Likely slightly higher than normal turnout in this swing county of the swing state of Ohio. I went about 10am the normal quiet time and had to wait only about a minute before beginning the process. Someone who went when the polls opened, usually a bad time, had a 20 minute wait.
It was interesting preparing my ballot last night. I haven't watched TV at all recently so I really did not know much about who was on the ballot. (TV was deluged with advertisement which I only saw when I went to the gym, and of course turned the sound off).
We have an interesting state ballot proposal that would lessen incarceration for lower level drug convictions. Not the best way to make laws, but I voted for it. We simply imprison too many people.
In California we are voting on whether or not to STOP observing Daylight Savings Time. There are also 5 Teapublican-held House seats (SoCal mainly) that may flip blue. The House changing to blue will be heavily influenced by this state. We also have a shoo-in in the person of Gavin Newsom for governor. He was mayor of San Francisco and took the lead on same-sex marriage.
Lots and lots of people stood in line or voted by mail in recent days so we could breeze into the polls at 11 a.m. and out at 1:15. It would have been faster, but the frau took her blanket-sized sample ballot and spent a lot of time folding and unfolding it to see how she was voting on a plethora (11) of insulting referendum questions. The folks said there were lines out the door from 7 to 9, and they expected another wave at the end of the day.
Blue wave or red? Probably blue right here. But the I-4 corridor between Mickey Mouse and Tampa will probably come through for our governor who wants to be a senator, even though his own financial statements amount to admission of crimes, and for the smirking Trumpoleon who wants to be governor and probably will be because he is running [from the Fox green room] against a black guy in "post-racial America."
Most of the ballot questions came from the state Constitutional Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to propose changes. The commission is supposed to be bipartisan, but since the Rs got control of all the levers, they account for 28 of 31 measures. They are good at questions that ask "do you want eat apple pie AND execute shoplifters?" NO is the best default.
A constitutional amendment to restore felons' voting rights after their sentences (except for murder or sex crimes) probably will pass. It's not from the commission. Our governor has sole power, realistically, in current law, and the current one doesn't restore rights to black folks or Democrats. So the media will hail Florida. But we also will put a six-year limit on capital punishment appeals because it is buried in a bunch of victims' rights that are already in statute law but can cover up another defense of our flawed death penalty system if they carry the flaw into the constitution, where they don't need to be.
Locally, we probably will pass a tax to raise money for the schools to replace the money the Republican legislature took away to give to the Republican governor's Republican friends. As I say, the Republican governor is probably going to Washington in his Navy cap (he spent most of his naval career in drydock).
We have recreational marijuana and anti-gerrymandering laws on the ballot. I also took pleasure in not voting for my neighbor with three dogs that crap in my yard for school board.
Heavy turnout here in the cornfield, which is not a good sign, as they're all Trumpists. Plus, the line was v-e-r-y slow because the idiot GOP legislature passed a law banning straight ticket voting.
The idiot GOP legislature also passed a confusing law to address non-existent voter fraud that basically says that if you don't have a Michigan ID, you're supposed to be able fill out an affidavit swearing you're who you say you are and get a ballot that way. This law is especially idiotic given that everybody knows everybody else in this town on sight.
The election worker was one of our Church Ladies. So when she said, "I need your drivers license," I said, "No, you don't. I just need to fill out an affidavit."
She held up the line while she went and asked the city clerk if that was right. The clerk came out and said that, yes, I could fill out an affidavit, and then she held up the line some more while she went to find some affidavit forms, which she should have had at the outset.
When she handed me the affidavit form, I filled it out slowly with my best penmanship. Then I gave her the form. With my drivers license.
I justified my passive-aggressive behavior by telling myself I had ensured that no one after me would be turned away if they didn't have ID. And not that I had made a bunch of Republicans stand outside in the wind waiting to cancel out my vote.
I voted at 10:30 this morning. All the stations were full, and as I was in a bit of a hurry, I actually requested a paper ballot as the line for them was shorter - I can't remember the last time I filled one of those out. It doesn't involve punching the chads; instead, you use a black sharpie to connect an arrowhead to the other tip of an arrow (i.e. you draw the arrow shaft between the two ends). It's easier to see and do than to describe; if you want to see a picture of what I'm talking about, click this link and scroll down to p. 16.
