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Kemp wins four more years

By
Jill Nolin
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Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Gov. Brian Kemp, delivers his acceptance speech at his election night party after defeating Stacey Abrams Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Akili-Casundria Ramsess)

(GA Recorder) — Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has clinched another term outright and defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in a nationally watched – and long-anticipated – rematch between the two rivals.

Kemp went into Tuesday the favorite to win after consistently leading in the polls. Abrams called Kemp late Tuesday night to concede, according to a Kemp campaign spokesman.

“It looks like the reports of my political death have been greatly exaggerated,” Kemp said to cheers Tuesday night.

Kemp’s comfortable finish Tuesday is a world away from the position he was in nearly a year ago when former U.S. Sen. David Perdue announced he would launch a primary challenge with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Trump vowed to defeat the governor when he did not help overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

But Kemp walloped Perdue by 52 percentage points in May. Some voters have said they split their ticket – voting for both Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock – as a nod to Kemp’s handling of the 2020 election.

Kemp has never criticized Trump publicly but he has embraced the support of national Republican figures, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, who have fallen out of Trump’s favor.

The governor put the national economy at the center of his reelection bid and touted the strength of the state’s economy coming out of the pandemic at every opportunity. He also pledged to support another round of tax refunds and a one-time property tax grant to provide temporary relief from rising housing costs.

“Across the country tonight, we took the first step in saving America. This election proves that when Republicans stay focused on real-world solutions that put hardworking people first, we can win now but also in the future, y’all,” he said.

Abrams had tried to recapture the energy of her 2018 run when there was a race for an open seat after former Gov. Nathan Deal was term-limited. Four years ago, she came up just 55,000 votes short of Kemp, who won outright with just 50.2% of the vote.

But her campaign faced headwinds brought on by an unfavorable national climate for Democrats, with inflation driving up costs for Americans and President Joe Biden’s popularity under water.

Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate for Georgia governor, gives a concession speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

Abrams also returned to the campaign trail in Georgia as a national superstar whose candor about her own future political ambitions – and her cameo appearance as president of United Earth on Star Trek – became frequent fodder for Kemp and other Republicans.

Abrams crafted a nuanced economic message that incorporated the cost of health care, and she pushed reproductive rights to the center of her message after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion access.

She pitched her candidacy as a chance to elevate Georgians who she argued are missing out on the state’s growing economy.

A poll released in early October revealed some of Abrams’ positions – like her opposition to the state’s six-week abortion ban – were popular with the majority of Georgia voters even as most of the respondents said they preferred Kemp.

For statewide race totals, CLICK HERE

 

Brad Raffensperger, who defied Trump, wins reelection as Georgia secretary of state

By
Stephen Fowler
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Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger walks through the Georgia Capitol Oct. 25, 2022. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has won a second term in office, cruising to victory over Democrat state Rep. Bee Nguyen with bipartisan support.

With more than 3.4 million votes counted, Raffensperger was leading Nguyen with nearly 54% of the vote to roughly 44%.

Raffensperger rocketed to national fame in the aftermath of the 2020 election for defending Georgia’s results that narrowly saw President Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump against conspiracies and efforts to overturn the outcome.

In an infamous Jan. 3, 2021, phone call recorded by Raffensperger’s office, Trump pressured him to “find” enough votes to change his defeat and repeated multiple debunked claims about Georgia’s results.

Raffensperger helped oversee the country’s largest-ever rollout of new voting equipment, expanded access to mail-in absentee ballots and added drop boxes during the pandemic and has focused on improving the operation of the state’s election division and how it interacts with Georgia’s 159 local elections officials.

He survived a primary challenge from several Republicans who made false claims about the election, including Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice.

MORE: Raffensperger declares victory over election denialism in Georgia GOP secretary of state’s race

Nguyen campaigned on expanding voter access and often said Raffensperger should not be applauded for defending election results, arguing that was the bare minimum of what the job required.

Nguyen and Georgia Democrats have also pushed back on Georgia’s sweeping 98-page voting law enacted in 2021 that changed virtually every aspect of elections in Georgia, including restrictions on absentee voting and changes to local election administration.

“We in Georgia know that we have always had to out-organize voter suppression,” Nguyen said in a recent campaign stop. “Under Brad Raffensperger’s tenure, voting rights have become more restrictive in the last four years, not more expansive.”

Pre-election polls showed a sizable number of Republicans said they would not vote for Raffensperger because they believe he wrongly certified the 2020 election, but that lack of support was supplanted by independent voters and Democrats who cast their ballots for the Republican because of his election defense.

Raffensperger was also aided by Georgia experiencing smooth elections and record early voting turnout for a midterm, as the majority of voters used Georgia’s three-week in-person advanced voting period and mail-in absentee ballots to avoid long lines on Election Day.

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This article appears on Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News

Fire marshal investigates shop fire

By
Staff Report
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This shop on Cedar Creek burned Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 9, 2022. Hall County firefighters managed to keep it from spreading to another building on the back side. (photo by HCFR)

The Hall County Fire Marshal is investigating to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a shop on the south end of the county.

Around 3:35 p.m., Hall County Fire Rescue arrived to a fully involved fire at a shop off the 4000 block of Cedar Creek Road. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, preventing the fire from spreading to another nearby structure.

No one was inside the shop at the time of the fire and there were no injuries, says Hall County Fire Rescue spokesperson Kimberlie Ledsinger.

2022 midterms live updates: Latest election news from AP

By
Associated Press
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Voters pass a sign outside a polling site in Warwick, R.I., Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, after casting their ballots on the last day of early voting before the midterm election. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Follow along for real-time, on-the-ground updates on the 2022 U.S. midterm elections from The Associated Press.

READ MORE

Election Day, Election Night, Election Morning After: Control of Congress still hangs in the balance as Democrats showed unexpected resilience in the midterm elections. With votes still being counted across the country, Republicans still had the opportunity to win control, but the results were nonetheless uplifting for Democrats who were braced for sweeping losses, AP national political reporters Sara Burnett, Jill Colvin and Will Weissert report.

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SNAPSHOT

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers won a second term in office, positioning himself as a check on Republican power in the state. Evers often touted the fact that he vetoed more than 120 GOP-backed bills that would have broadened gun rights, limited access to abortion and made it harder to cast absentee ballots.

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2:15 a.m.

Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy addressed supporters for the first time early Wednesday morning, staking his party’s claim of the House majority despite several dozens of seats still undecided.

“Now let me tell you, you’re out late, but when you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority,” the California lawmaker, who could be poised to become Speaker should Republicans take the House, said at a election event in Washington.

The speech, which had originally been planned for hours earlier, noted several GOP gains across the country, especially in highly contested races in Virginia and Texas. McCarthy’s comments came as key Democratic wins in the House began to cast doubts on the possibility of a red wave this midterm election.

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THEY SAID IT

“This campaign has always been about fighting for everyone who’s ever been knocked down that ever got back up.”

— John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s newest senator-elect

The AP called the race for Fetterman, a Democrat who was in a tight contest with television personality Mehmet Oz, early Wednesday morning. In a victory speech before the race call, Fetterman nodded to his stroke earlier this year: “Health care is a fundamental right and it saved my life.”

Fetterman’s victory flips the Senate seat for Democrats as he replaces retiring Republican Pat Toomey.

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READ MORE

“It’s why you brew coffee,” John King grumbled after yet another spin through rural Georgia counties on CNN’s “magic wall” trying to decipher that Senate race.

It was an election night that even TV news couldn’t impose a storyline upon, AP media writer David Bauder reports. Tight races across the country confirmed the nation’s divide and kept reporters across formats wary of drawing conclusions about the political future.

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SNAPSHOT

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has won a second four-year term, defeating Republican challenger Tudor Dixon in a campaign that focused on their opposing views on abortion.

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READ MORE

While Mayor Muriel Bowser easily coasted to a third term, one of the more interesting items on the Washington, D.C., ballot this year was a proposal to completely revamp the way servers and bartenders in Washington’s many restaurants are paid, AP’s Ashraf Khalil reports.

