returned.

Other companies that have requested refunds include Leidos, Union Pacific and Boston Scientific, CNBC reported.

 

[Cartmann99]

On 11/25/2018 at 8:43 PM, 47of74 said:

That or she's courting the racist fuck stick vote for 2020

Please welcome President Ernst and Vice-president Hyde-Smith!

[47of74]

2 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Please welcome President Ernst and Vice-president Hyde-Smith!

Oh God no.  What I meant was that Ernst is up for reelection in 2020 and probably wants to court the Iowa racist fuckstick vote for her Senate reelection bid.  I hope we get a hard, pipe hittin liberal to run against her and to then run against that fuck Grassley when he's up in 2022.  (Assuming he doesn't retire then).