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Election Day 2019 Thread

Puppycow

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Puppycow
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I looked but didn't see a thread on this already. One year left till the big one!

There's not a whole lot of elections happening this year because it's an odd year, but there are a few:

In Kentucky, Governor Matt Bevin appears to have been ousted. :thumbsup:

In Virginia, Democrats appear to be poised to take over both the State Senate and the State Assembly, which would give them control of redistricting next year, I think (not 100% sure about that, but 2020 is a census year).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/05/us/elections/results-virginia-general-elections.html
 
Regarding Kentucky, 100% of precincts have reported and the Democrat has a lead of 4,658 votes, but Bevin hasn't conceded.

GOP's Bevin refuses to concede as Kentucky gubernatorial race goes down to the wire
Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin refused to concede late Tuesday in Kentucky's gubernatorial race, citing "irregularities" -- potentially kickstarting weeks of uncertainty as the closely-watched contest with national implications remains too close to call.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Bevin was behind Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, 49.2 percent (711,955 votes) to 48.9 percent (707,297 votes). Libertarian candidate John Hicks received 28,475 votes, or 2.0 percent.

The Associated Press said it could not declare a winner, owing to the tight margin. Although Bevin has not outlined his next steps, Kentucky law provides for three levels of post-election procedures: a recanvass, a recount, and an election contest.
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Even still, it appears likely that Bevin will be gone once he exhausts all his legal options. (The requirements for each are explained in the article above. The latter 2 options would require a judge's approval.)

Notably, Trump held a political rally in Kentucky on Monday to support Bevin's reelection bid:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tr...er-in-this-months-key-gubernatorial-elections

The Kentucky governor – one of the most unpopular in the nation -- talks about Trump often on the campaign trail and prominently features the president in his TV commercials. And he’s repeatedly defended Trump against the House impeachment inquiry.

“Bevin wants to be bailed out by President Trump, who won the state by a mile in 2016, and it seems like he is bringing up impeachment about every chance he can get,” highlighted Fox News’ anchor and chief national correspondent Ed Henry.

“The point is this race may give us our first real test of whether using impeachment as a weapon is actually more fruitful for Republicans than Democrats, in terms of rallying the conservative base,” Henry explained. “And given Bevin’s troubles back home, it will be a real barometer of whether the president still has coattails in MAGA country, just as we saw him pull a Republican across the finish line in that special House election in North Carolina.”
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Still a year to go, and who knows what the political mood of the country will be a year from now, but right now it looks like the political winds are blowing the Democrats' way.
 
USA Today story on Virginia:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...lts-kentucky-mississippi-virginia/4155155002/

WASHINGTON — Virginia Democrats retook the statehouse for the first time in a generation Tuesday, bathing the once purple sate in a deep blue political hue.

The victory not only means the Democrats will control all the levers of power in Richmond to push through a progressive agenda on gun control and health care, but also gives the party the ability to redraw congressional and state legislative district lines based on the 2020 census.

The victory also provides momentum to the party heading into the 2020 election.

Most of the major Democratic presidential candidates traveled to Virginia to keep the momentum going. Republicans, however, sent Vice President Mike Pence – and not President Donald Trump – across the Potomac for a pre-election push.
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As I mentioned earlier: Next year's election will be particularly important as the census, and redistricting that follows, comes only once per decade. Winning state legislatures is the key to winning overall, because the party that wins can then stack the deck in its own favor for the rest of the decade via gerrymandering.
 
Puppycow said:
I looked but didn't see a thread on this already. One year left till the big one!

There's not a whole lot of elections happening this year because it's an odd year, but there are a few:

In Kentucky, Governor Matt Bevin appears to have been ousted. :thumbsup:

In Virginia, Democrats appear to be poised to take over both the State Senate and the State Assembly, which would give them control of redistricting next year, I think (not 100% sure about that, but 2020 is a census year).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/05/us/elections/results-virginia-general-elections.html
Click to expand...

Virginia has gone blue. The Democrats have seized both legislative chambers. Combined with their Democratic Governor they should be able to control the agenda there.
 
Beelzebuddy said:
I like the bellweather these elections are setting.
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I wonder who the scapegoats will be. As, no doubt, do a lot of goats. Which may seem a trivial concern, but Kentucky has more goats per head of population than any other state, so that's a lot of worried goats. (I made the last bit up, but that's the zeitgeist, and who am I to go against the zeitgeist?)
 
It should be noted that the Republicans did win the Mississippi Governorship, but it was the closet race in 16 years and went to the wire.
 
kookbreaker said:
Looks like the GOP is gonna try and steal the KY election

https://theweek.com/speedreads/8766...ays-gopled-legislature-may-pick-next-governor
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I don't think they'd dare, but we'll see. What he actually said was pretty vague, and I'm not cynical enough yet to assume the worst.

“There’s less than one-half of 1%, as I understand, separating the governor and the attorney general,” Stivers said. “We will follow the letter of the law and what various processes determine.”

Stivers, R-Manchester, said based on his staff’s research, the decision could come before the Republican-controlled state legislature.

Under state law, Bevin has 30 days to formally contest the outcome once it is certified by the State Board of Elections. Candidates typically ask for a re-canvass of voting machines and a recount first.
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Puppycow said:
I don't think they'd dare, but we'll see. What he actually said was pretty vague, and I'm not cynical enough yet to assume the worst.
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They should just cut their losses and have the Voting Machine Company refund them for insufficient vote manipulation.
 
Puppycow said:
USA Today story on Virginia:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...lts-kentucky-mississippi-virginia/4155155002/



As I mentioned earlier: Next year's election will be particularly important as the census, and redistricting that follows, comes only once per decade. Winning state legislatures is the key to winning overall, because the party that wins can then stack the deck in its own favor for the rest of the decade via gerrymandering.
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I hope they mander the damn gerry right off, blatantly making it impossible for a Trumper to ever win a seat bigger than county dogcatcher, and set themselves up for an important precedent when it gets overturned.
 
Do you think a blatant, and well publicized, attempt to Gerrymander the **** out of the Commonwealth would do some good towards getting both parties to see Gerrymandering as a bad thing nationally?
Would be nice, but I think that is too much to hope for.
 
Distracted1 said:
Do you think a blatant, and well publicized, attempt to Gerrymander the **** out of the Commonwealth would do some good towards getting both parties to see Gerrymandering as a bad thing nationally?
Would be nice, but I think that is too much to hope for.
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Well they might just undo the GOP gerrymander so that representation aligns with vote share. Of course the GOP would howl if any steps are taken to level the playing field.
 
The Don said:
Well they might just undo the GOP gerrymander so that representation aligns with vote share. Of course the GOP would howl if any steps are taken to level the playing field.
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I'm torn. On the one hand, we really do need people in office who really believe in the principles of democracy. But on the other hand, when one side has completely abandoned reason and normalcy, we need to do something about them.

If they're going to complain about the changes being unfair, no matter how fair they actually are, then maybe we should just say **** it, and show them what real unfairness looks like. Maybe then they'll be glad to get back to real fairness.
 
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