# US Midterm Election watch along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619 "2022-11-09T00:29:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/901 "2022-11-13T03:45:33Z")
I fucked up ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/902 "2022-11-13T03:46:47Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Well, the whole setup of the senate is a kind of gerrymander. The Dakota Territory gets four senators while California gets two. ⬆ This here. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/903 "2022-11-13T03:49:47Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Where is the Dem version of the Chamber of Commerce? That would be organized labor, and they’re present but hamstrung. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/904 "2022-11-13T03:49:49Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Where is the Dem version of the Chamber of Commerce? Where are the Dem think tanks (I know there are some but they seem far less capable of affecting the national dialog)? Where are the liberal lobbyists? Which is to say, why does it seem conservative lobbyists continually own the government? The Democrats used to have the superior ground game. It was spearheaded by the unions. Anti-unionism since the Reagan era has worked wonders. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/905 "2022-11-13T03:50:37Z")
Warnock winning the runoff would mean that McConnell has no say in the senate rules this time around. In 2021, 50-50 meant there was negotiations and he seemed to enjoy throw all sorts of obstacles in the way and delay the turn of the senate. This was one reason that the impeachment trial was under McConnell and not Schumer, he was able to delay until after Biden took the office. With 51 senators democrats control a lot more of the committee seats and who gets them. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/906 "2022-11-13T03:57:30Z")
Maybe it is a discussion for another thread but, while I am all for unions and collective bargaining, my impression is unions became a haven for organized crime. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/907 "2022-11-13T03:58:21Z")
# **MODDING** : Absolutely a discussion for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/908 "2022-11-13T04:00:04Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Juist declared her the winner! Democrats are guaranteed control of the Senate! Yes. So this _is_ a Dem victory election, even if the House is lost by a small margin. And GA will give us 51. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > Also thanks to Joe Biden, who steered the rudderless ship of the USA with steady, experienced if aged hands. He knows his priorities and he sticks to them. He doesn’t get nearly enough credit. Yep. Joe did good, he beat the Red Tsunami! > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Mr. Biden [set up] the stakes as a choice — “between election deniers and protecting democracy… and “between a party that threatened a national ban on reproductive health and a party that promised to codify Roe v. Wade into law…. Exactly. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Mitch McConnell must be furious. No majority leader again for him. And this was his last chance, too. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/909 "2022-11-13T04:03:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And this was his last chance, too. Good riddance. According to Wikipedia, some turtles live up to 150 years, ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/910 "2022-11-13T04:04:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > According to Wikipedia, some turtles live up to 150 years, snort. 🤪 😛 😜 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/911 "2022-11-13T04:04:43Z")
Aaa-yup! ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/912 "2022-11-13T04:05:18Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > Warnock winning the runoff would mean that McConnell has no say in the senate rules this time around. In 2021, 50-50 meant there was negotiations and he seemed to enjoy throw all sorts of obstacles in the way and delay the turn of the senate. It’s an important point that 51 seats will allow Democrats to appoint actual majorities on committees. While the rules this session did provide for a procedure whereby Schumer could bring bills and nominees to the floor if the committee of jurisdiction deadlocked, it takes time to set up and there are several nominees who have been left in limbo. Most recently, Biden’s nominee for Archivist of the United States is bottled up because Republicans are in a snit over the Mar-a-Lago raid. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/913 "2022-11-13T04:10:36Z")
My prediction was that the Dems would keep control on the Senate, maybe even pick up a seat or two. For the House I predicted the Dems would lose seats but barely retain control. Let’s hope. Note also trumpski is looking like a liability, an albatross around the neck of the Old school Conservative GOP. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/914 "2022-11-13T04:11:47Z")
