I didn’t go into Election Day with much faith that there would be good news for Democrats in most states. It’s an “off year” with no national races and most states didn’t even have state-wide races. It felt like Ohio was going to be good news – they had abortion rights and marijuana on the ballot – but here in Virginia, the vibe going into the state and local races was pretty bad. The GOP spent tens of millions of dollars to ensure that Virginia Democrats would lose the legislature and VA Republicans would inevitably severely limit abortion access. Well, guess what? Resounding Democratic Party success across the board in state after state, resounding abortion rights success across the board, and a resounding rejection (in an off-year election!!) of the Republicans’ dumbf–k priorities.
Andy Beshear won re-election as Kentucky governor, performing even better than he did in his first gubernatorial race. His opponent was a Mitch McConnell protege and a MAGA Trumper, so Beshear’s victory is a plain rejection of turtles, insurrection and Trumpism. Meanwhile, Ohio “resounding approved” Issue 1, which enshrines abortion rights into the state’s constitution. Literally every time abortion has been on the ballot in state races post-Dobbs, abortion rights has won. It is THE winning issue for Democrats.
Here in Virginia, Democrats took control of the General Assembly, holding onto our majority in the State Senate, but also flipping the House of Delegates. Gov. Glenn Youngkin had promised to ban abortion in the state if he got a Republican legislature. Virginians heard him, believed him and voted accordingly. This was a HUGE blow to Virginia Republicans, the national GOP (which poured money into Virginia) and to Youngkin. Youngkin had national ambitions, but that dream effectively died last night. LMAO!!!
KY Gov: Held
PA SC: Held
OH Abortion: Passed
OH Weed: Passed
VA Sen: Held
VA House: FLIPPEDJust an absolute bloodbath.
— Just a Random Guy (@What46HasDone) November 8, 2023
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Dinner hosted by United States President Joe Biden,and first lady Dr. Jill Biden in honor of President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea and Mrs. Kim Keon Hee, First Lady of the Republic of Korea during a State Visit at the White House in Washington, DC. Featuring: Governor Andy Beshear and his Britainy Beshear Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 26 Apr 2023 Credit: POOL via CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- United States President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic in the Oval Office of the White House. Featuring: President Joe Biden Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 02 Nov 2023 Credit: POOL via CNP/startraksphoto.com
Well done!
Keep voting. Thank you for reporting on this, Kaiser. It’s so important to emphasize that everyone should vote and to talk about the progressive things Democrats are doing.
Well done, by 6.30 am I had coffee in hand, jumped in my car and was done voting 😍
The world needs people like you!
Yesterday afternoon some talking head was jammering on about how voters care about the economy, not abortion. And I was like “it’s abortion, stupid.” People demand the right to bodily autonomy.
I hope Alito was sitting in his Barco lounger crying last night. When he flippantly pointed out women have access to the ballot box in the Dobbs decision, he certainly didn’t expect to hear, “hold my beer.”
This comment cracked me up but Megan is absolutely right, the Supremes who are trying to take away our hard-earned rights need to be shut down at every turn. ‘Hold my beer’….still chuckling.
Or in my case, “hold my glass of wine.”
Seriously, f**k Alito and the whole lot of Republican Justices.
I would argue that some also care about the economy, but people smart enough will not vote for Republicans if they do:
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1582491715772071936
And yes, they underestimated how much many women and quite a few men want abortion to be an option.
Abortion and the economy go hand in hand. It affects women’s health and their economic well being. I don’t get why this is so difficult for the press and the Republican Gilead F!ckers to understand.
They fail to understand the economy fluctuates and the American people understand that. What doesn’t fluctuate is republicans around the country trying to strip away women’s rights! I’d rather pay extra $$$ than not be able to ever have healthcare.
Abortion is an economic issue. Controlling when and if they have a child is pretty much the biggest determinant of a woman’s economic future, especially now it matters.
YES! Such a hopeful outcome!!
