Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Midterm elections 2018

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Midterm elections 2018: Taylor Swift effect helps youth vote surge across US – live





Top House Democrats have left no room for doubt that they will inherit the gavel on Tuesday night.
“I am confident the democrats will win the majority of the US House of Representatives,” congressman Ben Ray Lujan, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told reporters in Washington.
He was joined by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, who said the result would turn on one issue: healthcare.
“This election is about health care,” the California Democrat said at a news conference.
After Donald Trump won the election, she said Democrats “didn’t agonize, we organized”. They immediately began strategizing ways to protect the Affordable Care Act and in 2017 remained united in their opposition to the House GOP’s repeal of the 2010 health care law.
“100%” Pelosi reminded reporters. The bill narrowly passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.
She said Democrats “made our environment to make sure people knew the difference between Democrats and Republicans on this subject and what was at stake for them”.
Asked how she intended work with Republicans if they take back the House, Pelosi replied: “We will strive for bipartisanship because we have a responsibility to find common ground where we can, stand our ground where we can’t.”
She added: “We are not going after the Republicans the way they went after us. We are no they.”
Pelosi and Lujan urged voters in districts where voter suppression tactics have been reported to stay in line and cast their ballot.
“Do not let their scare tactics frighten you away from the polls,” Pelosi said.
Luján added: “We have robust legal strategy to make sure that we’re protecting the integrity of the vote.”
Asked if Pelosi is 100% confident her party will win tonight, she pulled the microphone close.
“Yes, yes, I am.”
Updated


Parkland students get out the vote in Florida

In Parkland, Florida, more than two dozen teenagers gathered Tuesday morning to make calls to remind voters to go to the polls. Many of the Parkland students, who had lost 17 classmates and teachers to a school shooting at their high school in February, were still too young to vote themselves.
“I can’t vote, so I wanted to do my part and get other people to vote for me,” said Ariana Ali, a 17-year-old senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school.
“Hi, I’m Kelly, I’m with March for Our Lives. Can I count on your vote?” Kelly Mathesie, another 17-year-old senior, said brightly. She and her friends were sitting in tight circle, their sticker-covered laptops open in front of them. “Thank you so much for voting!” she said. One of her friends cheered.
Nine months after the shooting at their school, the students who helped organize a national youth violence against gun.
“I think we’ve already reached victory,” said Sarah Chadwick, 17, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Early youth voting had surged in multiple states, including 700% in Tenneesee, more than 500% in Texas.
Struggling to get their online phone banking interface working, some students started going through their phones and leaving messages for everyone they knew. Others broadcast live on Instagram.
“I’m going through all my phone contacts as making sure that everyone I’ve ever met has voted,” Sofie Whitney explained, leaving a message for one contact. “If anyone you know isn’t voting, cut off all ties with them,” she said on another message.
“Everyone I know and love is voting,” she said.
Whitney said she wanted to see youth voter turnout rise to match the turnout for the oldest voters in the 2014 midterm elections: fewer than 20% of voters 18 to 29 had voted in 2014, compared with nearly 60% of voters over sixty, giving the oldest voters a decisive power over the election.
Getting the youth vote turnout rate as high as 60% or 70% would be unprecedented. Even a smaller jump in youth vote turnout could point to a dramatic change in youth voting culture, experts said.
“Honestly, everything is possible at this point, we’re proving everyone wrong,” Whitney said.



Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett)
“I can’t vote, so I wanted to do my part and get other people to vote for me,” said Ariana Ali, a senior at MSD, said at a get-out-the-vote @AMarch4OurLives phone bank in Parkland. pic.twitter.com/z07oSkHtbq
November 6, 2018
Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett)
“Hi, my name is Kelly, and I’m with March for Our Lives....” Parkland students phone banking to get out the vote in Florida. pic.twitter.com/qVoDWiKG9z
November 6, 2018