Initiative 82, which passed easily with almost 75% of the vote, will eliminate the so-called tipped wages system in which restaurant owners pay certain staff members well below the $16.10 minimum hourly wage.

The referendum is particularly notable since literally the same idea was approved by voters four years ago, only to be immediately overturned by the D.C. Council and Bowser amid murky circumstances.

Currently, restaurant managers pay some staffers salaries as low as $5.35 per hour. If the employees’ tips for the night don’t raise that income up to the minimum, the employers make up the difference. That two-tiered system will now be phased out and employers will be required to pay every staffer at least the $16.10 minimum by 2027.

The dynamic was more complex than merely labor vs. management and the debate divided the staffs of restaurants and bars. Many waiters and bartenders opposed it since they currently earn well above the minimum on tips and feared those tips would shrink if an owners imposed an extra service charge in response to their increased costs.

The D.C. Council members seem unlikely to overturn the measure again. They drew accusations of backroom influence from the restaurant industry the first time around. And the idea has apparently become much more popular in the past four years, gaining 20 percentage points over its 2018 margin of victory.

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THEY SAID IT

“I have felt a weight on my shoulders to make sure that every little girl and all the women of the state who’ve had to bang up against glass ceilings everywhere they turn, to know that a woman could be elected in her own right and successfully govern a state as rough and tumble as New York.”

— Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York’s first elected female governor, standing under a literal glass ceiling

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THEY SAID IT

“Even though our fight for the governor’s mansion may have come up short, I’m pretty tall.”

— Stacey Abrams, conceding the Georgia governor’s race to incumbent Brian Kemp

After the Democrat lost her gubernatorial campaign in 2018, she refashioned herself as an advocate for voting rights and garnered the admiration of Democrats nationwide.

But it wasn’t enough to help her win a rematch with Kemp, a Republican, which the AP called early Wednesday. Abrams had delivered her concession speech before the call.

It was a difficult blow to Abrams, who had been viewed as a potential force within the party at a time when Georgia has been increasingly contested as a battleground state.

And it showed Kemp’s ability to salvage a political career that was in danger after he angered former President Donald Trump by refusing to go along with his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

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STATUS UPDATE

Democrat Josh Shapiro has been elected as governor of Pennsylvania, defeating hard-right Republican candidate Doug Mastriano after a highly anticipated battle in a key battleground state.

Shapiro, a two-term state attorney general, will replace the term-limited Democrat Tom Wolf.

Mastriano, a member of the state Senate, courted controversy as a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump’s discredited claims that he was cheated out of victory in the 2020 elections.

A perennial swing state, Pennsylvania’s races have drawn national attention. In addition to the governor’s race, Wolf’s former lieutenant governor John Fetterman is facing off against television celebrity Mehmet Oz in an still-uncalled race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.

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STATUS UPDATE

Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, who faced a barrage of negative advertising in the final days of the campaign but also received some last minute support from President Joe Biden, has hung on to his seat.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with the GOP House leadership, last week announced a $1.8 million ad buy against Casten, who represents a district that Biden won easily in 2020. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also made a stop on Friday in the district to hold a fundraiser for Casten’s Republican opponent, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau.

Biden made his own fundraising stop for Casten and fellow suburban Chicago Democrat Rep. Lauren Underwood on Friday.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, 89, who would turn 95 four months before his next term expires, will be among the oldest sitting senators in the chamber’s history, reports AP’s Thomas Beaumont. Republican Strom Thurmond of South Carolina retired at age 100 in 2003.

Grassley will be the Senate’s oldest Republican and second oldest member behind California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is three months older than the Iowa lawmaker.

His Democratic opponent Michael Franken did not make Grassley’s age a specific issue in the campaign, though his ads featured photographs of Grassley, who first won elected in office in Iowa in 1958, going back to the early days of his career.

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STATUS UPDATE

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire won a second term in office in a race that Republican strategists had targeted as ripe for flipping, AP’s Holly Ramer reports from Concord.

New Hampshire has a mixed political history, with both Republicans and Democrats capturing the governor’s office in recent years. Currently, Democrats control both Senate seats and all four seats in the House of Representatives, and New Hampshire has gone Democratic in the last five presidential elections. But the state legislature and the governor’s office are in Republican hands.

Hassan defeated Donald Bolduc, a retired Army general who has espoused conspiracy theories about vaccines and embraced the discredited belief that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

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PARTY POLITICS

The menus of campaign parties can tell a story on their own. Here’s a brief roundup of refreshments and nourishments on offer:

— In Utah, supporters of U.S. Sen. Mike Lee are drinking non-alcoholic ginger beers under fluorescent lights, AP’s Sam Metz reports from Salt Lake City. Lee served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches abstinence from alcohol.

— At U.S. Sen. John Kennedy’s election watch party, his featured cocktail was named the “Old Fashioned Weed Killer,” an ode to his catchphrase “I’ll never stop fighting … I’d rather drink weed killer,” AP’s Sara Cline reports from Baton Rouge. Kennedy has also said he would rather drink the chemical than be a political insider or support the federal health care overhaul. The cocktail was a standard Old Fashioned, with no special ingredient.

— John Fetterman’s campaign party in Pittsburgh had crudités on offer to guests, AP’s Ted Shaffrey reports. That’s an apparent reference to a much-mocked effort by his rival for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat, Mehmet Oz, to spotlight inflation by shopping for raw vegetables cut up and served as an hors d’oeuvre.

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STATUS UPDATE

Republican J.D. Vance has beaten Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the campaign for an Ohio Senate seat, AP’s Julie Carr Smyth reports from columbus.

The seat is currently held by Rob Portman, a Republican who is retiring.

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STATUS UPDATE

Republican Greg Abbott secured a third term as Texas governor Tuesday night, defeating Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke after a tight campaign in which the two candidates focused on starkly different issues.

O’Rourke, who rose to prominence in 2018 in a failed effort to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, centered his campaign on abortion rights and gun control. He attacked Abbott for opposing stricter gun laws after 19 schoolchildren were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, and for signing a law that outlawed all abortions, including for rape victims.

Nevertheless, O’Rourke always faced an uphill battle in a state where no Democrat has won statewide office in nearly 30 years.

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11 p.m.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are having rare moment of agreement on Election Day: They’re urging the voters to stay in line.

Biden took to Twitter late in the evening to urge voters who are facing long lines to wait it out to cast their ballots. “If you’re in line to vote, remember to stay in line!” Biden tweeted.

The Democrats tweet came hours after Trump took his social media startup Truth Social to urge “The Great People of Arizona” to not leave the line “until you VOTE.”

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DID YOU KNOW?

The 2022 elections are on track to cost $16.7 billion at the state and federal level, making them the most expensive midterms ever, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.

For perspective: The contests will nearly double the cost of the 2010 midterm elections, more than double the 2014 midterms and are on pace to roughly equal the 2022 gross domestic product of Mongolia, AP’s Brian Slodysko reports.

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THEY SAID IT

“I know Vermonters believe that politics can be different. That’s why we won.”

— Becca Balint, the Democrat who was elected as Vermont’s first female and openly gay member of Congress.

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DID YOU KNOW?

A quick historical reminder: More often than not, the president’s party typically faces significant losses in midterm elections.

Since 1934, only Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934, Bill Clinton in 1998, and George W. Bush in 2002 saw their parties gain seats in the midterms.

Some recent presidents saw big losses in their first midterm races. Republicans under Donald Trump lost 40 House seats but gained two Senate seats in 2018; Democrats under Barack Obama lost 63 House seats and six Senate seats in 2010, and Democrats under Clinton lost 52 House seats and eight Senate seats in 1994.

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THEY SAID IT

“I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.”

In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster let country music star Tim McGraw do the talking, chanting along with the election party while referring to “that famous philosopher’s” 1995 chart-topping hit, AP’s James Pollard reports.

McMaster later turned to another country singer as his muse: “Let’s give ’em something to talk about,” said McMaster, the third oldest governor in the United States, quoting Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning 1991 single.