@girl_ninja is 100% right. Abortion is an economic issue, perhaps the single biggest economic issue. Pretending it’s just girl issues like so many talking heads do is rank misogyny.
I would just like to encourage everyone…if they can…to volunteer as a poll worker too! It is a long day and I know not everyone has the capacity to do it, but knowing there are normal people assisting the vote is so important…especially when you can tell all your crazy repub family/friends that you were ‘boots on the ground’ when they start bitching about rigged elections.
I heeded POTUS Obama’s call to be a Poll Worker …and I JUST had my 1st training last week…our county is using a new system that gives a receipt that can be checked online…which is TOTALLY AWESOME FOR DEMOCRACY ❣️
I did it once eons ago, and it was very interesting. My state is now exclusively mail-in, but if it weren’t I would think seriously about jumping back into it. Once you see how many different ways a person and their ballot gets checked and verified you see how unlikely it is for widespread fraud to happen.
When I tell you I could not sleep because of the pure adrenaline rush from these wins! I was really feeling it you guys. Just so anxious and on edge, to the point of a stomachache. I had to take a moment in prayer to calm myself. I left work, went to vote in the special election here in my state and waited for the results to come in while watching Amazon’s Jack Reacher.
Whew. What a night. We have to keep our foot on those Gilead Republican F!ckers necks though. We can’t let up. We’ve got a year to make sure Biden-Harris are re-elected.
I was hard asleep for about 30 minutes last night,woke and started to flip channels and then started to google Ohio election results .Most results were in -a resounding yes to issue one,I prayed too,and then my daughter was texting me from her dorm also so excited.
About 1:30 am my husband had the lights on reading results
We are a little sleep deprived but so grateful!
I hadn’t planned to watch the results but ended up doing it. Yes, I was pumped and stayed up past my bedtime. Now I’m bleary-eyed but happy.
Wow, congratulations to Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky and all the other smaller local elections!!! Sitting over here in GA wishing there was a way to undo our 6 week abortion ban with our republican state legislation🙄
In Texas wishing for the same. I think all of the amendments put to vote passed, which one is to increase teacher retirement, so yay that, some of the others were real freaking problems though.
NONE of the Texas amendments were any good. What gave me pause on the. Cost of living for teachers was the only certain people got it, it wasn’t for every teacher enrolled. Such deceitful and deceptive language. 🤬
yeah those amendments in Texas were overall pretty bad in how deceitful the language was. So many were pro-corporation but reworded to sound like it wasn’t. if you looked at who backed it, it told a totally different story.
Surprised about Beshear. Really thought the ReThugs would take that office back. Regarding Virginia, there was talk about getting Youngkin to run for President as replacement for Trump, seeing that neither DeSantis and Haley aren’t getting the needed support. Let’s see how that goes now.
I’m afraid Abbott from Texas will do that. I mean it’ll be good for me in Texas to get him tf out of the state, but bad for humanity. He’s been doing Florida level legislating, I’m sure to swoop in once DeSantis quits/runs out of money. He’s DeSantis without the sweet personality.
‘He’s DeSantis without the sweet personality.’ Oh, dear. 🤮🙇♀️
He really is, even in his off time. When I lived in Austin Abbott was still AG. I worked PT at J Crew up at the Domain. He’d periodically come in with his daughter and was such a condescending jerk (daughter wasn’t a peach either) for no reason.
And remember this is the man who gets a VERY hefty annuity check for suing multiple people after the accident that caused his paralysis, yet one of his first actions when in office was tort reform and capping the amount you could sue for in civil court.
My faith is temporarily restored in my fellow Americans. Now on to 2024!!!!
Same! We just need to keep this momentum going over the next year. 🤞🏻
Agree! VOTE VOTE VOTE! Don’t be distracted!
I was hiding my head like a turtle last night because I was so stressed about these races and then I saw the Ohio results come through and thought, WHEW.
