I hope everyone who could, voted today.
Justice is on the ballot in 2020. pic.twitter.com/okrQZS8yUJ
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 4, 2019
Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but I like it.
If you see an ad, local or national race, you’d like to share, email it to me, I’m happy to front page it.
Open thread
Mary G
Anya
My heart is heavy because if the Trumpist wins KY and Mississippi that means a huge section of America has embraced vulgarity, cruelty, selfishness and racism. Trump didn’t even make a case why Bevin’s policies are best for KY, he implored them to vote for Bevin because it would help Trump and his ego. He literally made that case. I just don’t get this country anymore.
Baud
@Anya:
I’m sorry to say that’s been the clear state of things since 2016.
Patricia Kayden
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
I did. And I handed out Democratic sample ballots.
bjacques
The Texas Constitution has 10 amendments up for a vote. They all seem mostly harmless or even beneficial, except #4 that takes a state income tax off the table and #9 that eempts gold in vaults from property tax (!). I’ve been away too long so I can’t vote on it, but I called my mom and asked her to, since a significant excess of voters during a “meh” election would encourage Democrats and give Republicans the screaming fantods.
ETA:
On CNN:
Bevin 49.3% (450531)
Beshear 48.7% (444728)
70%
206inKY
Knocked on 115 doors today! One person said he’s never seen the Democrats this well organized—he got four phone calls, and a postcard all the way from Oakland. The local campaign office has been AMAZING. There are Beshear signs all over town (and this is not Louisville or Lexington!). I’m hopeful.
Karen
i heard that in Virginia there a myriad of problems, including problems with ballots. Will all this happen in 2020, only in steroids?
Tinare
I did. And even though I really, really don’t like one of the Democrats on my ballot, I could not bring myself to vote for the other guy, because anyone who is still a Republican must be a horrible person.
Mary G
@Karen: The Deep State says yes:
bjacques
Whoa
Beshear 49.6% (543,853)
Bevin 48.4% (556,982)
80%
Mike in NC
Somebody described Bevin as having Scott Walker’s policies and Paul LePage’s personality. Lucky KY!
guachi
I guess heavily Democratic areas started reporting as Beshear has shot up into the lead after being behind .
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Wow. This guy is with the Cook Political Report, very Establishment-y, and I just noticed, only a “projection”
Mary G
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Obviously, Bashear ran as a socialist rather than as a neoliberal.
Patricia Kayden
Mary G
?????❤?
Matt McIrvin
VA looks good to me. Fairfax County is huge, blue and always reports late; tonight looks like no exception.
Mary G
Bumper
So, just found out from my oldest kiddo that the college republicans have been decertified (if that’s the right term) as a campus club at U Washington. Apparently they were dechartered by the national organization last year for appalling behavior. So no more on campus office or whatever else comes with being an official club. One bit of good news for tonight!
bjacques
@Mary G: Hang on, you missed one.
FUCK YOU Rand Paul
Matt McIrvin
…aaand while I was typing that last comment another big chunk of blue votes from Northern Virginia came in on the WaPo site.
Jamie
@Mary G: Fuck. Yes.
Anya
Whoa!!! Looks like Beshear is winning. MSNBC still saying “too close to call” but it looks good.
Marcopolo
Apparently the KY Gov contest looks promising atm. 32,000 vote margin w/ 90% counted. If the D wins it’ll be a hot poker up Trump’s butt. Remember, he did a rally there last night.
Fingers crossed.
TaMara (HFG)
Fuck you Rand Paul (I know others have said it, I just wanted to pile on)
Baud
If Bashear pulls it out, I may have to drink some Kentucky Bourbon tonight.
Mary G
Mary G
@bjacques: @TaMara (HFG): Yes, fuck Rand Paul too.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: YES!!! True-blue VA makes it official. Good bye, crazy-ass VA GOP!
Do some soul searching (you won’t) and figure out how to stand for actual principles instead of racism and voter suppression.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mary G:
If Bashear wins this, then McConnell may not be safe. The Senate Majority Leader losing his seat would be a big deal
JPL
@Baud: Do you have any handy?
Jeffro
The ultimate hack’s hack, Marc Thiessen, is pleading in the Post for censure, not impeachment. You know, us RABID Dems, we just won’t settle for ‘censure’, darn us.
MT, FU.
I thought this was the “perfect call”? I thought we were supposed to “read the transcript”? I GUESS WE READ IT, GOP
Jeffro
@bjacques: Seconded, thirded, and fourth-d. He should be charged if anything happens to the whistleblower.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: Still not settled, House of Delegates is going to be a nailbiter again. But it definitely looks like the Dems took the Senate.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
Fuck every last goddamned member of the party of treason in defense of white privilege.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Today is the release of Fredo’s ‘book’
Baud
@JPL:
No. Up till now, I tried to avoid anything KY.
@Jeffro:
Ah, the bargaining stage.
