Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Books are my comfort food!

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

He really is that stupid.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Come on, man.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Mid-Term Election Returns Open Thread: Steady On!

Mid-Term Election Returns Open Thread: Steady On!

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Looks like we could use a new election return open thread. A lot of votes to still be counted in a lot of places, so everyone just stay calm. No reason to borrow trouble from the future.

I’ve noticed a lot of commenters are concerned that the polling for specific races was off in those places, for instance Florida. I’ve written in a number of comments over the past several months that I think the polling models are off for this election. Specifically, I thought they weren’t polling the demographics that are signaling a lot of the things that wouldn’t be captured in a poll anyway. Specifically the number of women, women of color, people of color, and religious minorities running for office on the Democratic side. As well as the effects of non-elite and notable donations, organization, enthusiasm, etc. And, in many cases, candidate quality. You want to know why Beto O’Rourke is right now causing Ted Cruz’s human suit to break out in hives? It’s candidate quality. The same reason that Gillum is within about a 1% point in Florida. Mike Espy is currently leading in the Mississippi Senate race, and Stacy Abrams is likely to force a runoff with Brian Kemp. That’s all candidate quality and there are a lot more examples I could provide.

What we should take away from this regardless of tonight’s outcome, is that we’re seeing the leading edge of a major socio-political shift. Specifically, the changes in the demographics in the US are finally beginning to make themselves shown in American elections. From people deciding to run to the outcomes. What we should not expect is that even if the Democrats have a great night, that this shift was going to fully materialize and be realized tonight. Rather it is something that needs to be nurtured, built on, and expanded starting first thing tomorrow morning!

Also, congratulations to Sharice Davids in Kansas 3!

Update at 10:00 PM EST

MSNBC has just called the Kansas governor’s race for Democrat Laura Kelly.

Just 2 more shopping hours on the east coast until the 2020 presidential elections!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  4. 4.

    lamh36

    Are there people still in line in GA or FL

    I’m not watching LIVE returns or coverage.

    I’m following along on twitter, but they can be as bad

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC calls Kansas Gove for Laura Kelly. A Democrat. Kris Kobach goes down

    this is a good night, wave or no wave

  10. 10.

    b1narys3rf

    Oh my people, a massive evil like Trump and the Confederate Party wasn’t going to be vanquished with only one election even if it DID end up being a real “wave.” And yet, the read I got from the online warriors often was “we’re gonna drag ’em!” Well, almost all my life (going on 50 years) these neo-feudalists have rotted away our foundations like termites, showing themselves even more brazenly than those vermin, so I hope tonight the more sane part of the country in which I no longer reside (Southwest/West) delivers us the cinch to wrest control back to Nancy Smash! and those who will throw a spanner in the gears of oligarchy.

    WHAT THOUGH IS GOING ON IN O-H-I-O?!!!! So little talk of that I can find and I hope Cordray and the rest can pull that out and make our state stop trending Russia–I mean, Red!

  11. 11.

    Platonailedit

    NBC News: Laura Kelly projected winner in Kansas governor. Kris Kobach goes down.

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 7, 2018

    One of the bright spots of the day.

    Also, too, fuck floridah and indiana.

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    Kris Kobach was one of Fat Bastard’s biggest pimps. The whole voter fraud shit came from him. Fuck that guy.

  21. 21.

    b1narys3rf

    Perhaps Kansas IS a bellweather for the country in one sense – they have suffered some of the worst excesses of R governance and now are seemingly doing the unthinkable by going somewhere in the other direction. Kobach going down is sweet indeed.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: Morehouse and two other HBCU polling stations were ordered to stay open until 10 p.m. eastern, so they should have just finished voting.

  28. 28.

    pk

    Fox news has projected that democrats will take the house? Apparently a combination of projections, exit polls and statistics. So apparently they employ experts as the numbers people and morons in the news division.

  29. 29.

    b1narys3rf

    @pk: It is known. Witness: https://youtu.be/9TwuR0jCavk Rove has egg still on his face to this day. Some speculate there was an Ohio “hack” he was expecting which didn’t materialize. Then again I seem to remember Obama would have won even without OH. Priceless.

