Senate & House Races

The Party of No, Ctd. New York Times Editors: "Republicans would like the country to believe that they took control of the Senate on Tuesday by advocating a strong, appealing agenda of job creation, tax reform and spending cuts. But, in reality, they did nothing of the sort.... Campaigning on pure negativity isn't surprising for a party that has governed that way since Mr. Obama was first sworn in. By creating an environment where every initiative is opposed and nothing gets done, Republicans helped engineer the president's image as weak and ineffectual."

"Meet the Real Senate Majority Leader." Sahil Kapur of Think Progress: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ... is poised to make life very difficult for ... [Mitch McConnell] by harnessing the power of the GOP base's rightward drift to wage fierce battles with President Barack Obama. Cruz telegraphed his strategy in a post-election interview Tuesday night on Fox News, calling on Republicans to do whatever it takes to repeal Obamacare and and prevent Obama's upcoming executive actions on immigration."

Dana Milbank: "Republicans have set themselves up for chaos, if not outright fratricide."

Alex Rogers of Time: The Republican Senatorial Committee conducted exercises to try to gaffe-proof their candidates. It pretty much worked.

Jonathan Weisman & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "An election that started as trench warfare, state by state and district by district, crested into a sweeping Republican victory. Contests that were expected to be close were not, and races expected to go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans."

The Times' interactive Senate map is here.

The Times' interactive House map is here.

States are listed in alpha order.

Alabama. Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions (R) has won re-election against nobody.

Alaska. Republican Dan Sullivan is leading Sen. Mark Begich (D) by about four points with 100 percent reporting, but the race hasn't been called yet. ...

... Nathaniel Herz of Alaska Dispatch News: "Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan appeared to grab an insurmountable lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich early Wednesday, with all of Alaska's precincts reporting. With results from all 441 precincts counted, Sullivan led 49 percent to 45 percent. The margin remained essentially the same from the first returns early in the evening."

Arkansas. NBC News projects Rep. Tom Cotton (RTP) has defeated Sen. Mark Pryor (D). This of course is a Republican pick-up.

** Colorado. Cory Gardner (R) has unseated Mark Udall (D).

Delaware. Chris Coons (D) has won re-election.

Florida. Gwen Graham (D), daughter of former Gov. & Sen. Bob Graham, has won a House seat in Florida's 2nd Congressional District, which usually polls Republican.

Georgia. David Perdue (D) is predicted to be the winner in Georgia, & should win more than 50 percent of the vote, thus avoiding a runoff.

Hawaii. CNN projects Brian Schatz (D) has won.

Idaho. Sen. Jim Risch (R) has won re-election.

Illinois. Dick Durbin has won re-election.

Indiana is reporting early results as of 6:45 pm ET.

** Iowa. NBC News has called the race for Joni Ernst at 11:30 pm ET. That means Republicans control the Senate. I'm going to bed. Good night. ...

... Ted Barrett of CNN: "Republican Joni Ernst has won the race for Iowa's U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, defeating Democratic challenger Bruce Braley, according to a CNN projection."

Kansas. CNN has called the race for Sen. Pat Roberts (R) over independent Greg Orman. ...

... Dion Lefler & Bryan Lowry of the Wichita Eagle: "Pat Roberts won a fourth term in the U.S. Senate and probably the chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, despite a strong challenge from independent candidate Greg Orman." ...

... At 8:49 pm ET, the Senate race is really close.

Kentucky. CNN projects Mitch McConnell will win. NBC News gives it to McConnell, too. ...

... Jay Newton-Small of Time interviews Mitch McConnell: "Some examples of things that we're very likely to be voting on: approving the Keystone XL pipeline, repealing the medical device tax, trying to restore the 40-hour work week, trying to get rid of the individual mandate.... I'll give you a couple of examples where there may be areas of agreement [with President Obama]: comprehensive tax reform and trade agreements. Most of my members think that America's a winner in international trade." He wouldn't answer questions about "undoing the nuclear option" on confirmation of nominees nor on immigration reform.

Tina Nguyen of Mediaite: Chris Matthews & Al Sharpton bashed Grimes' "concession" speech. CW: McConnell's victory speech, BTW, was gracious.

