Skip to comments.
ELECTION TIDINGS 2019: There is no sugarcoating yesterday’s results: Republicans had a bad day
Powerline ^
| 11/06/2019
| Steven Hayward
Posted on 11/06/2019 12:27:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind
There is no sugarcoating yesterday’s election results: Republicans had a bad day. Their losses especially in many suburban areas (such as around Philadelphia) are not a good omen for next year. They were trounced badly in Virginia, despite the supposed Republican-friendly gerrymander. (And let’s see how fast liberals forget about how gerrymandering is an “offense to democracy” when they are in charge of it in more states two years from now. Gerrymandering only became a “scandal” when Republicans got good at it.)
There are still good reasons to think Trump will be re-elected next year, and I’ll return to that subject in a separate item. Beneath the headlines about yesterday’s results, however, are a few things that ought to give Democrats some pause. First, while Republican incumbent Governor Matt Bevin lost in Kentucky, it is likely this had more to do with him personally than with declining Republican fortunes in the bluegrass state. Republicans swept the down ballot statewide races (the rest of the GOP field ran 10 points ahead of Bevin). So all of the triumphant talk among Democrats today that they’ll beat Mitch McConnell next year looks like a great rope-a-dope to get liberals to waste a lot of campaign money on a lost cause.
You’ll note in the table below that the Libertarian candidate, drawing 2% of the vote, accounts for more than Bevin’s margin of defeat. This is not the first time in recent history where a Libertarian candidate may have cost the Republican a close election, though there is some reason to doubt that all or even most of these voters would have gone for the Republican if a Libertarian was not on the ballot. There is considerable evidence that many of these voters wouldn’t have voted at all (this goes for Green Party candidates, too).
Second, while Republicans were getting hammered in Virginia, you aren’t seeing much about how Republicans fared in New Jersey, which isn’t exactly Republican-friendly territory. You have to get to the ninth paragraph of the New York Times election roundup today to find this:
In New Jersey, a state that seemed to be shifting increasingly blue each year, Republicans were on the cusp of their first legislative gains in nearly a decade. With final results still being tallied late Tuesday, Republicans looked likely to pick up two seats in the Assembly and one in the Senate, powered largely by a surge along the southern part of the state where Mr. Trump won easily in 2016 despite Democrats local advantage.
This is perhaps evidence that even in deep blue states, there are limits to how much “progressive’ governance voters will tolerate.
Further evidence of this point comes not from party battles but from some ballot initiative results. In increasingly purplish Colorado, voters rejected an attempt to water down the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), which liberals have been gunning for ever since it passed almost 30 years ago.
In Washington state, voters rejected the state legislature’s attempt to repeal the state’s prohibition (previously exactly by ballot initiative) on affirmative action quotas. From the Seattle Times (though note the choice of phrasing in the lede):
OLYMPIA With Referendum 88 trailing by a slim margin, Washingtonians appeared like they might, for the second time in two decades, vote against affirmative action.
With most counties reporting results Tuesday, voters were rejecting the measure 51.3% to 48.7%, in an election that tested ideas of fairness and discrimination. Many more votes remain to be counted. . .
[T]hroughout the campaign, opponents of affirmative action led by a group of Chinese immigrants said the policy gives the government the power to discriminate. They criticized a commission that would have been created to oversee diversity efforts at state agencies, and they argued existing benefits for veterans were at risk.
I think when you add all those together, voters dont like it, Linda Yang, a leader of the anti-affirmative-action campaign, Let People Vote, said Tuesday night.
Bonus! Jim Geraghty of National Review reports: “In Seattle, the self-proclaimed socialist city-council member appears to have lost her seat to a pro-business challenger.”
TOPICS: Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: ky2019; ms2019; nj2019; va2019
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-56 next last
To: SeekAndFind
In Texas, voters passed a proposition requiring a super-majority vote to enact a state income tax, largely seen as a defensive measure against a blue takeover of the state.
-PJ
21
posted on
11/06/2019 12:46:57 PM PST
by
Political Junkie Too
(Freedom of the press is the People's right to publish, not CNN's right to the 1st question.)
To: ScottinVA
To: SeekAndFind
In Tucson, voters overwhelmingly rejected a sanctuary city referendum.
-PJ
23
posted on
11/06/2019 12:49:59 PM PST
by
Political Junkie Too
(Freedom of the press is the People's right to publish, not CNN's right to the 1st question.)
To: Political Junkie Too
And let me add this to the list: Texas Voters Approve Constitutional Ban On State Income Tax
Contrary to the title of this thread, this is NOT really a good result for those who favor policies of Democrats.
24
posted on
11/06/2019 12:56:00 PM PST
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it will)
To: SeekAndFind
It was more of a bleeding of support to the Libertarian by a less than popular Governor more than anything the Democrat did.