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10 p.m.

President Joe Biden has made several “congratulatory” calls to fellow Democrats on Tuesday evening, according to the White House.

The White House said Biden has already reached out to Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, Vermont Senator-elect Peter Welch, Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

The Associated Press has not declared Spanberger, a two-term incumbent, the winner in Virginia’s 7th district race.

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SNAPSHOT

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s victory party briefly turned emotional as his wife, Maria, joined him on stage in a headscarf to give an update on her battle with cancer, AP’s Kimberlee Kruesi reports from Nashville.

The two held back tears as they thanked their supporters and God for giving them the strength to make it through the campaign.

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STATUS UPDATE

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the freshman Republican who gained notoriety in her first term for incendiary rhetoric that edged into racism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories, has been reelected, AP’s Russ Bynum reports from Savannah.

Just weeks after taking office last year, members of the Democratic-controlled House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments following uproar over her past comments and apparent support of violence against Democrats.

Democrats were particularly livid about a Facebook ad on Greene’s campaign page. The image featured a photo of Greene holding a gun along images of Democratic U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The ad included the caption: “Squad’s worst nightmare.”

Greene was expected to easily win reelection and has made clear that should Republicans win control of House she expects to hold a prominent role in the caucus.

“I’m going to be a strong legislator and I’ll be a very involved member of Congress,” she predicted. “I know how to work inside, and I know how to work outside. And I’m looking forward to doing that.”

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THEY SAID IT

“Two more years!”

That was the cheer of some supporters at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ victory party on Tuesday night.

It was a nod toward the possibility that the Republican seeks the presidency in 2024.

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STATUS UPDATE

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine won reelection to a second term in office, defeating Democratic challenge Nan Whaley.

DeWine and Whaley briefly found common ground in pledging to work together on a bipartisan effort for gun reform in 2019, after a gunman killed nine people in Dayton, where Whaley was the mayor.

But Whaley has said that DeWine did not make good on his promise, criticizing his signing of a bill to arm school employees and saying he failed to pass stronger gun laws, AP’s Andrew Welsh-Huggins reports.

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DID YOU KNOW?

If South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster serves his full second term, which he won Tuesday night, he will be the longest-serving executive in state history with a 10-year tenure, AP’s Jeffrey Collins reports from Columbia. McMaster finished the final two years of Nikki Haley’s term before being reelected twice.

He defeated Joe Cunningham, a former Democratic congressman. Democrats have steadily lost ground in the state, having race in 16 years. A Democrat has not won the governor’s race since 1998.

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9:10 p.m.

The Texas attorney general’s office has challenged a judge’s emergency order that gives voters in the most populous county in Texas an extra hour to cast their ballots.

Earlier Tuesday, Texas state District Court Judge Dawn Rogers ordered that all polling places in Harris County, which includes Houston, remain open until 8 p.m. Central (that’s 9 p.m. Eastern). The ruling was in response to a lawsuit by the Texas Organizing Project, after at least 12 polling places in the county failed to open at the required 7 a.m. Central time.

In a motion filed after the order was issued, the attorney general’s office said while there might have been problems at the polling places, the lawsuit didn’t provide evidence that individuals were unable to cast their ballots at one of the other 770 polling locations in the county.

Rogers did not immediately rule on the motion by the attorney general’s office.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary, is the first woman elected Arkansas governor, AP’s Andrew DeMillo reports. She defeated Democratic nominee Chris Jones to nab the seat that her father, Mike Huckabee, held from 1996 to 2007.

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STATUS UPDATE

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida easily won another term on Tuesday, beating Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, AP’s Brendan Farrington reports.

Once the quintessential swing state, Rubio’s victory appeared to be further evidence of Florida’s hardening conservative politics. Demings was unable to unseat Rubio despite raising more money and drawing national attention with her role in then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.

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STATUS UPDATE

Four years ago, Ron DeSantis narrowly won the Florida governor’s office in a squeaker. But he’s consolidated his grip on the state since then, and on Tuesday the Republican easily won a second term, AP’s Anthony Izaguirre reports.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed. The victory could embolden DeSantis to seek the White House in the next election as many have expected.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Two gubernatorial firsts tonight: In Maryland, Democrat Wes Moore becomes the state’s first Black governor. And in Massachusetts, Democrat Maura Healey’s win makes her the state’s first woman and openly gay governor.

Moore is a bestselling author in his first run for public office, AP’s Brian Witte reports.

Healey is currently Massachusetts’ attorney general and has broken a peculiar jinx in the state. Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general sought the governor’s office and all failed, AP’s Steve LeBlanc reports.

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STATUS UPDATE

There will be at least two new faces in the Senate Republican caucus.

Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has won a special election to serve the final four years of longtime Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe’s fifth-term in the Senate. Inhofe announced in February that he would resign before completing the six-year term. Katie Britt, a former chief of staff for the retiring Sen. Richard Shelby, has won her bid to succeed her old boss. Shelby, who is retiring, first took office in 1987.

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SNAPSHOT

While Kathy Hochul waits to see if she’ll become the first woman to win election as New York’s governor, invitees to her campaign party are assembling under a quite literal glass ceiling.

AP photographer Mary Altaffer is at Capitale, an event space in Manhattan’s Chinatown playing host to Hochul’s Election Night party. This isn’t the first time Hochul, who became New York’s governor when her predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned last year amid scandal, has stood under a glass ceiling.

Hochul held her Democratic primary victory party at a similar space earlier this year, AP’s Michelle L. Price reported at the time.

“I’m also here because I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that glass ceiling,” Hochul said in June. “To the women of New York, this one’s for you.”

Hochul faces Republican congressman Lee Zeldin in the general election.

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STATUS UPDATE

Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost has become the first Gen Z member to win a seat in Congress, winning a Florida House seat.

Frost, a 25-year-old gun reform and social justice activist, ran in a heavily blue Orlando-area district being relinquished by Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who challenged Republican Sen. Marco Rubio this year.

Frost is a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has stressed opposition to restrictions on abortion rights. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.

He ran against Calvin Wimbish, a 72-year-old former Army Green Beret who called himself a “Christian, conservative, constitutionalist” candidate for office.

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STATUS UPDATE

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has defeated challenger Charles Booker, a progressive Black Democrat, to secure a third term from Kentucky.

Booker, a former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, previously sought to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2020, but lost a close race in the Democratic primary.

Paul, 59, capitalized on his massive fundraising advantage to run a series of TV ads, while Booker, 38, relied mostly on social media and grassroots campaigning. Paul paid little public attention to Booker, refusing to debate his challenger.

Democrats haven’t won a Senate election in Kentucky since 1992, when then-incumbent Wendell Ford won his last election.

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READ MORE

A lot of people have warned that democracy is on the ballot this year, and nowhere is that more true than in campaigns for secretary of state, AP’s Meg Kinnard and Nick Riccardi explain.

In most states, the role functions as the chief election officer, overseeing the machinery of collecting and counting ballots.

Although they’re sometimes appointed by governors, other times they’re chosen by voters. There are 27 secretary of state contests right now.

Some of the candidates have supported former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about voter fraud, leading to concerns that they could meddle in future election outcomes.

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STATUS UPDATE

Right as polls closed in South Carolina and Vermont, AP made its first calls in U.S. Senate races. Republican Tim Scott won reelection in South Carolina, while Democrat Peter Welch was elected from Vermont.

In defeating Trump-endorsed Republican Gerald Malloy, Welch — who has served in the House of Representatives for 16 years — becomes the junior senator from Vermont while independent Bernie Sanders becomes the state’s senior senator. Longtime U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy is retiring after serving 48 years, AP’s Wilson Ring reports.

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6:30 p.m.

The last day of midterms voting has started to slowly wind down.

Polls closed in Kentucky and Indiana at 6 p.m. Eastern. The next wave of closures will be in New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Polls close or begin to close in those states at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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READ MORE

Voters in five states are weighing whether to approve the use of recreational marijuana, a move that could signal a major shift toward legalization in even some of the most conservative parts of the country.