It looks like [Democrats are doing better in state legislatures than they have in a long time](https://wapo.st/3AcKbOx). > [@](#): > > If the early results hold up in states where some races remain undetermined, Democrats will not have lost control of a single legislature that they previously held, a feat not accomplished by the president’s party during a midterm election since 1934. > … > With some states still counting, Republicans control both chambers of 26 state legislatures, down from 30 before the election. Democrats fully control 19, up from 17 before Tuesday. > … > The party’s unexpected legislative successes came after a new, laserlike focus on state races by both longtime operatives at places like the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which rarely receives much help from the national party, and other relative newcomers to this lower-profile battlefield. > > Democrats have complained for years that while Republicans targeted state legislative races with huge financial investments, their own party and its donors focused instead on higher-profile contests featuring splashier candidates, even ones doomed to near-certain odds of defeat. Last year’s redistricting, in which Republican-controlled legislatures were able to carve maps to their own benefit, brought a fresh reminder of the stakes of ignoring those races. > > “State legislatures are seen by national Democrats as the minor leagues,” Squadron said. The midterm elections “proved they’re a game of their own and one that you have to focus on.” ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/915 "2022-11-13T04:14:44Z")
How righteous is that? What surprising and happy news that the Democrats were, in fact, on top of that already. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/916 "2022-11-13T04:30:50Z")
Warnock will be important in GA because the 2024 Senate map looks atrocious for Democrats. There is no good Democratic pick-up on the map and Democrats will be playing defense in Montana, West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona & Nevada That’s not counting Maine (King may retire), Michigan (this past week aside, Stabenow won by less than 3% in 2018) or a Youngkin run against Kaine in Virginia The best possible Dem pick-ups look like Missouri (Hawley who won by 1.4%) or Indiana (Braun who won by 0.8% and is retiring). And let’s say that I’m not optimistic about any chances that hinge on MO and IN. Any extra buffer matters. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/917 "2022-11-13T04:33:26Z")
Here’s a stat – since the 17th Amendment required the popular election of Senators, there has never been an election in which every incumbent Senator who sought reelection was reelected. If Warnock wins the runoff in Georgia, this cycle will be the first time it’s happened. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/918 "2022-11-13T04:39:49Z")
A refreshing breaking news headline from NYT: ## After a defeat in Nevada, every election denier who tried to become the top election official in a battleground state has lost at the polls. Related article (gift link): [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/politics/jim-marchant-nevada.html?unlocked\_article\_code=KJGm33ILSnQPEBbWWjjN2oo1jIxho9JmowqxB5NdBlpuYazNbHtf\_6uv2xau7ZumFgE2wAf9Eq9u4nY7V6dDvN8Rnq5U-VvoeocS0Eh6Uogr-PKOetZK\_sFcML5Tb98x090WotwKdW06SM1flAYullYNvyK8GF45wXnfavg5jh3Ia0PQmQN6jOetDkEeYJXJ88HyW9oas2NLOBoNANzaVzqX7vsleuA\_PiAkPTI9HlPLzJM42w3E3G8tI3KI6f-f-L5x3gsZR\_-mOu5BzD3z-ccxS\_ctJVjD9mf0BJUs41XtFb59ZHS5JDwk26scQNDXlpMV-LrieZ0vveH4-wzY8BI&smid=share-url](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/politics/jim-marchant-nevada.html?unlocked_article_code=KJGm33ILSnQPEBbWWjjN2oo1jIxho9JmowqxB5NdBlpuYazNbHtf_6uv2xau7ZumFgE2wAf9Eq9u4nY7V6dDvN8Rnq5U-VvoeocS0Eh6Uogr-PKOetZK_sFcML5Tb98x090WotwKdW06SM1flAYullYNvyK8GF45wXnfavg5jh3Ia0PQmQN6jOetDkEeYJXJ88HyW9oas2NLOBoNANzaVzqX7vsleuA_PiAkPTI9HlPLzJM42w3E3G8tI3KI6f-f-L5x3gsZR_-mOu5BzD3z-ccxS_ctJVjD9mf0BJUs41XtFb59ZHS5JDwk26scQNDXlpMV-LrieZ0vveH4-wzY8BI&smid=share-url) ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/919 "2022-11-13T04:42:49Z")
I guess I’ll ask this question here, though it may be too local\*, so my apologies in advance. The race for Los Angeles County Sheriff is between the incumbent, Alex Villanueva, and a challenger, Robert Luna. As of about 6 PM today, from this [site](https://results.lavote.gov/#year=2022&election=4300), I see that 1,608,639 votes (including both mail and in-person ballots) were cast. In the race for Sheriff, the tally is: Luna - 867,704 Villanueva- 608,520 By my count, this means that Luna leads by 259,184 votes, with 132,415 ballots yet to be counted. Which means that if every remaining ballot goes to Villanueva, he still loses by almost 130,000 votes. But no one has called the contest yet as far as I can see, and no concession. In fact in the [latest report](https://abc7.com/la-county-sheriff-robert-luna-alex-villanueva-updates/12447377/) I could find was this: > Villanueva’s victory four years ago over incumbent Jim McDonnell marked the first time in roughly a century that a sheriff had lost a re-election bid in the county. But now Villanueva finds himself in danger of meeting the same fate at the hands of Luna. > > The sheriff expressed confidence, however, that he would make up the deficit from early balloting as vote counting continued over the coming week. So, any ideas on why no one simply announces the winner, based on the math? I know it will sort itself out, but when one has a sitting sheriff who has presided over gang activity and witch hunts, ruling a county of almost 10 million people like an old time small town tyrant, small things can cause anxiety. \*_Though it is a county, if Los Angeles County were a state, it would be the 11th most populous state, beating out New Jersey._ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/920 "2022-11-13T04:50:11Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > every election denier who tried to become the top election official in a battleground state has lost at the polls. There _is_ a god. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619.md?page=47)