Live Blog: Midterm Election Returns
Posted: November 4, 2014 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: U.S. Politics | Tags: 2014 midterm elections, live blog |
The map above posted by Vox shows time times polls close in different states. That will help us know when to start looking for election results in our home states and in the key Senate races.
Vox is providing live election updates. They’ve had quite a bit of interesting stuff throughout the day. The New York Times also has a live update page, but so far I like Vox’s better. Plenty of other websites will also be doing this, so if you are following a particularly interesting media live blog, please share the link in the comment thread to this post.
The polls close early in Kentucky–at 6 or 7pm, depending on what part of the state you live in. Of course Kentucky’s Senate race between Alison Grimes and Mitch McConnell is huge. If McConnell wins and Republicans take control of the Senate, he will be the new Majority Leader. What a dreadful prospect! But Kentucky is seeing heavy voter turnout in the cities, which is a good sign for Grimes.
From the Courier-Journal, Senate race boosts turnout in Ky. urban areas.
High turnout in Kentucky’s urban areas is buoying Alison Lundergan Grimes’ hopes for a stunning upset over U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
At midday, Lynn Zellen, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s office, said turnout has been steady statewide but that it has been high in Louisville and in the Northern Kentucky community of Fort Thomas.
Big turnout in Louisville would appear to help Grimes, said Democratic political consultant Danny Briscoe. “She’s got to come out of here with a huge margin,” he said. “It’s the biggest Democratic area left in Kentucky.”
At about 2:30 p.m., Grimes tweeted “We’re seeing incredible turnout today.”
Also from the Courier-Journal, If McConnell wins, Ted Cruz may not back him.
LOUISVILLE – If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wins re-election Tuesday, his prize may be a restive Republican caucus with a rebellious would-be presidential candidate who may not support him.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has worked with other tea-party Republicans to force government crises over spending, budgets and the debt ceiling, said over the weekend in a Washington Post interviewhe is aiming for a GOP-led Senate that is just as confrontational with the White House as the Republican House has been.
Cruz said the Senate under Republicans should begin their work “looking at the abuse of power, the executive abuse, the regulatory abuse, the lawlessness that sadly has pervaded this administration.”
Cruz also told The Post he wanted a Republican Senate to vigorously pursue repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Significantly, Cruz also would not pledge his support to McConnell as majority leader.
If McConnell does win, he is probably going to learn what it has been like to be John Boehner for the past several years. From the Wall Street Journal, A Change in Senate Control Would Test McConnell’s Clout.
WASHINGTON—In fighting off a tea-party primary challenger and then battling a Democrat who tried to claim the political center, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a consistent pitch to Kentucky voters: he was the candidate with the clout to get things done.
That is precisely what he will need if, as expected, he survives the toughest re-election fight of his political career and his party wins control of the Senate. Mr. McConnell, a 30-year veteran, is in line to lead the Senate’s first Republican majority in eight years if his party can net the six seats it needs to claim power….
But even his own win wouldn’t guarantee his spot as majority leader, as several close Senate races will determine whether Republicans secure enough seats to take the majority back from Democrats. The drama is compounded by the reality that it could be weeks before Senate control is known, as close races in Louisiana and Georgia could mean runoff elections in those states.
In many ways, the obstacle course of challenges has been a test of the political skills Mr. McConnell would have to tap in a newly constituted Republican Senate, where he would be expected to try to reach deals on taxes and trade in an effort to end legislative gridlock.
To get to those agreements, Mr. McConnell would have to contend with a pocket of restive conservatives, including some, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz , who are aiming to sharpen their conservative credentials for potential 2016 presidential bids.
High turnout is also expected in New Hampshire, another state with an important and hotly contested Senate race. From WBZ Boston, NH Secretary Of State: Voters Could Break Midterm Turnout Record.
Three Democrats were trying to hold onto their seats in Washington on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat seeking a second term, faced Republican Scott Brown, who moved to New Hampshire last year after losing his U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.
In the 1st District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter was facing a challenge from Republican Frank Guinta. Shea-Porter was first elected in 2006, was ousted by Guinta in 2010 and regained the seat in 2012. In the 2nd District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster was seeking a second term against GOP state Rep. Marilinda Garcia.
The governor’s office and the 424-member Legislature also were up for grabs. Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, hoping to win a second term, faced a challenge from Republican Walt Havenstein.
What are you hearing about turnout in your state? Here in Massachusetts, the Secretary of State’s office predicted 53% turnout, 2.26 million voters, and a number of towns are reporting high numbers of voters showing up at the polls. For Martha Coakley to win, we’ll need voters to show up in urban areas like Boston and Worcester.
