Election Thread

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/11/07/massachussetts-votes-transgender-rights-law/

Massachusetts has rejected a measure aimed at repealing the state’s transgender rights protections.

Voters in the state overwhelmingly voted in favour of transgender rights during the crunch vote in Tuesday’s US midterm election 2018.

Some more good news :)

[Lilias]

Someone pointed out on Twitter that Pence's face while he swears in two Muslim women on the Qu'ran will be priceless, and I've been chuckling to myself ever since.

[Sara Nilsson]

Someone pointed out on Twitter that Pence's face while he swears in two Muslim women on the Qu'ran will be priceless, and I've been chuckling to myself ever since.

oh.. that.. I am now giggling like a schoolgirl at the thought. Not only are they women and he has to be close to them, but Muslim and swearing on the Qu'ran? That is his version of hell for sure, could only be worse if they where LGBT+

[Lilias]

oh.. that.. I am now giggling like a schoolgirl at the thought. Not only are they women and he has to be close to them, but Muslim and swearing on the Qu'ran? That is his version of hell for sure, could only be worse if they where LGBT+

Sharice Davids will have to do. ;)

[Sara Nilsson]

She won? I havent caught up with everything yet. Oh my.. now i am a happy happy camper :D Sure there were a few sad moments, Andrew Gillum was heatbreaking. But his speech he did was magnificent! So inspiring.

[TheGlyphstone]

My state kept its Republican governor, but I wasn't too upset - I actually voted for him despite normally leaning left, he's been as moderate as a GOP politician can get these days, and wasn't too keen on some of the policies the Democratic challenger was planning to enact.

Vermont's election is slightly disappointing, but also unsurprising. Hallquist doing as well as she did despite being massively over-spent was a good sign.

[Valerian]

Wisconsin did all right. 😀 We ousted Scooter (Scott Walker) as governor in favor of Democrat Tony Evers, and also voted in the state's first African-American lieutenant governor. And Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay senator handily won re-election. She's been doing a good job; she has this weird habit of listening to her constituents.   ::)

[Tolvo]

In Illinois things went pretty well and got much more blue. Thankfully the Nazi running did lose. And when I say Nazi I really mean it, he publicly defends Hitler and ID's with Nazi groups and is a holocaust denier. Though while he lost he did get a 1/4th of the total votes which is worrying.

Now it does kinda suck because if you look at districts and things, Illinois is more than 75% red. But that's because while the democrats get more votes, they give huge districts to the republicans who win. So while it's majority democrat below Chicago its almost all listed as red district. It sucks.

[Yukina]

Wisconsin did all right. 😀 We ousted Scooter (Scott Walker) as governor in favor of Democrat Tony Evers, and also voted in the state's first African-American lieutenant governor. And Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay senator handily won re-election. She's been doing a good job; she has this weird habit of listening to her constituents.   ::)

It was worth it to stay up and watch for when Walker finally lost.

[TheGlyphstone]

In other news - remember Dennis Hoff, the owner of the Playboy Bunny Ranch who was running for Congress in Nevada, with the backing of Republican evangelicals? He won his race...despite having died several weeks ago.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/dennis-hof-brothel-owner-who-died-last-month-wins-election-n933366

[Sara Nilsson]

Why not? He specialized in dealing with stiffies, so why would being a stiff stop him?

[TheGlyphstone]

Alternatively, Nevada voters would rather see a corpse in Congress than a Democrat.

[la dame en noir]

Abrams isn't conceding - so hopefully something will happen. That ass, Kemp, is really making this unfair.

[Gadifriald]

In other news - remember Dennis Hoff, the owner of the Playboy Bunny Ranch who was running for Congress in Nevada, with the backing of Republican evangelicals? He won his race...despite having died several weeks ago.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/dennis-hof-brothel-owner-who-died-last-month-wins-election-n933366

He didn't run for and win a Congressional Seat as a corpse but a State Assembly Seat . . . and the district he ran in was heavily irradiated in the 1950s and 60s . . .

[TheGlyphstone]

He didn't run for and win a Congressional Seat as a corpse but a State Assembly Seat . . . and the district he ran in was heavily irradiated in the 1950s and 60s . . .

Ah, my bad.

[Deamonbane]

So, all jokes aside... what exactly changed? What can Americans expect to happen now with a majority of Democrats in Congress?

[Flower]

Give him hell. In all seriousness, there's a chance for more investigations to be launched.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/07/midterms-democrats-house-trump-mueller-investigation

I do believe this also means Republicans can't just pass laws without some attempt at bipartisan.

I expect government workers will be held hostage again.  ::)

I doubt they will go so far to start impeachment proceedings right off the bat and without something truly damning. Like it or not, Donald resonates with some Americans. All that well do is enrage voters they need to court in 2020.