I think this line is key:
“Virginians heard him, believed him and voted accordingly. ”
for many years, Rs have been telling us that they want to restrict abortion rights and want to overturn Roe, and I think for a long time a lot of people did not believe them – they thought, “oh sure they’re saying that but they’ll never do it” so they voted R for whatever other reason. And now, those people are hearing the politicians, believing them and voting accordingly. It’s finally sunk in for a lot of voters that Rs weren’t just spouting BS when they talked about rolling back abortion rights. and they are voting accordingly.
The “whatever other reason” they vote R is because the Republican party has firmly established itself as the white grievance party. You would think that at some point white people would notice that the politicians they regularly vote for are the ones who want the government making medical decisions for them. But that fact gets “trumped” by racism when it comes to presidential and congressional voting. We just have to outnumber them at the polls.
I was listening to the Paula Poundstone podcast yesterday & she had Dahlia Lithwick on. Ms. Lithwick is a journalist who specializes in all-things Supreme Court. She also has a podcast. She went into a brief history of how we got here & apparently, it’s pretty much always been this way. There was a brief shining moment in the 60s & then boom, they reverted to type. But we can do something about this. The SC can be brought to heel. FDR did it. When the SC was striking down all his social programs he then said he’d increase the number of justices & lo & behold, they started ruling in his favor.
I suggest listening to her on the PP podcast or going to her own socials, website, or podcast. She’s the expert, not me!
Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but the president can threaten the SC all day long. This particular SC won’t change their basic rulings. Also, FDR took a big hit politically for the “court packing” proposal. People think there must be nine SC justices, but that’s not the case.
Serious question: is there anyone today who doesn’t have a podcast? 😆😂
I’m happy people are coming out to save abortion rights in their states. But I am still peeved at the people who refused to listen to what the Republicans were outright telling them: “We ARE coming for Roe.” Sure, the GOP Justices lied under oath about it but you had to be dumb to believe them. YMMV.
Feeling optimistic for the first time in awhile.
Thank you fellow voters 🥰
I will never need to access abortion care but I believe that it is personal decision for every woman and should stay that way.
I was worried when I went to vote. I voted only on two issues on the ballot, the “abortion” issue and legalizing marijuana.
This was about more than abortion rights and care. No way do I want the government making decisions on my personal health care.
Then I went about my day and waited. First Kentucky came in re-electing Beshear, then Ohio came in and my day was made. Both issues I voted for passed.
Then the cherry on top Virginia handed their legislature to the Democrats. November 7th was a good day.
Great news! I gotta say, I had my doubts. I honestly think that Dems should run ads featuring young men (because we know Republicans don’t care about women) that had brief flings with women, and got stuck with babies (and child support) because of draconian abortion laws.
I think Republican mothers and fathers will bristle at the prospect of their little princes being trapped by loose women. After all, boys will be boys!
Exactly.
Just heard about this:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/homicide-leading-cause-of-death-for-pregnant-women-in-u-s/
So not childbirth or natural complications are the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the USA, but homicide.
And that is not because some random serial killers collectively decide to go after pregnant women. By far most of the time, it’s the father.
Now what would happen to that number when women don’t have access to abortion anymore and both of them are stuck with an unwanted child about to be born, I wonder. Something tells me that number won’t go down, but up with a large amount.
Obviously, loose women should have been “loose women”!
As a single mom, you are exactly right.
Very proud to be a Virginian right now. We did it yall!
Well done, Virginians 🙂
I was too scared to watch last night. I was hoping we would keep senate but when I found out we flipped the house…..I laughed and laughed.
Thank you to all who voted and thank you to VA’s blue brick wall.
And Youngkin’s hopes deflated for ordering new curtains in the Oval Office. $19 million of his PAC money and some personal money too. This had to sting.
So proud to be a Virginian this morning 🎉
👏👏👏👏👏👏 Way to go Virginia Ohio and Kentucky!!
Honestly, thank you, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Ohioan here! Overjoyed about Issue 1 passing but I think we’re all shocked that Issue 2 passed as well. There wasn’t as much attention on that one leading up to yesterday. I figured it would fail since it was the first time we were voting on legalizing weed. What a great night for the blues!
