Author: todd.lassa

…meanwhile…

(WED 11/16/22)

It’s Official: GOP Wins House – Republican Mike Garcia defeated Democratic challenger Christy Smith to win California’s 27th District House seat Wednesday, the AP reports, to finally give the GOP the majority in the lower chamber it had expected to come much more easily a week earlier. Garcia’s victory puts the House count at 218 Republicans and 211 Democrats, per The New York Times, with six more seats to call. 

Reddish Trickle: The GOP House margin, which will be anywhere from one to 14 seats -- though more likely between five and seven -- is good enough for the party’s first declared 2024 presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump. The jury was still out 24 hours after Trump’s Mar-a-Lago announcement on whether his fall from party leadership finally is over. Rupert Murdoch’s news empire is sticking to its guns so far – Sean Hannity even broke away from the drone of Trump’s “low energy” speech, and ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported that Mar-a-Lago security had to keep several in the gaga-for-MAGA crowd from leaving his speech early. 

Why would GOP leadership break up with Donald J. Trump this time, and not after three election losses – the House in 2018, the presidency and Senate in 2020 and essentially both chambers this year (and his only win was by electoral count, not popular vote) – as well as two impeachments, one insurrection, and an FBI seizure of top secret documents? 

Consider that when Mitt Romney lost, miserably, in his bid to unseat President Obama in 2012, the GOP conducted an “autopsy” on the party’s apparent lack of popularity.

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in Florida’s winds, where Gov. Ron DeSantis offers the party sanctuary, and he won’t fly you on a chartered airplane to get there.

Meanwhile, McConnell Holds: SCOTUS- and federal court-crusher Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) won over his party’s caucus to remain minority leader, with 37 votes to Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) 10 votes. One Republican voted “present” in the secret ballot held in the Old Senate Chamber according to Politico, which adds that Scott sent out a memo during the vote accusing the outgoing National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Indiana’s Todd Young, for distributing “hundreds of thousands of dollars of unauthorized and improper bonuses to staff.”

McConnell has been GOP leader for nearly 16 years, and when asked whether he might soon consider stepping down, he told reporters “I’m not going anywhere” (Politico again). 

•••

Senate Moves to Codify Same-Sex Marriage – The Senate Wednesday passed a procedural provision, 62-37, to advance a same-sex marriage bill that could reach its final vote this week, per Roll Call. The bill would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which was ruled largely unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a 2013 decision. The bill “will not take away or alter any religious liberty,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), chief negotiator and the first openly gay U.S. senator. 

Among the 12 Republican senators voting to advance the bill was its primary GOP sponsor, Susan Collins, of Maine. It is the first among several bills the lame duck Congress will take up in a rush to beat the end of its 117th session.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Trump Trumps, Again

(WED 11/16/22)

It’s 2015 again, with the fabulosity of Mar-a-Lago – where FBI agents seized top secret government documents just three months ago -- substituting for Trump Tower’s Golden Elevator. Some 20 minutes after beginning his speech – which came off sounding like a low-key MAGA-hat rally in which he described the magnificent success of his administration and the dismal failures of his successor -- Donald J. Trump announced his third bid for president of the United States. 

“In order to make America great and glorious again tonight I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.” Though Trump did not conjure up his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, he did suggest China had somehow meddled in the 2022 midterms. And the GOP did win the midterms thanks to Trump’s involvement, he suggested, but Republican leaders had overblown expectations they would win 40 House seats. 

Trump threw in this statement, devoid of any irony or self-awareness: “This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign.”

Biden on Strike on Poland: Before Trump in his very big announcement could blame on the current president a missile that struck Poland – he perversely suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine had he still been in office – Biden spoke at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, telling reporters “there is preliminary information that contests that … it’s unlikely given the trajectory that it was launched from Russia.“ It has been identified as a Russian missile, however, and it killed two people in rural Poland. In discussions with Polish President Andrej Duda and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Biden says the U.S. has offered support to Poland’s investigation “and we need to determine exactly what happened.”

