To that committed Gen Z voter, thank you. This letter and poem are heartening, especially since I've not wanted to track election results until later tonight. Too much anxiety. But I heard a few snippets of very good news on NPR while running an errand, mainly dispelling the notion of a red tsunami and some likely key wins for Democrats running for the Senate in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Colorado.
I was going to wait a few more hours, but WaPo keeps putting updates on to my e-mail. The voice of the great American poet is steady: "Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heart pants, life glows:" Heather holds the lamp high for us.
After working all day, picking up tents first thing that had blown over when temps went from 85 to 44 overnight, then at the Dem Office, then staffing a precinct needing a volunteer, I went home had a simple dinner and went to bed. I figured I'd learn more this am and wanted a good night's rest to deal with whatever we learn today and beyond!
The count that currently shows Abbott leading? It is totally fake! Now, hang on, I have Proof!.
Last night while I was sleeping, My Pillow spoke to me in a dream.
My Pillow showed me a dream video of thousands of people in Llano, Texas stuffing a dumpster with fake ballots that were quick counted in Brazil and sent back! This is a fact!
My Pillow would never lie to me in a dream.
Folks, what happened last night in Llano, Texas?
The Worst voter Fraud in history.
Even Abbott is going to jail. Who knows about Trump though.
Beto O'Rourke totally won that election! These are the total facts!
My Pillow was clear about this being HUGE fraud in My Pillow dream.
:-)
(for those that saw this today on yesterday's post, my apology for the mistake).
oooohhhh .... the dream so so sooo many of us share, Mike... if only... the kindest, most gracious, appreciative and determined to SERVE the People - not the NRA - candidate had won... we'd be looking at a much sweeter, more democratic future in this state...
There is some good news, no doubt. But, I checked the house map this morning and my red eyes were confronted with a matching color map of the US at the NY Times. Gift link here.
Once you arrive to the map, over in the left, click the "District Map". Ouch.
We were set to lose the House, and should be happy it was not as bad as it could be (happy to say NC is sending 2 more Dems to the House next year than this). But if we lose Georgia’s Senator, we will suffer indeed. Those 6 year terms can feel interminable.
That map shows that the Reds like to drive a lot. No wonder they are climate deniers (does that mean they think there is no climate?). As a teenager, I learned a teenage-boy Texas joke (need I say more) whose refrain was 'Climate!' and the punch line was 'Climb it!'. I lived in Texas a while, it's gonna be pretty hard to prevail against all that 13 year old testosterone. (PS - I lived in the territory where people practice to become Texans: the $unshine $tate) (The only hope for the country is the pythons, who may control the invasive white folk species)
My daughter is involved in the new PP Generation Action chapter at Murray State University. (Murray Kentucky). Planned Parenthood has 350 student chapters. Here's hoping
Our son, a senior at your own beloved BC, sent his remote ballot last Fri, Professor. He & his 7 roommates (in the "mods") discuss politics with conviction (7 Dems / 1 Ind) and ALL voted. 2 did summer internships with senators and ours was with an environmental non-profit so, your influence at your own university is contagious! Thank you for your work and the hope it brings.
So the court case to appealing the trigger ban law proceeds next week. If the amendment had passed, the case would be moot and full abortion ban in place. This is a tiny first step
There is no red wave. In fact, there is a solid opportunity for Democrats to hold the House.
And it looks like there is an unexpected Democratic victory in Colorado, where Lauren Boebert is currently losing with 70$ of he vote tallied.
I posted this analysis at TAFM:
The Republicans have won the four seats they were expected to win in Florida - which were gerrymandered for a Republican victory, and they have defeated Elaine Luria in Virginia.
They have won five, and have to pick up five. These are they.
However, Democrats are picking off two Republican seats, and are unexpectedly beating Lauren Boebert in Colorado!
That means a Republican pickup of two so far. Close, but don’t light your cigars boys.
There are four seats in New York held by Democrats that look like they will stay Democratic following Hochul’s gubernatoria victory.
If the Democrats hold the seats they already have remaining, they hold the House.
There are four seats in California that are potential Democratic pickups, which would increase the majority back to what it was as of the2020 election.
If it does come down to those four seats, there will be no final decision for two weeks because California is the slowest-counting state of all (Hey, we’re #1 at everything, the good things, the bad things. We’re #1!!)
If Democrats hold Arizona and Nevada Senate seats, which appears likely, and Fetterman continues to stay in the lead, Democrats will hold the Senate 50-50 regardless of the outcome in Georgia.
If that happens and Georgia goes to runoff, there is a good possibility of Warnock winning because Republicans who were only supporting Walker to control the Senate may drop off when the runoff no longer decides senate control.
It’s going to be close all the way around, but the Republicans look to have come up short.
Things could change, but this now appears possible if not likely.
After the understandably challenging 2020 primary (in March, three months earlier than any CA primary in living memory, with the pandemic underway and the usual retirement-age civics junkies deciding not to risk serving as pollworker volunteers and a sudden spike in requests for mail ballots even in counties whose registrars of voters hadn't touted voting by mail for decades - plus the USPS's notorious meddling), California legalized both statewide voting by mail and an appropriately generous period in which a ballot postmarked on Election Day could still count and be counted. Mail ballots require more handling. So that's not slowness, that's thoroughness and respect for ALL votes.
In Knox Co., TN (3rd largest) the normally small-ish precinct in S. Knoxville where I worked, which I’m told has 400-500 voters at most, had 946 yesterday!! We had only 1,000 preprinted ballots!! I saw many young adults but not an unusual number so as to catch my attention. It felt like every one of them needed some kind of help—change of address mostly—which required me to call the Election Comm several times to confirm voter registration status. I got many, many busy signals but eventually got through; they said it was crazy all over the county. I have never been so busy in any past election! This was incredible. I am exhausted. Up and out for 18 hours straight. But I wanted every voter to have a good experience.
So proud to be from California, how the government works to make voting effortless. Voted from Spain and votes were returned in record time via snail mail and counted!!!
