U.S. Midterm Elections

[Rogue 9]

Is there seriously not a thread for this yet?

At any rate, polls are closing or have closed in the Eastern time zone by now. I duly cast my vote against Larry Bucshon (for why, look no further than here at about 5:50) after work, so there's nothing to do now but wait for results. I'll be following via NPR.

[The Romulan Republic]

Colorado voter here, praying I won't end up represented by a Tea Party wanker.

[Rogue 9]

Mitch McConnell has won reelection in Kentucky.

[Guardsman Bass]

Not surprising. Grimes' campaign started falling apart even after you figure that it was an uphill battle to begin with, with the national party finally deciding to stop spending money on her.

[Purple]

Is it just me or is this a thing in your politics that no one ever "wins" elections, rather the other guy just basically loses and the winner gets the victory by default?

[Soontir C'boath]

Kind of weird in NY. Working Families Party endorsed Governor Cuomo in hopes to get enough votes to stay on the ballot line next year, but Cuomo doesn't actually want anything to do with them. Apparently, a new party, the Women's Equality Party, was OK'ed by him to reduce WFP's votes. As for the rest, they are either running unopposed or I do not know the candidates too well to comment.

We have three proposals on the line. The first entails a redistricting commission that ultimately still lets the legislatures draw the lines. Some say it's a step in the right direction that hopefully in the next step will shift power away from the legislature in the future. Others just think it enshrines the corruption. The second is an administrative issue letting bills be presented using an electronic device than on paper. The last is allowing $2 billion in bonds to fund school expansion, installing computers/tablets, high speed internet, and new security devices across NY state. That last part has me wondering what kind of security measures they want to install at schools. The money will be distributed like a grant i.e. TIGER.

[Ahriman238]

Mass is staying blue, exactly no-one is surprised by this.

[applejack]

Scott Brown loses race in New Hampshire

Scott Brown loses Senate race in New Hampshire
Updated by Andrew Prokop on November 4, 2014, 8:53 p.m. ET

Republican Scott Brown has lost his bid to unseat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, ABC projects.

Elected to fill the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in a January 2010 special election, Brown represented Massachusetts for three years in the chamber. But when Elizabeth Warren unseated him in 2012, he moved to New Hampshire and soon decided to try for a bid there.

Brown had hoped to become the first person to represent multiple states in the Senate in 135 years. But now that won't happen. According to exit polls, 54 percent of voters didn't think Brown had lived in New Hampshire long enough to represent the state well.

More consequentially, Shaheen's win means that that an overwhelming GOP Senate landslide is unlikely. We'll probably have to stay up very late to find out who takes the chamber — or we might not find out for weeks.

[Gaidin]

Scott Brown, first person in history to lose Senate races to two different women.

[FaxModem1]

In Texas here. It looks like us Democrats are losing across the board.

[The Vortex Empire]

Rhode Island here. Democrats took it all, surprising nobody.

On the national level, looks like the GOP will be gaining a majority in the Senate. Shit.

[FSTargetDrone]

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf has defeated incumbent Republican governor Tom Corbett.

Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Last updated: Tuesday, November 4, 2014, 10:58 PM
Posted: Tuesday, November 4, 2014, 8:42 PM

Democrat Tom Wolf, a businessman from central Pennsylvania, was elected governor Tuesday in his first campaign for political office.

Republican Tom Corbett became the first incumbent governor to lose reelection in the state's modern history.

"We need to restablish education as the priority ," Wolf said, speaking to supporters at the York Expo Center shortly after 10 p.m., after thanking Corbett for his service.

He exhorted Pennsylvanians to believe in themselves and their future. "Let's make this the time," Wolf said. "Let's get started."

A misty-eyed Corbett addressed a crowd of about 200 supporters shortly before 10 p.m. at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh.

"They said I might be a one-term governor and I am," Corbett said. "But I am proud of what we did."

He said he had fought for fiscal discipline and limited government, while making tough choices along the way.

Exit polls that showed Corbett losing across the board - among men, women, all age groups except those over 65, and all income levels. He also was losing in every region of the state but central Pennsyvlania.

When he takes office in January, Wolf will likely face a Republican-controlled legislature and a budget deficit as he tries to make good on a promise to dramatically increase the state government's share of public school costs.

Running on the promise of a "fresh shart," Wolf poured $10 million of his own money into his campaign for the Democratic nomination, swamping better known rivals.

He hammered Corbett for cuts to state education spending early in his administration, while passing out business tax cuts and refusing to tax the value of natural gas extracted from Marcellus Shale formation that underlies much of the state. In addition, Wolf argued, jobs growth was anemic compared to the rest of the nation - putting the lie to supply-side economic theory, he said.

Exit polls suggested the Democrat scored on the jobs issue: 90 percent of voters interviewed said they remain worried about the economy, and Wolf led among those voters.