Ohioan too and YES!I strongly believed issue one would win but had my doubts about two.
An abortion saved my life many years ago, I was going to die if I continued in that pregnancy. I still can’t believe,even in my happiness over this victory,that there are people out there who don’t want abortion at any cost for any reason…but at least those people were defeated in our state last night.
Another Ohioan here! So relieved today! We did it! I’m so proud of us!!
Keep up the good work!
Now we actually need to see abortion codified in Ohio. The legislature is so slimy, I’m concerned they will come up with all kinds of shenanigans to stop if from happening.
I was chatting with some Ohioans from more rural areas on line last night, following the local results. They said curiously, they had seen plenty of signs in their neighborhoods that read “Vote No On #1” but not so much for #2. Apparently plenty of people there who have no problem denying a woman her reproductive rights also want to be able to smoke (and I guess sell) weed legally.
Fellow Ohioan here! I actually worked the polls yesterday in Cincinnati. I had a good feeling based on the number of people I saw carrying Democratic party cheatsheets into the booths but wasn’t going to hold my breath. Also, highly recommend working at a polling location if you’re able. It is a long day but it’s actually pretty fun. And despite what most people seem to think…you do get paid. Not much, but a bit. But the real payment is feeling like you played a part in democracy and your local government. 10/10 on that.
Thanks CBers! This is a heartwarming result! My state has safe, blue Representatives, so I feel like my vote wasn’t as spectacular, but great job over in OH, KY, and VA!
I’m the same over here in Mass. Our election yesterday was for two local positions and though I was okay with pretty much any one of the candidates winning, I made sure to vote because a) I could, b) it’s my civic duty to and c) I don’t want to send a message of apathy to anyone who thinks they’ve got an opening to populate the school committee with fascists.
Way to go Ohio! And VA and KY and everywhere else people turned out in force for democracy and human rights.
Made sure I voted too even though I knew the incumbents would all be re-elected and there were no referendums on the ballot and yes, MA, is a relatively safe place BUT I also know that if I have a problem on my street, when I call the mayor’s office or my representative on the city council, they do check on whether my local taxes are up to date AND whether I vote in the local elections. Voting means your voice gets heard beyond Election Day on all sorts of issues
I’m so happy for and proud of Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky voters! Thank you for showing up and voting!!!
Agreed!!
Thank god! Sending Dem voters hugs and kisses. Excellent job.
I live in Kentucky and I was so pumped Andy won!!!! Unfortunately the other races seemed to go to Republican candidates. But Andy winning a red state is such a testament to what a great guy he is and we are lucky to have him. I hope we see him on a presidential ballot someday.
Yes, we love Andy. Now that Cameron is defeated, will they line him up to take Mitch’s seat? I think Rs were hoping to get both the Governorship and then a youngish R senator. Foiled at least one of those.
Kentuckian here too. I was definitely celebrating last night! Andy really stepped up during COVID and worked very hard to provide sensible, informed and inspiring leadership in the midst of a ton of criticism (and even threats) from the “It’s only a bad cold, go spray your insides with bleach and eat some horse medicine, you’ll be fine” crowd. I like him very much and I think he’s just the kind of young Democrat the party needs to be cultivating.
LOCAL 👏🏻 ELECTIONS👏🏻 MATTER👏🏻
Was nervous for my home state of VA. What a victory! Suck it Mr. Fleece Vest!
What a glorious morning waking up to such good news!! I admit I punked out early on watching the coverage, but I can only take so much Steve Kornacki.
YES! YES! YES!
Loud and clear. I wasn’t so worried about Virginia, because I happen to think Youngkin is a hiccup there, but OH, RI and KY may the sun shine brighter upon you today. OH’s right wing Gov and AG really pulled out all the stops didn’t they? Tried to get it off the ballot. Tried to purge the voter rolls. Sit there and seethe at the thought of women directing their own bodies.