 
On the West Coast, armies of enthusiastic Democratic Party volunteers fanned out across southern California in the pre-dawn gloom to hang door signs reminding target voters to cast their ballot in some of the most competitive congressional races in the country. Four of those races are being fought in suburban Orange County, south of Los Angeles, in districts where Republican candidates prevailed in 2016 but where Hillary Clinton won more votes than Donald Trump.
LA’s progressive armies of the night descended on all four, as well as a fifth tightly contested district northwest of the city. At the campaign headquarters for Mike Levin, the Democrat favored to take the seat currently occupied by the powerful retiring congressman Darrell Issa, cars jammed the parking lot at 5 a.m. -- two hours before the polls opened -- and the candidate himself was on hand to greet his supporters. The volunteers, in festive mood, high-fived, took selfies with the candidate, and called him “congressman” . Levin resisted that label, but he welcomed the outpouring of support and said a couple thousand door-hangers could make a crucial difference against his Republican opponent, Diane Harkey.
“The nation is watching our district,” the door-hanger read, under a picture of Levin with former president Barack Obama. “Vote for Democrat Mike Levin to flip Congress and place a check on Donald Trump’s destructive agenda.”
Updated



Andrew Gillum votes in Florida

Andrew Gillum cast his ballot Tuesday morning in Tallahassee and told reporters that if he wins Florida’s governor’s race tonight, it will send a message about Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric.
“If we win tonight, I think that will send a message to Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis as well that the politics of hatred and division come to an end- at least in this election,” Gillum said after voting at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee. His opponent, Ron DeSantis has been accused of using racist “dogwhistles” throughout the campaign.
“We’re going to show that people are going out and voting for something, not against. And by voting for something, we’re restoring the politics of decency and what’s right and common between all of us,” Gillum said, adding:

“We’ll worry about history later. Today we’re working to win.”

If elected, Gillum will be Florida’s first black governor.
The two candidates were locked in a virtual tie running up to election day.

It’s a humid day in the Florida capitol, sunshine peeking out from behind grey clouds and intermittent showers giving voters reason to tote umbrellas. A group of Gillum boosters waited for him outside his polling place and loudly burst into his campaign slogan “bring it home” as he emerged from the ballot.

Common in the apparel of the fans who turned up was the florescent green and orange colors of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, or FAMU. Not only is Gillum an alumnus, but his political career actually began as student body president of the Historically Black College and University, which is located in Tallahassee.

Last night a get out the vote rally on the school’s campus brought megastars like DJ Khaled and Diddy out to try and mobilize the youth vote. As a DJ cranked bass-heavy favorites from Fast Life Yungstaz and 21 Savage, students stepped and strolled around the gymnasium- an HBCU tradition- as the MC and guest speakers encouraged them to make it out to vote Tuesday.

“I want you to show them just how powerful we are. I want you to show them just how brilliant we are. I want you to show them that we cannot be stopped,” said Brittany Packnett, an activist and organizer, to rousing applause.

“Show up tomorrow with 10 of your home girls and 10 of your home boys and bring it home for Andrew Gillum.”




Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey)
Andrew Gillum just arrived at his polling place in Tallahassee, son and daughter in tow, to cast his vote. He's expected to make remarks after he's done. pic.twitter.com/fwXBxRaRb1
November 6, 2018
Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey)
Andrew Gillum greeting voters outside his polling place in Tallahassee and getting a third round of his campaign slogan: #BringItHome. pic.twitter.com/rRcRl8Smg9
November 6, 2018
Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey)
Gillum on what his possible victory would mean, skirts historical angle and focuses on the state of US politics: "If we win tonight I think that will send a message to Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis that the politics of hatred and division come to an end- at least in this election." pic.twitter.com/jHiAM1iijE
November 6, 2018
Updated



Young voters increase dramatically in Tennessee

Updated

Updated

In Georgia, a closely watched gubernatorial race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp is expected to come down the wire. With record early voting in the state, canvassers for Abrams were out until dusk on Monday evening in Atlanta’s low income black neighborhoods urging as many people as they could to get out to vote, despite the rain that was forecast. 



Abrams, who will become the first African American female governor in America if elected, has pushed hard to get out the vote in communities with low turnout in prior elections. Canvasser Assata Aminifaa, 33, who did not vote in 2016, said the response she had encountered since she began knocking on doors had been overwhelming.
“They didn’t really feel that their voice mattered before. But now we have someone that is listening to what you think. If you’re not going to vote, other people control your reality and what’s going to happen in your life. And a lot of people haven’t thought about it like that [before],” she said.
As Aminifaa and her group of two other canvassers knocked on doors, many people said they planned to line up to cast their ballot. One construction supervisor, who did not want to be named, said he planned to give his crew the day off to go and vote.
“It’s too important not to,” he said, confirming he planned to vote for Abrams.
Updated

Puerto Ricans turn out in Florida


Updated

Updated

You tell us how you're voting and why

Guardian readers have been in touch about how they’re voting and the reasons why.

