Tag Archives: midterms

The Washington Post reports: Voter turnout spiked to a 100-year high in last year’s midterm congressional elections. Census Bureau data released Tuesday finds turnout rates jumped across nearly all groups, but the shift was particularly notable among young adults who typically stay home in nonpresidential years. The findings illustrate an extraordinary breadth of engagement in the first congressional election since …

The Hill reports: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is calling on incoming House GOP campaigns chief Tom Emmer (R-Wis.) and the rest of the leadership team to conduct an autopsy to find out what went wrong for Republicans in the disastrous 2018 midterms. In a “Dear Colleague” letter obtained by The Hill, Stefanik and other allies wrote Monday that the “disappointing …

NBC News reports: Nancy Pelosi has been chosen by House Democrats to lead them in the new Congress, but she still faces a showdown vote for House speaker when lawmakers convene in January. Pelosi ran unopposed as the nominee for speaker in a closed-door Democratic caucus election Wednesday despite unrest from those clamoring for new leadership. The California Democrat faces …

CNN reports: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small has defeated Republican Yvette Herrell in one of the nation’s last outstanding House races, New Mexico’s secretary of state certified Tuesday afternoon. The official result brings the total number of Democratic gains in the House to 39 seats, with one race outstanding, according to CNN’s count. Herrell claimed victory in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional …

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reports: The supervisor of elections for Broward County, Florida — Brenda Snipes — who has faced national scrutiny in recent days for her county’s chaotic performance during the recount in the Florida Senate and gubernatorial races, resigned on Sunday. Her county’s performance during the most recent recount — which was delayed by faulty machines and missing …

Axios reports: Democrats have won at least 33 seats, but they look poised to win closer to 40 — there are 13 races that are either not called or too close to call, and Democrats have a solid chance of winning seven of those. Why it matters: We’re officially in “blue wave” territory. Even if Democrats didn’t win any additional …

USA Today reports: Trump refused to answer a follow-up question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta, who persisted in his attempt to ask the president about the Russia investigation. Trump spoke loudly over Acosta and demanded he hand over the microphone. “That’s enough,” Trump said repeatedly as Acosta continued to try and ask his question. When a White House aide attempted …

Patch reports: President Donald Trump will hold a press conference late Wednesday morning, the day after Democrats officially took control of the U.S. House of Representatives. With the Democrats taking the House, there are major implications for Trump himself. Key House committees that can investigate the president will now have Democrats in charge and can take on more aggressive probes …

The Hartford Courant reports: Ned Lamont will be the next governor of Connecticut. Republican Bob Stefanowski conceded the race for governor Wednesday morning after late returns from the state’s cities pushed Lamont to victory. In conceding, Stefanowski said “the margin was big enough” to hand victory to Lamont. Problems with same-day voter registration are not significant enough to change the …

The Washington Post reports: Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader who may soon be speaker, on Tuesday celebrated Democratic victories in that chamber, as the party inched toward reclaiming the majority. “Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” she declared at an election night party. “We have all had enough of division,” she said. “The American …

MSNBC and Fox News have forecast that the Democrats have won enough seats to flip the House with many races yet to be called. Story developing… UPDATE: Bloomberg reports. Democrats clinched the U.S. House majority, halting Republicans’ eight-year reign as voters delivered a rebuke to President Donald Trump, according to projections from NBC and FOX. Republicans have kept control of …

Polls will begin to close in a few minutes in a couple of East Coast states although most won’t close until 7PM or later, in some cases due to long lines caused by various snafus. Use this post to weigh in on exit polls, turnout reports, and called races. As the night goes on I’ll devote individual posts to the …

Pittsburgh’s NBC affiliate reports: Police arrested a man for allegedly threatening to shoot up a Washington County polling place on Tuesday. Christopher Queen allegedly arrived at the South Franklin Fire Hall just before 9 a.m. and told workers he was promised a gun and money if he voted “straight party.” Poll workers say he became angry when they told him …

“What this election is really about is whether we feel comfortable about having a president who is a pathological liar. Who lies every day, about every imaginable thing. And whether we as Americans are comfortable having a president who tries to divide us up, divide us up based on the color of our skin or the country we came from, …

The Hill reports: Google’s top trending search term in the U.S. on the morning of Election Day was the Spanish translation of “where to vote,” which could suggest a number of Hispanic-Americans were looking to get out the vote in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The company’s GoogleTrends Twitter account wrote Tuesday morning that “Dónde votar” had surged to the top of …

New York state unfortunately is one of only 13 states without early voting so I arrived at my polling place at 6:30AM today to find the longest line I’ve seen since 2008. For a midterms election. Use this post today to let us know your own voting experience and alert us to any issues you may have encountered. It’s going …

Roll Call reports: When Americans head to the polls on Tuesday for the midterm elections, voters in 35 counties — from Las Vegas to Dallas to Tampa — will head to precincts that are being closely monitored by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for “compliance with the federal voting rights laws,” the DOJ announced Monday. “Voting rights are constitutional …

Well, this is convenient timing. Even if the Democrats take back the House in this week’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump will still have Paris. Just three days after Tuesday’s vote, Trump will skip town and fly to France for a military celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. He’ll be joined by his top …

MarketWatch reports: When President Trump tweeted an ominous pre-midterms warning to would-be fraudulent voters, critics were quick to note that voter fraud is statistically nonexistent in the United States; to recall that the president’s own voter-fraud commission, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and led by controversial Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, had not cloaked itself in glory before …

The Great Falls Tribune reports: Kevin Crawford of Bozeman and Curtis Roe of Belgrade decided to protest President Donald Trump’s visit Saturday to the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport in grass. The pair mowed “FU45” on Roe’s land under the landing approach Air Force One would make. The result was lettering 60 feet tall and 150 feet across. Crawford said that …