Democracy is hard work- I got up early this morning and got some stuff done and then spent about five hours picking up yards signs so I can give them back to the respective campaigns. I don’t know if Kendra is going to run again, but I am keeping her signs, wrapping them up in a tarp, and putting them under my front porch with the bodies for safe keeping in case she does. Those things are EXPENSIVE!
At any rate, it was a mixed bag here in WV. Of the four candidates I was most personally invested in, three of the four won. A.J. Thomas is the new county commissioner, Phil Diserio won and will continue to be my state representative, and William Ihlenfeld beat Ryan Ferns (who was an ALEC altar boy) and will be a newly minted State Senator. Unfortunately, Kendra Fershee came up short against McKinley, but did a phenomenal job despite having no name recognition, no national support, against an entrenched incumbent in a red state where the Democratic party is an omnishambles. I’m really so proud of her and am so glad I got to meet her and work for her campaign, and even though we lost, I still feel good that I was a part of it. I really, really hope she runs again, but it’s a lot to ask of someone with a busy schedule and two kids.
Manchin, of course, squeaked by to re-election, and that should be the end of him. He’ll be 77 the next time he is up for re-election, and he has become increasingly less popular with every election. It really was the best case scenario for Dems, because he held off the overinflated bag of New Jersey trash that was Morrisey, and at the same time his win was so narrow that it should be clear to everyone that he is no longer the future of the party and perhaps we can wrestle control of the party from his apparatchiks.
In the rest of the state, Tally Sergent lost to ALEC buttboy Alex Mooney, and some Stepford wife whose name I have never heard of beat Richard Ojeda.
In other state news, we passed an anti-abortion amendment that was just appalling by nature because West Virginia, and an amendment giving the state Senate the ability to browbeat and harass the judiciary passed. Likewise, the Senate gambit to pack the court by impeaching everyone they didn’t like (Liberal) worked, with both rightwing nutjobs being elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals, in part thanks to the fascists running 1 candidate on each slate, the good guys 1, and the vanity slaves adding another 4-5. So thanks for that, guys. With the current court, in about two years trial lawyers will be banned and we’ll all be drinking water that is 30% MCHM, 30% coal ash, 30% fracking fluid, and about 10% water. WV will basically cease being a state and become a company town, just without the jobs.
There were some bright spots, in that Mon County wiped out the GOP presence there, Charleston elected a Democrat to be Mayor, and one personal note of great schadenfreude. Mike Oliverio, a conservative Democrat who in 2010 ran to the right of Alan Mollohan in the primary, defeated him, and then proceeded to be such a jackass that he lost to McKinley, switched parties and ran as a Republican and got his ass handed to him. So there was that.
Other than that, the rest of the country lifted my spirits a good bit. Regardless, everything is still awful, but a little bit less so. Onward to 2020.
Spanky
That is SO CUTE! And so 2 hours ago. We’re past that now. Don’t you think we might want to take a little time to think about how to counter Trump’s dismantling of the DOJ and Mueller probe? Hmmmm?
TenguPhule
So we should evacuate the Democrats and their pets and then commence the carpet bombing runs until the rubble bounces?
Mary G
If I lived in West-by-God-Virginia, I’d be tempted to throw up my hands and move, or just accept that my fellow citizens are idiots and not try to change things. You fought. Keep fighting. Build the Democratic Party structure back up and things will be better in two years. Also, thousands of Juicers across the country know who Kendra is now and will support her to the max if she runs again.
Elizabelle
You’re now in touch with Kendra, and she got her first campaign experience. She sounds wonderful and I hope she runs again.
Baud
Fixed.
Mary G
Elizabelle
@Mary G: I don’t think it will be Kobach. I honestly don’t think he is confirmable. Who knows, though.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
RapeyMcRapeFace says hello.
Genine
I’m so sorry Kendra lost. I liked meeting her. She was sharp and compassionate. She was really in it to the right thing, and it’s sad she didn’t get the opportunity to do so. I hope she runs again soon. I’d move to West Virginia just to vote for her – and open a coffee house where they have espresso drinks and tables and wifi! If you see her, tell her I’m rooting for her from the Left Coast. She should definitely run again!
Kent
Just got back from walking the dog. Two thoughts.
1. The House was won in a large part by young women of color in all parts of the country who are frankly younger, smarter, harder working, and less afraid than pretty much everyone posting here, myself included. We live in interesting times and I’m very curious to see where they take things from here. It is going to be an interesting ride.
