Still Counting…But Wow That Could Have Been A LOT Worse

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Still In Limbo

As of Thursday morning, it’s still too early to tell which party will control the Senate and House after the widely expected “red wave” turned out to be more of a pink dribble.

• Control of the Senate is now down to three key races that haven’t been called yet:
  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D) vs. Republican Blake Masters in Arizona.
  • Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) vs. Republican Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
  • Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia. Warnock and Walker are headed to a runoff that’ll be held on Dec. 6.
• The Alaska Senate race between Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka hasn’t been called yet either, but that seat’s staying red either way since both candidates are Republicans.
• The House is also up in the air (dozens of close races still haven’t been called), and if Republicans do win back the chamber, they’ll have a much slimmer majority than they’d hoped for.

Boebert’s Thiiiiis Close To Being Unemployed

Colorado is very, very close to giving far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) the boot in her race against Democrat Adam Frisch, who currently has a paper-thin lead of 64 votes over the congresswoman.

Catching Up On TPM’s Midterms Coverage

Hey, did you know the midterms happened? Learn more about it through our liveblog.

• “Five Things That Surprised Us Last Night” – Josh Kovensky, Kate Riga and Emine Yücel
• “America Starts To Reject Election Deniers” – Josh Kovensky and Kaila Philo

A String Of Wins For Abortion Rights

As grim as a post-Roe reality is, reproductive rights advocates got some big wins to soften the blow in the midterms, where California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont all had abortion rights on the ballot.

• California, Michigan (!), and Vermont all voted to enshrine the right to an abortion in their state constitutions.
• Kentucky (!!) rejected a constitutional amendment that would say explicitly that Kentuckians don’t have a right to abortion care.
• Montana rejected a legislative measure that would create criminal penalties for health care providers who don’t take actions that are “medically appropriate and reasonable” to save an infant who is born alive, including if the infant was born after an attempted abortion.

Trump Definitely Isn’t Mad, Okay???

Fun Reads

“Trump Under Fire From Within G.O.P. After Midterms” – The New York Times

“​​We ‘Sh!t the Bed So Bad.’ The GOP Post-Midterm Meltdown Has Begun” – Rolling Stone

“Waiting For God At Doug Mastriano’s Election Night Watch Party” – HuffPost

​​A little after midnight, one video showed a few dozen remaining Mastriano supporters, many sullenly sitting in chairs, as the DJ played “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.

 “Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down,” Astley sang as the disco lights circled above people’s heads. “Never gonna run around and desert you.”

🎶Morning Memo Radio🎶

I haven’t done one of these in a while:

Elon Musk Unleashes Chaos With Paid Blue Check Scheme

Faced with fleeing advertisers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is trying to pay for his $44 billion Twitter purchase by implementing a new “feature” in which any user can pay $8 a month to get a blue check that was previously available only for verified public figures, members of the media, brands, etc.

Cue the most obvious possible result of Musk’s gambit:

Jesse Watters Freaks Out Over Fetterman Win

Fox News personality Jesse Watters had some trouble coming to terms with Democrat John Fetterman defeating celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz for a Pennsylvania Senate seat:

A Humble Request

Given that this is will be my last time writing Morning Memo, I’d like to ask for something from you, dear readers, before I sign off: Please post pics of your cats (or your friends’ cats or literally any cats) in the comments. Bonus points if the kitty is in loaf form (arguably the most delightful shape a cat can take).

Here, I’ll get the ball rolling with my own cat, Waffles:

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