# 2018 US midterm elections **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125 "2017-11-09T17:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/222 "2018-11-04T00:40:57Z")
[Today](https://apnews.com/ea0b03390c2348cf9cca138db2852b07), Trump told Montanans that he doesn’t actually care about them, he only goes there because he’s engaged in a petty revenge feud with Sen. Tester. > [@](#): > > 1:05 p.m. > > President Donald Trump is playing up his feud with Democrat Jon Tester as he campaigns against the Montana senator. > > Trump claims at a rally at the Bozeman airport that Tester “tried to destroy” his first choice to head his administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs. > > Here’s what Trump says: “I’ve never forgotten it and it’s honestly one of the reasons I’m here so much.” > > In April, Tester went public with allegations against VA nominee Ronny Jackson accusing the White House doctor of drunken behavior, overprescribing prescription drugs and fostering a hostile work environment. Jackson denied the allegations but withdrew his nomination. > > Trump has repeatedly appeared in Montana for Tester’s opponent, Matt Rosendale. Trump isn’t there for you, Montana; he’s there for himself (of course). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/223 "2018-11-04T01:27:48Z")
Cool. Now we can have the same argument in this thread as in the other one. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/224 "2018-11-04T01:30:11Z")
He heard the part about Jesus dying for his sins, and figured that was a pretty shrewd move on Jesus’ part, curry his favor like that. Maybe not subtle enough for a sharp cookie like himself, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/225 "2018-11-04T03:18:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Cool. Now we can have the same argument in this thread as in the other one. :rolleyes: My apologies; this post was inadvertent. The explanation is long and involves an extended phone call, my Steam controller, Rocket League and a post that I was about to make but forgot about due to the extended phone call. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/226 "2018-11-04T03:24:11Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > An election of truly historic significance, in which Truth and Justice are literally pitted versus Greed, Hatred and Ignorance… Which side is Bob Menendez on again? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/227 "2018-11-04T08:39:17Z")
He wears the white hat, but in his case, it is a disguise. But both sides do it, of course. Obama lied about his health plan, Trump only stops lying long enough to inhale. Same-same. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/228 "2018-11-04T16:51:54Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Which side is Bob Menendez on again? What, there’s actually a corrupt Dem Congresscritter? Who knew? :clutches pearls, lies back on fainting couch: He may be less ethical than I’m happy with, but he’s still an improvement over anyone from the takes-kids-away-from-their-parents-and-locks-them-up-in-cages party. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/229 "2018-11-04T18:52:36Z")
Here’s [a local WTF](http://www.co.cal.md.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1274): > [@](#): > > County public transportation will not operate on Election Day Yep, the libraries, the landfill, and even the county golf course will be open on Election Day, but the county bus system will close down for the day. Notice also that the date of the press release was this past Friday, November 2. The early voting period ended…Thursday, November 1. So if you didn’t have a car, and were planning to take the county bus to within walking distance of your local voting place, you found out that the bus wasn’t running a day too late to take the bus to our county’s one early voting site. It was also next to impossible to find this on the county website: there’s nothing about it on the pages having to do with bus transportation. AFAICT, you had to be checking the county press releases to find about it at all. My wife got word through a political Facebook group she’s on, otherwise I wouldn’t know about this at all. I’m gonna be calling up the county tomorrow, you betcha. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/230 "2018-11-04T19:01:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Here’s [a local WTF](http://www.co.cal.md.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1274): Yep, the libraries, the landfill, and even the county golf course will be open on Election Day, but the county bus system will close down for the day. > > Notice also that the date of the press release was this past Friday, November 2. The early voting period ended…Thursday, November 1. So if you didn’t have a car, and were planning to take the county bus to within walking distance of your local voting place, you found out that the bus wasn’t running a day too late to take the bus to our county’s one early voting site. > > It was also next to impossible to find this on the county website: there’s nothing about it on the pages having to do with bus transportation. AFAICT, you had to be checking the county press releases to find about it at all. My wife got word through a political Facebook group she’s on, otherwise I wouldn’t know about this at all. > > I’m gonna be calling up the county tomorrow, you betcha. Senior centers being closed too seems odd. Why do they need to be closed for election day? I would think that there would be people showing up at the senior center with the expectation that they get assistance in getting to the polling place, especially if public transportation is closed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/231 "2018-11-04T19:21:47Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Here’s [a local WTF](http://www.co.cal.md.