I only had to wait a moment. One of my daughters voted during early morning rush hour, and got in and out in about 20 minutes - not bad. I agree with whoever said or implied that it's faster now to vote on election day than to do early voting - I think I waited in line something like 45 minutes when I did early voting a year or two ago.
We had three referendums on our ballot, all advisory. The first was: should municipalities in our county be required to offer the countywide minimum wage of $13, and then have wages indexed to the CPI? The current situation is that the county board passed the $13 minimum wage legislation, but included an exemption for any municipality that wished to be exempt, and over 100 municipalities in the county (I live in Cook County, IL, which has a cajillions of suburban towns in it) have so chosen. There are arguments to be made on either side of the issue, but I went with my training - I'm an old economics major.
The second was somewhat similar from a legal standpoint: should my municipality match the county requirement that all workers should be able to accrue up to five sick days to care for their own health or the health of a family member? No brainer: I said yes.
The third was: should the State of Illinois strengthen penalties for the illegal trafficking of guns, and require gun dealers to be state certified? I said no; I don't trust state government in Illinois.
I threw away one vote, for county commissioner, for whom the only two options were the incumbent or a write-in. I chose the latter and wrote in the name of my pastor. The other was for our US congressperson. I can't stand the incumbent, who gets perfect scores from all the pro-abortion lobbies and is really smug, and the Republican opponent this time was a convicted felon and all-around bad guy, according to news reports. So I left that one blank.
In Cook County, you have to vote for dozens and dozens of judges - either to elect first-timers, or to retain incumbents. I followed the Chicago Tribune editorial board's recommendations. Another civic good from the notorious purveyors of fake news.
Jim, Our Constitutional Commission would have combined your sick days and gun laws and said: Yes or No. That's what they all were here. The one that bans offshore oil drilling and indoor vaping probably will pass because that's one that if you like one you probably like the other. Of course, a ban on offshore oil drilling in the Florida Constitution will last no more than six minutes as soon as an oil company tells Congress it's ready to drill here.
Our ballots had circles to be blackened with #2 pencils. We know the election workers from church and work. They said "I have to ask your name, even if I know it." Nobody asked for ID or an affidavit. It was funny because the polling place was the Eagles Club bar and party room. There was a sign over the bar that said, "No service without ID". Makes me think of when I was a kid, my mom and (paternal)grandma were election workers. From opposite parties. Somebody always had a box of donuts at the polling place. We kids would stop in after school and mooch donuts.
Looks like the blue wave is materializing in the House, but not the Senate. Very good night for Democrats in Illinois: they seem to have swept all the statewide offices on the ballot, including unseating the governor, and have flipped a couple of previously Republican-held US congressional seats.
Ds threw everything they had at Trump and got a ripple, not a wave. Shows what happens when you try to beat something with nothing. No message. "We will save your prior conditions" is something Republicans could say (they lie easily) and did. "We'll protect your rights over your womb" was all the Ds had left, and that is a big yawn (spoiler alert!) to male voters.
I make it 5-2 that 2020 is the last presidential election for a long time.
Tom, you mean Trump is "president for life"? I beg to differ, they said that about Obama, too. Of course that was ginned up fears by the deplorables. Trump is like a migraine, you think it's going to last forever, but it doesn't.
Yes, they said that about Obama, and now the "theys" who pretended to think he would do it are where they can do it. Trump can do it by executive order. Ask him. Or ask Sean Hannity, which is the same thing.
Viktor Orban in Hungary would be the model. David Leonhardt had a piece in the NYT the other day pointing out that Orban won the last election and does not even have a majority in the House, but has control of constitutional changes and the judges and has reduced the news media to the compliant Foxes and Clear Channels, and without even jailing his enemies, Orban will now do as he pleases and rule as long as he pleases. It's not hard if you mobilize the Yahoos and the other side has no message and can't figure out how to counter yours.
Nationally, the deficit shrunk during Obama's second term as a result of his tax increase and the growing economy during the latter part of his presidency. Republicans talk a good game about fiscal responsibility but all it ever seems to boil down to is tax cuts.
On the other hand, the State of Illinois fiscal condition is unsolvably bad, and most of the 'credit' for that must go to Democrats.
Dems have two strategies between now and 2020: work with the GOP on immigration reform and infrastructure, which gives both them and the GOP a good record to run on in 2020 ... which would likely help Trump who will claim credit for it.
