I was quite concerned that Ed Gillespie might win last night. The polls had tightened considerably over the last ten days. Gillespie had also significantly nationalized the race, explicitly getting behind President Trump’s most aggressive racist “nationalist” political symbols and messages. Had he won it would have been a big psychological blow to Democratic enthusiasm, confidence, and momentum. Beyond psychological impact, though gubernatorial races are never perfect proxies for national issues, it would have been a daunting substantive sign: that a conventional Republican candidate, running an aggressively Trumpite campaign, chockfull of racist cultural symbols and messages, could super-charge the GOP base and win, even with what appears to be historic levels of Democratic enthusiasm. I was not terribly worried that that was what a Gillespie win would mean in reality. But the perceived impact would have been immense and taken on a life of its own. Read More
Good on-site reporting from Cameron Joseph last night at the Northam victory party. A evening that began with a lot of self-doubt among Dems ended up exceeding their wildest expectations.
After Carter Page testimony, Corey Lewandowski says his memory has been “refreshed.”
After Page testimony, Lewandowski says his memory has been "refreshed". pic.twitter.com/6mugwpn2lq
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 8, 2017
Over the fierce objection of Gov. Paul LePage (R), Maine voters rose up and passed Medicaid expansion under Obamacare tonight, becoming the first state in the country to do so by ballot initiative.
Opponents of expansion fought it with a blitz of late misinformation, as Alice Ollstein reports.
A local newspaper quoted one canvaser for the measure, whose father has cancer and high out-of-pocket costs, “People have gotten used to having health care and they’re not just going to let it go. People are now realizing health care is an individual right.”
VA GOP chair @JohnWhitbeck kind enough to pick up the phone. “Six months is an eternity in politics, but boy, we’ve got a lot of work to do in VA…It’s looking like the urban areas are just a huge problem for us and I don’t know what the answer is yet."
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) November 8, 2017
Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017
Good lord, things sound pretty glum in Gillespie Headquarters. Watch this report.
Good grief, sounds pretty glum in @EdWGillespie headquarters. (you need to hear this.) pic.twitter.com/bP2BnUb68R
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 8, 2017
Results are trickling in from Virginia. Cameron Joseph is reporting for us from Ralph Northam’s election night venue at George Mason University in northern Virginia. Stay tuned.
Still early returns in Virginia. But the numbers crunchers I watch most closely show are pointing to a good night for Ralph Northam.
7:47 PM: Dave Wasserman is a numbers guy I watch closely. He’s pretty conservative in predictions. He just called it for Northam. I’d say that’s close to bankable.
7:55 PM: I mentioned that I have a list of numbers crunchers I watch. It seems unanimous. They’re all pointing to a Northam win and perhaps by a solid margin. The TV networks are being very conservative. But this seems done.
From the press pool …
News: President Trump attempted to make a surprise, unscheduled visit to the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea this morning, but was foiled by a bad weather call and his helicopter, along with your pool, had to turn back and return to Seoul.