2. I was thinking about how the Dems in 2018 seem to have overcome the natural Republican money advantage that has swamped them in many previous midterms. Yes, there was partly lots of energy and small donors coming out of the woodwork. But the big GOP donors seem to have really sat on the sidelines this election. One theory of mine is that the GOP made a strategic mistake by giving them too much these past two years. Most importantly the permanent corporate tax cuts. They basically won and it doesn’t really matter who runs the House now, those corporate tax cuts are here to stay. A much more strategic approach would have been to phase them out like has been done in the past so the money has to keep flowing to keep the goodies coming back. If there were stll pending corporate tax priorities for 2018 and beyond I have no doubt the corporate purse strings and dark money faucets would have been wide open this election.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: He’s such an incompetent boob that I kind of want to see him get it.
Martin
California had an interesting night. It wasn’t all roses, and it’s isn’t all known. CA elections will take ages because of a few new laws designed to help ensure everyone’s vote is counted:
1) CA is being a bit Oregon-curious with vote by mail, expanding its use, which only requires ballots be postmarked by election day. How many are in the mail currently? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2) We added same day voter registration. These ballots are provisional, and get counted once the registration processes. We also added voting centers, large polling places separate from precincts that voters can go to. These don’t count in the usual election night results and take longer to process. The large vote center in Orange County still had a 3 hour line when polls closed at 8PM.
I can’t speak for other parts of CA, but here in OC I’ve never had to wait in line to vote, at least not more than a minute or two. We have a gazillion polling places, and they are very well run. Our election commissioner is a republican, but he really is excellent. The long wait at the polling center was kind of shocking to learn about. We use voting machines, but they have a paper printout of your ballot under glass you have to verify before you record your vote. I’ve never seen a mistake on a machine, or seen anyone given a hard time at a polling place.
We always have a bunch of ballot initiatives. As a matter of principle I vote ‘no’ on any ballot initiative that could be handled by the legislature and isn’t a conflict of interest for the legislature. So, redistricting, how elections are run, pay, etc. I will vote on, as well as things that return authority to the legislature. I had a lot of ‘no’ votes yesterday, even for things that I generally support.
Prop 6 was to repeal the last round of tax increases to pay for roads and transportation and that was defeated. There were some bonds and the like. Expanding rent control was defeated, and expanding regulation on farm animal confinement passed. None of these initiatives was notable nationally, but I opposed these particular measures to address our housing cost problems. Rent control has it’s place in addressing short-term needs, but long term you have to build, and provide mechanisms to allow that construction to happen in responsible ways, not the NIMBY bullshit we do now.
Dems won all state offices and could be just over or just under supermajority in both the Senate and Assembly. Gavin will be fine, but I’m going to miss Jerry Brown.
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule: Yeah. I kind of think the whole Kavanaugh story has not played out yet.
cain
Yeah, looks like WV was a mixed bag. But hot damn, Oregon has super majorities in the legislature, and we defeated all the bullshit amendments. I’m hoping that we can do some great things in the state especially in regards to healthcare. So things are looking up there. Can’t wait to make my move back west.
Also, supremely happy about Colorado (the other place I stayed at). We haven’t lost Nelson, Gillum, or Abrams yet. So we might still see an upset there! Fingers crossed. :-)
cain
@Mary G:
Yeah.. there is no way the House is going to confirm someone who was involved in voter suppression especially of Democratic constituents. His own state rejected him. Also, didn’t he lose his bar license? What the hell kind of credentials is that?
gene108
@Elizabelle:
Republicans can push through any nominee now, even with 2-3 Republicans voting no.
Trump will get who he wants into cabinet positions
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
Yes, but its harder to dislodge them once they get inside. We don’t have the votes to stop a confirmation after January’s Congress steps in. Hell, we don’t really even have them now.
TenguPhule
@cain:
Senate confirms nominations.
We don’t have a majority there.
Mnemosyne
@Spanky:
There are two (2) additional threads right below this one discussing that exact thing. Perhaps you can check one of them out?
cain
@gene108:
Well shit, I thought it was the House that confirmed, not the Senate. That’s going to hurt.
FlipYrWhig
I realized fairly recently that I knew Alex Mooney in college, 25+ years ago. He was a friend of a friend. Never liked that guy.
piratedan
@gene108: and I’m totally okay with that…. lemme ‘splain. Thus far, we’re pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of the folks that he’s nominated are clueless, crooks or both. With House oversight, we can prosecute the crooks and we can shame the clueless. So let Trump nominate who he wants, the issue is that we now at least have a check in place to undo some of the damage that is being done whereas there was nothing in place before.
Kent
@cain: House doesn’t have any role in confirmations. Only the Senate and they only need 50 votes.
japa21
@piratedan: House can’t prosecute, that is up to DOJ.
Buskertype
@FlipYrWhig: whoa… got any dirt? He’s my congressman and I want him GONE
Ohio Mom
Add my vote for Kendra running again. Glad to hear the baby bird tarp found a new use.