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/1274): Yep, the libraries, the landfill, and even the county golf course will be open on Election Day, but the county bus system will close down for the day. … Calvert County, MD 5, votes D by wide margins, Clinton 64%, represented By Hoyer (D) forever, those in charge are D … why would they want to suppress any of the vote? Really not getting this one. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/232 "2018-11-04T21:58:43Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Calvert County, MD 5, votes D by wide margins, Clinton 64%, represented By Hoyer (D) forever, those in charge are D … why would they want to suppress any of the vote? > > Really not getting this one. Actually, Calvert’s[currently governed by Republicans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert_County,_Maryland#Politics_and_government), and [went for Trump by an 18% margin](https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/maryland/) in 2016. But I think they see a tighter election this year, and Evan Slaughenhoupt, a Republican who heads up the Board of Commissioners, isn’t running for re-election. (As a result? I can’t say.) Now this _could_ be just a terribly bad decision on allocation of resources. But certainly the people who can’t drive themselves to the polls are more likely to pull the ‘D’ lever. I don’t have enough of a sense of the BoC to know if they’d pull a shenanigan like this as a means of vote suppression. So I’m not happy about this, but whatever the effects of this move, I can’t speak to the intent. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/233 "2018-11-04T22:19:05Z")
CNN Politics’s latest take on how the House races are playing out: [Election 2018: Democrats still favored to win House. But it's far from a sure thing. | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/04/politics/the-forecast-democrats-still-favored-far-from-sure/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/234 "2018-11-05T00:41:14Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Actually, Calvert’s[currently governed by Republicans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert_County,_Maryland#Politics_and_government), and [went for Trump by an 18% margin](https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/maryland/) in 2016. But I think they see a tighter election this year, and Evan Slaughenhoupt, a Republican who heads up the Board of Commissioners, isn’t running for re-election. (As a result? I can’t say.) > > Now this _could_ be just a terribly bad decision on allocation of resources. But certainly the people who can’t drive themselves to the polls are more likely to pull the ‘D’ lever. I don’t have enough of a sense of the BoC to know if they’d pull a shenanigan like this as a means of vote suppression. So I’m not happy about this, but whatever the effects of this move, I can’t speak to the intent. Huh. I was going by the complete [MD 5 district](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland%27s_5th_congressional_district) (which according to wiki went Clinton +31%) … so Calvert is the GOP stronghold of the district? Still weird. I’d think some elderly (more likely GOP) would be more impacted by no bus service than others. And you’d think they want to up the turnout in the district’s GOP stronghold not decease it. Unless it is all about county representation? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/235 "2018-11-05T01:01:22Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Huh. I was going by the complete [MD 5 district](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland%27s_5th_congressional_district) (which according to wiki went Clinton +31%) … so Calvert is the GOP stronghold of the district? > > Still weird. I’d think some elderly (more likely GOP) would be more impacted by no bus service than others. And you’d think they want to up the turnout in the district’s GOP stronghold not decease it. Unless it is all about county representation? It really is all about county representation. Steny Hoyer will easily win his umpteenth term as our representative (we moved here in 1998, and he’d represented this district for a long time already then\*), and none of the statewide races is in doubt. - ETA: It occurs to me that I already knew who Hoyer was from before I moved away from the DC area back in 1982. He was already a big deal in area politics even then. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/236 "2018-11-05T01:16:07Z")
Here’s what [Jon Ralston](https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/the-early-voting-blog) says about Nevada based on the early voting: > [@](#): > > 11/3/18, 9:00 AM > > RATINGS BASED ON EARLY/MAIL NUMBERS: > > U.S. Senate: Slight lean D > > Gov: Slight lean D > > CD3: Slight lean D > > CD4: Likely D ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/237 "2018-11-05T02:27:19Z")
So about forty-eight hours to go until the polls close. I wonder how quickly the Attorney General will be fired. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/238 "2018-11-05T03:17:33Z")
I predict some bombshells from the Special Counsel, too, in the next week or two. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/239 "2018-11-05T12:32:24Z")
From various sources: 1. As of yesterday, the early vote total nationwide was 34.8M, compared to 21.2M in 2014. 2. There were more early votes cast in NV and TX this year than in the entire 2014 election. In Texas, 6.8M early votes in 2018, 5.7M total votes in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/240 "2018-11-05T12:33:43Z")
Of course, #1 above is somewhat apples-to-oranges, since there are states that didn’t have early voting in 2014 that have it now. But realistically that only accounts for a fraction of the difference. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125/241 "2018-11-05T12:36:29Z")
It’s interesting how Nate Silver’s models have settled into the same percentage odds for both the Senate and the House — 85 and a half per cent for one party, 14 and a half per cent for the other party — but with the parties switched (of course) between one chamber of Congress and the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-us-midterm-elections/801125.md?page=13)