Election results

Scoop, ... 24 comments.

The Senate has been called for the GOP.

The House has been called for the Democrats.

In 2016, the GOP took the popular vote for the House by 1.1 points, even though President Trump lost the popular vote for the Presidency by 2.1. This time the Democrats are up 3.8 points in the total raw vote in House elections. That is as of 7:00 AM Eastern. That swing in the popular vote will become much greater when the West Coast has been tabulated. RCP is currently predicting that the Democratic margin will go over 7 points!

Civics lesson for the day: the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of the House. (But every one has been.) It would be crazy if they selected some random non-member, because the Speaker is second in line to the Presidency in the event of a vacancy (assuming that person meets all the constitutional requirements for the Presidency). This is similar to the idea that the members of the College of Cardinals do not have to select one of their own as Pope. I encourage both the House of Representatives and the College of Cardinals to vote for me. I believe I could be both Speaker of the House and Pope simultaneously, while still churning out disrespectful and horny blog posts. In the case of some kind of national tragedy leaving the Presidency and Vice-Presidency vacant, given that I was born in the USA and am at least 35 years old, I could become President and Pope at the same time. That would allow me to put anyone on hold except Oprah.

Who’s on line three? Putin? Tell him I’m busy.

You think Pope Frank is cool? Wait until I take over the Papacy. We’re talkin’ non-stop party central at the Vatican with me and my new chief of staff, Cardinal Leo DiCaprio. First encyclical: celibacy is out and underwear is a sin!

A few events of national newsworthiness:

* Colorado has elected the nation’s first openly gay governor.

* Florida has failed to elect the state’s first black governor.

* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the only woman ever elected to Congress while still in her 20s.

* The people of Kansas have sent Kris Kobach to the showers. Don’t be surprised if Trump offers him a position in Washington.

* Ted Cruz has defeated Beto 51-48.

* We now have a Senator named Mitt. As expected, he won in a landslide. The chances of a Democrat winning in Utah are about the same as the likelihood of Andy Dick becoming an Ayatollah.

* Missouri passed Prop 1 overwhelmingly. That calls for electoral districts to be drawn up by a non-partisan professional demographer in such a way that a majority popular vote in the state will also be highly likely to result in majority representation for the party with the most votes. Many people consider this landmark legislation. It’s a possible model for all states to eliminate the corrupt gerrymandering which now exists in many areas. Colorado passed Amendments Y and Z, which basically do the same thing.

* The Wisconsin gubernatorial race is no longer a virtual tie. Incumbent Scott Walker is now down by 1.2% because of a large number of uncounted votes in urban Milwaukee, which went more than 5-1 for his opponent.

* The election has not been called yet, but it appears that Dana Rohrabacher, Putin’s favorite lapdog, is going to lose his seat in the House. Maybe Russia is losing its influence over our elections.

* Speaking of lapdogs, Trump’s own faithful puppy, Devin Nunes, did win his election, but he will lose his chairmanship of the Intel committee because the House went blue.

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Live coverage from fivethirtyeight.com

House coverage from the NY Times

Election Day in the US from CNN

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