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

McCarthy Wins Speaker Nomination

House Republicans have nominated Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker of the House, with 188 votes to Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) 31 votes, per The Hill. McCarthy will need at least 218 of all 435 House members to become the next speaker.

As of late Tuesday, ahead of Donald J. Trump’s “very big announcement” at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans had clinched 217 House seats to the Democrats’ 206 for the 118th Congress, leaving 12 contests yet to be determined.  

McConnell Under Pressure: Meanwhile in the Senate, Florida Republican Rick Scott is challenging Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for the minority leadership and is one of “several conservative senators who have called on McConnell to delay” the vote, Axios reports, until after the December 6 Georgia runoff election between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker. 

McConnell and Scott, Axios says, have been feuding for months over midterm campaign strategy. No matter what happens, the Democratic Party already has clinched control of the Senate. If Warnock wins re-election, Democrats will have 51 seats to the GOP’s 49.

Question: Axios uses the term “conservative” to describe Scott and other senators calling on McConnell to delay the vote for minority leader. What does the news outlet consider McConnell?

--TL

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Relief for Never-Trumpers

Wherever the final Republican-to-Democratic count in the House of Representatives ends up, there is a palpable sense of relief among never-Trumpers on the right as well as the left that voters overwhelmingly chose democracy over MAGA-authoritarianism in last Tuesday’s midterm elections. This extends to local and state races, with voters in swing states rejecting election deniers – followers of Donald J. Trump and his Big Lie – for secretary of state positions and other seats where they could have control over the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

The MAGA election conspiracy boosters have “largely accepted their defeats,” Politico reports, with some “keeping quiet” and others conceding. Good news for American democracy, no matter which side you lean toward. 

We’d like your thoughts on the midterm elections and what they mean, in the Comment box in this column or the right column – whichever is appropriate – or email editors@thehustings.news and please list your political persuasion on the subject line.

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…meanwhile…

Hobbs Declared Next Arizona Governor – Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) has beat 2020 election-denier Kari Lake (R) to become the next governor of Arizona to succeed term-limited Gov. Doug Ducey, AP reports. That makes Hobbs the first Democrat to win the state’s governorship since 2006. 

The last-standing election denier among gubernatorial candidates according to the Arizona Republic, Lake last month refused to say she would concede if she lost the election. 

“I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” she told Dana Bash, host of CNN’s State of the Union.

Trump’s ‘Big Announcement’: Speaking of election deniers, Donald J. Trump is still expected to announce his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination Tuesday, though some Republicans have publicly urged him to wait until after the December 6 runoff for the Georgia Senate seat between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and MAGA challenger Herschel Walker. Some pundits suggest Trump may pull back given the bad timing. Trump has teased a “big announcement” at Mar-a-Lago, where he will gather loyal members of the Republican Party and media. 

Kemp to Testify: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was to testify Tuesday morning before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating whether Trump and his allies criminally meddled in Georgia’s 2020 elections, The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreports, citing two sources. Remember, Trump was only asking for 11,780 additional Georgia votes.

Plus-One House Seat for Republicans: The AP also called two House races for Republican candidates and one for Democrats, with Rep. David Schweikert (R) winning re-election for Arizona’s 1st congressional district and Juan Ciscomani (R) winning Arizona’s 6th, while Democrat Andrea Salinas took Oregon’s 6th district. 

With these final results, the count stands at 214 Republicans and 204 Democrats, with 218 needed to control the House. 

•••

Roster of GOP Presidential Candidates – Most prominent challenger to ex-President Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, of course; a onetime ally whom The Donald now considers an annoying threat. But wait, there’s more. The Washington Post says the following are considering runs for the nomination in ’24 …

Usual Suspects: Former New Jersey governor and early Trump ally turned critic Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, whose book So Help Me God releases Tuesday, and first-term governor and political newbie Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. 

Never-Trumper: Outgoing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has said he is interested in exploring a run.