Safe to say most Virginians are tired of the bs. Even down to local elections – my county had a Trumper trying to get re-elected to the school board by running on “keeping wokeism out of schools” aka making sure trans kids can’t use bathrooms they feel most comfortable in and books featuring any LGBTQ characters are taken out of the library. He spent so much money on his giant signs and his snarky mailers and he still LOST. So did the majority of his cronies who were also seeking spots in local office. It’s a good day.
Local elections are so important! We had big celebrations is my small town last night after working hard to elect serious Democratic candidates after having several Trumpy stealth candidates try to get elected.
So true! The feet on the ground locally can make such a difference in people’s lives. What issues, business gets discussed, whose voices are heard in local government, where and how the tax dollars are spent is all controlled by the people on those councils, boards, committees and in the mayor’s/town manager’s offices.
There were 2 people trying to get on our local school committee who were of the ‘stealthy’ MAGA type, but fortunately they were not that stealthy, and their “We’re not trying to ban books or control what teachers teach, but …(that’s exactly what we plan to do to keep ‘woke’ History and Health/Sex Ed away from our kids)” platform was heartily rejected.
@northofboston my area in PA had several hot school board races this time too with magats doing that same double-speak you mentioned (“we want parents to be able to work WITH teachers” rather than “we want parents to be able to approve or disapprove of everything that is read or taught or made available to their kids”). So happy this morning that at least in my school district and another neighboring one, the dems won the seats. Not all in the area though….
Happy and relieved here, too. But I’m so curious about the constant negative reporting for dems in regards to elections. Like, do polls even work any more? This gives me hope that the recent Trump over Biden poll results are just way off. I suspect that only old, rage filled white people have land lines and answer their phones to unknown callers. Does anyone know why the polling is so wrong these days?
I believe the polling is wrong because it is usually done over the phone. Most people answering calls from random numbers at this point are either old or stupid (or both). This tends to skew the polls to the right. That’s my theory at least.
😂😂😂😂 I love it
And you have to take in account the media outlets who are either GOP-adjacent–or are still trying to provide “balanced” coverage. I really get the feeling there’s a lot of “If we say the Dems suck, people will automatically believe it” with said folks. Think of it as the “we create our own reality” syndrome. 🤮
The coverage of the polls showing Biden trailing Trump by 5 points in key swing states didn’t mention that the very same polls showed a generic democratic candidate with an 8 point lead over Trump. Biden is the problem, especially his age. Unfortunately, his VP is equally unpopular so there’s no obvious successor to step aside for. Biden might win against Trump because their historically bad disapproval ratings cancel each other out. That may not work if the republican candidate ends up being someone other than Trump.
Rnot, you do know that Biden’s age is a Republican talking point, right? I ask that you consider not helping them by repeating it. Trump is only 3 years younger than Biden, but do you hear ANYONE saying anything about his age?
Look at who is doing the polling. I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I say that the right-wing billionaires usually own the newspaper. I always wonder what questions they ask because we all know that they can frame the question to get the answer they want.
Yes, that whole 3-year age difference is a YUUUUUGE advantage for Trump. 😆
Yesterday was my 56th birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 and the ONLY wish I made on Twitter was for White Women in OH/KY/VA to stand with Black Women and to vote for LIFE…LIBERTY & A PURSUIT FOR HAPPINESS…and BY GOLLY THEY MADE MY BIRTHDAY WISH COME TRUE❣️❣️❣️
#LetsKeepGoing
#FreedomAintNEVABeenFree
#ThisAintAboutPolitics
Happy birthday! What a relief the right person was voted in.
Happy Birthday Lala! I am happy that we didn’t let you down yesterday, and I hope that one of these days women will all do the things that benefit women, of all intersectional identities.
I feel great optimism about the results of the past several elections–but we have to keep going!
P.S. our local rep in purplish Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, won by a 17-point spread yesterday. (According to my husband–I’m currently in Mexico City.) That was GLORIOUS to see. People are fed up. Now let’s vote out Nicole Malliotakis.