MazeDancer
Tremble in fear, Mitch. Beshear has won. Yay!
And he is going to restore the voting rights of 140,000 former felons.
piratedan
@MazeDancer: if Beshear does, that means that when McConnell gets done serving his time for Treason, he can vote once again!
206inKY
There was a lot of ticket splitting—the Republicans crushed it for every other statewide race. But the governorship is all we need for reinstating felon voter rights in time for 2020, and hopefully enough to stop the bleeding of education funding.
TaMara (HFG)
chopper
man, i was expecting the gooper to win in KY by a hair (and the gop and trump to declare that the greatest victory in history). did not expect this!
Baud
MSNBC says there are still Bevin counties out there so can’t prematurely celebrate.
Sure Lurkalot
I’ve never been to Kentucky but I had great admiration for Steve Beshear and his embrace of the ACA. Kynect was one of the best exchanges and thousands of people got access to health care, and then pissed it away. Hope his son pulls it out.
Chyron HR
My condolences to the Green, Justice, Sunshine, and Bernievolution Parties on their crushing defeats in Virginia today.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: I just checked the Louisville paper’s site and there are four counties left to report. Right now, Beshear’s lead is about 1,500 votes. That seems awfully close to me.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
Fuck Chuck Todd.
I voted for a smart young Democrat for mayor of my town. Hope he defeats the jerk who screamed at me about the “huge Obama deficit” at a young woman’s graduation party in summer 2012.
chris
Woohoo!
Marcopolo
Btw, a word of caution reading anything into these KY results for McConnell. Matt Bevin, the R incumbent had the worst approval rating of any Gov nationally. He isn’t even particularly like by Republicans and did not make a strong showing in his primary win.
10,000 vote margin for the D w/ 97% in…this is going to a recount no matter who wins.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
Too close. But I suppose that’s the best you can expect from Kentucky.
B.B.A.
I don’t want to piss in anybody’s cornflakes… which is why I don’t post around here much anymore.
But I hope prop 1 here in NYC passes.
Baud
@Marcopolo:
Reminds me of the Cruz/Beto race. Cruz won based on tribalism, but everyone hates him.
Mary G
The scary trans lady gets another term:
Marcopolo
@chris: Also flipped the Board of Supervisors of Prince Williams county in VA. Went from 6-2 R to 5-3 D.
Mary G
This’ll leave a mark:
guachi
Beshear’s lead is ever so slowly shrinking. I wish I had more knowledge of how many votes were outstanding still.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: Scratch that, it’s 9,000 votes more. That is enough of s margin to make me a lot less nervous.
Ruckus
Just got home and able to see some results.
Looks good for KY and VA. And if KY is this strong now what might it be like in Nov for MM? Amy McGrath might just have a good chance. Love to see her beat his ass.
bemused senior
Live feed at WaPo for VA, KY and MS
Ohio Mom
Here is a good link for the Kentucky governor’s race:https://www.wlky.com/app/kentucky-election-results-governor-november-2019-bevin-beshear-race/29668671
Only three counties left to report
Marcopolo
@Mary G: In a rematch of the VA state house race that wound up tied & going to the R in a coin toss in 2017 the D is blowing the R away by 18 points 58-40.
206inKY
@Ohio Mom: Where are you seeing this? The Courier-Journal still seems to show a slim 10,000 lead for Beshear, with 36 precincts still out from Jefferson (Louisville) and Warren (Bowling Green) against 26 deep red precincts left from Caldwell and Ballard counties (which are still at 0% reported).
It does seem like Bevin could still sneak back on the strength of rural western Kentucky, which is the most “southern” part of the state.
guachi
WaPo has the last of the Democratic cities – Louisville and Bowling Green – completely in and Beshear’s lead has inched up to 14,000 and 1.0% with 98% in.
Spanky
As of 9:00:
Beshear 697,836
Bevin 683,874
1,409380 votes, 98% reporting, 3577 of 3659 precincts
Via FTFNYT
chris
@Marcopolo: Cool! I love the small victories.
bemused senior
Andy BeshearDEM 704,055 49.5 %
Matt Bevin*GOP 691,141 48.6
98% pct reporting (says wapo)
206inKY
@Ohio Mom: Thanks for this link. CNN has one of those three — Russell county — in with a 2,500 boost for Bevin, leaving Beshear ahead by about 10,000. This is going to be nightmarishly close. Jefferson and Warren are at 100%.
Jeffro
@bemused senior: They’re up to 99% and Beshear is up by over 10k votes. It’ll go to a recount but HOOOOOOOO YEAH!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Rachel just showed that clip.
Jeffro
@Marcopolo: Great news and long overdue. PW is sick of these wing nuts…there are other exurbs in VA they can flee to, if it’s that important to them.