I, too, am more than grateful to be voting in California. My Vote was counted almost as soon as I dropped it off. And I was notified. Voting is serious business. And so is waiting. Onward!
So easy! I received my ballot from WA in September or early October, returned it from Belgium via e-mail scan, and checked online to be sure it was received and aprouved. So reassuring!
Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!! We really need this to be nationwide policy.... NO more polls, voting machines, intimidation, harassment of voters and workers at polls, yadda, yadda. Not to mention how much EASIER, EFFICIENT and AFFORDABLE this would be. I say we start pushing for it. Who knows? Maybe 50 yrs from now, it'll pass.
To be fair, California was the last of the West Coast states to go for all-mail balloting: Oregon made the switch in 1998, and Washington followed in 2011. And, having been a pollworker volunteer, I can wax nostalgic about the polling place as a (possibly -the-?) secular shrine of America. But California authorized no-excuse-required mail balloting almost half a century ago. By the time I was sole proprietor of a business in which Tuesdays in election season might turn into 20-hour days outside my own precinct, I was deeply grateful to the string of Republican registrars of voters who'd agreed that facilitating all voters' access was more to be desired than was jiggering the outcome this way or that.
I'm personally early voting from now on anytime it's offered, definitely while DeJoy is still running USPS. Better than it was but still unpredictable around here
Before my former county started offering permanent mail-voter status, I did vote early in the election for which I'd missed the deadline to return the mail-ballot application. Early voting should absolutely be on offer in every jurisdiction alongside no-excuse-required mail ballots: even if Election Day were made a legal holiday, that wouldn't help voters whose places of work can't or don't close on legal holidays and whose employers can't or won't grant enough time off to vote.
Thank you HCR for the full historical context & the voice of Walt Whitman. TCInLA, you are in fact much braver than I. I only looked at 2 races: Bennett won again as Dem SENATOR (hat tip) in Colorado. Maura Healey, is now the first-time Massachusetts woman Governor. Maura, the now soon to be ex-AG of Mass & Voters, created a smashing victory for all of us. No doubt Z people are a big part of that victory.
So glad to hear Bennwt is holding his seat! I have followed him since his run for President, and like him a lot. Also sent him some support. Glad it helped!😊👍❤️
Without all the election returns in, HCR tells us in today’s Letter that she sees ‘… a new generation is picking up the torch of our democracy.’
These midterm elections reminded HCR of the ‘momentous election of 1884’. 'In that year the Republican Party had become so extremist …' '....it showed those Republicans who stayed with the party that they must moderate their stances or become a permanent minority.' The parallel drawn between the Republican Party then and now was made clear.
‘It was a chaotic and consequential election, ‘…all anyone could know was that there were currents and crosscurrents. What would come from any of them would not be clear for another decade or more. In that tense election the main point was that there was voting at all, for the right to choose our lawmakers was what made America, America.’
How extraordinary for us to learn through historian Heather Cox Richardson, the connection between yesterday's midterm elections circa November 2022, to the one in 1884 and then taken directly to Walt Whitman’s “Election Day, November 1884”
“If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara—nor you, ye limitless prairies—nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
‘… he preferred the spectacle of democracy—the “ballot-shower from East to West”—to any of our nation’s natural wonders, including, but not limited to, Niagara Falls, the Mississippi River, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Great Lakes … you name it, Whitman thought the vote was better than it. (You’d think someone could’ve sold him on the Rockies, at least.) One can imagine a latter-day Whitman passing up a trip to the Grand Canyon and instead hunkering down at the TV, flipping anxiously from network to network as the precincts begin to report, wringing his hands. Not, mind you, that he would have any stake in the outcome; he’d just be along for the great democratic ride, clucking his tongue at the gerrymanderers of the world.’ (TheParisReview)
That in sum, was historian, Heather Cox Richardson’s conclusion as well about the election of 1884 and the midterms in November 2022 ‘… the main point was that there was voting at all, for the right to choose our lawmakers was what made America, America’
The still small voice that is voting, the panting heart that is waiting. The best description of an election ever penned - thanks Walt Whitman! - and of course Professor Cox-Richardson!
I was very pleased to rise and discover that "cat-box Joe" (Joe Bolduc) had been roundly beaten by incumbent Maggie Hassan. I call him cat-box Joe because of a remark he made (actually, made-up is the more apt term) during the second senatorial debate about students at a local high school being allowed to identify as cats and use litter boxes. The principal of the school actually laughed when asked about it! Both NH house seats were retained by Democrats as well!
Mostly, I'm glad that in NH at least, candidates were not able to gain high office on hate and BS.
Hello, Steve. I, too, relished the words of Whitman after our, oh, so painful recent years. He gave us the heart and imagery with which to celebrate our country today. Superb choice by HCR and an obvious one, too, as she referred back to 1884 and there was Whitman's “Election Day, November 1884” just waiting to be read. Cheers!
Thanks for this overview. Here, in GA, I am not so convinced that HW will lose. I am an African American woman: I NEVER underestimate the racist intent and disdain for POC and women that this party has. Herschel Walker is an insult to us--and he is the "pet" of the GOP--with just about as much intelligence as a pet and no loyalty or devotion to is African American ancestors whose sacrifices made it possible for anything--everything--that he has accomplished. Nauseating.
Well said, and I feel for you Crystal. Cherie Beasley lost in my neck of the woods and it just blows me away that Budd, whose political ads show him posing with his gun and riding on a Trump endorsement, could win over a highly capable and proven candidate like Beasley.
If there is a runoff with Warnock, I'll be sending $ his way.
From Ga. Too. Just can’t believe that someone with the communication skills the theological training the education that Warnock has could be beaten by some soggy little piece of swamp lying wood. Just insulting!!
ROCK STAR for the whole country is what my hubs just said after i read your words out loud! Thanks sooo much for all the heart and soul that went into this race, Janet!!!
I am very proud of Colorado. They seem to be moving in the right direction. My current resident state, Ohio, is woefully moving backward with the election of JD Vance and the re-election of the odious Mike DeWine. I think the younger people of this country know what is going on and will save us along with the voices of women.
it's nice if younger generations help out. expecting them to step up and save us from a mess they had nothing to do with creating... while they're young is asking a LOT!!