Or forget bipartisanship and start counter-fearmongering and -smearing by ramping up investigations on Trump, his family, and cronies.
The notion that the party could actually circle up and produce some clear future vision and a viable candidate to represent it is, I fear, too much to hope for.
Do I sense a feeling that D "control" of the House is going to save us? Well, Sen. McCaskell and Sen. Nelson and Sen. Heidtkamp and, for that matter almost Sen. O'Rourke stand as reminders that of the peril of offending the Great One. His minions retired them for lese majeste, and it will not be lost on new House members that Trader Joe Manchin managed to live for another six years by strategically going along with the Great One. Oh, the number of times D House members will say, "I don't agree with the President* on everything, but I have to go along with him on this."
I am too old to be around for the payout, but it's still 5-2.
Mixed results here. Nothing got flipped, we are stuck with Ricketts for another term, same with the congresspeople. Which wasn't unexpected. But we got Medicaid expansion. I think that is going to make a positive difference for a lot of people; more than different faces in state government.
Yep - saw a note somewhere that three states passed referendums (referenda?) insisting that the states accept the Medicaid expansion. I agree - very good for people that need medical care.
That imprudent grandstanding by all those Republican governors in refusing the federal Medicaid largesse in the wake of Obamacare's initial passage wasn't very long ago in years, but in terms of conservative politics, it's from a bygone era. That eon was when the Tea Party was at high tide, and Republican leaders, in what history will record as an astonishing instance of bad judgment, thought the American people gave a fig about fiscal restraint. We're now in the era of Trump, and populism reigns. In my view, bolstering Medicaid spending qualifies as a form of populism (and a good one from the point of view of Catholic social teaching). Those Republicans who have built their careers on fiscal restraint are dinosaurs now. I believe a few of them bit the dust last night; I saw David Brat was trailing in his House race when I went to bed.
Dem gov in Michigan faces a GOP legislature. Never a harbinger of good times ahead. Lt. Gov. Calley would have done a good jib, but he was tarred with Snyder's mistakes and run out in the GOP primary.
The state's urban areas are blue, but the vast majority of the out-counties are deep red. Despite Stabenow's record in ag, farming areas went for her opponent.
No real surprises in the small state of Maryland. Maryland is very blue - with a GOP governor. I have lived here for 45 years, and the Gov is only the second Republican to be elected during those years.
Gov Hogan is very popular with both Republicans and Democrats - he has to be popular with Dems to win in a state with 60% or so registered Dems and where registered independents almost equal registered Republicans. He made history in a small way by being the first Republican governor to be re-elected since 1954. He increased his majority over the election 4 years ago. Of course, he is only the 3rd GOP governor since 1954, and one of those was Spiro Agnew.
So - why such a popular Republican in a Dem state? He is a moderate, he is able to work with both parties, he can compromise (the state legislature is heavily Dem), AND - he refused to endorse Trump even after Trump was nominated and won the Presidency. I voted for him, the only Republican I voted for - and I was a Republican for most of my life. Now registered Independent.
Turnout was heavy compared to normal mid-terms.
I voted early, but a few days into it, when the long lines were gone. My husband voted on election day and there were no lines.
The DC suburbs include both Maryland and Virginia. In Virginia, the Dems managed to flip 3 House seats and all were significant flips. One was predicted in the polls, even though the Republicans had gerrymandered the district to favor Republicans and she had been in Congress for 8 years as a result. The heavy population in her district (which runs from the DC suburbs to West Virginia) is in the DC suburbs, as is the heavy population in our new (gerrymandered) district, which now also runs to W Virginia. In VA that was meant to create a safe GOP seat, and in MD it was meant to create a safe DEM seat. It has worked in Maryland, but has now failed in Virginia.
The two HUGE flips, not predicted in the polls a few days ago, were the defeat of the GOP incumbent near Richmond, and the defeat of the GOP incumbent for the area near Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Hampton Roads, VA. Richmond city is blue, but the surrounding suburbs and rural areas were very red, so it was a significant flip. Similarly, Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Hampton Roads is a great flip. That area is heavily military. For reasons that escape me, Trump is popular with the military. The Atlantic Fleet is based in Norfolk. Besides the Navy, there are other big military facilities in that area. The Dem who won is a woman, retired from the Navy. She enlisted after high school and served 20 years. The incumbent is a retired Navy Seal who has voted for Trump's agenda 98% of the time. He is currently being investigated for possible complicity in some election sleaze - the charge is that his campaign staff helped falsify signatures on petitions for another candidate - an independent - to get him on the ballot. I suppose to divide the Dem vote?