Marcopolo
@guachi: @Ohio Mom: Yeah, there were 3 small red counties out but also 4% of the vote in the Louisville area. The 4%, coming from the largest county votewise which went heavily for Beshears, may have been more votes than total in those rural counties. That might have been what happened.
Barbara
Regarding Virginia, Republicans are only running in 25 out of 40 seats. Dems are running in 36. I find that stunning.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Looking for my violin here….
Baud
@Barbara:
That is remarkable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: heh, violating her policy (or, habit) of not putting trump footage on her show
dmsilev
@Bumper: Does ‘appalling behavior’ for the College Republicans mean that the local chapter behaved with grace and decency, forcing the national to disown them?
Matt McIrvin
@Barbara: I was a bit dismayed by the fact that Republicans seem to be leading the popular vote in VA, but it’s likely because there were so many more uncontested Democratic districts than Republican ones.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: So then it’s good that you remarked on it.
Jeffro
@Barbara: It isn’t their state and hasn’t been for a decade. Only some crazy-ass gerrymandering and luck kept them in power this long. Good riddance!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Aleta
“You can’t let that happen to me.”
Oh brother.
Kay
Good headline. “Trump-loving” is a nice touch.
Mary G
@Marcopolo: So glad Democrats are getting the lower level offices they used to ignore:
Baud
Vox is calling it for Bashear.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/5/20949770/kentucky-governor-election-results-andy-beshear
different-church-lady
@Mary G:
Trump promised them coal jobs. Trump did not deliver coal jobs.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
They are also saying there aren’t enough votes left to make up the margin
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: GOP powers-that-be ought to consider just how little return GOP voters are getting when the party’s #1, #2, and #3 priorities are “protect trumpov from humiliation/the rule of law/himself”
Baud
@different-church-lady:
He delivered coal jobs to bankruptcy lawyers.
Baud
@TS (the original):
That’s new. Good to hear.
different-church-lady
@piratedan: Chicken dinner done been won with that.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: That’s remarkable–KY-GOV is so close that I wouldn’t call it for anyone.
Jeffro
@TS (the original): Yup. He did it. Granted (as was noted above) Bevin is a putz’s putz, but still…trumpov won KY in 2016 by 30%(!) and was there with one of his super-magical rallies just. last. night (!!!)
It’s almost…almost like…everything the guy touches turns to crap eventually.
Spanky
3619 of 3659 precincts have reported 99% of the votes, ad Beshear is up 10,581.
I think he’s got this.
206inKY
Fuck yeah! Ballard county is at 100% and Bevin only gained 1,000. Beshear has got this!!!!!!!
different-church-lady
@Baud: Oh, hey you. I heard we did something awful to you and you went away in a huff. Or I imagined that, it’s hard to tell.
Marcopolo
According to Kornacki on MSNBC most of the votes out are in red leaning areas but there most likely just aren’t enough to make up Bevin’s current deficit.
Also, no automatic recount, but a campaign can request one.
Also, also vote looks to be 50%!!! higher than 4 years ago.
TS (the original)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Couldn’t be happier that they let it happen to him.
Mary G
ERA!!!
Aleta
Wow, what a sentence.
different-church-lady
So let’s see what we have here: Knob… Makers… Woodford…
Dan B
@dmsilev: I believe the college repubs had a racist bake sale / slave auction or something. I think The Stranger has an article.
TS (the original)
MSNBC call Beshear as the apparent winner – chickens
Kay
Baud
A bad showing would have ruined impeachment. We live to fight another day.
Marcopolo
Called for Beshear! As Trump said to Bevins at his rally last night, [if you lose this will be] the biggest defeat of his life!
Love it!
Spanky
708,967 to 700, 820 with only 22 precincts left.
Odds of Bevin conceding are 0%
bjacques
Kentucky:
2015 Voting total: 930,000
2019 Voting total: 1,415,000
Betty Cracker
@different-church-lady: Go for the Woodford, and let’s virtually clink glasses! :)
Baud
@bjacques:
When we vote, we win.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
pollster not affiliated with any media outlet that I can see
Kay
@Baud:
Especially good because I think they thought they would win. Bevin said he would win by “8 to 10%” which is just amazingly arrogant. Should have stuck with “the only poll that counts is on election day”.
Baud
Kornacki saying suburbs made the difference. Moving away from Trump.
mad citizen
Yea Columbus Indiana! Also heard that Indy suburb Zionsville elected a Dem woman mayor, unheard of in these parts.
Everything trump touches dies.
dmsilev
@Kay: That just cries out for a RickRoll reply.
Martin
I love these county vote totals in Kentucky. My HOA has more people than that county.
Baud
@Kay:
In the Trump era, bragging is mandatory.
JR
@Matt McIrvin: You can project outstanding precincts though
Green (7/10) with a projected +48% Bevin (+554 votes)
Barren (24/25) with a projected +17% Bevin (+91 votes)
Livingston (8/10) with a projected +30% Bevin (+167 votes)
Russell county (0/16) but let’s assume +50% Bevin, most in the state (~2500 vote gain).