... Returns are coming in already at 6:20 pm ET. Looks mighty good for Mitch with a fraction of precincts reporting.

Louisiana. Bruce Alpert of the Times-Picayune: "Louisiana's Senate campaign is heading into overtime. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. and Bill Cassidy were running neck-and-neck ahead of the field of eight candidates late Tuesday, but well short of the 50-percent-plus-one vote needed to avoid the Dec. 6 runoff. Rob Maness, the Tea Party conservative, was running a distant third." ...

... The Louisiana Senate results are here.

Maine. The NYT has called the race for Republican Susan Collins.

Massachusetts. Sen. Ed Markey (D) wins his first state-wide election. ...

... Seth Moulton (D) wins House race, per NBC News. ...

... Stephanie Ebbert & Kathy McCabe of the Boston Globe: "Seth Moulton, an Iraq war veteran and first-time candidate, swept to victory as a change agent for the Sixth Congressional District on Tuesday, denying Massachusetts Republicans their best hope of picking up a seat in the US House this year. With 89 percent of precincts reporting, Moulton was beating Republican Richard R. Tisei, 55.4 percent to 40 percent. Tisei conceded the race around 9:40 p.m." ...

How to win ...

... And lose a Congressional race:

Michigan: Gary Peters (D) wins, per NBC News.

Minnesota. Sen. Al Franken (D-Terrific) has won re-election. ...

... Katy Bachman of Politico: "Democratic incumbent Sen. Al Franken coasted to a second term over Republican challenger Mike McFadden. With four percent of Minnesota precincts reporting..., the Associated Press called the vote. The 2014 race between Franken and McFadden, an investment banker, was a stark contrast to six years ago, when Franken barely pulled out a win against Norm Coleman. Separated by a mere 312 votes, Franken didn’t take office until July 2009, following a protracted recount." With 100 percent reporting, Franken garnered 53.2 percent of the vote to McFadden's 42.9 percent.

Allison Sherry of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Republican Tom Emmer, who failed in his bid to be Minnesota’s governor four years ago, won the seat being vacated by Rep. Michele Bachmann in the conservative Sixth ­Congressional District, ushering in an era that Emmer vows will be marked with civility and service to constituents. Emmer, who was known as a fiery state legislator, has simmered down this election season, touting conservative messages of fiscal responsibility and a willingness to reach across the aisle."

Mississippi. The NYT projects Sen. Thad Cochran (R) has won re-election.

Montana. The Republican Steve Daines wins, according to NBC News. This is a Republican pick-up. It's the seat held by Max Baucus (D), then John Walsh, the plagiarist guy.

Nebraska. Ben Sasse (R) has won, per the NYT.

** New Hampshire. Dan Tuohy & Mark Hayward of the Union Leader: "Sen. Jeanne Shaheen kept 'purple' New Hampshire from turning to Brown. The Democratic incumbent defeated Republican Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts Senator who moved to the Granite State last year, in one of the hottest U.S. Senate races in the country. ABC News projected a Shaheen victory shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday. An hour later, it was a razor-thin margin, and Brown supporters clung to hopes he could pull off the upset. But Shaheen tallied yet more votes, and won a second term. She pulled ahead, 51 percent to 49 percent, with 80 percent of the precincts reporting."

... Scott Brown is not conceding (at 10:55 pm ET) & is insisting he hasn't lost the election. The count is very close right now, about 192K (Shaheen) to 190K (Brown). ...

... ABC News has called the race for Jeanne Shaheen @ 8:45 pm ET. "The Constitution provides that every state has two Senators, but not every Senator has two states." -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

... Jeanne Shaheen is looking good against Scott Brown, with 13 percent of the vote in, but @ 8:25 pm ET, the networks haven't called the race.

... Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) of New Hampshire's first district lost to Republican Frank Guinta, so New Hampshire no longer has an all-female Congressional leadership (or an all-Democratic one).

New Jersey. Sen. Cory Booker (D) won re-election.

New Mexico. Sen. Tom Udall (D) retains his seat.

