“California capped a week of unprecedented coronavirus spread, with officials unsure how much worse it will get while placing hope that new restrictions could help slow infections as the holidays approach,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The staggering rise in cases caught many off guard, with long lines at some testing facilities and worries about whether Thanksgiving will cause even more people to be infected.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will receive an International Emmy Founders Award for his “leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic” and “his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.”
“Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — the longest-serving state legislative leader in American history — is losing his grip on power as a federal investigation pounds his allies and lackluster election results undermine his influence,” Politico reports.
“Democrats began to publicly turn on Madigan over the summer, after the inquiry into influence peddling by a local electric utility company came to light. But the revolt against Madigan accelerated this week, and by Thursday enough legislators had fled Madigan to deny him his title in January, potentially stripping him of the post he’s largely held since 1983.”
“The speaker’s downfall would mark a major turning point in Illinois politics and carry with it major implications for the future of the Democratic Party in the state.”
“There is new and disturbing information in the alleged militia plot against the governor of Michigan,” WLS reports.
“The 14 men charged had far more violent plans than just a kidnapping… New filings claim there was a Plan B the militiamen had drawn up, that involved a takeover of the Michigan capitol building by 200 combatants who would stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials.”
“And, according to government documents now on file in lower Michigan court, there was also a Plan C — burning down the state house, leaving no survivors.”
Fox LA obtained exclusive photos of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) allegedly at a dinner party he attended on November 6 not following his own COVID-19 protocols he set forth for the state.
Politico reports California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Newsom which could “amplify criticisms of the dinner occurring despite coronavirus restrictions.”
“The Missouri Senate has postponed a special legislative session focused on limiting COVID-19-related lawsuits after a COVID-19 outbreak within its ranks,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
The announcement followed a Senate GOP retreat last week where photos indicated lawmakers did not wear masks.
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R) said Sunday that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and Democrats called on him to resign for trying to hide a covid-19 outbreak on his side of the aisle, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said he plans to introduce legislation legalizing marijuana when the General Assembly convenes in January, setting the state on a path to become the first in the South to allow recreational use of the drug, the Virginia Mercury reports.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) denounced as shocking and reckless a call from a Trump administration official for Michigan residents to “rise up” over new coronavirus restrictions she announced Sunday, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Said Whitmer: “It’s just incredibly reckless, considering everything that has happened, everything that is going on.”
Trump coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas urged Michiganders to “rise up” against the new restrictions. He later sought to clarify on Twitter he was not trying to incite violence.
In defiance of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s (D) orders, one of Clackamas County’s top elected officials plans to host a large dinner in her home on Thanksgiving despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregonian reports.
Said Tootie Smith (R): “My family will celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with as many family and friends as I can find. Gov Brown is WRONG to order otherwise.”
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) on Friday announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced that his state’s hospitals have reached their limit, and the coming weeks could push them past their capabilities, the Grand Forks Herald reports.
“The adult children of a Missouri man elected to the General Assembly are imploring the next speaker of the House not to seat him, saying they all suffered some combination of physical, mental and sexual abuse by him,” the Kansas City Star reports.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) “declared a new state of emergency late Sunday after the state’s most devastating week of the pandemic, as COVID-19 infections skyrocketed and deaths hit new highs. His big concern is the surge in hospitalizations that may soon overwhelm doctors and nurses,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Said Herbert: “These changes are not shutting down our economy, but are absolutely necessary to save lives and hospital capacity.”
“A North Dakota man who died from the coronavirus last month won a seat in the state legislature,” the New York Times reports.
Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) will likely win re-election, in spite of being arrested on a charge that he oversaw the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was distracted before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Public Safety Craig Price said Monday,” the AP reports.
“Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. 12 when Ravnsborg’s 2011 Ford Taurus hit him. Price did not describe what led Ravnsborg to become distracted and he did not respond to questions about what the distraction was.”
“Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) might not be able to vote because he’s in quarantine after close contact with Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA), who tested positive for the coronavirus Friday,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“Kemp, who tested negative for the virus, has requested an absentee ballot… But an absentee ballot requested Friday is unlikely to arrive in the mail before polls close Tuesday. Georgia law and a court ruling required all absentee ballots to be received by county election officials before 7 p.m. on Election Day.”
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.
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