That still leaves Beshear with a lead of about 5K votes
Kathleen
@Mike in NC: That’s about right. He “joked” that snow days were making kids soft and had a “measles party” for his kids (he’s anti vax). He also used state jet for vacations. His ads yet vicious and comical and featured a scowling Hillary Clinton. Like Hillary Clinton is running for anything in Kentucky.
Matt McIrvin
In my city election all incumbents seem to have won, except for one School Committee seat. Not entirely sure what that means.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: Is there an emoji for a double old-fashioned glass?
TS (the original)
I still wonder about the 48.8% who voted for the republican. What on earth do they think the GOP will ever do for them other than take away their health care.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
????
That would be wonderful
Baud
@different-church-lady:
?
Spanky
In other not-news, Tate Reeves, the R candidate for Mississippi governor, has 54.8% of the vote.
Hey Mississippi! If you should get the hankerin’ to secede again, I don’t think anyone’s going to complain.
Patricia Kayden
@chris: Just saw that. Woohoo indeed!!
Baud
@TS (the original):
Maintain their social status.
Leto
@Betty Cracker: Hahaha, that’s fucking awesome!
Avalune is super excited for Beshear; her cousin is a teacher in the state and her aunt has been non-stop campaigning for Beshear. Both her aunt and cousin were absolutely fed up with Bevin’s shit, and were determined to get his ass out. Good on ya, Kentucky!
Edit: while they’re happy, apparently they’re out to spay/neuter Moscow Mitch. #womengetshitdone
different-church-lady
@different-church-lady: Well hell, look at that, there is! ?
mali muso
Well even though the candidates I spent Sunday knocking doors for don’t appear to have won, it looks like we flipped both houses of the VA legislature!!! Finally.
Kathleen
@Baud: If he pulls it out I may have to go back to Catholic Church. This. Would. Be. A. Miracle. I’ve never been happier to be so wrong as I had written off Kentucky as hopeless.
Mary G
@bjacques: Wow. That’s a massive increase in turnout. Congratulations to everybody who put in the hard work to get this done. Now 140,000 more Kentuckians will be able to vote next year.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: I need to go order a Briskman t-shirt before they’re all sold out…back in a minute!
Jeffro
@Baud: They’ll be blaming the ‘damn liberal college towns/kids’ in KY in 3, 2, 1…
Please proceed, GOP. Keep the “kids” riled up!
Kay
@Baud:
He’s very Trumpian, former Governor Bevin:
Kathleen
@206inKY: Did Heather Henry win? I saw that Stumbo lost AG.
Martin
@Bumper: Well, they were decertified at the request of the national organization and a different organization was certified instead. The decertified organization is the one that kept inviting Milo and Proud Boys to campus.
Spanky
The numbers for KY Gov haven’t updated in a while, leading me to believe they’re waiting for eastern precinct results to arrive by mule.
ETA: Oops! 19 precincts to go and still 7767 ahead. Most likely headed for a recount.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Bumper: Go Huskies!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
next round of golf Lindsey’s gonna blame Rand
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Have one for me too.
Mary G
I’m old enough to remember when EE was Never-Trump.
Gin & Tonic
@bjacques: Wow!
Kay
@Kathleen:
I gave up on it too. They seemed so confident. I hope they’re stunned.
Dan B
I got photographed by an NPR photographer putting my ballot in a ballot box at the community center in our super majority minority neighborhood – 12% white. Why photograph bearded white guy?
I’m not sure turnout was high in this neighborhood. The community center is in a low income development that has a high muslim immigrant population. The county council candidates were a black long time council member and a Somali guy who’s energetic and has great ideas.
p.a.
@TS (the original): They think they’ll be the ones with the curtain rod to roast the sparrows on.
If Ky gov holds as Dem win, how much public support from R pols do you think drumpf loses? Many who won at +3% and under?
Matt Smith
I’m as excited about the election results as anyone, but also, I’m digging that Kamala Harris ad @TaMara (HFG) posted. Warren’s been my favorite, but I like Kamala a lot too, despite the fact she doesn’t seem to have much traction. I find her inspiring.
CarolDuhart2
@Spanky: Disappointing, but given the nature of the state, getting close to flippable in some times. Republicans should be running away with this election. Barely winning isn’t as good as it looks.
VFX Lurker
Postcards To Voters volunteers wrote 278,506 handwritten postcards to voters in Kentucky during September and October. The postcards implored readers to vote for the entire Democratic slate, not just the Governor slot.
If it takes 25 handwritten postcards to get out one extra vote, it’s possible that volunteer efforts helped net 11,140 extra votes. Here’s hoping!
Matt McIrvin
WaPo has called VA Senate for the Democrats. House of Delegates looks really good with the late returns, 54/100 seats called or leaning Democratic.