All told, candidates and independent interest groups spent at least $70 million on the campaign in 2014. That included $47.4 million tallied by the Center for Public Integrity, for about 50,000 television ads on broadcast and national cable channels in Pennsylvania.

Wolf, 65, ran his family's York County building-supplies company for nearly three decades, building into the nation's largest supplier of kitchen cabinets while sharing profits with workers. He also served for 18 months as state revenue secretary in the administration of former Gov. Ed Rendell.

Wolf has a doctorate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served in the Peace Corps in India as a young man.

And he drives a Jeep - a fact reinforced over and over in his folksy TV ads. His initial ad campaign vaulted him to victory over better-known Democrats in the party's primary.

Corbett, 65, was state attorney general for two terms before winning election by nine percentage points in 2010, a Republican wave year. As attorney general he sent a series of state lawmakers and top aides to prison on corruption charges.

Wolf's running mate for lieutenant governor, Democratic state Sen. Mike Stack of Philadelphia, appearing at the Sheet Metal Workers hall in South Philadelphia, said in an interview after the polls closed "We need to invest in public education or we are doomed."

After casting his own ballot Tuesday afternoon, Wolf said he was heading home for dinner with family.

"We're having chili," he said.

The Democratic candidate -- with a horde of reporters, cameramen and staffers in his wake -- swept in and out of his Mount Wolf polling place in about a minute.

Before Corbett, the last Pennsylvania governor to lose reelection was William Bigler in 1845, after two years in office. A Democrat, he ran afoul of abolitionist sentiment after supporting the Kansas-Nebraska act, which ended the Missouri Compromise and allowed slavery in new western territories.

After a constititional convention in 1874, Pennsylvania governors' terms were lengthened to four years, but they were no longer allowed to succeed themselves.

Beginning with a new state constitution in 1968, governors were allowed to have two, four-year terms. Corbett is the first incumbent under those modern rules to have lost.

[Dominus Atheos]

Marijuana is legal in Oregon.

[TimothyC]

The GOP has kept or picked up Governor's Mansions in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Illinois, and maybe in Maryland. It's a good night for the GOP.

[Dalton]

We are completely fucked. GOP controls the Senate, the House and now filling the ranks in Congress are such marvelous examples of the extreme right-wing as Joni Ernst and Thom Tillis.

[aerius]

We are completely fucked. GOP controls the Senate, the House and now filling the ranks in Congress are such marvelous examples of the extreme right-wing as Joni Ernst and Thom Tillis.

Look on the bright side, you haven't elected Sarah Palin yet. You're pretty fucked, but not completely fucked.

[Covenant]

I am not from Alabama, but glancing through the other ballot measures, Alabama has voted Yes on amending their Constitution to exclude foreign laws from being put into action in the state of Alabama. I think the people there do not realize that a) nobody from the UN comes and makes you follow French laws or that b) The US Constitution already prohibits it.

What a panicky mess this country is sometimes.

[Alyeska]

We are completely fucked. GOP controls the Senate, the House and now filling the ranks in Congress are such marvelous examples of the extreme right-wing as Joni Ernst and Thom Tillis.

Short term victory, long term loss to the Republicans. If the Tea Party is allowed to set the agenda, this will almost certainly torpedo the 2016 presidential election.

The real damage will be nothing gets done for two years. Expect another debt ceiling hostage scenario.

[Dalton]

We are completely fucked. GOP controls the Senate, the House and now filling the ranks in Congress are such marvelous examples of the extreme right-wing as Joni Ernst and Thom Tillis.

Look on the bright side, you haven't elected Sarah Palin yet. You're pretty fucked, but not completely fucked.

Joni Ernst will make Sarah Palin look like Hillary Clinton.

I am not from Alabama, but glancing through the other ballot measures, Alabama has voted Yes on amending their Constitution to exclude foreign laws from being put into action in the state of Alabama. I think the people there do not realize that a) nobody from the UN comes and makes you follow French laws or that b) The US Constitution already prohibits it.

What a panicky mess this country is sometimes.

Pretty sure that was more to protect against Sharia law. Biblical law is still a-ok.

[Covenant]

Pretty sure that was more to protect against Sharia law. Biblical law is still a-ok.

Yeah, I figured. I just didn't want to dignify such a ridiculous claim.

[Highlord Laan]

Nebraska kept Fortenberry. This entire state is officially too dumb to live. Please send mt-range airburst.

[Flagg]

This is gonna be FUN!

[TimothyC]

The Utah 4th is one I'm watching. While it's close, Mia Love is still up (by about four thousand votes) over Doug Owens. The California 52nd also looks promising, but there is so very little data on that one. Honestly, the Illinois race is the one that makes me the happiest because the worst case is nothing happens while the best case is that the cesspool that is the Chicago Machine starts getting cleaned out.

[AniThyng]

Can someone explain why the governor of Maine appears to be a rather right wing republican?!

[The Romulan Republic]

I wonder what the odds of an impeachment of Obama are now?