New York: Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm (R), despite a 20-count federal indictment against him, won re-election, largely because his Democratic opponent, Domenic Recchia, is a dimwitted hack. CW: I seldom endorse third-party candidates, even when they're the best in the field, but I'm with the woman cited at the end of the New York Times story linked here. She voted for the Green party candidate. Once in awhile throwing away your vote is the only thing you can do.

North Carolina. The repugnant Thom Tillis (R) has unseated Kay Hagan (D).

... Kay Hagan is "in a world of trouble," according to Steve Kornacki of MSNBC.

Oklahoma. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Neanderthal) has won re-election. ...

... James Lankford (R) has won the special election to replace retiring Sen. Tom Coburn.

Oregon. Sen. Jeff Merkley has won re-election. ...

... Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian: "Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley cruised to a strong re-election victory over Republican challenger Monica Wehby. Merkley's victory was clear minutes after the polls closed as he held a commanding lead of a more than 2-to-1 ratio over Wehby in partial results.... Republican strategists once had high hopes for Wehby, 52, a pediatric neurosurgeon from Portland. She was one of several doctors around the country recruited by Republicans to run in a year when the new federal health care law -- known as Obamacare -- was having a rocky rollout."

Rhode Island. Sen. Jack Reed (D) has won re-election, per the NYT.

South Carolina. NBC News projects Sen. Tim Scott (R), a Nikki Haley appointee, has won his special election. ...

... NBC News projects Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) has won re-election.

Texas. Sen. John Cornyn (R) has run re-election.

South Dakota. Mike Rounds (R) wins, per NBC News. This was a 4-way.

Tennessee. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) wins re-election.

Virginia. Mark Warner (D), a heavy favorite going into election day, barely won. Gillespie (R) had predicted he would lose by one point or less. He was right. ...

Byron Tau of Politico: "Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is clinging to a small lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in an unexpectedly tight Virginia Senate race. With nearly all precincts reporting, about 13,000 votes separated the two men -- with Warner edging Gillespie by less than 1 percent of the vote. Warner made a brief victory speech on Tuesday night, despite the fact that the Associated Press still considers the race too close to call.... Virginia law does not have an automatic recount process but allows the loser in any race decided by less than a 1-percent margin to request one. Gillespie declined to concede in brief remarks to supporters, urging patience with the final vote tallies and the few remaining outstanding precincts." ...

... At 10:08 pm ET, Republican Ed Gillespie is still ahead. This has been considered a safe Democratic seat. ...

... Mark Warner's numbers are looking better now. (8:05 pm ET) But NBC has changed from "too early to call" to "too close to call." ...

... It's not looking so good for Sen. Mark Warner (D); his challenger is the weasel-y Ed Gillespie. However, the burbs around D.C. usually come in late. Warner was expected to win handily, so there has been little national attention to the race.

West Virginia. NBC News has called the Senate race for the Republican Shelly Capito. This is a Republican pick-up; Democrat Jay Rockefeller is retiring. Capito is the daughter of a former W. Va. governor, Arch Moore.

Wyoming. Mike Enzi (R) holds his seat.

Comments

[Kate Madison]

At least there is some sanity in Oregon! Our Democratic governor and senator won--as did all the incumbent Democratic representatives. And we passed a bill to legalize MaryJane. So....while the rest of the country turns to ca-ca, I will get a nice little stash of brownies and become a stoner.

Hard to believe there are so many racist, clueless people in our sad little country. I keep saying that. Obama is damned if he does or if he doesn't. I kinda hope he pushes immigration reform through by Executive Order. Of course, that will get him impeached. But what the hay. Could be worse. The Klan would probly prefer to march to the big locust tree on the White House lawn (wearing their white sheets, of course) and lynch him. Because Freedom.

[Unwashed]

Election 2014. Just goes to show that you can't fix stooopid.

[Jack Mahoney]

We sat in a dorm common area and cried when the returns came in in 1972 (even though we knew that McGovern was doomed); my friend Sidney and I snuck away from the Broadway premiere of his new play and got drunk at Spindletop as we watched Reagan beat Carter.