Aleta
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: ‘Blue state officially and FINALLY declared blue’ – no headline tomorrow, sadly. But it should be!
Barbara
Dan Helmer seems to be pulling it out — beating the last Republican legislater in Northern Virginia. And these are the results with gerrymandering.
Kay
@Mary G:
Except big mouth Bevin said about 50 times the race was nationalized. He said he didn’t nationalize the race but voters in Kentucky would, meaning referendum on Trump.
Martin
@Matt McIrvin: If VA can redistrict off of this, it’s going to be a hell of a hill for the GOP to climb back into power.
Gin & Tonic
@Martin: I found out today that Milo is here on an O1 visa (exceptional talent.) My son’s girlfriend, who actually does have a talent and is actually a contributing member of society, applied for an O1 and got an 8-page rejection letter.
Fuck that idiot troll sideways.
mad citizen
In local news, a Dem was elected to the Carmel Indiana city council for the first time in city history. In my five year old city Fishers Dems won seats for the first time at large and one district. Alas the other D ran in my district and lost by 8 points. Still an amazing showing. Dems heading toward a 4 seat city council pickup in Indianapolis. Dem mayor overwhelmingly reelected.
Gin & Tonic
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I raise my glass to the southwest.
Patricia Kayden
@Betty Cracker: Yes!!!!
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My read of the FTFNYT’s chart shows that Democrats are leading in enough races with enough precincts in to make it extremely likely that they’re going to control the Virginia House, and the Senate is pretty much definitely Democratic.
Ben Cisco
Shaping up to be a good night, if things hold. Being in a state that is maligned and dismissed, I can appreciate the joy KY Dems will have if they can pull this off.
Kathleen
@Kay: I do too. ETA Hell, I’m stunned. I really am.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: So was Andrew Sullivan before he got his GC.
Aleta
Ann Wheeler won.
Baud
@Ben Cisco:
Last major elections before the big one next year. It’s good to believe that that country might be salvageable.
Marcopolo
I have now read that VA state House has flipped. Guy on twitter who called the Senate flip a few minutes before everyone else.
I am going out for ice cream.
joel hanes
@TS (the original):
What on earth do they think the GOP will ever do for them
Oppress the people they fear and hate.
Reify the most bigoted version of fundagelical Protestant Christianism as the de-facto state religion.
Wink at discrimination against people of color, immigrants, LGBT folks, etc.
etc.
zhena gogolia
Oh, yay, nice young Dem won for mayor in my little town over Trumpy lying POS Rethug.
Kay
I love how political reporters have just completely abandoned the idea that Republican pols might possibly serve someone other than themselves. This is just the norm now. No one even pretends it’s about anything other than self-interest.
1000 votes either way in Kentucky and that means….all Republicans will do X.
khead
Virginia just got a lot closer to being Maryland tonight.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: MSNBC reporter said Bevin leaned hard on trump and impeachment, claimed it was what Kentucky wanted to hear
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bevin should have tried to get Ukraine to help.
Kay
@Kathleen:
I think Bevin is really unpopular and Kentucky had a huge teacher strike which probably helped, but I think we should crow about it because if it had gone the other way it would have been 100% “Democrats lost Kentucky, which means Donald Trump is invincible”. They don’t use any context so I’m not either.
Matt McIrvin
@Marcopolo: WaPo hasn’t quite called it yet but they’re damn close to doing so.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
Took me a while, but lol
hueyplong
Kind of enjoying this thread so far.
In the spirit of the times, my favorite post is the one about Erik Son of Erik denying that the Ky result has anything at all to do with Trump. Go down with the ship, you cocksplat.*
* I had promised myself to use that word in a sentence tonight after reading it in Betty’s thread below.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Leto
@Betty Cracker: Betty, this might be of interest to you:
Edit: it also works for his spawn. There are numerous examples of it in the comments :) “Florida Man Jr”
Ben Cisco
@Baud: Indeed. Orangecandyass gonna be salty!
(I only wish salty enough to skip his trip Saturday – his constant need for adulation is tiresome, and I don’t need him in my town)
sdhays
@Baud: Russia has a much better track record.
Or is it Ukraine has a better track record making it look like Russia has a better track record? We’ve got to find that server!!1!!
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bevin also said he was proud of screwing teachers and would do it again.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He did. He also promised to be even worse then he is, which I thought was a bold campaign strategy. “You don’t like me now? I’m gonna get WORSE!”
Maybe they noticed the coal companies Trump promised to “save” are filing bankruptcy. That went well. They shoulda stuck with Clinton. At least she would have helped with retraining.
Matt McIrvin
One of the remaining close races in VA is Virginia Beach’s state Senate seat. I remember when that was solid Christian soldierland.
trollhattan
@Kathleen:
I feel peculiarly lucky to live in a state where Trump takes time out to insult our governor. We must be doing something right.