Jane Goodall says that when we (older generation) say the younger ones will rescue the country... it's something that truly enrages her. i agree.
They are in Michigan. There were 6 polling places on the campus of the University of Michigan. We have same day voter registration rights and the lines at all for both registration and Voting were more than 3hours long. Up at Marquette in the Upper Peninsula where Michigan Tech is located, the whole area is blue this evening. The same for Kalamazoo with Western Michigan University. Central Michigan took Bay City and Mount Pleasant Blue Michigan State University helped keep Genessee County blue! With Gen Z and women, we have flipped the whole State of Michigan Government Blue plus protected abortion and the right to vote! If you know anyone in Ohio who needs an abortion, send them here. In or Amendment it states that nobody can chase you here or prosecute you from another State!!! All that extra takes effect in January!
I share in your glee...what a fleeting flame she was! I hope that her demise sends the proper message. I'm in Philadelphia...I was never worried about Shapiro not making it for governor, but I can't find the words to express my relief that the snake oil wizard of Oz went bye bye....
No one in Oregon has to stand in line for 3 hours. I filled out my ballot on my dining room table and put it in the drop box on the way to the grocery store.
We did the same in WA state for years. I was appalled when we moved back to ATL just how backward it is and just how damn hard they have made it not only to vote but to find ballot info on candidates and other issues. GA has the added cruelty of making it illegal to give food and water to people in line.
My line here in western Minneapolis suburbs was about 10 minutes at 4:30 pm. Still lots of people voting, which was great to see in a non-presidential election.
Linda Sage, what a much more sane way to vote, especially no need for folks to take off work. I voted the first day of early voting. I stood in line for about 40 minutes; actual voting took about 10 minutes. To vote early in person was my choice to give room for those who vote on election day. Mail in voting ( without DeJoy shenanigans) is the sensible way to vote.
Thank you, Heather! I needed a positive note tonight. My mood has gone down a dark tunnel. I am a gay woman in Houston TX. Need I say more?? I am very concerned...💙
sucks so bad that Beto lost... he worked so hard and spoke to all of us in person, to important issues all over the state that we REALLY need addressed and changed... and now...????
Yeah. As a long time resident and retired Texas educator, it puzzles me how the people of Texas keep sending people back to office that promised to fix things they broke and never fix.
maybe not directly... however... it is a huge (intentional!!) dis-incentive for voters to even bother in a state that's really not red... it's a non-voting state. also makes a point of keeping civics and real history OUT of the classrooms... and books OUT of the libraries... sooo ignorance is rampant. gerrymandering does its job on many levels.
Powerful triad. Leaves me contemplating, once again, on what an unfettered influence such groups have gained in shaping the look of "democracy" via the Citizen's United decision.
well... i do believe that the workers for the county who count ballots really DO try to make sure it's all done properly, correctly, and fairly. it's the ones (state lege - as Molly Ivins always called them) who make the 'rules' and place all the obstacles who are the problem.
LOL!!!!!!!!! yep to the fun stuff ... and noooo to the big turnout. it's why those of us who do turn out to vote... can make a difference. however, it's a really big state. and the gerrymandering, among other things... are awful.
SO sorry that my fellow texans are not voting with a conscience. IT seems they do not want their representatives to govern, just leave them alone. Left there this year, but am going to fight here in Iowa to get the state back to blue.
I have a grand niece, her husband and 2 children living in Texas, and I worry about them all the time because of Abbott and Texas politics. I hope that if we can get a National codification of Roe that will help alleviate at least so.e of the stress for you all.🙏
No question about it - the young people have to step up and when they do, what a difference they'll make! But - I have to report, from the very narrow perspective of being a Maryland election judge for two days of early voting and one day of general election today, the youth vote has yet to materialize. C'mon young people: don't leave the decision making to the same old geezers who have gotten us into the pickle we're in. VOTE!
Hey, Maryland has elected its first Black governor, a Democrat! And for whatever very disappointing news out of Florida, they have elected their first Gen Z rep to Congress!
And, Massachusetts elected its first woman governor, and Lt. governor. An all woman top of the state, along with a woman mayor of Boston, and a woman treasurer. At least in this state women are acknowledged as powerful and respected!
Our trifecta of all top Women slate in Michigan all got re-elected! The Mayor of Detroit is still a man though. I can tell you that it is wonderful having a female Govenor, Sec. Of State and Attorney General. They didn't let any of Trumplicans get away with their nonsense here in Michigan. By the way, we women and Gen Z just finished flipping the whole State of Michigan Government Blue!!! For the first time in decades, the Michigan Legislature will be controlled by the Democrats!!! I just ecstatic!
Sad about Sarah Huckabee Sanders as AR governor. She's awful!
Looks like we're going to have quite a mixed bag. Still hoping Dems can hold the House! Looking like Repubs will take enough seats to control, but not by a big margin. Still, sad that Luria lost her VA seat. She's been so good on the Jan.6 Committee.😪
I do NOT want to spend the next 2 years vomiting as Gym Jordan runs a gazillion " investigations" into every Dem in sight, accomplishing nothing but misery for everyone.
Rep Anna Eskamani has huge GenZ support and continually pushes to register Gen Z voters throughout the state.
Disappointing losses in my county with poor Dem voter turnout. 😒
US House Rep and Freedom Caucus/Trump endorsee won ALTHOUGH Dem candidate increased support from some Repubs/NPA’s. She would have had a fighting chance in a future Prez election year when a Trump endorsement will be worth💩.
Florida House Rep/DeSantis bully buddy /millionaire won ALTHOUGH not a landslide ( 56%/44%) and his newbie opponent did it with only ~ $20,000!
Local county judge ( misdemeanors and minor crimes), heavily endorsed by our “Constitutional” sheriff and “ loaned” herself $100,000 ,LOST !
🤞 DeSantis’s gerrymandering on steroids is overturned.