Playing Both Sides: Former Trump acolytes who have ‘moved on’ include Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador for Trump, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Mike Pompeo, former CIA director and Trump administration secretary of state. 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Dems Hold the Senate

(MON 11/14/22)

Pollsters and pundits have been agonizing over how predictions of a big red wave in last week’s midterm elections turned out to be a big mistake, even though reports for weeks of high early voter turnouts should have provided a clue. What we got was a raft of polls showing key races within the margin of error. 

And so even before the December 6 runoff between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Donald J. Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker, the Democratic Party again has wafer-thin control of the Senate. The party reached the magic 50-senator count over the weekend when Nevada finally declared incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto winner against Adam Laxalt’s challenge. Never mind that members of Laxalt’s political family (his father was preternaturally moderate Sen. Pete Dominici (R-NM) and his grandfather was Paul Laxalt, a Nevada governor then U.S. senator) urged voters to cast their ballots for Cortez Masto.

But for months there have been few predictions of a Republican takeover of the Senate. You’d have to go to Fox News or outlets to its right for that. The House is another story, where Republicans were expected to flip up to 24 seats, but now there is a slim chance Democrats could maintain control.

As of Sunday, 19 of 435 seats were awaiting declared winners. Republicans have won 212 so far to the Democratic Party’s 204 seats, according to The New York Times, with 218 seats necessary for a majority.

--Todd Lassa

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the date for the Georgia Senate race runoff, which will be held December 6.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Speaker McCarthy Question Arises Again

Strong Republican backlash against Donald J. Trump had pundits convinced the former president was finally out as leader of the GOP, two years after he lost his own re-election. Until … Politico reported over the weekend on a backlash to the backlash. 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) already faces Republican opposition to his bid to become Speaker of the House – and that’s assuming his party picks up the six more seats necessary for him to qualify for the job. 

So what do you think? Should McCarthy be next Speaker of the House? Should Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remain the Senate’s minority leader? Let us know what you think in the Comment box in this column, or in the left column if that’s how you lean, or email editors@thehustings.news and list your political leanings in the subject line.

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Left Side Rising

We’re still awaiting results from three Senate races, in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia before we know for sure which party controls the Senate. (If the GOP wins both Nevada and Arizona before the December 16 Georgia runoff, Republicans will already have the majority). There’s even a chance, albeit minute, that the Democratic Party could hold off Republican control of the House.

While we’re waiting, why not let us know your thoughts – left or right, but always with civility – about the November 8 midterms. 

How did the Democrats manage to hold off a Red Wave? Is the Democratic Party’s November 8 “success” overstated? 

Are Republicans truly ready to move on from Donald J. Trump? Will Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis save the party?

Write your opinions in the Comment box in this column or in the right column, wherever appropriate. Or email editors@thehustings.news and let us know how you lean in the subject line.

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Inflation Eases Slightly to 7.7%

The Consumer Price Index dropped to 7.7% in October compared to an 8.2% annual rate in September, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The October rate was slightly better than the 7.9% level Marketplace reported economists had expected. 

Used car and truck prices have eased to a CPI of 2%, while new vehicles are up 8.4% year-over-year. CPI for shelter is 6.9%, with food up 10.9% and food at home up 12.4%. 

The month-over-month CPI rate was 0.4%.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Murdoch to Trump: We Mean It This Time

Conservative cacophony blaming ex-President Trump for the GOP’s marginal Midterm Madness results reached yet another Murdoch crescendo Thursday with the kick in The Donald’s cajones coming from the New York Post (above) to Fox News to the prestige paper. …

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board editorialized; “Trump is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.”

This made us feel nostalgic for the time it last appeared the Republican Party and conservatism’s most prominent media conglomerate attempted to take back the Republican Party from “populist” Donald J. Trump. Our center-column headline from July 23 of this year, more than two weeks before the FBI’s August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago for sensitive and even top-secret papers re-cemented right-wing fealty to the ex-prez, and had his most fervid supporters blaming the FBI: “Murdoch to Trump: Drop Dead.”

--TL

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Alas, Midterm Mania Continues

By Ken Zino

Well, the first talking-head assumption that voter turnout was expected to be high for the midterm elections was right. However, the widespread narrative that the Republicans were going to get a Red Wave was wrong. A sufficient number of the Americans who voted -- not all, but enough -- choose to keep a constitutional democracy in place that eschews violence and insurrection.