The proposals are on the ballot in Republican strongholds Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota as well as Democratic-leaning Maryland, reports AP’s Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock. The ballot measures come on the heels of President Joe Biden announcing last month he was pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law.

Advocates of the marijuana initiatives are hopeful Biden’s announcement may give a boost to their efforts.

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THEY SAID IT

“This is a different breed of cat.”

— President Joe Biden

Over and over on the campaign trail, Biden has described today’s Republican Party as much different than the one he’s used to working with over several decades in politics.

Today’s Republicans, he argues, are “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Sometimes Biden calls them “ultra MAGA” or “mega MAGA,” and he describes their ideas as “mega-MAGA, trickle-down politics in the extreme.”

Biden made the point again on Tuesday in a radio interview with comedian DL Hughley as he made a final push for Democrats over the airwaves.

Asked why listeners should brave the rain or wait in long lines, Biden warned that “MAGA Republicans” would gain ground.

“You’ve seen what you got from that community,” he said. “It matters.”

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VOTECAST

High inflation and worries about the future of American democracy were significant factors in voters’ decisions in this year’s midterm election, according to AP VoteCast. Roughly three-quarters say the country is headed in the wrong direction. That figure is higher than it was in VoteCast surveys of voters in 2018 and 2020.

AP’s Josh Boak and Hannah Fingerhut report on this year’s survey of more than 90,000 voters, which offers a detailed portrait of the American electorate.

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THEY SAID IT

“And so far Election Day in Georgia has been, in fact, wonderfully, stupendously boring.”

— Gabriel Stirling, an official with the Georgia secretary of state’s office, on Twitter

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5:10 p.m.

With the first polls set to close in under an hour, AP’s Mike Catalini explains why the AP will be able to call some elections immediately.

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SNAPSHOT

If you were awake before the sun on election night, you might have spotted a rare sight in the sky — a blood moon. It gets its portentous name because the lunar surface appears reddish-orange during the eclipse.

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READ MORE

More than 130 measures are on state ballots this Tuesday. In rather meta fashion, voters in several states will weigh in on questions about how future elections will function, AP’s David A. Lieb reports. Other measures deal with abortion rights, marijuana legalization and taxation.

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READ MORE

Social media platforms can be full of useful information and misinformation, hearsay and rumors alike. AP’s David Klepper has a guide on how to interpret your social media feeds this Election Day.

Far-right message boards and social media platforms lit up Tuesday with misleading claims equating expected delays in counting the vote to election fraud.

SITE Intelligence Group, a firm that tracks disinformation, reported a sharp uptick in social media posts Monday and Tuesday claiming Democrats would use delays in vote tallying to rig elections through the country. Some of the posts originated on websites popular with supporters of ex-President Donald Trump as well as adherents of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Trump and many influential figures on the far right used the length of time it took to count votes in 2020 to spin baseless conspiracy theories about a rigged election. Those misleading claims have been blamed for decreasing trust in U.S. elections and have been recycled as a main misinformation narrative in 2022.

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1:30 p.m.

Whatever the outcome of today’s voting, the White House will stay bathed in bright light until 2 a.m. — largely to accommodate TV correspondents filing on-camera reports and other reporters trying to make their deadlines.

The floodlights are usually turned off around 10 p.m. every night, in part because they bleed into the executive residence where the president and first lady live.

U.S. Secret Service officers usually make a pass through the press briefing room each night, checking news organization offices to make sure all reporters have left the building so they can lock the doors to the workspace. But the rules are usually relaxed on major news nights, like midterm and presidential elections, and presidential inaugurations.

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THEY SAID IT

“I think we’re going to have a very big night and it’s going to be very exciting to watch.”

— former President Donald Trump

Trump predicted Republicans would have a “great night” as he voted in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday morning. He told reporters outside the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center that he had voted to reelect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, even as the two could soon become rivals if — as many expect — they both run for president in 2024.

Trump is planning an announcement in Florida next Tuesday, as AP’s Jill Colvin reports. Trump said Nov. 15 would “be a very exciting day for a lot of people.”

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SNAPSHOT

From Lewiston, Maine, to rainy Pacoima, California, AP photographers were there to capture the scene at voting locations across the U.S. Emotions were raw outside libraries, fitness centers, laundromats and fire stations as voters said inflation, abortion, crime and the future of democracy weighed heavily on their minds.

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11:20 a.m.

President Joe Biden was not expected to make any public appearances Tuesday as voters went to the polls.

Indeed, well before the lunch hour rolled in, the White House called a “lid.” It’s the lingo that means the president would spend the day in the executive mansion awaiting the results of vote counting that will decide political control of Congress and, with that, how the two years left in his term will play out.

Biden’s chief spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters that Biden would have a full schedule Tuesday, including prepping for an upcoming trip to international summits in North Africa and Asia and watching the election results come in.

“We expect the president will address the elections the day afterwards,” Jean-Pierre said.

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THEY SAID IT

“Everything we have achieved over the last 60 years is now up for a vote.”

— Courtland Cox, a veteran civil rights movement organizer, in a note he penned overnight shared with the AP by the NAACP

Cox urged voters in Georgia and elsewhere on Tuesday to vote to protect civil rights that he and others warned are at stake in the midterm elections. Cox, 82, who famously wrote the speech that the late Rep. John Lewis delivered at the March on Washington in 1963, likened Tuesday to a “battle for our freedom.”

“If you’re a woman, your right to choose is on the ballot,” Cox said. “If you’re African American, your right to vote is on the ballot. If you’re poor, your right to feed yourself is on the ballot. If you’re LGBTQ+, your right to love who you love is on the ballot. If you’re a senior citizen, your social security is on the ballot. And if you’re a young voter, your future is on the ballot.”

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READ MORE

If you’re the type to have your TV tuned to the news throughout Election Day, the jargon might get overwhelming. The AP’s Meg Kinnard offers a glossary of key election-related terms you might hear on your broadcast or read in AP copy. And if you’re curious about how the networks and cable news prepared for Tuesday, media reporter David Bauder has a look at their coverage plans.

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DID YOU KNOW?

How did the AP get the job of calling races? No one wanted to wait for weeks to find out who won elections, AP’s Meg Kinnard explains, but no centralized body to count votes existed. The AP began tallying votes with the 1848 election, creating an operation that has evolved into a network of thousands of stringers and vote center clerks who take feeds, scrape official state websites for data and electronically add up votes across the country.

Race calls are made before the results are official, but the AP declares a winner only when it’s certain that candidate can’t be caught. In 2020, the AP was 99.9% accurate in all its race calls and perfect in declaring winners in the presidential and congressional races in each state.

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READ MORE

Millions of people have already submitted their ballots, and millions more are heading to the polls Tuesday. For a deeper dive on what’s at play in these midterm elections, congressional reporter Mary Clare Jalonick has the details on what happens if the House flips, among other scenarios.

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6:15 a.m.

Polls are beginning to open for in-person voting — by 1 p.m. Eastern, voting locations will be open in all 50 states (Hawaii is five hours behind the East Coast). As fears of harassment of election officials and disruptions at polling places and tallying sites arise, election officials say they are prepared to handlepotential issues. Voters should not be deterred, AP’s Christina A. Cassidy and Geoff Mulvihill report, and no major problems were reported during the early voting period.

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READ MORE

What are Americans voting on? What’s at stake? If you need a general primer on the 2022 midterm elections, AP’s Mike Catalini has you covered with a basic overview of what’s on the ballot, how counting works, how long this thing might take and what the possible outcomes might mean.

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12:01 a.m.

Election Day has dawned. With polls set to begin opening in a few hours across the country, you can find a guide of what to expect for each state at our Election Expectations 2022 hub.

It’s not a presidential year, but these are high-stakes elections nonetheless. AP’s chief political writer, Steve Peoples, highlights six key things to watch today. Among them: Will the expected red wave be a ripple or a tsunami? What effect will the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade have? And what will we know before we go to bed tonight?

