A recount will be conducted in Florida’s hard-fought U.S. Senate race after challenger Rick Scott’s (R) lead over Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) fell below the threshold of half of one percent, the Gainesville Sun reports.
Said Nelson: “We are proceeding to a recount.”
“Tuesday was a rough night for authors of the GOP tax law,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Four Republican members of the Ways and Means Committee who all touted the law on the campaign trail lost their seats. Mike Bishop of Michigan, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Erik Paulsen of Minnesota and Peter Roskam of Illinois won’t return to Congress next year.”
“Maine Democrats have gained control of the state’s Legislature, growing their majority in the House of Representatives and recapturing a decisive majority in the state Senate,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
“The victories for Democrats Tuesday mark the first time in six years that one party has gained control of all three branches of state government, with the historic win by Janet Mills, who became the state’s first woman to be elected governor in a decisive victory over Republican businessman Shawn Moody.”
Ned Lamont (D) will be the next governor of Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reports.
Bob Stefanowski (R) conceded the race for governor Wednesday morning after late returns from the state’s cities pushed Lamont to victory.
Washington Post: “As Europeans woke up to the results of the 2018 midterm elections on Wednesday, their primary question — what next for a president who is so deeply unpopular here? — remained largely unanswered.”
“But just like in the United States, European news networks still dedicated hours-long specials to the key vote. And while viewers here tried to make sense of the results, they repeatedly stumbled over two numbers: the total votes for Democratic and Republican Senate candidates. More than 44 million Americans voted for Democratic Senate candidates vs. about 33 million for Republican contenders.”
“As the animated TV graphics clearly showed, though, it was Republicans who ended the night in control of the Senate — not the Democrats.”
Aaron Blake: “But the Senate popular vote is a bogus stat for a whole host of reasons… The biggest problem with it is that not every state is up for reelection, leading to a skewed picture… The second reason is California. It has a unique system in which the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party. This year, that was two Democrats. That means all 6 million votes counted (with many more to come) go to the Democrats.”
First Read: “Indeed, much like Virginia’s gubernatorial contest from last year, Democrats won big in highly educated urban/suburban areas up and down the ballot. The problem for them is that not all states are Virginia, where those urban/suburban areas mathematically crush the rest of the state.”
“Yes, Dems flipped the governor’s mansion in Kansas. And they pulled off a surprising congressional win in Oklahoma.”
“But as we wrote yesterday, we are living in extremely volatile and divided times. And what we are seeing is a further realignment of our politics — with urban/suburban going Democratic, and with rural and red areas going more Republican.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced his bid for House minority leader, challenging Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hours after Democrats regained control of the lower chamber, Axios reports.
Said Jordan: “I plan to run for minority leader.”
“Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah on Tuesday were on track to approve what their Republican-led legislatures repeatedly would not: free or low-cost health coverage for most poor adults through an expansion of their Medicaid programs,” the New York Times reports.
“The three deep-red states are now poised to join 33 others that have already expanded Medicaid, an option under the Affordable Care Act since 2014.”
Politico: “For almost two years, California was seen as the key to Democrats’ quest for the House majority. Turns out, they didn’t need it.”
“The party will likely have flipped roughly 30 House seats — it needed 23 to win control — without posting any gains in California at all. But Democrats seem likely to add to that total once California counts all its votes.”
“How many more seats will Democrats win? It could be awhile before we know for sure. Voters in California could postmark their ballots as late as Tuesday, and it will take weeks for all those votes to be tallied.”
“As of Wednesday morning, Democratic candidates are only leading in three of the seven targeted California races. But late ballots in California tend to trend Democratic, so more could pull ahead in the coming days.”
There are still many high profile races which are not yet called, per Axios:
Use the comments to discuss other races that are still too close to call.
“The midterms produced a divided Congress that’s emblematic of a split America, drifting further apart and pointing to poisonous years ahead,” Axios reports.
“The net result: Two parties with two wildly different bases and philosophies are pulling farther and farther apart — and are certain to double down on divisiveness heading into 2020.”
“The Democratic strategy of targeting women, minorities and the young was vindicated with the new House majority. We saw record liberal turnout in many suburbs.”
“The Republican strategy of targeting men, whites and rural voters was vindicated with the larger Senate majority. We saw record conservative turnout in rural Trump country.”
Los Angeles Times: “In previous midterm years, news divisions were lucky if they could pry an hour from their network entertainment divisions for coverage. This year, with Trump actively campaigning to make the midterms a referendum on his presidency and record-shattering levels of early voting proving a heightened intensity of interest, all three broadcast networks devoted their entire prime-time schedules to delivering and dissecting the returns.”
“President Trump plans to quickly focus on his reelection campaign following Tuesday’s midterm elections, believing his brand of divisive and confrontational politics will mobilize his supporters and carry him to a second term,” the Washington Post reports.
“Fresh off an 11-rally, six-day campaign swing through key conservative states, Trump has begun talking about holding Make America Great Again rallies early next year, two of the president’s advisers said. He continues to judge his success by crowd sizes — which were large throughout his recent campaign blitz — and applause. Even as he was on the trail for other Republicans, Trump often focused on himself, touting his accomplishments and taking shots at potential Democratic presidential challengers.”
President Trump will host a news conference at 11:30 a.m. ET in the wake of the midterm elections, the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “Republicans gained some of their most important ground on Tuesday by electing several new senators who are opposed to abortion rights, a development that will help the party advance one of its bedrock issues.”
“By picking up Democratic-held Senate seats in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri — and possibly elsewhere — the Republican majority will be decidedly further to the right on the issue. And no longer will the votes of two senators who support abortion rights — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — be as pivotal when it comes to confirming judges and passing legislation.”
The Hill: “Republican gains in the Senate make the process of confirming conservative justices significantly easier.”
New York Times: “Several House candidates whose compelling biographies (and slickly produced renderings of them) helped put them on the national radar lost on Tuesday, including Randy Bryce in Wisconsin, Amy McGrath in Kentucky and M.J. Hegar in Texas. Ms. McGrath and Ms. Hegar made it close in traditionally conservative areas, though Democrats had higher hopes for full breakthroughs in recent weeks.”
“The conclusion is certainly not that viral videos are counterproductive; they remain a useful and efficient way to raise money and introduce a candidate to a wider audience. But at times, it seems, the audience was not always the intended constituency.”
The Hill: “A handful of Democratic hopefuls barreled into the general election with seemingly larger-than-life profiles that captured priceless media attention and raised the hopes of their supporters. But a number of them came up short on Election Day.”
NBC News: “Democrats were hoping Tuesday’s results would help them chart a course for the 2020 presidential race by clearly demonstrating that either mobilization (boosting turnout among liberals, minorities and other base Democratic voters) or persuasion (tacking to the center to try to win undecided voters) is the winning strategy in Trump’s America.”
“But instead of a clear signal, they got noise, with conflicting data that is sure to be cherry-picked by both wings of the party to argue the superiority of their side.”
Matt Grossman: “I do not see any clear patterns on messaging. Whether candidates talked more about health care, taxes or immigration does not seem predictive of outcomes. Each issue was likely effective mainly at convincing each party’s leaners to support their party’s candidates.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.