Yes, inflation is a concern, but enough Americans realize more tax cuts for the wealthy is not a way to address it. I had once thought that the election was going to be the French Revolution played in reverse with tyrants and despots taking control of ordinary working people. There was no Red Wave, but there was no Blue Wave, either. Franklin Roosevelt in 1934, Bill Clinton in 1998, George W. Bush in 2002 had their parties pickup seats in the midterm elections – a very select group. 

As of Wednesday we have a divided, but not a lop-sided two-party system stumbling forward at local, state, and federal levels. There are still undetermined and far-reaching consequences about our struggling democracy’s future, though it could have been worse. The full picture will take days or weeks or longer to emerge. We are in the midst of economic and ecological crisis that will be difficult to address. There is no clear narrative outlining the complicated days ahead. 

Once again, this election was about Trump. His over-exposure in the media combined with the January 6 panel hearings allowed enough Americans to see him for what he is. Launching a political insurrection to retain power over an election he lost remains a bad idea. Republican election deniers were thumped in the Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin gubernatorial races. The AP called the Pennsylvania race for John Fetterman, the Democrat in a contested Senate race with television personality and snake oil salesman Mehmet Oz, early Wednesday morning. 

In his victory speech, Fetterman referenced the stroke he suffered just four days before his Democratic primary victory last May: “Health care is a fundamental right and it saved my life.” The Republicans tried for years to abolish the Affordable Care Act, but had no plan when voters continually supported it. Sound familiar? 

Facing a recession, international threats to the U.S. from hostile totalitarian states and people and planet destroying global warming, enough Americans realize that what Trumpism really means is the ex-president is only in it for himself. Trump rejects global warming and military alliances in favor of the autocratic Russian and North Korean governments, and this does nothing for solving problems that require thoughtful, progressive and collective action. Biden, with his experience and broader approaches to problems helped the Democrats in the midterms, after all. 

Now we need to tend to our knitting. We need to have an economy that works for all; one with equitable taxation. We need to ensure our planet’s future. We need to set an example of a working democracy for all the world to view. Not all of us, but as of last Tuesday, enough of us, are holding these truths to be self-evident.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Loses, Again

By Todd Lassa

As expected, on The Day After, the U.S. Senate is still up for grabs. With Democrat John Fetterman (pictured) beating Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz and picking up the Pennsylvania Senate seat made open by the retirement of never-Trumper Republican John Toomey, Republicans must win at least two of three undecided races currently held by Democrats, among Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. The Georgia race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker is likely to go to a December 6 runoff.

Donald J. Trump’s Senate victories Tuesday came in Ohio, where J.D. Vance beat U.S. Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for the seat of another retiring moderate Republican, Rob Portman, and in Wisconsin, where incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson held off Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes.

The House of Representatives is still up for grabs too, with the GOP having gained just two of the five seats needed to flip the majority. NPR’s Domenico Montenaro told Morning Edition Wednesday that Republicans are likely to end up with a seven- to nine-seat gain. The resulting slim majority could pose a problem for Republican Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy, who bent a knee for ex-President Trump shortly after the Senate voted to acquit him after his impeachment for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

McCarthy’s own vague plans for impeaching President Biden may be tougher than he had expected.

One surprising race that could flip a House seat to the Democrats: In Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, pro-Trump Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert trails Democrat Adam Frisch in her re-election bid.

What the GOP had come to expect was this: Republicans lost 41 House seats in 2018 with Trump in the White House, and Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 under President Barack Obama. 

It seems the same problem polling organizations had tracking Donald J. Trump v. Hillary Clinton in 2016 afflicted those organizations in 2022. Perhaps some of the intended voters who counted inflation and the economy as top concerns did not blame Biden for high inflation and the wobbly economy. 