The answer to that last question is yet unclear. While there are some races the AP can call as soon as polls close, as Mike Catalini explains, other winners might take a lot longer to identify. Christina A. Cassidy takes a look at the factors that can delay results.

No GOP ‘wave,’ but Republicans could still gain control of U.S. House

By
Jacob Fischler and Ariana Figueroa
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October 16, 2022, Atlanta, Georgia, USA: Congressman SANFORD BISHOP (D- GA 02), left, and his Republican opponent, CHRIS WEST, shake hands at the conclusion of their Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young General Election Debate held at the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting.(Credit Image: © Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press Wire)

WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — Republicans fell short of their greatest ambitions for major gains in the U.S. House, with control of the chamber still in doubt early Wednesday.

Republicans are still likely to narrowly win control of the U.S. House, based on expert projections. But of 20 races rated by elections forecaster Inside Elections as true toss-ups, Democrats had won seven and none had been called for Republicans as of about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Republicans only needed to win two toss-ups to likely have a majority in the House.

If projections stand and Republicans take over, they would end two years of unified control of Washington by Democrats. The divided government would be unlikely to pursue the ambitious bills on climate, taxes, health care and other issues that Democrats passed in the first two years of President Joe Biden’s administration, and may see fights over usually noncontroversial bills like those to raise the country’s debt limit or keep the government open.

Early results are in line with historical trends for midterm elections, when the party opposite the president typically gains seats. This election was not likely to be one of the exceptions, with Biden carrying low approval ratings.

Still, Democrats outperformed expectations. Republicans did not inspire a wave election that would have given them a more comfortable margin in the House.

Of three vulnerable House Democrats in Virginia, for example, Republicans defeated only one, Elaine Luria. Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton held on in districts considered slightly more favorable to Democrats.

In another sign of how far Republicans were from the decisive takeover they sought, Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a far-right member expected to cruise to reelection, had a surprisingly close race and actually trailed Democratic challenger Adam Frisch by 3 percentage points with almost 80% counted at about 11 p.m. Mountain time.

And in Georgia, a GOP push to flip a rural southwest House seat appeared to come about 10 percentage points short as longtime Congressman Sanford Bishop won reelection. Because of redistricting, Republicans will still gain a seat in Georgia.

“I worked hard to deliver for the people of Middle and Southwest Georgia in good times and in bad, through floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and the pandemic so that we could be resilient and move past those challenges,” Bishop said in a statement early Wednesday about his 30 years in office. “I believe I have given good account for my stewardship and the election today indicates that the voters confirmed that belief.”

Democrats are projected to hang onto competitive seats, including in:

  • Virginia’s 7th District (incumbent Spanberger won reelection).
  • Kansas’ 3rd District (incumbent Sharice Davids won reelection).
  • New Hampshire’s 1st District (incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas won reelection).
  • North Carolina’s 13th District (state Sen. Wiley Nickel defeated Bo Hines, a former North Carolina State University football player who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.)
  • Ohio’s 9th District, a redrawn district that put 40-year incumbent Marcy Kaptur’s reelection in serious jeopardy. Kaptur turned back Trump-aligned GOP challenger J.R. Majewski.

Races still too early or close to call early Wednesday included:

  • Nevada’s 1st District (incumbent Democrat Dina Titus led by about 11 points with 50% of the vote counted).
  • Pennsylvania’s 17th District (Democrat Chris Deluzio led by 4.6 percentage points with more than 90% of votes counted).
  • Iowa’s 3rd District (incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne trailed by less than a percentage point with more than 95% counted).

Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist and co-founder and partner of the bipartisan public policy firm Rokk Solutions, said around 10:30 Eastern Time Tuesday that Democratic losses appeared “manageable.”

Facing headwinds as the party in power during a midterm election, Democrats wanted to keep their losses to a minimum.

“We were in a position where it was going to be damn near impossible for us to keep the House, and it was just a matter of how many it was going to be by,” he said. “Losing the House is bad. Losing the House by 30 is horrible.”

Key races like Spanberger’s and Seth Magaziner’s in Rhode Island that were potential Republican pickups showed there was “reason to be optimistic that this is not a wave,” he added.

Still counting votes

The exact size of the Republican majority won’t be known until more races are called.

Some results may not be known for days. Others may see legal challenges, especially from Republican candidates who have repeated –— without evidence — Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate.

In a closely watched Iowa race, Republican challenger Nunn declared victory in his race against Axne.

“This race changes the course of America,” Nunn said in a speech Tuesday night.

As of midnight Central Time, Nunn led with 50.3% of the vote to Axne’s 49.7%, with 94% of precincts reporting. The Associated Press had not called the race. The state senator declared victory alongside fellow Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra.

Axne had not conceded.

As of midway through the last day of voting, Tuesday, the election had generally gone smoothly. Administrators across the country reported only minor issues, typical of any Election Day.

Republicans in Maricopa County, the most populous in Arizona, where several key races were contested, asked a judge to extend voting hours. Problems with tabulating machines caused delays in about one-third of the county’s voting centers.

The margin of victory will be important for the prospects of the likely incoming GOP speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, in succeeding with his agenda.

No matter how many House seats Republicans pick up, though, much of the GOP framework will still be unlikely to become law. Control of the U.S. Senate was unclear early Wednesday and could remain in Democratic hands, and Republicans will certainly be short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass most measures in the chamber.

Even if both chambers flip to Republicans, Biden will have veto power.

Biden’s low approval ratings

Polls for months have shown more voters disapprove of Biden’s performance than approve. An NBC News survey early this month showed a majority, 53%, disapproved of Biden, with 44% approving.

With his poll numbers dragging, the president kept a relatively low profile in swing states over the campaign’s final weeks. He stumped for Democrats in his native Pennsylvania, a key battleground for the U.S. Senate, but otherwise generally stuck to blue areas.

In times of economic hardship, voters generally blame the party in power, and Democrats — despite passing laws to provide COVID-19 relief, spend $1.2 billion on infrastructure improvement, boost microchips manufacturing and curb climate change and lower prescription drug prices — couldn’t escape that this year, Mollineau said.

“It’s really hard to tell people about how well things are coming through and all the things that you’ve done when they honestly feel that things aren’t going well,” Mollineau said. “Right now, what people are thinking about is high energy prices and high food prices.”

Biden held no public events Tuesday, but spoke by phone with Democratic political leaders. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, who leads Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, the chairman of the Democratic governors’ campaign group, and Democratic National Committee senior adviser Cedric Richmond, a former House member from Louisiana, were among those who talked to Biden.

First Gen Z member

In Florida, voters sent the first Gen Z candidate to Congress, 25-year-old Democrat  Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who won with about 59% of the vote. The minimum age requirement to serve in the House of Representatives is 25.

“History was made tonight,” he wrote on Twitter Tuesday night. “We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future.”

Frost ran in Florida’s 10th Congressional District — a solid Democratic seat –— after Rep. Val Demings left her district to run as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio.

Rubio won his reelection Tuesday night with about 56% of Florida votes, along with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won about 58% of Florida votes.

Another Gen Z candidate, Karoline Leavitt, a Republican, did not win her race against Democratic incumbent Rep. Chris Pappas for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Pappas kept his seat with 54% of the votes.

Leavitt, who is a former Trump press staffer, challenged Pappas in a toss up race.

Virginia battles

In the several closely watched Virginia elections, Democrats kept six out of seven seats up for reelection, losing only one. Republicans held on to four of their seats and picked up a seat.

Spanberger, who flipped Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in 2018, kept her seat in a tight reelection campaign against GOP candidate Yesli Vega. With 95% of the vote counted around midnight Eastern, Spanberger had received nearly 52%.

In Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, Wexton kept her seat against GOP challenger Hung Cao, a retired Navy captain. She won 53% of the vote.

Kiggans defeated Luria with about 52% of the vote.

Luria, a member of the House Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, Attack on the U.S. Capitol, made a point of clearly conceding the race early in the night.

After she told supporters during her concession speech that she’d called Kiggans to offer a concession and supporters booed, Luria chastised them.

