We don’t yet know who has won the White House or the Senate, which was expected, but there are some things that we do know.
There was no landslide, on either side. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t expecting one. BUT, I did want a full-throated rejection of Trumpism, and we didn’t get that. I wake up this morning very disappointed in my fellow citizens.
As more results come in, we’ll know more. But for now, let’s break down where we are in this election:
Presidency/Electoral College
Winning Arizona last night opened a lot of doors for Joe Biden. As a pundit said last night, “I’d rather be Biden right now than Trump.” Also, winning Nebraska’s second district Electoral vote makes a 269-269 tie impossible, (that is, unless we have faithless electors.)
Political Wire outlined the most obvious paths for Biden to win the Electoral College:
- Winning Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada, which would allow him to lose Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. This would get Biden to exactly 270 electoral votes.
- Winning Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia, which would allow him to lose Pennsylvania and North Carolina. This would give Biden 286 electoral votes.
- Winning Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which would allow him to lose Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. This would give Biden 290 electoral votes.
We should know a lot more from Wisconsin, Nevada and Georgia in the next day or so, and Michigan and Pennsylvania by the end of the week.
The Senate
The Senate is tight. The Democrats hadn’t won several of the Republican-leaning races last night, which was a bummer. By the end of the evening, we had flipped the Colorado and Arizona seats (congrats to John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly!) and lost Doug Jones’ seat in Alabama (expected, but still sad).
We don’t have final results yet for: Alaska, Georgia (2), Maine, Michigan, and North Carolina.
The House
Very early in the evening, outlets projected that the Democrats would retain the House of Representatives. It’ll be a while before we know exactly who won which seat, but the Democrats seem poised to have roughly the same lead in the majority that they did before.
State Legislatures
We need to count the votes. Lots we don’t know here. No chambers have flipped yet. I’m keeping my eye on the results over at What’s On The Ballot.
Other Notable Results
Progressives won important district attorney races in Orlando, Florida and Austin, Texas. Monique Worrell and José Garza each vowed during their campaigns to reduce the prison population.
California passed Prop 17, which ended felony disenfranchisement and restores voting rights.
It appears that many candidates who were running for sheriff on an anti-ICE platform have won their races, according to Daniel Nichanian.
Sarah McBride won her race in Delaware to become the first transgender state Senator in the country.
Tomorrow, I’ll bring you more results as they continue to trickle in. Until then, try not to be glued to every twist and turn in this election — which is hard to do, I get it — but your emotional and self-care is important. In the weeks ahead, what actually happened in the country will become more clear, and then we can figure out how to move forward.
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Win or lose, thanks for your incomparably helpful, concise, and to-the-point posts (including today’s!) all throughout!
Thank you, Eli.
TokyoSand, we just need to stay calm and be patient. The process should run its normal course. The true winners in all of this are the conscientious election workers who are trying to get it right. Trump is within his right to claim a recount when the process is finished. Any judge worth his salt will say let’s follow normal processes and not stop them from occurring. Suing is just grandstanding, which is what the president has been posturing for over six months.
This post I wrote this morning adds a few more thoughts. Keith
https://musingsofanoldfart.wordpress.com/2020/11/04/keep-calm-and-be-patient/#comment-34105
I’m generally good at staying calm. But my disappointment and unease with the results, even as Biden is poised to win, won’t go away anytime soon.
TokyoSand, quite simply, counting people’s votes is essential to our democracy. The folks on the ground in the election process are dutiful, conscientious and trying to get it right. Stopping the count serves no purpose and gains no new knowledge.
If the president (or the former VP) do not like the results that are so close, there are measures to follow to ask for a recount. Some small margins may dictate a recount per state law. If at that time, the president wants to bring lawsuit, then that is his right.
Mitch McConnell noted that lawsuits are not uncommon defending the president. That is true, but what he failed to mention, is the president is suing to stop the process and inflame others as he has been staging for over six months, is not normal. At the heart of the stopping push is the president does not want the tallies to indicate he lost. My guess is his fragile ego cannot handle that and he feels like his legal battle is more uphill.
No judge worth any salt will stop a normal process from occurring. Of course, we do have a president who acts abnormally. Keith
I’m also feeling disappointed. And then I read this which makes a whole lot of sense (sad as it is). https://eand.co/americas-problem-is-that-white-people-want-it-to-be-a-failed-state-bac24202f32f
That was a hard read.
ALSO there are efforts to recruit volunteers to help cure ballots in GA and NV that you may want to share with readers: https://mobilize.us/s/guNURU and https://docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/e/1FAIpQLSck5GmL3OddtqE7DkszcwzPiOobX8-knNUm8wvOCd28dybHAw/formResponse
Particularly in GA this may help with the Senate as well as potentially the presidential race.
I’ve been sharing that on Twitter and Facebook. Tomorrow, I’m making an appeal to voters in GA, NV, and NC.