Clearest indication that Trump is done as head of the GOP is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ trouncing of Democratic candidate Charlie Crist for re-election, by nearly 20 percentage points, a day after the ex-prez warned “DeSanctimonious” he could “hurt himself very badly” if he launches a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Florida is now a deep-red state, with DeSantis having flipped formerly blue Miami-Dade Tuesday. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also easily won re-election Tuesday.

Trump apparently still plans to make his “big announcement” next Tuesday to run again in 2024.

We have seen the GOP ready to “move on” before, from the time he lost the 2020 presidential election to the the January 6thCapitol insurrection and last August 8 when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for confidential government files. Is it for real this time? An article on FoxNews.com Wednesday contained the whole story in the headline, “Conservatives point finger at Trump after GOP’s underwhelming election results: ‘He’s never been weaker.’ Many conservatives say Tuesday’s election results show it’s ‘time to move on’ from Trump.”

After two years enduring Trump’s Big Lie, we may have taken a step back toward democracy.

(WED 11/9/22)

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump In Context

By Stephen Macaulay

“As President Trump looks to the future, he will continue to champion his America First Agenda that won overwhelmingly at the ballot box.” — Taylor Budowich, Trump spokesman

Back in the late ‘60s to early ‘80s there was a literary school known as “Deconstructionism.” Although it was essentially limited to academia, and even there somewhat limited (the strongest proponents in the U.S. were labeled “the Yale School”), it became highly controversial. One of its tenets (a word its own practitioners would dispute) was that for a given text there is no indisputable meaning.

That meant that there was something of a potentially rampant relativism. This gravely upset many people who believe there are fixed rules, such as religious leaders who adhere to lists of right and wrong. If there is no fixed meaning, then those lists could be turned on their heads, inside out and otherwise made indefinite.

As Aristotle had it, A is A, a specific identity, not A is B, C, D, E, F, G. . . .

But the Deconstructionists would quibble in such a way that it would be incomprehensible to most people exactly what it is they were saying — or were trying to say, and if they were trying to say it, whether it meant what they, or the listener, thought it did.

So we had the midterm elections. Across the country candidates were elected who make the Deconstructionists look like pikers. Not as many as had been expected. But more than enough. One would think that in the 21st century there would be people of a certain level of intellect and probity who would run for office. 

Most people have what can be considered a shared vision or overall acceptance of reality.

Generally, if someone makes something up and there is no commonly accepted evidence that the thing exists, then that person is thought to be mistaken, perhaps inadvertently. And so it is explained to that person that talking trees don’t ride unicorns, or whatever it is they claim.

If the person, after patient explanation, continues to believe that talking trees ride unicorns, then that person isn’t considered particularly perceptive or reliable. To put it nicely.

But now there is a whole cadre of people, about to make up the House’s new majority, who will be taking on jobs in Washington that believe — or seem to believe — things that would otherwise be considered to be folly were these delusions not so pernicious.

It is one thing for academicians who are in schools of literature and art to go headlong into a rabbit hole. Arguably, there needs to be some of that outré thinking in places like that. However, if you are on a plane or you are the patient on an operating table, you’d want the pilot and the surgeon to have a grounded sense of reality.

Nowadays it seems as though seriousness doesn’t matter, with that term having a most basic meaning of having ideas that are predicated on reality as most of us know it.

What’s more, knowing things (real things, that is) and having plans for dealing with them (there was a lot of noise about inflation overall and the price of gas — will impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden for some yet-to-be-defined high crime or misdemeanor address those issues?), the basic competencies that we expect from a car mechanic (“You have a flat tire. I’ll change the oil”) are now irrelevant in wide swaths of the country.

Jacques Derrida, largely considered to be the father of Deconstruction, wrote:

“Every sign, linguistic or nonlinguistic, spoken or written (in the usual sense of this opposition), as a small or large unity, can be cited, put between quotation marks; thereby it can break with every given context, and engender infinitely new contexts in an absolutely nonsaturable fashion. This does not suppose that the mark is valid outside its context, but on the contrary that there are only contexts without any center of absolute anchoring.”

In the context that has been created by the 2022 midterms, in the context that another run for president by a man who has shown himself to have no truck with truth, “there are only contexts without any center of absolute anchoring.”