The woman who defeated Brat in Richmond pulled off a major upset also. Brat was the uber conservative (Freedom Party) who defeated Eric Cantor in the GOP primary a couple of years ago. Cantor was the Republican House Majority leader at the time.
Happy to see that Kris Kobach lost. He was the main promoter of the notion that millions of Latinos were brought into the US to register and vote fraudulently. He was the head of the defunct Voter Fraud commission Trump set up.
Very, VERY sad to see that Steve King of Iowa, an open racist who has publicly supported neo-nazi parties in Europe, easily won re-election.
Now, can the Democrats get their act together and stop driving moderates away?
Anne, I was also dismayed to see that Steve King won re-election. He is a racist, and also just seems nutty. What is the appeal? I guess there must be a lot of nutty racist people out there.
Interesting editorial by Jeff Flake in the WaPo. He clearly wants to save what I'd call WF Buckley conservatism. Will he do more than write guest editorials? Teach? Work for a think tank? Is he positioning himself for a challenge to Trump in 2020?
I've received alerts this afternoon that Trump has fired Sessions, and a friend let me know that Rosenstein is on the way to the White House, maybe to also be fired?
Is anybody really surprised about Sessions? Trump has been itching to fire him all along, for daring to recuse himself. I've no sympathy for Sessions; he's behind some of the worst immigration cruelties. But I wonder what the new guy will do. I hope Mueller has his investigation pretty well wrapped up, because it's going to be ended, one way or another.
Nationwide, I found the most appealing Republican candidate to be the Nevada brothel owner who won a seat in the state legislature. What do I like about him? He's dead.
Likely slightly higher than normal turnout in this swing county of the swing state of Ohio. I went about 10am the normal quiet time and had to wait only about a minute before beginning the process. Someone who went when the polls opened, usually a bad time, had a 20 minute wait.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting preparing my ballot last night. I haven't watched TV at all recently so I really did not know much about who was on the ballot. (TV was deluged with advertisement which I only saw when I went to the gym, and of course turned the sound off).
We have an interesting state ballot proposal that would lessen incarceration for lower level drug convictions. Not the best way to make laws, but I voted for it. We simply imprison too many people.
In California we are voting on whether or not to STOP observing Daylight Savings Time. There are also 5 Teapublican-held House seats (SoCal mainly) that may flip blue. The House changing to blue will be heavily influenced by this state. We also have a shoo-in in the person of Gavin Newsom for governor. He was mayor of San Francisco and took the lead on same-sex marriage.
ReplyDeleteLots and lots of people stood in line or voted by mail in recent days so we could breeze into the polls at 11 a.m. and out at 1:15. It would have been faster, but the frau took her blanket-sized sample ballot and spent a lot of time folding and unfolding it to see how she was voting on a plethora (11) of insulting referendum questions. The folks said there were lines out the door from 7 to 9, and they expected another wave at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteBlue wave or red? Probably blue right here. But the I-4 corridor between Mickey Mouse and Tampa will probably come through for our governor who wants to be a senator, even though his own financial statements amount to admission of crimes, and for the smirking Trumpoleon who wants to be governor and probably will be because he is running [from the Fox green room] against a black guy in "post-racial America."
Most of the ballot questions came from the state Constitutional Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to propose changes. The commission is supposed to be bipartisan, but since the Rs got control of all the levers, they account for 28 of 31 measures. They are good at questions that ask "do you want eat apple pie AND execute shoplifters?" NO is the best default.
A constitutional amendment to restore felons' voting rights after their sentences (except for murder or sex crimes) probably will pass. It's not from the commission. Our governor has sole power, realistically, in current law, and the current one doesn't restore rights to black folks or Democrats. So the media will hail Florida. But we also will put a six-year limit on capital punishment appeals because it is buried in a bunch of victims' rights that are already in statute law but can cover up another defense of our flawed death penalty system if they carry the flaw into the constitution, where they don't need to be.
Locally, we probably will pass a tax to raise money for the schools to replace the money the Republican legislature took away to give to the Republican governor's Republican friends. As I say, the Republican governor is probably going to Washington in his Navy cap (he spent most of his naval career in drydock).