Didn’t get the Beto Democratic win we needed in Texas. Everyone already said he couldn’t win. So that tells you so much!
But my new son in law’s sister won a NY Senate seat today for Staten Island and part of Brooklyn! Very excited for her! Jessica Scarcella-Spanton! Very proud of her!
Beto was so clearly the superior candidate for the people and not the NRA. If he can't win governor or senate seats... then who can??? Are we stuck with these asshats forever??
Voter suppression is ridiculous in Texas! Gerrymandering and making it harder to vote. They took voting off college campuses. It was hard to get the mail in ballots done correctly. And to get the rejected ones fixed or contact that voter. Fewer drop boxes. Voters showing up at the polls having no idea they’d been purged from the system, too late to register. I’m pretty much ready to leave.
Thanks for NY! So glad my daughter is a part of the positive things happening there!
With others, thank you. I, too, hopeful for those young ones who can vote and are doing it. I look to my granddaughter and her friends, who know where the future lies and take action. Just today her boyfriend witnessed the loss of life of a homeless person. Don’t tell me that doesn’t hit hard and call for action. Let’s stand and support all of us who will rise when needed and give to those who follow us all we can.
Younger people are recognizing what's completely effed up about our democracy, and also putting in time to fix it. Go Them! They are voting in record numbers and I applaud them!
Thank you Heather Cox Richardson for all that you are doing and will do in the future. Thanks to the Gen Z voter in Michigan (my home state). I hope that we have thousands like him in our state. May tomorrow bring better news for all of us who value our democracy.
I stood on the corner at 07:30 this morning with my VOTE sign, hoping. I stayed away from the news today. Vermont has overwhelmingly passed our Reproductive Liberty Amendment and now we wait. Thank you for your inspiring Letter tonight, Heather! Rest well.
To that committed Gen Z voter, thank you. This letter and poem are heartening, especially since I've not wanted to track election results until later tonight. Too much anxiety. But I heard a few snippets of very good news on NPR while running an errand, mainly dispelling the notion of a red tsunami and some likely key wins for Democrats running for the Senate in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Colorado.
I was going to wait a few more hours, but WaPo keeps putting updates on to my e-mail. The voice of the great American poet is steady: "Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heart pants, life glows:" Heather holds the lamp high for us.
Yes, Heather holds the light high. Well put!
Yes....❤️
After working all day, picking up tents first thing that had blown over when temps went from 85 to 44 overnight, then at the Dem Office, then staffing a precinct needing a volunteer, I went home had a simple dinner and went to bed. I figured I'd learn more this am and wanted a good night's rest to deal with whatever we learn today and beyond!
thanks for all your service!
Thanks for your service
Michael,
Some more good news!
Breaking News from Texas:
Beto O'Rourke won!! Running away won!
The count that currently shows Abbott leading? It is totally fake! Now, hang on, I have Proof!.
Last night while I was sleeping, My Pillow spoke to me in a dream.
My Pillow showed me a dream video of thousands of people in Llano, Texas stuffing a dumpster with fake ballots that were quick counted in Brazil and sent back! This is a fact!
My Pillow would never lie to me in a dream.
Folks, what happened last night in Llano, Texas?
The Worst voter Fraud in history.
Even Abbott is going to jail. Who knows about Trump though.
Beto O'Rourke totally won that election! These are the total facts!
My Pillow was clear about this being HUGE fraud in My Pillow dream.
:-)
(for those that saw this today on yesterday's post, my apology for the mistake).
oooohhhh .... the dream so so sooo many of us share, Mike... if only... the kindest, most gracious, appreciative and determined to SERVE the People - not the NRA - candidate had won... we'd be looking at a much sweeter, more democratic future in this state...
Ho-ho-ho. Such a good parody of My Pillow Guy! It was good to see some humor out of the situation in Texas
Michael,
There is some good news, no doubt. But, I checked the house map this morning and my red eyes were confronted with a matching color map of the US at the NY Times. Gift link here.
Once you arrive to the map, over in the left, click the "District Map". Ouch.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/08/us/elections/results-house.html?unlocked_article_code=36OUOuw7PJ19v4zH4HkrdkRSEwRU8kmNLr0hm-8y57l-I149Pu2tDBpBzYNQpo5bs08ahOZkKhKwWeFGyKsLL31g-6sJljvBzbjKRohaq6QjXOJ_jLrvhg0uuCMgFoRqpYvXrdyH-0oQIEA8MAKz8Jizo6EjSmMIIAyRLSm6Sbv1EJVqnkkldlr--z4Y7AiIpj1A8ojb2l7Cw1JdmsPq2YK_MWwMUj3jo83UCDIRCAThVrQ0vK4jdDi0plXW-QTcXBuCZOKwVzNMZKukGJersMUO69r4_mT_9RVYli5CzGhpvmhhMLOGQl-iceB8iFacuUQlYmZkllz1Lce_sX0nyYfFLWUKXbYnt109_g&smid=share-url
We were set to lose the House, and should be happy it was not as bad as it could be (happy to say NC is sending 2 more Dems to the House next year than this). But if we lose Georgia’s Senator, we will suffer indeed. Those 6 year terms can feel interminable.
Ted Cruz’ term is infinity
Appears Warnock is holding…1 pm ET
and if Beto couldn't knock him or Abutt off their perches... who can????
Hm. That's NYT. The map on WaPo didn't hurt my eyes.
Interesting! I subscribe to both NYT and WaPo on line, and NYT seems to have drifted a bit further right.
This is not new - NYT has always been more right-leaning, and that goes for the state and city of New York as well.