Voting problems are being reported in several states. We know about the voter suppression in Texas and other states with voter ID laws, but today there have been other serious problems. Things are pretty bad in Virginia, according to Democratic Rep. Scott Rigell.
VIRGINIA BEACH — Officials with Rep. Scott Rigell’s (R-2nd D.) campaign said Tuesday afternoon that the number of precincts experiencing problems with voting machines in the 2nd District increased to 37 locations, nearly double the number the campaign reported earlier in the day.
The majority of the problems were in Virginia Beach where Rigell is up for re-election.
The Virginia Beach locations are Alanton, Arrowhead, Bayside, Birneck, Bonney, Cape Henry, Centerville, Chimney Hill, Colonial, Colony, Courthouse, Culver, Dahlia, Great Neck, Homestead, Hunt, Kingston, Lake Christoper, Larkspur, Linkhorn, London Bridge, Lynnhaven, Manor, North Beach, Ocean Lakes, Pleasant Hall, Rock lack, Rosement Forest, Seatack, Shelton Park, Sherry Park, Sigma, Stratford Chase, Tallwood, Upton and Witchduck.
Officials said there was also a problem at the Lafayette precinct in Norfolk….
On Twitter Tuesday morning, Rigell said there have been “numerous, credible reports of poll machine irregularity at voting precincts in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.”
“Every error is going against my campaign and in favor of my challenger,” Rigell said at an 11 a.m. news conference.
Rep. Scott Rigell
Rigell has now gone to court: Rep. Scott Rigell requests court order for paper ballots after reports of voting issues.
The Scott Rigell for Congress campaign has formally demanded that the Virginia Beach Voter Registrar switch to paper ballots after they say several issues have been reported.
They say over 40 precincts in the district have reported that voters who tried to cast a ballot for Rigell were instead counted for his opponent.
“In my more than two decades of being involved in the political process, I have never seen such a systemic failure of our voting machines here in Hampton Roads. Sadly, today marks a first,” says the Rigell campaign.
He is now encouraging voters to check their summary pages on their voting cards before submitting a final vote. They say to make sure that you’re 100% certain that everything you’ve chosen is correct before leaving your polling place.
The VA GOP is also complaining about malfunctioning voting machines in a number of precincts.
Georgia has also had lots of problems. Is anyone surprised? TPM reports: Georgia Flooded With Complaints Over Crashed Election Website.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office crashed on Tuesday and stayed down for several hours on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.
The site is where people can get information on where their polling site is or register to vote.
The voter protection group, Election Protection, said it received 778 calls before mid day from frustrated voters about the down website.
“It inconvenienced a lot of voters,” Bryan Thomas, the communications director for state Sen. Jason Carter’s (D) gubernatorial campaign told TPM. “We worked really hard to make sure that any voters that reached out to us got proper information about where their polling information is.”
With so many GOP efforts to suppress the vote, every problem like this seems potentially suspicious. Will this hurt Michelle Nunn’s chances?
There have been many problems in Connecticut, where Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy is in a tight reelection race; but a judge has extended some voting hours in Hartford.
A Hartford judge has decided to extend voting hours to 8:30 p.m. at two city polling places hampered by delays and missing registration lists early Tuesday morning.
The extended hours will apply to the Batchelder School at 757 New Britain Avenue and United Methodist Church at 571 Farmington Avenue, according to the judge. Registered voters who are in line at those two polls by 8:30 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
“It was the ruling of electoral officials, either monitors or registrars, that denied people the opportunity to vote in an alternative fashion when the voting lists were not ready at 6 a.m.,” the judge explained, referring to voters who were stalled or turned away while waiting for lists to arrive.
The hearing at Hartford Superior Court began around 2:45 p.m. and dragged on for hours after Gov. Dan Malloy’s campaign filed a complaint seeking to extend voting hours to 9 p.m. at affected polling places in Hartford.
Malloy campaign attorney William Bloss said at least 10 of the city’s 24 polling places opened as late as 7:30 a.m. because voter lists weren’t delivered on time. All Connecticut polls were legally required to open at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Have you heard of any other voting irregularities?
A few more links:
CBS News, Did Obama’s immigration punt backfire?
Peter Orzag at Bloomberg, A New Do-Nothing Congress.
Bloomberg, With Hours to Go, Both Sides Predict Senate Victories. Joe Biden believe the Democrats will hold 52 seats after all the votes are counted.
Nate Silver, Final Update: Republicans Have A 3 In 4 Chance Of Winning The Senate
Sam Wang at The New Yorker, Does Anyone Know Who Will Win the Senate Tonight?
MSNBC, Problems reported at polls vary from state to state.
Nate Cohn at the NYT, Exit Polls: Why They So Often Mislead.