I feel that way this morning. To quote H. Thompson:

“Some book reviewer whose name I forget recently called me a 'vicious misanthrope' . . . or maybe it was a 'cynical misanthrope'. . . but either way, he (or she) was right; and what got me this way was politics.”

For four years here in Maine we've been able to console ourselves by repeating that Paul LePage won the Governor's race in 2010 with only 38% of the vote. We had that small comfort as our Governor represented us as small-minded, foul-mouthed rubes who would do just about anything to stick it to "them," whether "they" turned out to be union members, poor people, or even Kaci Hickox.

Well, no more it appears. Now we have to face up to the reality that we live in a state in which nearly a majority of the voters (48% at this hour) endorse LePage's words and actions.

For months I've been fretting that we might end up with this worst of scenarios: Mike Michaud, the Democratic candidate for Governor, relinquished his fairly safe House seat to run. It appears that the race to replace him will send Ludwig von Mises fan Bruce Poliquin to represent Maine's Second in the House.

Eliot Cutler, who almost defeated LePage four years ago, ran again this year, and even though about a week ago he indicated that he knew he had no chance, he kept campaigning (I'm on the mailing list, and the emails urged loyalty to the candidate). Right now, Cutler is polling about 8%. Who knows whether that 8% would have gone mostly to Michaud or if it's merely a protest vote by people who might have stayed home otherwise?

So, why is today more depressing than any other day? I'm not sure yet, but the thought is percolating that the Republicans have sent clearer messages this year about a commitment to keep a firm foot on the throat of poor minority people, that income inequality will not only continue but also be exalted, that the backlash on which Richard Nixon counted against social gains by the disenfranchised has not only proved to be as strong as it was in 1972 but has whipped itself into a righteous fury over social gains remarkably disconnected from the lives of most of those who are most furious.

Or maybe I'm so upset because the Republican message is true: That people like me are trying to change the meaning of America from an international bully with a caste system to some sort of socialist paradise where lesbians can make out in public while shouting obscenities about our military. (I understand that shouting obscenities while making out is physically challenging, and hope that in the future we can set aside Federal funds in order to establish training academies where such skills can be learned.)

Quoting Dr. Thompson again: “The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy—then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece.”

He neglected to say that after selling the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece the charlatans would be re-elected. Maybe he was being kind. In a few days we will selectively forget a lot of this and, like Charlie Brown and the football, get into our stance once more.

[Marvin Schwalb]

Here is the good news. Obama is now a Republican! For the next two years all he has to do is say no,no and no.

[Marie Burns]

@Yep. I do believe he will finally find his veto pen.

Marie

[PD Pepe]

Like Jack, my heart is sore pained and I'm railing against the wind here; the birds are the only ones who hear. But not having completely given up I'd rather take a lyric from Marvin's songbook and look forward to Obama putting on the Republican suit of negativity and donning the hat of "in your face bastards" and go forth in stentorian splendor. This "sad little country" (Kate's description) will muddle through and it will be interesting to see what comes of this GOP resurgence. I'm trying to smile, but it's damned difficult.

P.S. Poor safari and his Kansas blues (see above). The fact that Brownback is back is amazing––his state is going down the toilet and he gets voted in once again?

[JJG]

@Jack and Marie; Thanks for both essays. For a brief, shining moment sometime in our youth we saw a future that was a possible step forward. Now in my old age I foresee a de-volve and retreat toward a new dark age. John Lennon's "Imagine" whispers in my ear today.
I always wondered about the position of rearguard, seemed to me sure death; "you stay here and fight on, the rest of us are going to race the fuck out of here. Thanks, you"ll be remembered forever. See ya." That's how I feel. I will continue to believe. Stuck somewhere between the needy and the greedy.

[MAG]

End of the day and I'm still fuming about the LePage win here in Maine. Damn Cutler. Just spotted this Opinion piece in the Press-Herald, which lays the fault out perfectly.

My personal view of Cutler's outreach efforts in the various
communities was that he was more "Our Crowd" rather than "Our Gang."

He might have been the 'smartest guy in the room' but, that conceit did not serve him or Maine.

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/11/05/greg-kesich-cutler-badly-misjudged-the-significance-of-his-near-miss-in-2010/