Yes I have taken note of this also😟
That map shows that the Reds like to drive a lot. No wonder they are climate deniers (does that mean they think there is no climate?). As a teenager, I learned a teenage-boy Texas joke (need I say more) whose refrain was 'Climate!' and the punch line was 'Climb it!'. I lived in Texas a while, it's gonna be pretty hard to prevail against all that 13 year old testosterone. (PS - I lived in the territory where people practice to become Texans: the $unshine $tate) (The only hope for the country is the pythons, who may control the invasive white folk species)
My daughter is involved in the new PP Generation Action chapter at Murray State University. (Murray Kentucky). Planned Parenthood has 350 student chapters. Here's hoping
Our son, a senior at your own beloved BC, sent his remote ballot last Fri, Professor. He & his 7 roommates (in the "mods") discuss politics with conviction (7 Dems / 1 Ind) and ALL voted. 2 did summer internships with senators and ours was with an environmental non-profit so, your influence at your own university is contagious! Thank you for your work and the hope it brings.
👏👏👏
No on Kentucky Amendment 2 has prevailed. It's a relief. Would have banned ALL abortions no exceptions for rape incest or life of mother
So the court case to appealing the trigger ban law proceeds next week. If the amendment had passed, the case would be moot and full abortion ban in place. This is a tiny first step
💓💓💓
Thank god for all those folks.
There is no red wave. In fact, there is a solid opportunity for Democrats to hold the House.
And it looks like there is an unexpected Democratic victory in Colorado, where Lauren Boebert is currently losing with 70$ of he vote tallied.
I posted this analysis at TAFM:
The Republicans have won the four seats they were expected to win in Florida - which were gerrymandered for a Republican victory, and they have defeated Elaine Luria in Virginia.
They have won five, and have to pick up five. These are they.
However, Democrats are picking off two Republican seats, and are unexpectedly beating Lauren Boebert in Colorado!
That means a Republican pickup of two so far. Close, but don’t light your cigars boys.
There are four seats in New York held by Democrats that look like they will stay Democratic following Hochul’s gubernatoria victory.
If the Democrats hold the seats they already have remaining, they hold the House.
There are four seats in California that are potential Democratic pickups, which would increase the majority back to what it was as of the2020 election.
If it does come down to those four seats, there will be no final decision for two weeks because California is the slowest-counting state of all (Hey, we’re #1 at everything, the good things, the bad things. We’re #1!!)
If Democrats hold Arizona and Nevada Senate seats, which appears likely, and Fetterman continues to stay in the lead, Democrats will hold the Senate 50-50 regardless of the outcome in Georgia.
If that happens and Georgia goes to runoff, there is a good possibility of Warnock winning because Republicans who were only supporting Walker to control the Senate may drop off when the runoff no longer decides senate control.
It’s going to be close all the way around, but the Republicans look to have come up short.
Things could change, but this now appears possible if not likely.
After the understandably challenging 2020 primary (in March, three months earlier than any CA primary in living memory, with the pandemic underway and the usual retirement-age civics junkies deciding not to risk serving as pollworker volunteers and a sudden spike in requests for mail ballots even in counties whose registrars of voters hadn't touted voting by mail for decades - plus the USPS's notorious meddling), California legalized both statewide voting by mail and an appropriately generous period in which a ballot postmarked on Election Day could still count and be counted. Mail ballots require more handling. So that's not slowness, that's thoroughness and respect for ALL votes.
In Knox Co., TN (3rd largest) the normally small-ish precinct in S. Knoxville where I worked, which I’m told has 400-500 voters at most, had 946 yesterday!! We had only 1,000 preprinted ballots!! I saw many young adults but not an unusual number so as to catch my attention. It felt like every one of them needed some kind of help—change of address mostly—which required me to call the Election Comm several times to confirm voter registration status. I got many, many busy signals but eventually got through; they said it was crazy all over the county. I have never been so busy in any past election! This was incredible. I am exhausted. Up and out for 18 hours straight. But I wanted every voter to have a good experience.
Thank you for your service to us and for Democracy!!!
how wonderful that you were able to help out, MLM!! thanks for doing that!!
and how ridiculous that we live in the Dark Ages when the whole country could do what WA, OR, CO and some other states do... mail-in voting!!!!!!!!
This neighbor to the west adds my thanks, MLM!💙
Thanks for your service!
So proud to be from California, how the government works to make voting effortless. Voted from Spain and votes were returned in record time via snail mail and counted!!!
I, too, am more than grateful to be voting in California. My Vote was counted almost as soon as I dropped it off. And I was notified. Voting is serious business. And so is waiting. Onward!
So easy! I received my ballot from WA in September or early October, returned it from Belgium via e-mail scan, and checked online to be sure it was received and aprouved. So reassuring!
Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!! We really need this to be nationwide policy.... NO more polls, voting machines, intimidation, harassment of voters and workers at polls, yadda, yadda. Not to mention how much EASIER, EFFICIENT and AFFORDABLE this would be. I say we start pushing for it. Who knows? Maybe 50 yrs from now, it'll pass.
To be fair, California was the last of the West Coast states to go for all-mail balloting: Oregon made the switch in 1998, and Washington followed in 2011. And, having been a pollworker volunteer, I can wax nostalgic about the polling place as a (possibly -the-?) secular shrine of America. But California authorized no-excuse-required mail balloting almost half a century ago. By the time I was sole proprietor of a business in which Tuesdays in election season might turn into 20-hour days outside my own precinct, I was deeply grateful to the string of Republican registrars of voters who'd agreed that facilitating all voters' access was more to be desired than was jiggering the outcome this way or that.
I really miss the polling place, but mail and drop-off voting is more accessible.
and way more affordable and efficient... less fraught on so many levels.
IT specialists have warned about the insecurity of bits-only voting machines, so good riddance for those.
I'm personally early voting from now on anytime it's offered, definitely while DeJoy is still running USPS. Better than it was but still unpredictable around here
Before my former county started offering permanent mail-voter status, I did vote early in the election for which I'd missed the deadline to return the mail-ballot application. Early voting should absolutely be on offer in every jurisdiction alongside no-excuse-required mail ballots: even if Election Day were made a legal holiday, that wouldn't help voters whose places of work can't or don't close on legal holidays and whose employers can't or won't grant enough time off to vote.
he absolutely needs to GO!!!!!!!!!!
This group has some of the best! Thank you.