Jeffrey Rosen at The New Republic, The Supreme Court Will Be a Disaster If a Justice Dies During a Republican Congress.
So . . . . What are you hearing?
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Laura Ingraham: If ID laws make voting ‘too difficult’ for some people, ‘then good’
Asshole.
NYT:
Exit polls: 1/2 of voters say the economy is their biggest issue.
I can’t help but think that the single most watched station is Fox News, and I can’t help but think these voters likely watch Fox 24/7. The economy has been slow to recover, but the republicans have done NOTHING to help improve our situation with jobs, or health care.
It’s the most watched of cable “news” stations, but it still has a small viewership compared to entertainment shows.
Vox:
Were Ferguson voters made to show photo ID even though it’s not required in Missouri?
Turnout is as high as 50% in some counties in VA. That’s considered high for a midterm
I’ve seen several news reports about voting irregularities. Seems both teams are being impacted.
Mother Jones:
Republicans Tried to Suppress the Black Vote in North Carolina. It’s Not Working.
MSNBC is already calling KY for McConnell. I don’t think I’m going to be able to listen to Rachel Maddow all night. She’s already getting on my nerves.
Shit!
Me too, she’s getting under my skin.
For some reason, I just can’t stand the way she talks.
I can’t take Wolf over at CNN.
I’m listening to Wolf because I think CNN’s graphics are better.
Can’t get CNN because Dick…I mean Dish.
Rachel gets on my nerves to but Chris Matthews is as bad.
Damn. That was quick.
Yeah, I’m really disappointed.
In KY, the polls close at 6 pm eastern.
The race started slipping away from Grimes 2 weeks ago. It was always a long shot
Calling Kentucky – Mitch.
Greg Sargent @ThePlumLineGS 49s49 seconds ago
From Ward 1 in New Hampshire: Shaheen, 2,142, Brown, 1,957
Ralph, that’s a big deal, go Shaheen.
Shaheen still maintaining a lead.
56% to 44%
What the hell is going on in Fla.?
I haven’t heard anything yet. It was a tight race for governor. I just wish Scott Walker would lose. That one is very close too.
Broward Co. Fla. had some glitches, and Chris is asking for polls to stay open longer.
Yep, Florida’s GOP up to their old tricks. Crist’s people are onto it, though.
Charlie Crist is kicking Scott’s ass now. Hope it holds up.
HuffPost Politics @HuffPostPol 4m4 minutes ago
With 8% reporting, Crist leads Scott 50.1%-45.2% in #FLGOV http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2014/results/governors#FL … #election2014
No surprise in Ohio – John Kasich, governor, serves again. Shouldn’t have happened, trouble brewing.
My old home state. Kasich’s opponent didn’t have a chance.
He did his homework Beata.
The Republican ratfuckers turned Fitzgerald from a wunderkind into a joke, very quickly.
I decided to try NPR on MA results, but they’re telling me Baker will probably win governor. I probably can’t take listening to them either.
NC Senate race too close to call.
FL Gov. race neck-and-neck now.
Yuck.McConnell again.
Tom Wolf, Pa……..no surprise.
My home county has a functioning brain anyway,
https://twitter.com/Forrest4Trees/status/529801327510306816
DALLAS EV GOV: Davis 55, Abbott 44
If only the rest of the state had some brains!
I feel your pain, Ralph. My home county has a functioning brain; the rest of my state is on life support.
Politico called VA 7 (Cantor’s seat) going to Dave Brat, the Tea Party candidate. No surprise. I was hoping for a little surprise as far as the numbers went but it looks pretty much like the party line split in the district.
Surprisingly, Gillespie(R) is doing better against Warner(D) than was expected for the Senate seat. Way too soon to tell at this point, of course.
I heard about Gillespie. Lord, I hope you don’t end up with him.
Very surprising about Gillespie. Are heavily GOP VA areas reporting earlier than Democratic ones?
We are sweating bullets here in VA. It is close close close. Might even be a runoff, I don’t know the rules but the NYT is predicting a Warner win by 1.2% once all is said and done. At this point, I’d be really happy with that.
Waiting on Iowa Senate and the KS Governor race. I’m hoping that Crist survives in FL.
I’m having trouble with internet. I hope I can stay on
Listen to Allison Grimes she sounded very rational, acted in the best interest of Kentucky, and will fight everyday to make it better. She is strong woman, and like Ralph said earlier, some of these candidates will bring a great amount to the 2016 election. I really liked her.
Too bad she lost. Mitch is America’s asshole.
This is so disgusting. I had to put the shit on mute, but the assholes face is still there to make me cringe. Rachael says it is charm but I say it is bullshit.
He’s got the charm of a hyena
McConnell has CHARM??? Is that a joke?