For Lynne in New Mexico, universal healthcare and abortion rights are key issues.

“I’d like to see universal healthcare provided for all, I also think that government should keep its hands off of women’s healthcare and that includes abortion. I definitely want to see a complete separation of church and state. I’m an atheist and find many, if not most, of the issues that are objectionable in this election, such as abortion rights, gun control laws, lack of universal health care, tend to relate back to evangelical Christians figuring out ways to push their agenda through political means.

“There’s no way to tell at this point but I hope Trump gets a resounding thumping in this election. In this election I did something that I have never done in the past. I voted a straight Democratic ticket. After the last two years of watching even moderate Republicans pinch their noses and climb into bed with this nasty excuse of a president, I feel that the Republican party in general has been compromised in just about every way possible.”

In California, 48-year-old Vivek Sharma said he lives in a “red conservative island in the blue ocean” where the tension is palpable:

“This neighborhood went for Trump largely along racial lines – whites (the majority of the neighborhood) went for Trump and Asians (about 40% of the neighborhood) went for Hillary. We will see if the vote for governor breaks down in a similar way this time.

“My congressional district is overwhelmingly Democratic and while I voted for Judy Chu (Democrat) there is no doubt about the outcome. Similarly, I voted for Gavin Newsom (Democrat) for governor but there is no doubt about this outcome either. More difficult were the propositions that California voters are being asked to render a judgement upon. I largely voted along with the progressive wing of the Democratic party with one exception – Proposition 6 (the gas tax). I voted for repeal because I dislike the regressive nature of the tax. It overwhelmingly impacts the poor and I would like California to find a different way to finance transportation related infrastructure. Most progressives will vote for the gas tax (so against Proposition 6) but I believe that the affordability crisis in California cannot be addressed without dealing with the gas tax.
“I am hoping that there is an overwhelming repudiation of Donald Trump. However, I expect that while the Democrats will pick up the House and make progress in a variety of state level races, that there will be no decisive check on Trump.” 



Daniel from North Adams, Massachusetts, said controversy there centered on local ballot questions.“I voted on local issues. There are three referenda on the ballot concerning hospital staffing, campaign finance and LGBTQ rights. Of course, Trump is the elephant in the room, but there are no strong Republican candidates on the ballot for any office, hence the concentration on local issues.
“I voted on the liberal ‘positive’ side of the three referenda on the ballot. I also voted for Elizabeth Warren to keep her in the Senate. I am undecided about whether I’d support her for the presidency in 2020. I do hope other progressive Democrats will step forward to challenge Trump.”
Updated


Beto O'Rourke casts his vote

Beto O’Rourke just voted at the polling station around the corner from his house in El Paso, Texas. It is a sign of the superstar status he’s acquired in a little over a year of campaigning that this unlikely insurgent Democratic candidate, who is seeking to unseat Ted Cruz from a US senate seat, attracted more than 100 camera people and reporters from all over the world to watch him vote.
He came with his wife Amy and three kids. After voting, O’Rourke came to talk to us and told us why he was feeling good about today’s results and his chances of winning as a Democrat in a Texas senatorial race for the first time in 25 years. “I don’t have a poll to point to, I don’t have a pollster,” he said. “Just traveling all the counties in Texas, knocking on millions of doors. People are ready to be brought back together, I feel it. So yeah, it feels good today.”



Ed Pilkington (@Edpilkington)
Beto O'Rourke has just cast his own ballot in a polling station near his home in El Paso, Texas. He tells us he's "feeling good" about tonight's result - "Texas is ready to come together" pic.twitter.com/IVDk3LDLhp
November 6, 2018
O’Rourke is banking on an army of young voters who have never voted before coming out to the polls. He said early voting among 18 to 29-year-olds in Texas was up 500% on 2014. “I’m so grateful for all these first-time voters,” he said.
Updated

Beto O'Rourke delivers final message in El Paso

Updated





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