Or to quote Donald Trump, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

Who knew he was a Deconstructionist?

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Blue Waves Back

While a GOP takeover of the House still seemed likely early Wednesday morning and the Senate remained a tossup, the results do not look that bad for Democrats, so far. By 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, the count for the Senate stood at 47 Democrats to 47 Republicans, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacky reported. 

Comment in this column or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Fetterman Wins, Luria Loses, Boebert is Behind

Early midterm returns for the Senate Tuesday …

Pennsylvania: Democrat John Fetterman held a narrow lead over MAGA-Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz all night before NBC News finally called it for Fetterman, with 49.4% of the vote. Still up for that “big announcement” next Tuesday, Mr. Ex-President?

Ohio: A rare Trump endorsement victory Tuesday for Senate candidate J.D. Vance over U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan to keep retiring Sen. Rob Portman’s seat on the Republican side of the aisle. 

New Hampshire: Incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan beat Republican Don Bolduc in a race that had become surprisingly competitive in recent weeks. 

Givens: Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) easily won their re-elections Tuesday.

House races …

Virginia: Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democratic member of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, has lost her bid for re-election to Republican Jen Kiggans for the state’s District 2 seat. Luria was the first Democratic incumbent to fall Tuesday, the Associated Press says. The GOP needs to grab four more seats before it can make Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy the next House speaker. It won’t happen in Virginia’s 7th or its 10th, where Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton, respectively, beat Trumpian challengers Yesli Vega and Hung Cao, respectively. 

Colorado: Too early to call, but by 10 p.m. local time 3rd Congressional District pro-Trump Christian nationalist incumbent Lauren Boebert, with 46.3% of the vote counted, was trailing Democratic challenger Adam Frisch’s 53.7%, according to The Pueblo Chieftan.

Gubernatorial races…

Florida: Incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis trounced Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.

Georgia: Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, not a Trump endorsee, has defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams a second time. 

Maryland: Democrat Wes Moore defeats Republican Dan Cox and will become the state’s first Black governor.

Illinois: Democrat J.B. Pritzker handily won re-election.

Arkansas: Former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will become the state’s next governor, an open seat.

California: Gavin Newsom, potential 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, won re-election.

Wisconsin: Gov. Tony Evers (D) defeated challenger Tim Michels, who had told supporters at a campaign event that if he were elected, Republicans “would never lose another election” in the state.

Michigan: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) handily defeated one more Trump endorsee, Tudor Dixon.

--Compiled by Todd Lassa

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No Red Wave

It’s still good news for the GOP, with the party leading House races 182 seats to 144 for the Democrats, according to The New York Times, leaving 89 seats to be determined. 

Early Wednesday, MSNBC called Utah’s Senate race for incumbent Republican Mike Lee over independent Evan McMullin, a former Republican candidate for president, who had said he would not caucus with either party if he had won. Turns out that odd math problem will not be an issue.

Comment in this column or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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What Does 40m Early Ballots Mean?

More than 40 million voters have cast their midterm election ballots early, CNN says. Conventional wisdom and the polls say the result will be an overwhelming win for the Republicans in the House, leading to the quick dismantling of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and a slew of investigations into President Biden’s son, Hunter, as well as probably the impeachment of Joe Biden himself. 

The Senate comes down to three key races; Democrat Fetterman v. Republican Ozin in Pennsylavnia, Republican Laxalt v. Democrat Cortez Masto in Nevada and Republican Walker vs. Democrat Warnock in Georgia. That huge early turnout could push the vote a bit toward the Democrats, while Republicans are more likeluy to wait until Tuesday to vote. Because the early and mail-in ballots will be counted after the election-day ballots in most states, there is opportunity for MAGA-Republicans to attempt to deny this midterm election if they don’t prevail. 

Such analysis should not prevent you from voting, for either side, this Tuesday, and this punditry – including Stephen Macaulay’s right column – should entice you to lend us your own comments, in either the right or left Comments box, or by emailing editors@thehustings.news.

--TL

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