“Please don’t boo,” she said. “Because the success of this district depends on her success. And this was a hard-fought race. She won this election.”

Luria said she called Kiggans to congratulate her on her win and that her office would help her with the transition process.

The district was made more Republican during redistricting following the 2020 census.

Republican plans

What exactly Republicans will do with the U.S. House under their control remain murky, though they did release a one-page outline of their goals in September.

While it’s unclear what, if any, measures would get the bipartisan backing needed to clear the U.S. Senate and garner Biden’s signature, the plan was seen as House leaders’ promise to GOP voters.

The first item on the plan says Republicans want to reduce government spending.

House leaders, including McCarthy, have indicated the party may be willing to shut down the federal government or possibly push the country into a first ever default on its debt in order to win concessions from Democrats and the Biden administration.

Other goals include addressing gun rights, overhauling Social Security and Medicare, and increasing funding on border security.

Lawmakers would also have to pass the farm bill next year, which every five years sets policy and funding for agriculture. Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee signaled their opposition to making climate change and conservation programs a priority for farmers and ranchers.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan during the proposal’s rollout at an HVAC factory in Monongahela, Pennsylvania said a GOP House would hold hearings on the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the origins of COVID-19 and various actions by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We are committed to doing the investigations that need to be done,” Jordan said at the time. “After all, that is part of our constitutional duty, to do the oversight and make sure you, the country, we, the people, have the facts and the truth.”

House Republicans have also threatened to impeach U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. 

 

Warnock, Walker in tight race in Georgia; runoff possible

By
Bill Barrow
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Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker have agreed to an Oct. 14 debate in Savannah. (Credit: Stephen Fowler / GPB News and Ben Gray / AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker were locked in a tight race in Georgia on Tuesday night as elections officials continued to count ballots in the state that determined partisan control of the Senate nearly two years ago and could do so again in these midterm elections.

The question is whether either contender can win the contest outright or they head to a Dec. 6 runoff. The state’s quirky election law means Tuesday could be just Round 1. Georgia requires a majority to win statewide office, and with incomplete returns showing a close race and a third-party candidate on the ballot, it’s possible neither Warnock nor Walker will surpass the 50% threshold.

“I don’t come to lose,” Walker, a celebrity athlete turned politician, said during brief remarks to supporters at his election watch party in suburban Atlanta.

Warnock followed shortly before midnight, telling his supporters gathered in downtown Atlanta that he’d expected a close race and would continue watching the tally.

“That’s where we are, so y’all just hang in there,” he said. “I’m feeling good.”

A runoff campaign would be a four-week blitz that, depending on the outcomes in other Senate contests, could reprise the 2020 election cycle, when two Senate runoffs in Georgia doubled as a national winner-take-all battle for Senate control. Victories from Warnock and Ossoff left the chamber divided 50-50 between the two major parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the tie-breaking vote.

A runoff would mean another month of Warnock hammering Walker, who is making his first bid for public office, as unqualified and Walker assailing Warnock as a rubber-stamp for the White House.

“Raphael Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time,” Walker has told voters again and again. “He’s forgotten about the people of Georgia.”

Warnock, who is also the senior minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, answers that Walker is “not ready” and “not fit” for high office. That’s an allusion to Walker’s rocky past, from allegations of violence against his ex-wife to accusations by two women Walker once dated that he encouraged and paid for their abortions despite his public opposition to abortion rights.

Both approaches highlight the candidates’ most glaring liabilities.

Amid generationally high inflation and with Biden’s popularity lagging in Georgia, Warnock wants voters to make a localized choice, not a national referendum on Democrats as a whole. Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, Warnock pitches himself as a pragmatist who cuts deals with Republicans when they’re willing and pushes Democratic-backed cost-cutting measures when they’re not. Among the top accomplishments Warnock touts: capping the cost of insulin and other drugs for Medicare recipients.

“I’ll work with anybody to get things done for the people of Georgia,” Warnock said.

Walker, meanwhile, denies that he’s ever paid for an abortion. And glossing over a cascade of other stories — documented exaggerations of his business record, academic achievements and philanthropic activities; publicly acknowledging three additional children during the campaign only after media reports on their existence — Walker touts his Christian faith and says his life is a story of “redemption.”

Through the scrutiny he calls “foolishness,” the Republican nominee has campaigned as a cultural and fiscal conservative. Walker, who is also Black, pledges to “bring people together” while framing Warnock as a divisive figure on matters of race and equality. Walker justifies his attack using snippets of Warnock’s sermons in which the pastor-senator discusses institutional racism.

Republicans used similar tactics against Warnock ahead of his runoff victory on Jan. 5, 2021. Warnock won that contest by about 95,000 votes out of 4.5 million cast.

If the race ultimately heads to a second round, it could be because of GOP-leaning voters like Doreen Hendricks, who cast her ballot Friday, the final day of early in-person voting, in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker in DeKalb County.

Hendricks said she voted to reelect Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, but felt “angry” about her choice in the Senate race.

“I feel like the Georgia GOP was persuaded to accept Herschel Walker,” Hendricks said. “Unfortunately, I voted for the Libertarian. I’m not crazy about the Libertarian, either. I know it’s probably going to lead to a runoff.”

Indeed, returns have shown Walker running behind Kemp by a notable margin.

Nearly half of Georgia voters say the economy is the most pressing issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 3,000 voters in the state.

Rising costs were named as a top concern among the state’s voters as they cast their ballots, with roughly 9 in 10 saying the inflated prices of groceries, gas and other goods were an important factor in their votes this election.

Only 1 in 10 Georgia voters identify the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strip women of the constitutional right to an abortion as the most important issue facing the country, while almost 5 in 10 identify the economy and jobs. But abortion still weighs on how many people voted. About 7 in 10 Georgians say it is an important factor in how they voted.

Georgia voters were more likely to say that Warnock has the appropriate experience to serve effectively in the Senate than to say so of Walker, according to AP Vote Cast.

Nearly 6 in 10 voters said Warnock has the right background to serve as a senator. Only about 4 in 10 said the same about Walker, a football icon in Georgia.

The state’s voters were also more likely to say that Warnock has strong moral values, with roughly half of voters saying so about the senator. About 4 in 10 voters said the same about Walker.

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Associated Press journalists Jeff Amy and Stephen Smith contributed to this story. Amanda Seitz contributed from Washington.

Georgia is new CFP No. 1, followed by Ohio St, Michigan, TCU

By
Ralph D. Russo, AP College Football Writer
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Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, left, fumbles as he is hit by Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter (88) in the end zone during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in Athens, Ga. Tennessee recovered the ball and avoided a safety. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Georgia was the new No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, followed by Ohio State, Michigan and TCU.

The Bulldogs’ rise from No. 3 was no surprise after their dominant victory against previously top-ranked Tennessee on Saturday.

Clemson, which was No. 4 in the selection committee’s first rankings last week, also lost, clearing the way for changes in the top four.

Ohio State stayed at two. The Buckeyes’ Big Ten rival, Michigan, moved up from five to three. TCU jumped three spots to No. 4, putting the nation’s four unbeaten teams at the top of the rankings.

“It’s going to be a challenge to stay here,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said during ESPN’s rankings show.

Tennessee fell to No. 5 and was followed by Oregon from the Pac-12 and LSU, which jumped three spots to seventh after the Tigers knocked off Alabama.

Selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan, who is the athletic director at North Carolina State, said TCU’s six victories against teams with above .500 records were notable.

“I don’t think it was as much what Tennessee didn’t do as much as what TCU did do,” Corrigan said.

He added the Volunteers’ big victories against Alabama and LSU helped keep them above Oregon, which also played Georgia and lost by 46.

Clemson fell to 10th after being routed by Notre Dame. Alabama dropped from sixth to ninth after its second loss of the season.

This is the first time since the College Football Playoff rankings began in 2014 that neither Clemson nor Alabama have been ranked in the top six.

There has never been a College Football Playoff without the Tigers and the Crimson Tide, which have combined to win five of the eight CFP championships.

ANALYSIS

Are Alabama and Clemson done?