If McConnell is charming, so is a PortaPotty.
This is sad. Less than 12% of Kentuckians voted.
Is that 12% of registered voters? Or 12% of population?
Looks bad. Pryor lost.
Mitch: You’ll wake up in the morning, and read I WON. No more Obamacare, No more climate control, No more EPA. What the fuck, move on we got other results to report.
This shows that people are really fucking stupid.
Idiots.
So far dems have lost one seat: Pryor in Arkansas.
New Hampshire is looking good according to NPR. Governor will win, and Shaheen is leading.
They’re talking about Scott Brown in the past tense, as if he is dead in the water.
They don’t have many results from Boston yet, so MA governor’s race is still up in the air.
I sure hope he’ll never float again. Carpetbagger.
I am so happy, know what I am saying?
Alright now….NH Governor, Maggie Hasson is in, and I think the rest NH is Dem too. Fingers crossed.
Not only that, NH will still be ruled by three women.
Hell yeah.
Wait- what? Who is the third?
Actually, NH has all women reps. I’m not sure if Shea-Porter is going to keep her seat or not. I assume so, since Dems swept the Senate and Gov. races. Kelly Ayotte is the Republican Senator.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/new-hampshire-elects-all-women_n_2086133.html
At least Shaheen won. Some good news in this depressing night.
LeftDial @LeftDial 7m7 minutes ago
Scott Brown Announces Campaign For Mayor of Montreal ! Quote: Je suis t’aime Quebec. Je me souviens Le Bastille”
LOL!!!
tres droll.
Jamelle Bouie @jbouie 4m4 minutes ago Atlanta, GA
Former Sen. Sam Nunn says that this excitement bodes very well for the 2016 elections.
Thanks, BB. That’s the info I wanted to see.
Yeah but they just adjusted the adjusted number down to 1.2%. Very nervous here.
YES, she defeated Scott Brown!……………Sorry about S. Dakota, the Native Americans really tried to turn that around.
No surprise in Michigan.
Ah, couldn’t happen to a more deserving man! I hope it really burns him.
I’m really shocked that the McConnell-Grimes race in Kentucky had less than 12% turnout. That’s just pitiful. Hope it’s true I picked it up after seeing it several times on twitter.
Except for Louisville and Lexington there’s not much in KY.
It’s really going to be a fucked up election with Kansas if two republicans pull it off. There was a 500 count difference a few minutes ago. What you think about that?
Al Franken keeps his Senate seat.
Baker is leading Coakley by 3% with 1/3 of the votes in, but I’m guessing they are still waiting for the heavily Dem districts in the cities.
I am starting to feel the heat there.
Early votes show Landrieu and Cassidy neck and neck | Elections | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA http://ow.ly/DPQMe
Cassidy – 45%; Landrieu – 39%. 21 precincts reporting. http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/03/election-result-for-us-senate/18384499/ …
Mary Landrieu, Bill Cassidy will face off in runoff election, ABC and NBC project http://huff.to/10jq794 #election2014
Freaking out here in VA. The Warner/Gillespie race is insanely close. 90% of the precincts reporting and Gillespie is leading by 1%. This is seismic.
Jeeze, that’s awful.
NC is still tied with nearly 70% of the votes in, acc. to CNN.
Whoa, Colorado, come on!
There you go, personhood failed in Colorado 64 -39%. They wanted to ban the IUD – no way.
That’s good news
Iowa polls close in 3min.
Cecile Richards @CecileRichards 9m9 minutes ago
Wendy won Texans under age 45. We said we were changing the future of Texas and we meant it. #WomenWinTX
Maybe someday …
Cecile Richards, daughter of Ann Richards, would make her mother proud if she were alive today.
Love her!
She really was up against the wall, so to speak. She was fearless, and will be ready in 2016.
Come on in Idaho. Polls are now closed.
I am late to the party but I couldn’t resist. Need the comfort of like minded people.
At least Scott Brown is dead as a doornail.
Glad you made it Pat. We waiting on Banjoland.
Well, just to add to the “humor” of this election, while I was zipping through the headlines I came across one that had me laughing out loud.
Kim Kardashian has added her two cents to this midterm fiasco by Tweeting that she is “standing by Obama” in this race. The fact that he is not running on any ticket apparently doesn’t seem to faze her “support”.
She is right up there with the idiots voting GOP!
Apparently the Scott Brown campaign — ahem, the Republicans not affiliated with Brown — put up signs identical with Shaheen’s campaign signs except with another line: “Stand With Obama” in the hopes that Obama haters would vote for Brown. Per Democracy now tonight. Anyhow it didn’t work 🙂
I started a new thread up above. This one is getting too long. Come on up!