Thank you HCR for the full historical context & the voice of Walt Whitman. TCInLA, you are in fact much braver than I. I only looked at 2 races: Bennett won again as Dem SENATOR (hat tip) in Colorado. Maura Healey, is now the first-time Massachusetts woman Governor. Maura, the now soon to be ex-AG of Mass & Voters, created a smashing victory for all of us. No doubt Z people are a big part of that victory.
So glad to hear Bennwt is holding his seat! I have followed him since his run for President, and like him a lot. Also sent him some support. Glad it helped!😊👍❤️
Yes, your support Cheryl, all supporters help, got him there back in the Senate.
Thanks for supporting Bennett from afar!
Spot On Janet R: I think I made 10 or so donations across state lines into the Wolverine State the LP & the UP.
so did a veteran ... and he really called out the fraud Oz...
Just be sure to smack the Professional Juvenile Delinquent. Boobert.
Yes, of course, Janet RinCO; I am too nervous. I think I have to hug some Generation Z folks today.
I am hard data guy, but I will call it: Bye Bye Boebert. :)
🤞👍🏼🤞
Without all the election returns in, HCR tells us in today’s Letter that she sees ‘… a new generation is picking up the torch of our democracy.’
These midterm elections reminded HCR of the ‘momentous election of 1884’. 'In that year the Republican Party had become so extremist …' '....it showed those Republicans who stayed with the party that they must moderate their stances or become a permanent minority.' The parallel drawn between the Republican Party then and now was made clear.
‘It was a chaotic and consequential election, ‘…all anyone could know was that there were currents and crosscurrents. What would come from any of them would not be clear for another decade or more. In that tense election the main point was that there was voting at all, for the right to choose our lawmakers was what made America, America.’
How extraordinary for us to learn through historian Heather Cox Richardson, the connection between yesterday's midterm elections circa November 2022, to the one in 1884 and then taken directly to Walt Whitman’s “Election Day, November 1884”
“If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara—nor you, ye limitless prairies—nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
‘… he preferred the spectacle of democracy—the “ballot-shower from East to West”—to any of our nation’s natural wonders, including, but not limited to, Niagara Falls, the Mississippi River, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Great Lakes … you name it, Whitman thought the vote was better than it. (You’d think someone could’ve sold him on the Rockies, at least.) One can imagine a latter-day Whitman passing up a trip to the Grand Canyon and instead hunkering down at the TV, flipping anxiously from network to network as the precincts begin to report, wringing his hands. Not, mind you, that he would have any stake in the outcome; he’d just be along for the great democratic ride, clucking his tongue at the gerrymanderers of the world.’ (TheParisReview)
That in sum, was historian, Heather Cox Richardson’s conclusion as well about the election of 1884 and the midterms in November 2022 ‘… the main point was that there was voting at all, for the right to choose our lawmakers was what made America, America’
The still small voice that is voting, the panting heart that is waiting. The best description of an election ever penned - thanks Walt Whitman! - and of course Professor Cox-Richardson!
I was very pleased to rise and discover that "cat-box Joe" (Joe Bolduc) had been roundly beaten by incumbent Maggie Hassan. I call him cat-box Joe because of a remark he made (actually, made-up is the more apt term) during the second senatorial debate about students at a local high school being allowed to identify as cats and use litter boxes. The principal of the school actually laughed when asked about it! Both NH house seats were retained by Democrats as well!
Mostly, I'm glad that in NH at least, candidates were not able to gain high office on hate and BS.
Thank you for that comment Steve; the Granite State Voters also rose & delivered.
Hello, Steve. I, too, relished the words of Whitman after our, oh, so painful recent years. He gave us the heart and imagery with which to celebrate our country today. Superb choice by HCR and an obvious one, too, as she referred back to 1884 and there was Whitman's “Election Day, November 1884” just waiting to be read. Cheers!
Well done FERN; love TheParisReview; I will have to check in today with France 24 for news of the Planet.
See below, Bryan. It is but a small gesture of thanks to you.
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/11/04/walt-whitman-election-day-november-1884/
I loved the picture of Hochul and AOC leading a crowd of supporters.
Thanks for this overview. Here, in GA, I am not so convinced that HW will lose. I am an African American woman: I NEVER underestimate the racist intent and disdain for POC and women that this party has. Herschel Walker is an insult to us--and he is the "pet" of the GOP--with just about as much intelligence as a pet and no loyalty or devotion to is African American ancestors whose sacrifices made it possible for anything--everything--that he has accomplished. Nauseating.
Well said, and I feel for you Crystal. Cherie Beasley lost in my neck of the woods and it just blows me away that Budd, whose political ads show him posing with his gun and riding on a Trump endorsement, could win over a highly capable and proven candidate like Beasley.
If there is a runoff with Warnock, I'll be sending $ his way.
From Ga. Too. Just can’t believe that someone with the communication skills the theological training the education that Warnock has could be beaten by some soggy little piece of swamp lying wood. Just insulting!!
High hopes for Warnock 🙏♥️🙏
Thank you TC💫💫💫
Thanks for your great work.
Good, common sense analysis - makes me feel hopeful. Thanks TC
TCinLA, is it too early to talk about '24 canidates? Carville, the Python, thinks Shapiro may have carried Fetterman over the Penn Line.
thinking Fetterman's own decency carried him over the line
That she should be emphatically weeded out is one of the best indications so far!
Right?!? Cheering, even tho it's waaay late!!!!!!!!
ROCK STAR for the whole country is what my hubs just said after i read your words out loud! Thanks sooo much for all the heart and soul that went into this race, Janet!!!
sweet dreams, Janet!! wake up to good news!
bet you enjoyed the nicest sleep in years!!
I am very proud of Colorado. They seem to be moving in the right direction. My current resident state, Ohio, is woefully moving backward with the election of JD Vance and the re-election of the odious Mike DeWine. I think the younger people of this country know what is going on and will save us along with the voices of women.
it's nice if younger generations help out. expecting them to step up and save us from a mess they had nothing to do with creating... while they're young is asking a LOT!!
Jane Goodall says that when we (older generation) say the younger ones will rescue the country... it's something that truly enrages her. i agree.