  31. 31.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Our Democratic incumbent, Ben Ray Lujan, was the only Democrat in national races who was behind. NM3 has been super-Democratic. He’s ahead now. Early returns must have been from Farmington, with returns coming in now from Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties.

    But, sadly, Xochitl Torres Small in NM2 is now falling behind. Looks like Deb Haaland is going to win NM1.

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    NBC has just called that the Democrats will control the House of Representatives in the next Congress.

  37. 37.

    b1narys3rf

    I no longer consider my home state a swing state. Ohio is trending red, and so many assholes here are determined to make it the Mississippi of the North. We are stagnating except in isolated pockets and even there, are way behind where we should be. I liked our Dem candidates this year, even if they weren’t “exciting,” but too many downstaters simply joined #Cult45 and want to further immiserate themselves. The opioid crisis, brain drain, and crime here will get worse to come.

  40. 40.

    cain

    @b1narys3rf:

    I no longer consider my home state a swing state. Ohio is trending red, and so many assholes here are determined to make it the Mississippi of the North. We are stagnating except in isolated pockets and even there, are way behind where we should be. I liked our Dem candidates this year, even if they weren’t “exciting,” but too many downstaters simply joined #Cult45 and want to further immiserate themselves. The opioid crisis, brain drain, and crime here will get worse to come.

    Brain drain to the west coast is my guess.

  41. 41.

    b1narys3rf

    @cain: And what I really don’t understand is how Senator Brown is bulletproof, but so many people will split the ticket for Rs who are just awful, mendacious, ALEC lockstep-marching Kochsuckers. We are too white, too old, and too dumb and yet even fucking KS shames us this night.

  42. 42.

    Kattails

    OK, bit of a story here. Sunday canvassing in frustrating apartment buildings , wrong addresses etc. Got buzzed in by a woman in elderly housing, fourth floor, she stood in doorway of a little dark apartment while we talked with her about if she had a plan to vote, need a ride and so on. (Her little fuzzy dog was all over us in the usual ecstasy of little dogs around new people.) She could get out half sentences but kept rejecting the flyer about rides. My sense was that she’d had a stroke and calling would be impossible; she kept shaking her head and saying “It’s so hard” when trying to articulate anything. She took the flyer, wrote 1 PM in the space. I said, do you want a ride at 1? YES. Should we buzz you? NO, pointing downstairs. OK so we’ll be there at 1 on Tuesday downstairs? Head shake yes.
    So when I dropped off the lists I said to the woman in charge that we had someone who really wanted to vote and was really challenged. She said she’d be sure it happened. I dropped off cookies this AM on the way to work and the coordinator said oh so glad to see you I’ve been awake trying to remember the details, (the notes got lost in the shuffle no surprise). We had a young man there to whom I gave the name and all information; .
    Worked from 10-6, stopped by the campaign office after. She got to vote. She managed to get her message through and a nice young man picked her up and this just made every last damned minute of slogging around canvassing and knocking on doors worth it for me.
    OT, a T-shirt in line today said “Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need an expert opinion.”

  43. 43.

    DanR

    Huge relief here in Kansas with the Kelly Gov. win for sanity. We just want to be rid of Kobach’s rotten carcass.

  44. 44.

    Hkedi [K. T. Conqueror]

    So before I rack out. (I lie, I’m going to obsessively watch results longer while self-medicating) I want to put down my thoughts on the election.

    First and most important, We (as of this moment (Trump PTSD)) we took the house. Nothing else matters. The republicans did a full court rush to grab enough power to change the rules so they never lost. They Failed. It’s not over yet, but they have massively overextended themselves.

    I’m actually a little happy that it wasn’t a blue tsunami (though I would have loved if it was the case, Senate control.. *drool*). In 2006-08 it really made most people (not all of us at BJ) lazy. We know about the grinding fight ahead, but not winning by a landslide. Masks are coming off (HELLO DEEP SOUTH AND FLORIDA!). Get up tomorrow and starting fighting for 2020. The past isn’t dead, the past isn’t even the past.

  45. 45.

    Ithink

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Thank the mighty Lord!
    I’m bummed because Beto didn’t dislodge the Tailgunner Human Skin Suit Cruz but @ least we got the damn house back. And P.S.-Fuck Florida with the rustiest of lawn equipment. I’ll let Mrs. Bettye handle the rest…

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