We have recreational marijuana and anti-gerrymandering laws on the ballot. I also took pleasure in not voting for my neighbor with three dogs that crap in my yard for school board.
ReplyDeleteHeavy turnout here in the cornfield, which is not a good sign, as they're all Trumpists. Plus, the line was v-e-r-y slow because the idiot GOP legislature passed a law banning straight ticket voting.
The idiot GOP legislature also passed a confusing law to address non-existent voter fraud that basically says that if you don't have a Michigan ID, you're supposed to be able fill out an affidavit swearing you're who you say you are and get a ballot that way. This law is especially idiotic given that everybody knows everybody else in this town on sight.
The election worker was one of our Church Ladies. So when she said, "I need your drivers license," I said, "No, you don't. I just need to fill out an affidavit."
She held up the line while she went and asked the city clerk if that was right. The clerk came out and said that, yes, I could fill out an affidavit, and then she held up the line some more while she went to find some affidavit forms, which she should have had at the outset.
When she handed me the affidavit form, I filled it out slowly with my best penmanship. Then I gave her the form. With my drivers license.
I justified my passive-aggressive behavior by telling myself I had ensured that no one after me would be turned away if they didn't have ID. And not that I had made a bunch of Republicans stand outside in the wind waiting to cancel out my vote.
I voted at 10:30 this morning. All the stations were full, and as I was in a bit of a hurry, I actually requested a paper ballot as the line for them was shorter - I can't remember the last time I filled one of those out. It doesn't involve punching the chads; instead, you use a black sharpie to connect an arrowhead to the other tip of an arrow (i.e. you draw the arrow shaft between the two ends). It's easier to see and do than to describe; if you want to see a picture of what I'm talking about, click this link and scroll down to p. 16.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cookcountyclerk.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/NH%20Manual.pdf
I only had to wait a moment. One of my daughters voted during early morning rush hour, and got in and out in about 20 minutes - not bad. I agree with whoever said or implied that it's faster now to vote on election day than to do early voting - I think I waited in line something like 45 minutes when I did early voting a year or two ago.
We had three referendums on our ballot, all advisory. The first was: should municipalities in our county be required to offer the countywide minimum wage of $13, and then have wages indexed to the CPI? The current situation is that the county board passed the $13 minimum wage legislation, but included an exemption for any municipality that wished to be exempt, and over 100 municipalities in the county (I live in Cook County, IL, which has a cajillions of suburban towns in it) have so chosen. There are arguments to be made on either side of the issue, but I went with my training - I'm an old economics major.
The second was somewhat similar from a legal standpoint: should my municipality match the county requirement that all workers should be able to accrue up to five sick days to care for their own health or the health of a family member? No brainer: I said yes.
The third was: should the State of Illinois strengthen penalties for the illegal trafficking of guns, and require gun dealers to be state certified? I said no; I don't trust state government in Illinois.
I threw away one vote, for county commissioner, for whom the only two options were the incumbent or a write-in. I chose the latter and wrote in the name of my pastor. The other was for our US congressperson. I can't stand the incumbent, who gets perfect scores from all the pro-abortion lobbies and is really smug, and the Republican opponent this time was a convicted felon and all-around bad guy, according to news reports. So I left that one blank.
In Cook County, you have to vote for dozens and dozens of judges - either to elect first-timers, or to retain incumbents. I followed the Chicago Tribune editorial board's recommendations. Another civic good from the notorious purveyors of fake news.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJim, Our Constitutional Commission would have combined your sick days and gun laws and said: Yes or No. That's what they all were here. The one that bans offshore oil drilling and indoor vaping probably will pass because that's one that if you like one you probably like the other. Of course, a ban on offshore oil drilling in the Florida Constitution will last no more than six minutes as soon as an oil company tells Congress it's ready to drill here.
DeleteOur ballots had circles to be blackened with #2 pencils. We know the election workers from church and work. They said "I have to ask your name, even if I know it." Nobody asked for ID or an affidavit. It was funny because the polling place was the Eagles Club bar and party room. There was a sign over the bar that said, "No service without ID".
DeleteMakes me think of when I was a kid, my mom and (paternal)grandma were election workers. From opposite parties. Somebody always had a box of donuts at the polling place. We kids would stop in after school and mooch donuts.