They are in Michigan. There were 6 polling places on the campus of the University of Michigan. We have same day voter registration rights and the lines at all for both registration and Voting were more than 3hours long. Up at Marquette in the Upper Peninsula where Michigan Tech is located, the whole area is blue this evening. The same for Kalamazoo with Western Michigan University. Central Michigan took Bay City and Mount Pleasant Blue Michigan State University helped keep Genessee County blue! With Gen Z and women, we have flipped the whole State of Michigan Government Blue plus protected abortion and the right to vote! If you know anyone in Ohio who needs an abortion, send them here. In or Amendment it states that nobody can chase you here or prosecute you from another State!!! All that extra takes effect in January!
Glad the people of CO seem to have ousted the gun toting Boebert. Hope Frisch hangs on!
I share in your glee...what a fleeting flame she was! I hope that her demise sends the proper message. I'm in Philadelphia...I was never worried about Shapiro not making it for governor, but I can't find the words to express my relief that the snake oil wizard of Oz went bye bye....
and the rest of the country... also breathes big sighs of relief with you, Sophia!! thank goodness for PA voters!!!
she's not been totally banished YET ... we all keep our fingers crossed!
Senator Fetterman!!!!!!!!!!!
Very exciting! CO did very well in general ♥️
No one in Oregon has to stand in line for 3 hours. I filled out my ballot on my dining room table and put it in the drop box on the way to the grocery store.
Same in Colorado. I could look up all the different propositions and judges and mark my ballot at my table. I always take to a drop box
We did the same in WA state for years. I was appalled when we moved back to ATL just how backward it is and just how damn hard they have made it not only to vote but to find ballot info on candidates and other issues. GA has the added cruelty of making it illegal to give food and water to people in line.
That food-and-water ban is related to the era of the Inquisition! I can't believe that it wasn't overruled.
well... ya know... it's the south... and we all know who rules... tho maybe, just maybe... not forever
Texas has joined “The South” in voting insanity. The evil won big, sad to say
So sad to learn Abbott re-elected. Beto would have been sooo much better for Texans! 😪
Yes!! Beto... and the other Dems on that great ticket would've made ALL the difference for us.
Yes indeed he would have, Cheryl!
Agree 100%!!
Yes, that's a very bad one. Big, yes, probably to outweigh the gold nugget whose value they know and fear.
joined??? isn't it already the south?? always has been to me
it is nuts!!
It’s inhumane!
My line here in western Minneapolis suburbs was about 10 minutes at 4:30 pm. Still lots of people voting, which was great to see in a non-presidential election.
All was well here in AZ where I was a poll observer. Nice turnout; about 25 minutes in line; courteous folks; well-run election.
Likewise we here in Hawai’i . . . all mail ballot.
another very sensible blue state... hmmm...
Linda Sage, what a much more sane way to vote, especially no need for folks to take off work. I voted the first day of early voting. I stood in line for about 40 minutes; actual voting took about 10 minutes. To vote early in person was my choice to give room for those who vote on election day. Mail in voting ( without DeJoy shenanigans) is the sensible way to vote.
Too easy. Hope it's legal... :D
N.B. This, if anyone wondered, was in reply to Linda Sage, a few posts further up, with her happy tale of breakfast table, vote, and grocery store.
Thanks for your constant care, Professor Heather. "At night a candle's brighter than the sun."
That is beautiful, thank you.
Thank you, Heather! I needed a positive note tonight. My mood has gone down a dark tunnel. I am a gay woman in Houston TX. Need I say more?? I am very concerned...💙
sucks so bad that Beto lost... he worked so hard and spoke to all of us in person, to important issues all over the state that we REALLY need addressed and changed... and now...????
Yeah. As a long time resident and retired Texas educator, it puzzles me how the people of Texas keep sending people back to office that promised to fix things they broke and never fix.
It always comes down to Money...ignorance and cult following....
Tx and Fl outdid themselves with gerrymandering, voter suppression and all the “voter integrity” obstructions. No mystery
However we want to look at it, gerrymandering does NOT apply to statewide races.
maybe not directly... however... it is a huge (intentional!!) dis-incentive for voters to even bother in a state that's really not red... it's a non-voting state. also makes a point of keeping civics and real history OUT of the classrooms... and books OUT of the libraries... sooo ignorance is rampant. gerrymandering does its job on many levels.
Absolutely correct. It does however, help their argument that what they do is not so important.
you need to come back, Rickey! clearly we need more education here. :-)
Oil industry?
and NRA and healthcare - a doc once told me that TX Medical Assoc is even more powerful here than gas & oil...
Powerful triad. Leaves me contemplating, once again, on what an unfettered influence such groups have gained in shaping the look of "democracy" via the Citizen's United decision.
Be sure your votes were counted & recorded! Don’t trust that administration 😟
Never trust the evil in charge here.
well... i do believe that the workers for the county who count ballots really DO try to make sure it's all done properly, correctly, and fairly. it's the ones (state lege - as Molly Ivins always called them) who make the 'rules' and place all the obstacles who are the problem.
not rocket science. straight up corruption...
LOL!!!!!!!!! yep to the fun stuff ... and noooo to the big turnout. it's why those of us who do turn out to vote... can make a difference. however, it's a really big state. and the gerrymandering, among other things... are awful.
SO sorry that my fellow texans are not voting with a conscience. IT seems they do not want their representatives to govern, just leave them alone. Left there this year, but am going to fight here in Iowa to get the state back to blue.
The cult has captured many of my fellow Texans. Wish I weren’t too old to move. About broke from trying to oust the devils.
Iowa needs your help too. Where are you in Iowa? My daughter is in Pella.
Houston is more sane than much of Texas, too bad the fools rule it all.
Move to Colorado. You are accepted here 💙
I have a grand niece, her husband and 2 children living in Texas, and I worry about them all the time because of Abbott and Texas politics. I hope that if we can get a National codification of Roe that will help alleviate at least so.e of the stress for you all.🙏
No question about it - the young people have to step up and when they do, what a difference they'll make! But - I have to report, from the very narrow perspective of being a Maryland election judge for two days of early voting and one day of general election today, the youth vote has yet to materialize. C'mon young people: don't leave the decision making to the same old geezers who have gotten us into the pickle we're in. VOTE!