25
posted on
11/06/2019 12:59:13 PM PST
by
fhayek
To: ScottinVA
The total votes for Republicans outnumbered democrats which means nothing or just like Hillary pimping the popular vote meme. However, your districting is screwed Scottin.
26
posted on
11/06/2019 1:01:02 PM PST
by
rollo tomasi
(Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians)
To: SeekAndFind
Didn’t Trump lose VA in 2016? The previous governor, friend of the Clinton’s, Terry McCauliffe, insured that.
27
posted on
11/06/2019 1:07:05 PM PST
by
kempster
To: SeekAndFind
This is some BS propaganda.
28
posted on
11/06/2019 1:09:58 PM PST
by
Eddie01
(My very first mistake in life was believing that life was fair.)
To: SeekAndFind
29
posted on
11/06/2019 1:13:30 PM PST
by
Eddie01
(My very first mistake in life was believing that life was fair.)
To: SeekAndFind
Thanks for the info. That helps. It seems maybe the R gov candidate wasn’t the best.
30
posted on
11/06/2019 1:15:39 PM PST
by
CodeToad
(Arm Up! They Are!)
To: backwoods-engineer
The Chinese folks in WA are not going to get pushed around on this AA garbage.
This could get interesting—because the guilt trips just will not work with them.
31
posted on
11/06/2019 1:25:43 PM PST
by
cgbg
(The Democratic Party is morphing into the Donner Party)
To: rollo tomasi
32
posted on
11/06/2019 1:29:11 PM PST
by
ScottinVA
(Every liberal should be red-flagged.)
To: TexasGurl24
33
posted on
11/06/2019 1:30:06 PM PST
by
ScottinVA
(Every liberal should be red-flagged.)
To: Bullish
They did just fine. As a Virginia resident, I'm not feeling it.
34
posted on
11/06/2019 1:31:47 PM PST
by
KevinB
("Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin)
To: FlipWilson
I read somewhere that Soros subsidized a large portion of the Virginia elections. Go figure.
35
posted on
11/06/2019 1:31:55 PM PST
by
pnut22
To: rollo tomasi
Yes, you are right.. that redistricting is definitely screwed.
36
posted on
11/06/2019 1:32:01 PM PST
by
ScottinVA
(Every liberal should be red-flagged.)
To: SeekAndFind
Here’s why the writer should have taken a deep breath before writing: 1)Colorado a Democrat state soundly defeated an attempt to weaken the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights 2) In New Jersey Republicans flipped three Assembly seats (yes they are still FAR behind) and a State Senate seat that is the old seat of a targeted Dem Congressman (53/47) who voted against impeachment 3) Washington State stopped an attempt to bring back affirmative Action 52/48 AND the opposition was led by Chinese Americans who obviously saw a hole in the Democrats’ voter plantation and ran out. 4) 42% Hispanic in liberal Tucson voted 71/29 against making the city a sanctuary city.
5) By 15 point margin, Kentucky voted for a Black man as its Attorney General for the first time ever. 6) Forget about the victory at the top of the ticket, Mississippi’s Republicans voted in its first female and first African American Attorney General and had a clean weep in all elections. Miss is 38% Black and Democrats could not get them to vote for them. 7) In Virginia, a blue state because of Northern Virginia,Twenty five percent of the Democrat winners ran unopposed. As I said think and take a breath before writing.
37
posted on
11/06/2019 1:35:03 PM PST
by
jmaroneps37
(Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
To: SeekAndFind
Comment I posted in Free Republic worth consideration by Rush
In FR postings so far none have mentioned what voter turnouts were in those states having elections. Any analysis of the results which doesnt include turnout is worthless when considering the impact on the 2020 potential result.
email I sent to Limbaugh 11/6/19
38
posted on
11/06/2019 1:39:24 PM PST
by
mosesdapoet
(mosesdapoet aka L,J,Keslin posting here for the record hoping some might read and pass around)
To: TexasGurl24
I agree, overall, last night was a B for the Republicans.
BUT
Republicans did not win the popular vote in Virginia. For the state Senate, it was:
1.2 million D votes, 54%
0.8 million R votes, 40%
with the remainder going to other (independents, third party and write-ins)
IF, if the races with no R or D candidate, I shift the entire “other” vote to missing candidate, then it’s
1.2 million D votes, 55%
1.0 million R votes, 45%
So, the D’s did have a big win in Virginia.
As for 2020, Virginia is below Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and. Michigan in terms of priority, and also below Minnesota and New Hampshire, and also below Nevada, Colorado and Maine-at large. It’s in the next tier, along with New Mexico.
To: ScottinVA
Two Federal judges ordered some University of California, Irvine granola crunching former hippie to draw your State's district.
Smug and arrogant as well as a possible kiddy-diddler in my opinion.
40
posted on
11/06/2019 1:42:00 PM PST
by
rollo tomasi
(Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-56 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson