SPECIAL ELECTIONS

[Duchess]

Oh my my. Whatta night!

Democrats flipped another seat! Missouri had a special election and Democrats flipped an R +11 seat!

I want to laugh like the Devil. HaHaFuckinHa.

[Duchess]

How many republican retirements will we hear about in the next few months?

I may become insufferable. You've been warned. 

[HairOfTheDog]

I read that the special (off-year) elections in Virginia last night saw Democrats gain control of all branches of the state government for the first time in 25 years.  

Voters in the suburbs again made the difference, like they did in the 2018 midterms.

Having control of all branches of state government will make it a lot easier for Democrats to get legislation on issues like gun safety/control passed. It also means that Democrats will be in charge of voter redistricting maps.

[HairOfTheDog]

Though he hasn't conceded yet and is citing unspecified 'voter irregularities', the very unpopular and asinine Republican governor Matt Bevin was defeated by Democrat Andy Beshear by 5,000 votes (.4%) in Kentucky.  Suburban voters were the bulk of Beshear's support.

Bevin was strongly endorsed at a local rally on election-eve by President Trump.  Trump implored Kentucky voters to re-elect Bevin and said it would make him (Trump) look bad if Bevin lost.  

Now the Trump administration is saying that Trump looks good because Bevin would have lost by even more if Trump hadn't carried him.

[HairOfTheDog]

In Mississippi, Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves won a contentious and competitive race in one of the most conservative states in the country.
 
Reeves beat Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood by an estimated 53 percent to 46 percent margin. 
 
While Mississippi has long been conservative, it has only recently become a reliably Republican state, as ancestral Democrats abandon their old party. Reeves will be the third consecutive Republican governor.

Democrats have controlled the governor's mansion for only four of the last 25 years.

[Duchess]

Thank you for all this information, HotD! I didn't have time to get up to date on all of that.

...I only had time for drive by smugness. Hehehe  

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank you for all this information, HotD! I didn't have time to get up to date on all of that.

...I only had time for drive by smugness. Hehehe  

You're welcome.

Here are some charts showing the results of yesterday's elections:  https://www.270towin.com/news/#.XcL4AjNKjIU

There will be another special election for governor of deep red Louisiana on November 16^th.  

The incumbent is Democrat John Bel Edwards who's been in office since 2015.

His Republican challenger is a big business owner named Eddie Rispone.

The race is seen as a toss-up, with recent polling within the margin of error.

President Trump will be in the state today to campaign for Rispone.

[Rootilda]

"...a big business owner named Eddie Rispone,"

That could be a line from a novel describing a mob boss.

[HairOfTheDog]

Last night, in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania...

Democratic candidates claimed big victories in three Philadelphia-area "collar counties"  in one of the starkest warnings for Republicans across the nation that their prospects among suburban voters are at risk.
 
For the first time since the Civil War, Democrats will hold all five seats on the Delaware County Council, south of Philadelphia. 
 
In Chester County, Democrats won a majority of council seats for the first time since the modern parties aligned. Democrats also won races for county sheriff and district attorney.
 
And in Bucks County, Democrats claimed two of three seats on the County Council to win a majority for the first time since 1983.

Full story:  https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/46...gs-for-gop

[HairOfTheDog]

How many republican retirements will we hear about in the next few months?

I may become insufferable. You've been warned. 

Warning heeded.  ')

Congressional retirements are an early indicator of the political environment, and for the second consecutive election (2018 and 2020), more Republicans than Democrats are heading for the exit.

New York House Rep Pete King recently announced that he will not run for a fifth term in 2020.

That makes 20 Republican Representatives and 4 Republican Senators who are calling it quits in 2020 (vs. 6 Democrat Representatives and 1 Democrat Senator).

Refs:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...er/596965/
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/11...ion-069180

[Duchess]

I'm choosing to think they see the writing on the wall.

[Duchess]

Louisiana, you did great! Whew!

This is the second gubernatorial victory for Dems in a red state this month. trump campaigned twice in the final 11 days. Thanks, trump! Hehehehe.

...and I would just like to add, the Democrat won in Louisiana, a state that trump carried in 2016 by nearly 20 points.

[HairOfTheDog]

President Trump keeps attempting to make state elections all about himself instead of focusing on the candidates and the issues.  

And, he spouts a lot of easily disputed bullshit in attempt to bolster the Republican candidate and smear the Democratic candidate.  

The only voters inspired by that kind of crap are the ones who blindly swallow and defend anything Trump says, no matter what, and the number of those such devotees doesn't appear to have increased over the last three years.

He called Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards "a radical liberal" over and over during his extensive campaign effort to get Republican challenger Eddie Rispone elected.  

Edwards is a conservative Democrat, however, with a long record attesting to that fact.  He opposes abortion, strongly supports gun rights, etc...

Trump also tried to falsely brand conservative Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama as a "far left radical" when he was campaigning for his Republican competitor Roy Moore.  It didn't work in that Alabama senate race either.

[HairOfTheDog]

Anyway, after the Trump-backed Republican governor of Kentucky lost a couple of weeks back, Trump and the RNC put a lot of stock in Rispone winning Louisiana - three rallies from Trump, lots of Trump tweets supporting Rispone, Pence on radio shows, $2 million RNC funding...........

“In two days, I really need you, but you really need you, to send a message to the corrupt Democrats in Washington. They are corrupt. They are crazy, crazy.”  That's what Trump told Louisiana voters ahead of yesterday's election for governor in Louisiana.  

And, he pleaded for Louisiana voters to make up for his failure in Kentucky by giving him a win in Louisiana.  “So, Trump took a loss -- so you got to give me a big win, please. OK? OK?”  



"Our shared love for Louisiana is always more important than the partisan differences that sometimes divide us,” Edwards (pictured above) told supporters during his victory speech. 

“And as for the president: God bless his heart,"  he added.   A polite little southern slam for y'all.