[Tolvo]

Congress won't just do what Trump wants anymore is basically the hope. Though he still has his executive orders and what the Supreme court does is still concerning. But now he doesn't have his hands on the three main branches of government anymore.

[legomaster00156]

But if Mueller was fired simply for the reason that "the White House thinks he's inefficient and not finding anything" - a blatant conflict of interest when it's Trump and his people that are the focus - wouldn't that oblige them to find a new director of the investigation? Firing Mueller as a person is different thing than forcing an end to the inquiry, and the questions they are working on relate to the integrity of the presidency and of elections, so it seems that the House should have something to say about it as well.

Were the subject of inquiry a President of the United States, rather than a cult leader who has formed a fanatically loyal base and tagged cronies for leadership positions... yeah, probably.

As for "what changes?", there are a couple noticeable effects.

• Democrats have a seat at the table. No legislation can be passed without the support of House Democrats.
• Democrats have control of investigative powers at the House level.
• Democrats can, should the need arise, initiate impeachment proceedings, which take place in the House. However, the odds of impeachment resulting in removal from office are slim, as that would require about 20 Republican Senators to cross the aisle.
• Everything that goes wrong in the government will be blamed on the Democrats. This doesn't change much, just gives a tiny little bit of credibility to the claims, since the Democrats actually have some power now.
• Finally, and this cannot be understated, the Republicans are likely to lurch even farther rightward. After the success of those who fully embraced their cult leader in their Senate races, the Republicans will likely see fully embracing Trump as the only viable campaign strategy - and that means supporting everything he wants done, without criticism or question.

[gaggedLouise]

Give him hell. In all seriousness, there's a chance for more investigations to be launched.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/07/midterms-democrats-house-trump-mueller-investigation

I do believe this also means Republicans can't just pass laws without some attempt at bipartisan.

I expect government workers will be held hostage again.  ::)

I doubt they will go so far to start impeachment proceedings right off the bat and without something truly damning. Like it or not, Donald resonates with some Americans. All that well do is enrage voters they need to court in 2020.

Trump threatened in some clip I saw on the tv (BBC or CNN) that if the Democrats in the House stepped up their inquiries on him, for example about his and his companies' old tax returns - personal attacks on him, as he prefers to describe it - he would reply by launching his own investigations of leaks of classified material and such by the Dems. In other words, he's hinting at the narrative that the Dems are selling out important classified information and giving it to - who, the Russians perhaps? or better, militant islamists. Could easily be connected with the old stories about Benghazi and Hillary's e-mail server, and shouts of "lock her up!". Maybe it's Nancy Pelosi he now thinks should be locked up...

[HannibalBarca]

Finally, and this cannot be understated, the Republicans are likely to lurch even farther rightward. After the success of those who fully embraced their cult leader in their Senate races, the Republicans will likely see fully embracing Trump as the only viable campaign strategy - and that means supporting everything he wants done, without criticism or question.[/li][/list]

If they move further right, they'll lose even worse in the next election.  While they picked up more seats in the Senate, Democrats actually got 44 million votes in the combined Senate races to the Republicans 32 million.  Republicans have won one popular vote in the last thirty years.  They're slipping further every election.  Vote rigging, suppression, and gerrymandering are the only reason they still have any power...as well as the unequal electoral college and Senate.

[legomaster00156]

If they move further right, they'll lose even worse in the next election.  While they picked up more seats in the Senate, Democrats actually got 44 million votes in the combined Senate races to the Republicans 32 million.  Republicans have won one popular vote in the last thirty years.  They're slipping further every election.  Vote rigging, suppression, and gerrymandering are the only reason they still have any power...as well as the unequal electoral college and Senate.

I never claimed it to be a logical strategy. It's just what is likely to happen.

[Tolvo]

I don't know that it'll really mean they'll not do well with that idea. It might have if some older models still worker, like how women in general used to vote more moderate while men were going further right, but then the 2016 election happened shattering that model with how many white women voted for Donald Trump, a far right extremist, over Hilary Clinton a Democratic moderate. It could get to a point where it alienates people, but I don't really see that yet in the actual ways people are voting. There is outrage and then, it just becomes normal to a lot of people. What is too far right for people in general? We already have candidates winning who agree with putting children in camps.

[TheLionKing]

I think if Mueller was fired, I think it is safe to assume Trump is obstructing justice at this point.

[Regina Minx]

I think if Mueller was fired, I think it is safe to assume Trump is obstructing justice at this point.

Only now? I've thought that since he told Lester Holt that he fired Comey with the Russia investigation on his mind.