Looks like the blue wave is materializing in the House, but not the Senate. Very good night for Democrats in Illinois: they seem to have swept all the statewide offices on the ballot, including unseating the governor, and have flipped a couple of previously Republican-held US congressional seats.
ReplyDeleteDs threw everything they had at Trump and got a ripple, not a wave. Shows what happens when you try to beat something with nothing. No message. "We will save your prior conditions" is something Republicans could say (they lie easily) and did. "We'll protect your rights over your womb" was all the Ds had left, and that is a big yawn (spoiler alert!) to male voters.
ReplyDeleteI make it 5-2 that 2020 is the last presidential election for a long time.
Tom, you mean Trump is "president for life"? I beg to differ, they said that about Obama, too. Of course that was ginned up fears by the deplorables. Trump is like a migraine, you think it's going to last forever, but it doesn't.
DeleteYes, they said that about Obama, and now the "theys" who pretended to think he would do it are where they can do it. Trump can do it by executive order. Ask him. Or ask Sean Hannity, which is the same thing.
DeleteViktor Orban in Hungary would be the model. David Leonhardt had a piece in the NYT the other day pointing out that Orban won the last election and does not even have a majority in the House, but has control of constitutional changes and the judges and has reduced the news media to the compliant Foxes and Clear Channels, and without even jailing his enemies, Orban will now do as he pleases and rule as long as he pleases. It's not hard if you mobilize the Yahoos and the other side has no message and can't figure out how to counter yours.
As for a message, do the Rs have one, other than fear? Maybe the Ds need to go all FDR. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".
DeleteNationally, the deficit shrunk during Obama's second term as a result of his tax increase and the growing economy during the latter part of his presidency. Republicans talk a good game about fiscal responsibility but all it ever seems to boil down to is tax cuts.
DeleteOn the other hand, the State of Illinois fiscal condition is unsolvably bad, and most of the 'credit' for that must go to Democrats.
Dems have two strategies between now and 2020: work with the GOP on immigration reform and infrastructure, which gives both them and the GOP a good record to run on in 2020 ... which would likely help Trump who will claim credit for it.
DeleteOr forget bipartisanship and start counter-fearmongering and -smearing by ramping up investigations on Trump, his family, and cronies.
The notion that the party could actually circle up and produce some clear future vision and a viable candidate to represent it is, I fear, too much to hope for.
I'm investigationed out. I don't want to keep rehashing the 2016 election over and over again.
DeleteDo I sense a feeling that D "control" of the House is going to save us? Well, Sen. McCaskell and Sen. Nelson and Sen. Heidtkamp and, for that matter almost Sen. O'Rourke stand as reminders that of the peril of offending the Great One. His minions retired them for lese majeste, and it will not be lost on new House members that Trader Joe Manchin managed to live for another six years by strategically going along with the Great One. Oh, the number of times D House members will say, "I don't agree with the President* on everything, but I have to go along with him on this."
DeleteI am too old to be around for the payout, but it's still 5-2.
Mixed results here. Nothing got flipped, we are stuck with Ricketts for another term, same with the congresspeople. Which wasn't unexpected. But we got Medicaid expansion. I think that is going to make a positive difference for a lot of people; more than different faces in state government.
ReplyDeleteYep - saw a note somewhere that three states passed referendums (referenda?) insisting that the states accept the Medicaid expansion. I agree - very good for people that need medical care.
DeleteThat imprudent grandstanding by all those Republican governors in refusing the federal Medicaid largesse in the wake of Obamacare's initial passage wasn't very long ago in years, but in terms of conservative politics, it's from a bygone era. That eon was when the Tea Party was at high tide, and Republican leaders, in what history will record as an astonishing instance of bad judgment, thought the American people gave a fig about fiscal restraint. We're now in the era of Trump, and populism reigns. In my view, bolstering Medicaid spending qualifies as a form of populism (and a good one from the point of view of Catholic social teaching). Those Republicans who have built their careers on fiscal restraint are dinosaurs now. I believe a few of them bit the dust last night; I saw David Brat was trailing in his House race when I went to bed.
Wouldn't it be funny, as in ironic, if the Dems became the party of balancing the budget?
DeleteDem gov in Michigan faces a GOP legislature. Never a harbinger of good times ahead. Lt. Gov. Calley would have done a good jib, but he was tarred with Snyder's mistakes and run out in the GOP primary.