A happiest of birthdays to you!🍰🍦
My Gen Z daughter is a recent transplant to Virginia, and she made sure to vote straight blue. So relieved and happy for her new state.
This is AMAZING. I looked at results too early and they were going the other way, hours later I was stunned to see all of this good news. SO MUCH GOOD NEWS.
Keep voting, campaigning, volunteering, organizing. Let’s go!
So happy and proud to be a Virginian this morning! I refused to watch the results last night, because I wasn’t sure we could defeat the GOP hate machine. I’m also a born and raised Kansan, and I was thrilled for my Kansas sisters and brothers who upheld the right of choice for women in a colossally red state last year. This is a good day, and I have a glimmer of hope for next year after last night’s results.
As a fellow Virginian Kaiser, I was also relieved and surprised. I’m in Loudoun County which had turned purple but I feared we were steadily going back to red with Youngkin and all that ridiculousness.
We live in northern Virginia and forgot to vote early. We flew out Saturday morning and got back late yesterday afternoon. I told my husband that I didn’t care that we had two cranky young kids in the back seat, we were passing right by our precinct on the way home from the airport and dammit we were stopping and voting. Took less than 10 minutes for both of us to get in and out. I hope our kids remember that no matter how tired we were or how much we wanted to get home, we still stopped to vote. Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, let’s keep it going!
I’ve been also worried but yesterday just surprised me about America in a very good way. And I’m just so happy that Trump MAGA ideals have been rejected even in the red states. The Dems have been working hard all over SM and on the ground making sure people understand the consequences and democracy/freedoms being threatened if Democrats lost. I hope the blue wave continues all the way to 2024 vote Biden for his 2nd term. As we Cannot have another Trump presidency, it’s going to be worse.
One thing though, it just proves Polls are again Wrong!
I slept quite well in Ohio last night 8-).
Yep–I conked out at 1:30 am as a very happy camper looking across the country. 😂
This was lovely to read! In my township in a rural county in NY state, I had no actual choices other than to write in a new highway superintendent. I was delighted to see he won 151 votes over 50! Delighted to read of the significant races elsewhere 😃
I’ve been saying for a while now that the Supreme Court did THE biggest favor to the Democrats when they tried to ban abortion……they had no idea what the effect would be…🤭
Yep–the right-wing tipped its hand way too obviously. These guys operate best using stealth, illusion, and deception–but the abortion decision put their 1890s agenda out there for all to see. And then the GOP figured they could openly go after birth control, women voting, civil rights (again)…and it was really on.
For those of us who lived through the ’60s (I was a kid), we’ve been worried about what could happen to Roe. The way it was done was shocking and P!SSED off women. It’ll be the women and progressive men who will win this battle. I’ve come to believe that the old, white patriarchy believed that women would fall right in the place they wanted them to be in. They are still reeling from the revolt and haven’t up to now been able to course correct. They still believe they’re right.
I live in a blue state and if anyone was clueless about what the Republicans are attempting to do, Trump and overturning Roe got their attention. I think this happened across the nation. I know that there are lots of men who also believe in women’s bodily autonomy, but I have to tell you, DON’T P!SS OFF WOMEN.
Women deserve the right to make decisions about their care with THEIR DR. Not a bunch of overbearing zealots who would sneak their daughters or themselves off, handle their business and keep trying to prevent over people from having the same access.
I live in Southern Indiana and we’ve been watching the Beshear race with baited breath. I slept like a baby after finding out he won. I want him to be president one day. He was amazing during the Covid crisis and seems to always have the right thing to say.
Kentuckian here. I think he could be president someday too, and would be a good one.
We could use him in the Senate. Mitch appears to have one foot on a banana peel.
❤️
I’m happy that general common sense is prevailing in terms of domestic matters in the US but honest question, why are people not being honest about his actual competence? It was open season against Mitch McConnell but when are we going to get real about the obvious lack of mental agility in this man due to natural aging?