No, both still have a path to the playoff, but a lot is going to have to break their way — especially for Alabama.

First thing working against the Tide is there has never been a two-loss team in the College Football Playoff. But the SEC champion has never been left out of the CFP.

If Alabama could win the SEC, beating Georgia in the process, good luck keeping the Tide out. But the road to the SEC championship game for the Tide is blocked by LSU, which would have to lose both of its remaining conferences games at Arkansas and Texas A&M to clear the way for Alabama.

That’s assuming Alabama wins out. The Tide plays at Mississippi, which was 11th in the committee’s rankings, on Saturday and then Austin Peay before the Iron Bowl against Auburn.

Before writing Alabama off, take note: LSU is only a 3-point favorite at Arkansas this weekend and might be a single-digit favorite against a struggling but talented Texas A&M team.

As for Clemson, this is a long way from over. A 12-1 Power Five conference champion will always have a shot and the Tigers could still end up there.

The Tigers’ bigger issue could be winning a resume contest against one-loss champions from the Big 12, where TCU is still unbeaten, or Pac-12, which currently has four teams in the committee’s top 13 — Oregon, No. 8 USC, No. 12 UCLA and No. 13 Utah.

Plus, there is the question of whether an 11-1 team that doesn’t win its division, like Tennessee or the loser of Ohio State-Michigan, would get the nod over Clemson at 12-1 with an ACC title.

On top of all that, the Tigers have to win out against an improving Louisville team, rival South Carolina and likely No. 15 North Carolina and star quarterback Drake Maye in the ACC championship game.

After a run of six straight CFP appearances by Clemson was snapped last year, the Tigers are now staring at consecutive seasons being left out.

Voter demographics offer insight into congressional races

By
Now Habersham
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(AP Photo/John Minchillo)

After a better-than-expected showing by Democrats in the 2022 midterms, political pundits and party leaders are looking for takeaways as to why voters cast their ballots as they did.

The Associated Press has compiled election data showing demographic trends among the electorate. AP VoteCast shows how voters cast their ballots in congressional races across the country.


Democrats beat Trump-backed GOP candidates in liberal states

By
Associated Press
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Democrat Wes Moore, his wife Dawn, and their children, react after Moore was declared the winner of the Maryland gubernatorial race, in Baltimore, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats easily repelled Republicans backed by former President Donald Trump in several left-leaning states Tuesday, while tougher tests that could decide control of Congress and the future of Joe Biden’s presidency awaited in more competitive territory.

Despite their liberal history, states like Massachusetts, Maryland and Illinois have elected moderate Republican governors in the past. But the Republicans this year appeared to be too conservative in these states, handing Democrats easy victories in midterm elections that could otherwise prove difficult for the party.

Massachusetts and Maryland also saw historic firsts: Democrat Maura Healey became the first woman elected as Massachusetts governor, as well as the first openly lesbian governor of any state, and Wes Moore became the first Black governor of Maryland.

In Florida, a one-time battleground that has become increasingly Republican, Gov. Ron DeSantis won a second term, defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former congressman. DeSantis won Miami-Dade County, once a Democratic stronghold, in a victory that continues his rise as a national Republican star as he eyes a possible 2024 White House run. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also won reelection, fending off a challenge from Democrat Val Demings and further illustrating the state’s rightward shift.

The outcome of races for House and Senate will determine the future of Biden’s agenda and serve as a referendum on his administration as the nation reels from record-high inflation and concerns over the direction of the country. Republican control of the House would likely trigger a round of investigations into Biden and his family, while a GOP Senate takeover would hobble Biden’s ability to make judicial appointments.

Democrats were facing historic headwinds. The party in power almost always suffers losses in the president’s first midterm elections, but Democrats had been hoping that anger from the Supreme Court’s decision to gut abortion rights might energize their voters to buck historical trends.

Even Biden, who planned to watch the evening’s election returns at the White House, said late Monday night that he thought his party would keep the Senate but “the House is tougher.” Asked how that would make governing, his assessment was stark: “More difficult.”

In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker were vying for a seat that could determine control of the Senate. In Virginia, Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria were fending off spirited Republican opponents in what could serve as early signals of where the House majority is heading as Republicans hope to reclaim suburban districts that shifted to Democrats during Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency.

Republicans are betting that messaging focused on the economy, gas prices and crime will resonate with voters at a time of soaring inflation and rising violence.

AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the national electorate, showed that high inflation and concerns about the fragility of democracy were heavily influencing voters.

Half of voters said inflation factored significantly, with groceries, gasoline, housing, food and other costs that have shot up in the past year. Slightly fewer — 44% — said the future of democracy was their primary consideration.

There were no widespread problems with ballots or voter intimidation reported around the country, though there were hiccups typical of most Election Days. Some tabulators were not working in a New Jersey county. In Philadelphia, where Democrats are counting on strong turnout, people complained about being turned away as they showed up in person to try to fix problems with their previously cast mail-in ballots.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, which encompasses Phoenix and is the state’s largest county, officials reported problems with vote-tabulation machines in about 20% of voting places. That fueled anger and skepticism about voting that has been growing among some Republicans since the state went narrowly for Biden in 2020.

Voters also were deciding high-profile races for Senate or governor in places such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan. Contests also were on the ballot for secretaries of state, roles that typically generate little attention but have come under growing scrutiny as GOP contenders who refused to accept the results of the 2020 campaign were running to control the management of future elections.

In the first national election since the Jan. 6 insurrection, the country’s democratic future is in question. Some who participated in or were in the vicinity of the attack are poised to win elected office Tuesday, including several running for House seats. Concerns about political violence are also on the rise less than two weeks after a suspect under the spell of conspiracy theories targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and brutally beat her 82-year-old husband.

The 2022 elections are on track to cost a projected $16.7 billion at the state and federal level, making them the most expensive midterms ever, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance tracking organization OpenSecrets.

Republicans entered the final stretch of the campaign in a strong position to retake control of at least one chamber of Congress, giving them power to thwart Biden’s agenda for the remaining two years of his term. The GOP needed a net gain of just one seat to win the U.S. Senate and five to regain the U.S. House.

All House seats were up for grabs, as were 34 Senate seats — with cliffhangers especially likely in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. Thirty-six states are electing governors, with many of those races also poised to come down to the slimmest of margins.

The dynamic was more complicated in state capitals. The GOP faced unexpected headwinds in flipping the governor’s office in conservative Kansas. Democrats, meanwhile, were nervous about their prospects in the governor’s race in Oregon, typically a liberal bastion.

In other governors’ races, Healey bested Geoff Diehl in Massachusetts and Moore beat Dan Cox in Maryland, while Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker defeated state Sen. Darren Bailey. Cox and Bailey were among the far-right Republicans that Democrats spent tens of millions of dollars to bolster during the primaries, betting they would be easier to beat in general elections than their more moderate rivals.

If the GOP has an especially strong election, winning Democrat-held congressional seats in places like New Hampshire or Washington state, pressure could build for Biden to opt against a reelection run in 2024. Trump, meanwhile, may try to capitalize on GOP gains by formally launching another bid for the White House during a “very big announcement” in Florida next week.

The former president endorsed more than 300 candidates in the midterm cycle and is hoping to use Republican victories as a springboard for a 2024 presidential campaign.

“Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit. And if they lose, I should not be blamed at all. But it will probably be just the opposite,” Trump said in an interview with NewsNation.

It could be days or even weeks before races — and potentially, control of Congress — are decided. Some states with mail voting, such as Michigan, saw an increase in ballot returns compared with the 2018 midterm. Those votes can take longer to count because, in many states, ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday but might not arrive at election offices until days later. In Georgia’s Senate race, the candidates must win at least 50% of the vote to avoid a Dec. 6 runoff.

___

By Sara Burnett, Jill Colvin and Will Weissert

Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Southfield, Mich., Anita Snow in Phoenix, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Jacquelyn Martin contributed to this report.