Now, let’s liberate Texas and Florida.
Juju
@Kay: I think that tweet means he won’t let you down, he’ll always be an a$$hole.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: At least one could argue he had some talent. Milo?
Leto
@Baud: Sorry, MoscowMitch already pledged Kentucky to Russia. If Vladdy Daddy didn’t come to help…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Too late. Russia’s already in KY for $200M.
Marcopolo
I am about to go buy some ice cream to celebrate but first, on the local front here in MO we flipped the MO 99 state house seat from R to D tonight! It went from 53-47 R in 2018 to 54-46 D today. This is another area that fits into the suburbs moving away from the Rs analysis.
Congratulations Trish Gunby!
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: The tallies don’t seem to be accounting for uncontested races, at least not at WaPo.. Maybe that is what you meant.
Matt McIrvin
WaPo calls a trifecta in Virginia.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Donbas is basically Kentucky and West Virginia.
HinTN
@different-church-lady: I want one!
guachi
Wow. Beshear ahead by a tiny 0.32% and 4,658 votes with 100% reporting according to the latest from the Washington Post.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also: Dismantled Obamacare, after, as I recall, campaigning on a promise to do something better
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sondland comes off as a particularly awful Trumpist, I think, because he isn’t even a politician. I mean, honestly- he’s one who really could have just skipped this whole nightmare. WTF is wrong with these people? “Sure! I’ll assist in your criminal conspiracy!”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Leto: They spelled Floriduh wrong.
zzyzx
I had a friend I had to cut loose in 2016 because she went from being a sane Republican to posting Pepe images and sending Hitler jokes to Jewish friends…
She works hard for the VA Republican Party. I guess she’s having a bad night. So sad.
Spanky
100% reporting:
beshear 711,955
Bevin 707,297
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
Rick Perry is at the top of that list for me, he could have gone off to graze in the tall grass, even do Dancing with the “stars” again. He chose a second-tier cabinet post instead. I’ll never get that.
I’ve seen it said that Sondland was so fucking delusional he thought he could be Secretary of State in trump’s second term. Of course, another million and a couple dozen fawning tweets, and that’s not such a crazy plan
Marcopolo
@Kay: Preach!
Kay
@Marcopolo:
That’s good. I’m waiting for a text on the library levy. They texted an hour ago that it’s “tense” at the Bd of Elections. I have no idea what that means :)
That’s not even like an election…word.
hueyplong
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: So if I have the GOP spin correct, had a really red state re-elected an incumbent Republican by a single vote, the media would have been well advised to draw a bunch of pro-Trump conclusions nationally.
But when an incumbent GOP governor in a really red state loses while clinging to Trump like a life raft, while Trump exhorts voters not to embarrass him at a rally the night before the election, no conclusions can be drawn.
GOPers must think everyone is a Fox-watcher.
Mary G
@hueyplong: Erick’s excuse was that Bevin grifted the wrong people, namely Erick:
We’re only supposed to rip off Democrats and the little people!
RAVEN
@Kay: It looks like we killed it in the Special Local Option Salestax here in Athens. Lot’s of positive stuff will get funded.
Marcopolo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Can’t quite put my finger on it but this reminds me of some other Republican officeholder in an executive position. Maybe he’ll see similar results in Nov 2020.
Aleta
PaulWartenberg
Okay, we’re 100 percent sure that Kentucky’s governor flipped to Democrat, right?
I can go to bed at least with that satisfaction in my soul.
RAVEN
@PaulWartenberg: Oh, stick around and freak out.
Marcopolo
@Kay: I dunno. Is Jim Jordan there?
I know, I know he is from a different part of the state.
Okay really going out to buy ice cream now.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
As long as there is someone else below them on that ladder.
Mary G
Kay
@RAVEN:
Good!
It was dead when I voted at 5:30 but they say library levies here are “stealth levies”, meaning they hope for low turnout by anti-tax people and high turnout for library-lovers, which in this county means “low turnout is better”.
206inKY
@VFX Lurker: Those postcards made a huge difference! I think they were even more effective than phone calls since they were thoughtful without risk of being annoying. Anybody who wrote one for KY helped change thousands of lives for the better tonight!
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can explain Rick Perry. He’s literally so stupid that he didn’t realize he was being nominated for a “second tier Cabinet post” until he showed up for his first day on the job. He reportedly was surprised that the Department of Energy didn’t “control the oil”. He literally thought he was being nominated for a different Cabinet post and was too stupid and lazy to double check.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
Our Repub candidate for mayor, when asked at a public event if he believed in climate change, said he was very skeptical because the people “hawking” it fly around in private planes and live in big mansions. He stopped short of saying Al Gore is fat.
HE LOST!
cain
How are we doing in Mississippi? Seems that is still going. I’m hoping for a good news. The guy seems to be more of a Republican than a Democrat on some social issues, but that seems to be the character of the state. Nevertheless, go go go!