ReplyDeleteThe state's urban areas are blue, but the vast majority of the out-counties are deep red. Despite Stabenow's record in ag, farming areas went for her opponent.
Democrats have lost non-union labor entirely.
No real surprises in the small state of Maryland. Maryland is very blue - with a GOP governor. I have lived here for 45 years, and the Gov is only the second Republican to be elected during those years.
ReplyDeleteGov Hogan is very popular with both Republicans and Democrats - he has to be popular with Dems to win in a state with 60% or so registered Dems and where registered independents almost equal registered Republicans. He made history in a small way by being the first Republican governor to be re-elected since 1954. He increased his majority over the election 4 years ago. Of course, he is only the 3rd GOP governor since 1954, and one of those was Spiro Agnew.
So - why such a popular Republican in a Dem state? He is a moderate, he is able to work with both parties, he can compromise (the state legislature is heavily Dem), AND - he refused to endorse Trump even after Trump was nominated and won the Presidency. I voted for him, the only Republican I voted for - and I was a Republican for most of my life. Now registered Independent.
Turnout was heavy compared to normal mid-terms.
I voted early, but a few days into it, when the long lines were gone. My husband voted on election day and there were no lines.
The DC suburbs include both Maryland and Virginia.
In Virginia, the Dems managed to flip 3 House seats and all were significant flips. One was predicted in the polls, even though the Republicans had gerrymandered the district to favor Republicans and she had been in Congress for 8 years as a result. The heavy population in her district (which runs from the DC suburbs to West Virginia) is in the DC suburbs, as is the heavy population in our new (gerrymandered) district, which now also runs to W Virginia. In VA that was meant to create a safe GOP seat, and in MD it was meant to create a safe DEM seat. It has worked in Maryland, but has now failed in Virginia.
The two HUGE flips, not predicted in the polls a few days ago, were the defeat of the GOP incumbent near Richmond, and the defeat of the GOP incumbent for the area near Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Hampton Roads, VA. Richmond city is blue, but the surrounding suburbs and rural areas were very red, so it was a significant flip. Similarly, Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Hampton Roads is a great flip. That area is heavily military. For reasons that escape me, Trump is popular with the military. The Atlantic Fleet is based in Norfolk. Besides the Navy, there are other big military facilities in that area. The Dem who won is a woman, retired from the Navy. She enlisted after high school and served 20 years. The incumbent is a retired Navy Seal who has voted for Trump's agenda 98% of the time. He is currently being investigated for possible complicity in some election sleaze - the charge is that his campaign staff helped falsify signatures on petitions for another candidate - an independent - to get him on the ballot. I suppose to divide the Dem vote?
The woman who defeated Brat in Richmond pulled off a major upset also. Brat was the uber conservative (Freedom Party) who defeated Eric Cantor in the GOP primary a couple of years ago. Cantor was the Republican House Majority leader at the time.
Happy to see that Kris Kobach lost. He was the main promoter of the notion that millions of Latinos were brought into the US to register and vote fraudulently. He was the head of the defunct Voter Fraud commission Trump set up.
Very, VERY sad to see that Steve King of Iowa, an open racist who has publicly supported neo-nazi parties in Europe, easily won re-election.
Now, can the Democrats get their act together and stop driving moderates away?
Anne, I was also dismayed to see that Steve King won re-election. He is a racist, and also just seems nutty. What is the appeal? I guess there must be a lot of nutty racist people out there.
DeleteInteresting editorial by Jeff Flake in the WaPo. He clearly wants to save what I'd call WF Buckley conservatism. Will he do more than write guest editorials? Teach? Work for a think tank? Is he positioning himself for a challenge to Trump in 2020?
ReplyDeleteI've received alerts this afternoon that Trump has fired Sessions, and a friend let me know that Rosenstein is on the way to the White House, maybe to also be fired?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Flake will be challenging Pence in 2020.
Is anybody really surprised about Sessions? Trump has been itching to fire him all along, for daring to recuse himself. I've no sympathy for Sessions; he's behind some of the worst immigration cruelties. But I wonder what the new guy will do. I hope Mueller has his investigation pretty well wrapped up, because it's going to be ended, one way or another.
DeleteNationwide, I found the most appealing Republican candidate to be the Nevada brothel owner who won a seat in the state legislature. What do I like about him? He's dead.
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