 

Gov. DeSantis wins Florida; polls close in 2 dozen states

By
Associated Press
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FILE - Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis waves as his wife Casey applauds, following a televised debate against Democratic opponent Charlie Crist, in Fort Pierce, Fla., Oct. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Polls closed in two dozen states Tuesday night as the nation voted in the first midterm elections of Joe Biden’s presidency, with control of Congress, governorships and other key races hanging in the balance.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a second term, defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former congressman. The victory continues DeSantis’ rise as a national Republican star as he eyes a possible 2024 White House run that could leave him well positioned to be a GOP primary alternative to Donald Trump.

Democrats flipped two Republican-held governorships, making Maura Healey the first openly gay person and first woman elected as Massachusetts’ governor and Wes Moore the first Black governor of Maryland.

In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker were vying for a seat that could determine control of the Senate. In Virginia, Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria were fending off spirited Republican opponents in what could serve as early signals of where the House majority is heading as Republicans hope to reclaim suburban districts that shifted to Democrats during Donald Trump’s tumultuous presidency.

The outcome of races for House and Senate will determine the future of Biden’s agenda and serve as a referendum on his administration as the nation reels from record-high inflation and concerns over the direction of the country. Republican control of the House would likely trigger a round of investigations into Biden and his family, while a GOP Senate takeover would hobble Biden’s ability to make judicial appointments.

Democrats were facing historic headwinds. The party in power almost always suffers losses in the president’s first midterm elections, but Democrats had been hoping that anger from the Supreme Court’s decision to gut abortion rights might energize their voters to buck historical trends.

Even Biden, who planned to watch the evening’s election returns at the White House, said late Monday night that he thought his party would keep the Senate but “the House is tougher.” Asked how that would make governing, his assessment was stark: “More difficult.”

Republicans are betting that messaging focused on the economy, gas prices and crime will resonate with voters at a time of soaring inflation and rising violence.

AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the national electorate, showed that high inflation and concerns about the fragility of democracy were heavily influencing voters.

Half of voters said inflation factored significantly, with groceries, gasoline, housing, food and other costs that have shot up in the past year. Slightly fewer — 44% — said the future of democracy was their primary consideration.

Few major voting problems were reported around the country, though there were hiccups typical of most Election Days. Some tabulators were not working in a New Jersey county. In Philadelphia, where Democrats are counting on strong turnout, people complained about being turned away as they showed up in person to try to fix problems with their previously cast mail-in ballots.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, which encompasses Phoenix and is the state’s largest county, officials reported problems with vote-tabulation machines in about 20% of voting places. That fueled anger and skepticism about voting that has been growing among some Republicans since the state went narrowly for Biden in 2020.

Polls were still open in several states with high-profile races for Senate or governor, including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan. Voters in many of these states were also choosing secretaries of state, roles that typically generate little attention but have come under growing scrutiny as GOP contenders who refused to accept the results of the 2020 campaign were running to control the management of future elections.

In the first national election since the Jan. 6 insurrection, the country’s democratic future is in question. Some who participated in or were in the vicinity of the attack are poised to win elected office Tuesday, including several running for House seats. Concerns about political violence are also on the rise less than two weeks after a suspect under the spell of conspiracy theories targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and brutally beat her 82-year-old husband.

The 2022 elections are on track to cost a projected $16.7 billion at the state and federal level, making them the most expensive midterms ever, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance tracking organization OpenSecrets.

Republicans entered the final stretch of the campaign in a strong position to retake control of at least one chamber of Congress, giving them power to thwart Biden’s agenda for the remaining two years of his term. The GOP needed a net gain of just one seat to win the U.S. Senate and five to regain the U.S. House.

All House seats were up for grabs, as were 34 Senate seats — with cliffhangers especially likely in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. Thirty-six states are electing governors, with many of those races also poised to come down to the slimmest of margins.

The dynamic was more complicated in state capitals. Democrats easily won governors races against Trump-backed candidates in Maryland and Massachusetts as well as Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker defeated state Sen. Darren Bailey. The GOP also faced unexpected headwinds in flipping the governor’s office in conservative Kansas. Democrats, meanwhile, were nervous about their prospects in the governor’s race in Oregon, typically a liberal bastion.

If the GOP has an especially strong election, winning Democrat-held congressional seats in places like New Hampshire or Washington state, pressure could build for Biden to opt against reelection in 2024. Trump, meanwhile, may try to capitalize on GOP gains by formally launching another bid for the White House during a “very big announcement” in Florida next week.

The former president endorsed more than 300 candidates in the midterm cycle and is hoping to use Republican victories as a springboard for a 2024 presidential campaign.

“Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit. And if they lose, I should not be blamed at all. But it will probably be just the opposite,” Trump said in an interview with NewsNation.

Biden’s lagging approval left many Democrats in competitive races reluctant to campaign with him. Only 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of how Biden is handling his job as president, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 25% said then that the country is headed in the right direction.

Still, Biden has for months urged voters to reject Republicans who have contributed to an extreme political environment.

That resonated with Kevin Tolbert, a 49-year-old who works in labor law and lives in Southfield, Michigan. “It is something that has to be protected and we protect that by voting and being out and supporting our country,” he said.

It could be days or even weeks before races — and potentially, control of Congress — are decided. Some states with mail voting, such as Michigan, saw an increase in ballot returns compared with the 2018 midterm. Those votes can take longer to count because, in many states, ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday but might not arrive at election offices until days later. In Georgia’s Senate race, the candidates must win at least 50% of the vote to avoid a Dec. 6 runoff.

___

Associated Press writers Corey Williams in Southfield, Mich., Anita Snow in Phoenix, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Jacquelyn Martin contributed to this report.

 

Cleveland man charged in wife’s death

By
Dean Dyer
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Emillo Catroppa (White County Sheriff's Office)

A Cleveland man faces two counts of murder following an incident last month in White County.

A news release from White County Sheriff Rick Kelley said on October 23rd White County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to 52 Shadow Creek Point Cleveland, for a domestic dispute in progress. Upon arrival, deputies found a fifty-eight-year-old female who had been run over by a truck.

The release said the victim was taken by White County EMS to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with serious injuries.

According to the sheriff, the victim’s husband, 58-old Emilio Catroppa of Cleveland, was questioned by investigators. They subsequently charged him with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle under the Family Violence Act (FVA) and arrested him.

Kelley advised that the victim succumbed to her injuries last Tuesday, November 1. Investigators upgraded the charges against Catroppa to malice murder (FVA) and felony murder (FVA). He remains in jail without bond.

An autopsy will be performed on the victim. The sheriff’s office reports the investigation is ongoing.

Voting ‘steady’ across Habersham; county on track to exceed 2018 vote totals

By
Staff Report
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The South Habersham Precinct, which is temporarily located at the Cornelia Community House, recorded around 450 voters as of 1 p.m. on Election Day. The B.C. Grant Precinct had recorded over 500 voters as of 2 p.m. (Jerry Neace/Now Habersham)

Before the polls opened at 7 a.m. on Election Day, nearly 43% of Habersham County’s 28,237 active registered voters had already cast ballots. Many who did not vote early in person or by mail are still making their way to the polls. County poll workers say voting has been steady throughout the day.

When the Habersham North Precinct opened at the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center in Clarkesville this morning, there were around 60 voters waiting in line. Ten voters were waiting at Amy’s Creek Precinct.

While voters did have to wait during the early morning rush, election officials tell Now Habersham the wait times since have been minimal.

RELATED Habersham’s 6 precincts open for Election Day voting

Today’s steady turnout is likely to push the county’s overall vote count past the 2018 total. During three weeks of early voting from October 17 to November 4 this year, 12,014 Habersham Countians cast ballots. In 2018, a total of 15,540 voters cast ballots.

(Data compiled by Now Habersham)
(Data compiled by Now Habersham)

An informal canvas of precincts Tuesday afternoon, November 8th, shows that as of 3:30 p.m., over 2,500 Election Day ballots had been cast.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. Early returns are expected soon after.

Now Habersham will carry all of your local, state, and national Election results. Visit nowhabersham.com frequently throughout the evening for updates.

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