Kay
@Marcopolo:
I think Bevin hit abortion really hard which is probably what Erik is worried about. You now, that calling Beshear a baby killer didn’t work.
SiubhanDuinne
@RAVEN:
Was it a generic SLOST or an E-SLOST or T-SLOST or something dedicated?
dmsilev
@Mary G: Has Trump tweeted yet about how KY-GOV has nothing to do with him?
RAVEN
@SiubhanDuinne: Here’s the project list
TS (the original)
@Baud: Glad you’re back Baud – you should run for President
Jeffro
@Mary G:
Dems – the DNC – have no idea how powerful an issue this is. The teacher shortage is tough everywhere, especially in the south (including VA). Banging on teachers is bad politics in normal times but right now it’s REALLY bad politics and for that, I am grateful.
Great work, teachers’ unions…and keep it up for 2020!
Aleta
* 8 of those were solidly for Trump in 2016
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jeffro
@zzyzx: I’m sure she will reflect on all of this in the weeks ahead…and come up with not much. Sadly.
Kay
By tomorrow the (awful) NYTimes political team will have recharacterized this frame they set up yesterday.
“All politics is local”, guaranteed, by 7 AM.
JR
@JR: @guachi:
Well, not so bad if I say so myself.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Shocked! No way! A trumpublican claiming ‘voting irregularities’? Twitler will be way, way out in front of this in 3, 2, 1…and naturally, will end up pantsed.
TS (the original)
Bevin is not conceding – colour me surprised. Thinks there are issues!
Betty Cracker
Interesting:
sdhays
@Aleta: Florida too. But for voting irregularities in Miami-Dade (again!), the Democrat very well may have won there as well.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: Wait…what’s Fox News’ take on how this is related to Bevin being a spectacularly bad candidate? Spillover effect?
LOLOL
Aleta
Thank you DougJ.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Dan B
Will Mitch be flying into KY with a special group of election experts to find out why the voting machines didn’t work the way they were “supposed to”?
206inKY
@Jeffro: This is absolutely right. I can’t express how often this came up in canvassing the past three months. It was the top issue by far.
sdhays
@cain: I assumed that there’s no way the Democrat can win in Mississippi, but the Democrat is the Attorney General, so he apparently figured out a way to win a state-wide race once before. Does anyone know if there’s an actual chance he could win?
Betty Cracker
Fucking Kasich is on CNN babbling about how the US is a “center right” country blah blah blah in response to the GOP taking an L in KY. Fuck off, shellfish allergy Harrison Ford.
rikyrah
@Aleta:
?????
Mary G
Please Dog let us dump him.
Steeplejack
@different-church-lady:
?
@different-church-lady:
I see you found it.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
He’s a fraud. He left a huge budget hole. All he did was move money around. He was gone about ten minutes and they had to raise taxes. Regressive taxes, of course. They taxed poor people more to fill the huge gap he left.
The national coverage of him is just so lazy. Ohio actually has several local, large newspapers. They could read one, the people who work for CNN, right? They make 10 million dollars a year. Read a newspaper.
Mary G
yellowdog
@Bumper: What on Earth would Republicans consider appealing? I mean, come on. Pedophilia, rape, and the death of children are fine with them. Has anyone polled the GOP about cannibalism?
Mary G
Old Dan and Little Ann
Rochester peeps. Dinalfo out as Monroe County Executive. Hell Yeah!
Kathleen
@Kay: Absolutely! I think Ohio can be turned blue again, and I think the fact Pelosi was here in February was a sign.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sdhays: Chris Hayes did a segment the other night about the MS gov’s race. The MS state constitution has what is effectively a state level electoral college, specifically written in IIRC 1890 to preserve the power of white voters. He’d have to win the popular vote, and a majority in each of the state house districts, and if no one wins both, the race gets kicked to the state lege
chris
Now wouldn’t that be something…
Patricia Kayden
Kathleen
@trollhattan: AMEN!!! Man, if there’s hope for Kentucky, the world is our oyster!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: I always say Kasich was Paul Ryan when Paul Ryan was reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time, without the Eddie Haskell affectations. The Beltway fawned over the prickly but principled green eye-shade policy wonk who was gonna save the country through “entitlement reform.” trump won by vowing to protect the safety net and improve on Obama care (with “something terrific”), and Bevin lost cause he tried to take away what his voters didn’t know was Obamacare.
Aleta
@Mary G:
I bet Trump doesn’t even know Bevin. I hope we can make him forget he ever met McConnell too.
chris
@sdhays: Not likely, the Dem’s down 10% with 65% counted.
Kathleen
@Mary G: “Resurgent Gathering”? Sounds like a cult.
Jeffro
@Mary G: REAL populism!