Hey, Maryland has elected its first Black governor, a Democrat! And for whatever very disappointing news out of Florida, they have elected their first Gen Z rep to Congress!
https://news.yahoo.com/voted-history-wes-moore-marylands-041143085.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Wes Moore spoke at my daughter’s college graduation at Wagner College. Very charismatic man!
And, Massachusetts elected its first woman governor, and Lt. governor. An all woman top of the state, along with a woman mayor of Boston, and a woman treasurer. At least in this state women are acknowledged as powerful and respected!
Our trifecta of all top Women slate in Michigan all got re-elected! The Mayor of Detroit is still a man though. I can tell you that it is wonderful having a female Govenor, Sec. Of State and Attorney General. They didn't let any of Trumplicans get away with their nonsense here in Michigan. By the way, we women and Gen Z just finished flipping the whole State of Michigan Government Blue!!! For the first time in decades, the Michigan Legislature will be controlled by the Democrats!!! I just ecstatic!
Bravo to Maxwell Frost in FL!
Sad about Sarah Huckabee Sanders as AR governor. She's awful!
Looks like we're going to have quite a mixed bag. Still hoping Dems can hold the House! Looking like Repubs will take enough seats to control, but not by a big margin. Still, sad that Luria lost her VA seat. She's been so good on the Jan.6 Committee.😪
I do NOT want to spend the next 2 years vomiting as Gym Jordan runs a gazillion " investigations" into every Dem in sight, accomplishing nothing but misery for everyone.
Not.Giving.Up.In.Florida.
Yay on our Gen Z Rep Maxwell Frost
Rep Anna Eskamani has huge GenZ support and continually pushes to register Gen Z voters throughout the state.
Disappointing losses in my county with poor Dem voter turnout. 😒
US House Rep and Freedom Caucus/Trump endorsee won ALTHOUGH Dem candidate increased support from some Repubs/NPA’s. She would have had a fighting chance in a future Prez election year when a Trump endorsement will be worth💩.
Florida House Rep/DeSantis bully buddy /millionaire won ALTHOUGH not a landslide ( 56%/44%) and his newbie opponent did it with only ~ $20,000!
Local county judge ( misdemeanors and minor crimes), heavily endorsed by our “Constitutional” sheriff and “ loaned” herself $100,000 ,LOST !
🤞 DeSantis’s gerrymandering on steroids is overturned.
HH Strong 💙
Lots of good news there - Florida! Gen X in Florida of all places! Arkansas...well, their choice. She may learn.
Didn’t get the Beto Democratic win we needed in Texas. Everyone already said he couldn’t win. So that tells you so much!
But my new son in law’s sister won a NY Senate seat today for Staten Island and part of Brooklyn! Very excited for her! Jessica Scarcella-Spanton! Very proud of her!
Beto was so clearly the superior candidate for the people and not the NRA. If he can't win governor or senate seats... then who can??? Are we stuck with these asshats forever??
Yay for Jessica in NY!!!!!!!!!
Voter suppression is ridiculous in Texas! Gerrymandering and making it harder to vote. They took voting off college campuses. It was hard to get the mail in ballots done correctly. And to get the rejected ones fixed or contact that voter. Fewer drop boxes. Voters showing up at the polls having no idea they’d been purged from the system, too late to register. I’m pretty much ready to leave.
Thanks for NY! So glad my daughter is a part of the positive things happening there!
when i first moved here in 1994... i thought i'd moved to the 1950s
That was the year Karl Rove foisted W on us. Before that, Texas was a pleasure to live in. HELL ever since.
Beto. That is heartbreaking. Let him not lose his courage. The years are on his side, and he's very much needed.
They cheat, every last Repub politician in Texas
Woot! Woot! 💚💛🧡❤️💖💫🌠🌚🌞
Professor, I ALWAYS learn something from you!
Now I have read a Walt Whitman poem I never knew existed.
FYI - GenZ candidates have won seats! Maxwell Frost in Florida in particular.
CNN national House exit poll
R+13 65+
R+11 45-64
D+2 30-44
D+28 18-29
In Pennsylvania, the early youth vote is 318% compared to 2018,
the early Black vote is 1770% compared to 2018,
and the early women vote is 725% compared to 2018.
All of these stats I cite from Twitter.
The future may be young AND female.
Young, female, mobile, and savy.
Beverly Falls, I hope the future is young and female.
Works for me.
Yes to the young folks taking up the torch for democracy!
If I may suggest, have an interview with activist David Hogg. He is doing incredible work.
he's an American hero and wonderful treasure
How can we know they are not voting for Republicans...It could well be the case!
Great idea!!!
With others, thank you. I, too, hopeful for those young ones who can vote and are doing it. I look to my granddaughter and her friends, who know where the future lies and take action. Just today her boyfriend witnessed the loss of life of a homeless person. Don’t tell me that doesn’t hit hard and call for action. Let’s stand and support all of us who will rise when needed and give to those who follow us all we can.
Younger people are recognizing what's completely effed up about our democracy, and also putting in time to fix it. Go Them! They are voting in record numbers and I applaud them!
Thank you Heather Cox Richardson for all that you are doing and will do in the future. Thanks to the Gen Z voter in Michigan (my home state). I hope that we have thousands like him in our state. May tomorrow bring better news for all of us who value our democracy.
Thank you for sustaining us through these last years.
I stood on the corner at 07:30 this morning with my VOTE sign, hoping. I stayed away from the news today. Vermont has overwhelmingly passed our Reproductive Liberty Amendment and now we wait. Thank you for your inspiring Letter tonight, Heather! Rest well.
❤️💖💫🌠🌚🌞🌈💜💙💚💛🧡
sounds like y'all won!!!!!!!!!!
Bless you! Wonderful message. Perfect, in fact. Rest. Mmmmmmm💤💤💤