Georgia Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden told county election officials to count absentee ballots even if they lack a voter’s date of birth, as long as the voter’s identity can be verified, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Brian Kemp (R) holds the lead over Stacey Abrams (D) in the race to become Georgia’s governor. Abrams would need to gain more than 20,000 votes to force the race into a runoff.
The Iowa Starting Line reports on speculation that former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) may challenge Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in 2020.
“Vilsack remains one of the most popular figures in Iowa politics, with extremely high ratings among Democrats based on polling from this past cycle. He won 49 Iowa counties in his first race in 1998 and 68 of them in 2002. Democrats long for the days where they could actually be competitive again in rural Iowa, and the former Secretary of Agriculture for Barack Obama might be the perfect person to do just that.”
“Vilsack would start with a great national fundraising network. A run by him would probably clear the field of any of the more traditional Democratic contenders, but that doesn’t mean he’d be totally unopposed. A proven winner, his run would turn Iowa into one of Democrats’ top pick-up targets in the country.”
Rick Hasen: “With Florida set this week to undertake a massive and massively politicized recount in the critical races for governor and senator, the way that election fight has played out so far has been an absolute nightmare. Perhaps most terrifyingly of all, the 2018 Florida elections have demonstrated the real possibility that President Donald Trump might attempt to ignore an unfavorable 2020 election outcome if the result is a slim loss by the president, a possibility that should give us all chills.”
“There’s no mincing words: We are entering into a dangerous new phase in the voting wars. Last week, various election calamities were fueled by incendiary and unsupported claims by Trump and others of fraud, by pockets of incompetence of election administration, by partisanship in election administration, and by continued fundamental defects in how our elections are conducted.”
“Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney and close associate, arrived in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, accompanied by one of his own criminal defense lawyers,” ABC News reports.
Associated Press: “The four-way political battle won’t conclude until a computer algorithm has the final say this week on whether Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin wins re-election or is ousted by Democratic state lawmaker Jared Golden.”
“Under the system, a candidate wins with a majority of first-place votes. If there’s no majority, the last-place candidate’s second-place votes are reallocated to remaining candidates. The computerized process can be repeated until there’s a winner. Across the country, voting reform advocates are watching as the system faces its biggest test in the most expensive race in Maine history.”
Tampa Bay Times: “According to an analysis by the nonpartisan group FairVote, which advocates for electoral reforms that make it easier to vote, out of 4,687 statewide general elections between 2000 and 2016, just 26 went to a recount.”
“Of those 26, just three recounts wound up changing the initial result of the race: The 2004 Washington governor’s race, the 2006 Vermont state auditor’s race and the 2008 Minnesota U.S. Senate race. The average swing in those three elections after the recounts? About 311 votes. … Essentially, Nelson — and to a greater extent, Gillum — would need a systematic error to be discovered during their recounts if their results are to be reversed.”
A Florida judge said he’s seen no evidence of wrongdoing in the vote-counting in Broward County and urged all sides to “ramp down the rhetoric,” the AP reports.
“Democrats will take control of the U.S. House in January with big items topping their legislative to-do list: Remove obstacles to voting, close loopholes in government ethics law and reduce the influence of political money,” NPR reports.
“Party leaders say the first legislative vote in the House will come on H.R. 1, a magnum opus of provisions that Democrats believe will strengthen U.S. democratic institutions and traditions.”
“At 10:03 a.m. on Monday, the White House called a travel lid, meaning President Trump is not expected to hold any public events for the remainder of the day,” Mic reports.
“That also means that Trump won’t visit Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, as the country observes Veterans Day — an unofficial presidential tradition.”
Seth Grossman (R) told the Newark Star Ledger that he could have won his congressional race against Jeff Van Drew (D) last week.
Said Grossman: “There’s no doubt in my mind that if I did not have unnecessary distractions thrown into my path I would have won yesterday’s election as a pro-Trump candidate because this is a pro-Trump district.”
He added: “I was distracted trying to prove I’m not a racist.”
“The election may be over, but the investigation into allegations that Rep. Scott Taylor’s (R-VA) aides submitted dozens of forged signatures to help get an independent candidate on the ballot is far from done,” the Virginian-Pilot reports.
Taylor lost his re-election race last week.
Said prosecutor Don Caldwell: “There’s no hurry. It looks to me like there already was some poetic justice served down there in Virginia Beach to Mr. Taylor.”
“Come on in, the water’s warm.”
— Rep. Nancy Pelosi, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, encouraging other members to challenge her for speaker.
The Cook Political Report projects that Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) has defeated Rep. Martha McSally (R) in the U.S. Senate race in Arizona.
“This thing has been over for a while.”
Richard Ojeda (D), a West Virginia state senator and retired U.S. Army major who lost his congressional bid last week, told The Intercept that he’s running for president in 2020.
“Ojeda’s case for his candidacy is straightforward: The Democratic Party has gotten away from its roots, and he has a unique ability to win over a white, black, and brown working-class coalition by arguing from a place of authority that Trump is a populist fraud. He’s launching his campaign with an anti-corruption focus that draws a contrast with Trump’s inability to ‘drain the swamp.'”
“His authority — and one of his greatest liabilities — would come, in part, from his own previous support of Trump in the 2016 general election.”
Washington Post: “Party leaders have largely rationalized Larry Hogan’s (R) resounding victory over former NAACP chief Ben Jealous as an anomaly.”
“Hogan sought to flip enough legislative seats to break the supermajority Democrats have held in both chambers for nearly 50 years. Instead, he faces a Senate with more left-of-center Democrats and a House of Delegates with an even larger supermajority — Democrats picked up at least five seats in that chamber.”
Denver Post: “Before the election, Colorado Republicans controlled the state Senate, occupied three of the state’s five statewide offices and held five of the state’s nine seats in Congress. Then nearly 900,000 unaffiliated voters cast their ballots and handed decisive victories to Democrats.”
Colorado GOP strategists say Sen. Corey Gardner’s (R-CO) “re-election prospects are grim unless the party can develop a new message that appeals to both the Trump loyalists and the independent voters who dislike the president.”
After comfortably winning re-election to his U.S. Senate seat last week in a state that President Trump won comfortably two years ago, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he is weighing a run for president.
Said Brown: “My message clearly appeals to Democrats, Republicans and independents. We showed you can get votes by being authentic and standing up for workers. People in Washington don’t understand the dignity of work.”
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.