As for me, I finally worked up the courage to check my local election results (after the Ohio Congressional and statewide results, I was awfully discouraged).
I could hardly believe my eyes, the African-American woman Democrat running for County Commissioner won. For the first time in my memory, there are only Democrats on the Hamilton County Commission.
I didn’t think that was possible. I guess enough yahoos moved north and east into the exurban counties.
So one person I voted for won. I wish her lots of luck undoing the mess her Republican predecessors left behind.
Aleta
@cain: We can still remind senators up for reelection in 2 years that their confirmation votes will fund their opposition. I want to believe that the lost R seats and retaking the House (combined with even more demos, letters and calls, + indictments ) could make a few Senators apprehensive about just following orders. Time will tell — they’re capable of being worse than before too.
Irony Abounds
At the risk of taking a piss in the bowl of cheerios, with all the excitement of future House investigations let me make a prediction: the White House and the rest of the Executive Branch will stonewall, ignore subpoenas and leave the House with very little recourse. They may try things in the courts, but that will be lengthy process with the ultimate decision to be made by the SCOTUS, and guess who has a 5-4 majority baked in. As for Mueller, his investigation has effectively ended. Whitaker will order him to not bring any more indictments or unseal any sealed indictments, or pursue any further investigations. He will also either order him not to file a report or if the report has to be filed it will be buried. The House will try and get any report, but those efforts will be fought, and again the SCOTUS will have ultimate authority of the subject. Decent Americans will decry these actions to the extent they become known, but Trumpers won’t give a shit, the media will move on to another squirrel in short order and bothsidesism will prevail. If the economy holds on for another two years, an iffy proposition I agree, Trump will stand in good stead to be re-elected.
trollhattan
@Martin:
Ours was one of a few counties that went with all mailed ballots, but not all mail-in–everybody had a choice of mail, drop-off boxes scattered across the county the last couple weeks and combo drop-off/polling places, some of which opened last Friday. And last night a lot of those were mobbed. Anybody in line at 8:00 pm was guaranteed a vote no matter how long it took.
The system will take tweaking, but next election all early ballots statewide will be postage-prepaid.
Buskertype
@Aleta: I think confirmation for AG will run through the judiciary committee right? Grassley presides there and 3 out of 4 congressional seats in Iowa went blue last night while the contemptible Steve King held on in a nail biter… we should do some BJ fundraising for his eventual opponent
FlipYrWhig
@Buskertype: No dirt — I remember him mostly as a pudgy and somewhat maladjusted dork. But it wasn’t the sort of “eh, he’s awkward, but he’s into what he’s into” nerdiness of D&D players; more like a needy-yet-superior nerdiness, which is the way I imagine Young Ted Cruz was.
Buskertype
@FlipYrWhig: so in other words he hasn’t changed a bit
TenguPhule
@Irony Abounds:
At which point the cold civil war goes to boiling.
Miss Bianca
@Irony Abounds: Thank you for pissing in the bowl of Cheerios, because honestly, it really needed it, amirite? I mean, look at all the unbridled, unqualified CHEER in that bowl of Cheerios! It surely did need to be doused with your golden shower, you betcha!
Kent
Does it strike anyone as bizarre that the worst attorney general since perhaps Ed Meese is out and there is hand-wringing on the Democratic side? For Jefferson Beauregard Sessions???? The most revanchist Confederate racist that the Senate has produced since Jesse Helms or Strom Thurmond?
Aside from the Mueller probe, Sessons was the worst kind of racist southerner we have produced in a generation. Good riddance.
TenguPhule
@Kent:
His replacement is worse. Think about that for a second.
FlipYrWhig
@Buskertype: I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that.
Kent
@TenguPhule: Who is his replacement? Matthew Whittaker? As far as I have heard, he’s only the interim and we have yet to hear who the real replacement will be. Rudy maybe? It will be a Trump crony no doubt. But Sessions had his own revanchist agenda completely outside of Trump that he was agressively pursuing. like rolling back pot legalization across the country and abandoning bipartisan progress on sentencing reform. How many young black men are facing longer sentences because of Sessions? I don’t have any idea who the next AG will be but you will have to convince me that he/she will be worse than Sessions on anything other than the Mueller probe.
The Mueller probe is damned important. But it isn’t everything. Especially now that Dems control the House. The AG has other duties as well.
Irony Abounds
@Miss Bianca: Well, I felt it was my solemn duty. Plus I am so pissed off right now that Sinema will probably lose because of the god damn Green Party voters and we’ll be stuck with the despicable Martha McSally for at least 6 years.
Ladyraxterinok
@cain: Doesn’t Senate confirm cabinet? Or is that just federal judges?
Chris Johnson
@Irony Abounds: Who are you, broski? Good at messaging, eh?