(or, just actually working to make one’s state better, instead of coming up with new ways to line the Koch’s pockets and drag women & minorities back to the Stone Age)
Jeffro
@Patricia Kayden: The ASSOL (yes, really) is not at all indicative of Mason (student body nor the institution) nor the area. BUT…yes, it’s a constant source of reliable RWNJ quotes for the talking head shows. The school of economics is even worse.
Mike in NC
@yellowdog: It’s only acceptable to eat straight white people.
Butter Emails
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What he fails to mention is that they’re likely his voting irregularities.
Martin
On behalf of Californians, I’d like to welcome VA to the Stem-to-Stern-Blue club. It’s a pretty good club. You’ll dig it.
Kent
Polls are still open for 10 more minutes here in WA state. Just saying. We don’t have any partisan legislative races happening but we do have a few significant statewide ballot measures.
Martin
@chris: Depends on what 35% is left. Missouri is notorious for everything but St Louis coming in and then the last 10% of districts is like 40% of the votes and around 80% of the Dem votes. In other states the cities come in first.
But yeah, MS was always a real longshot.
Jeffro
@206inKY: I hear you. It’s a hugely overlooked piece of the puzzle for Dems and ties together all kinds of issues. Large numbers of teacher-voters, obviously. Vastly larger numbers of parents who are supportive of those teachers and the schools, and vast numbers of homeowners who want good schools – if nothing else, that keeps property values up, right? (from the school of ‘if a good thing happens for the wrong reason, it’s still a good thing! =)
Add in the pressure of the teacher shortage, when everyone KNOWS teachers haven’t gotten fair and regular raises in years if not decades in most states…it’s just amazing Dems don’t make it a bigger part of their platform and speeches. But maybe some are learning…
planetjanet
Just got back from our county victory party. The big news is for Virginia taking back both houses of the state legislature. But it feels like the epicenter of an earthquake under my feet. Prince William has often been called a bellwether for the state. Tonight, after 27 years as a county resident, I have finally seen the Board of Supervisors in Democratic hands. The execrable Corey Stewart has been exorcised and the clean up begins with Ann Wheeler at the helm. But more than that, we expanded our margin on the school board, we took the Commonwealth Attorney with Amy Ashworth, we took the Sheriff with Josh King and the entire soil and water conservation board. This county is a different place after tonight. We did change the world, one vote at a time.
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Holy shit, that’s disgusting!
Aleta
It’s good for the soul to celebrate with BJ people.
S. Duinne, I hope you’re around.
gwangung
@Kent: yeah but I expect Asshole Eyman’s initiative to pass—-people never want to pay for stuff they vote for.
chris
Filed Under: Ain’t that America
It gets better!
Short thread starts here.
Ohio Mom
It’s so nice to have a happy thread to read but I have to go to sleep. Night all!
Barbara
@Patricia Kayden: Don’t get me wrong, it is significant especially considering how gerrymandered the state seats are, but regarding Fairfax, there was only one Republican legislator remaining in NoVa and he lost tonight. In my view, the real story is in the southeastern part of the state, where blue increasingly is peaking through the traditionally red parts. It sounds like Ms. McLaughlin hasn’t been to Virginia in a while.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ohio Mom: I’m enjoying the happy thread too. And there’s a fresh election thread upstairs. G’night all!
Barbara
@planetjanet: That is just awesome!
Kent
@gwangung: So do I.
If the car tabs initiative does pass then maybe our Dem state legislature can just fucking tack 10 cents onto the gas tax and recover the funds that way. Which would be a much bigger FU to all the wingers in eastern WA who drive everywhere in big trucks. They will have to find replacement funds. We can’t let a criminal fraudster like Eyman veto mass transit in Puget Sound.
chris
@Martin: I’ll just keep hoping because it would be a delicious victory. Still unlikely though.
Jinchi
@Betty Cracker:
As a mathematically inclined person, the whole “center right” nonsense has always grated on me. What would it even mean?
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, clearly that has no relevance at all to anyone on the national stage. ?
TS (the original)
@planetjanet:
Trump supporting losers
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s all ME ME ME with Trump, isn’t it? He’s not even bothering to hide that from his base.
Kelly
My local water district bond measure appears to have passed 69 yes to 40 no. We can replace the 60 year old wood water tank and a few miles of water mains. Now that’s local politics.
planetjanet
@chris: It will be the first bill in the House in the new session. And we have the first female speaker of the Senate since the founding of the commonwealth. ERA!
planetjanet
@Martin: Thank you for the warm welcome!
Aleta
Rs have won all the other state seats in KTY, I believe.
To see the margins:
https://www.wlky.com/article/november-2019-election-results-kentucky-indiana-vote-beshear-bevin-race-governor-race/29668181
planetjanet
@TS (the original): I always felt John Bell would take that seat. I was more worried whether Suhas Subramanian would be able to take John Bell’s old House seat. Both won tonight. Great news for Loudoun and Prince William Counties.