Annie Andrews: “We just made some history!”

“It’s really what you hear everywhere, but it’s the prices of gas and groceries, and here in South Carolina, closing rural hospitals —a health care system that is already pretty broken, on the brink of being way worse. And then really over the past, I don’t know, half a year, the data center conversations come up more and more and more. So many of those companies are coming here.

“I think it’s a perfect example of putting corporations over communities or profits over people, and these rural parts of the state just feel taken advantage of. They already felt kind of left behind because they don’t see the investment in their infrastructure or their public school system or any of that, and now they just feel like they’re being steamrolled by these very wealthy, powerful corporations. And then, of course, in my case, Darline’s totally bankrolled by them. I mean, that new data center industry PAC, she’s their first candidate they’re trying to get across the finish line.”

Interview with Dr. Andrews
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2...w-01148925

In a closely watched race, South Carolina voters delivered the biggest upset of Election Night so far and elected a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1998. Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and mother of three, flipped this seat blue and defeated political neophyte Darline Graham, the sister of late Sen. Lindsey Graham who was appointed to complete his term after his sudden death in July.
....

In the lead-up to Tuesday, the polls had indicated an unexpectedly competitive race in a deep-red state that has been a reliable GOP stronghold. Republicans were so concerned about Graham—a reluctant candidate pushed by Trump who many voters didn’t think was prepared to serve a full term—that Trump traveled to South Carolina to rally for her twice in the two weeks before Election Day. The top GOP Senate PAC also injected millions of dollars into the race to boost Graham’s chances in what should have been an easy contest for the Republican party.

The race was seen as a test of the endorsement powers of a president whose approval rating is at a new low. Even among a pack of weak GOP candidates who spelled trouble for the party, Lindsey Graham’s sister distinguished herself. Her previous professional experience was as head of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and her naiveté about foreign policy—a notable contrast with her brother—came into stark relief during a primary debate. When asked about US interests in Taiwan, she dodged the question, admitting, “I’m not that informed on national security.”
....
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/202...ey-graham/

The victory speech by Abdul El-Sayed, senator-elect of Michigan,
contained messages for JD Vance, Mike Rogers, and Donald Trump
-----

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won one of the marquee battles of the 2026 midterms: the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in Michigan.

El-Sayed, an unapologetic 42-year-old progressive and the son of Egyptian immigrants, will become America’s first Muslim senator. He has pushed policies such as Medicare for All and ending U.S. military aid to Israel, and has been willing to confront his critics and his own party's establishment.

His victory over Republican candidate Mike Rogers came on a night that saw Democrats regain control of the U.S. Senate in a midterm blue wave that also saw the party win control of the House of Representatives.

“You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates,” El-Sayed told a crowd of supporters in Detroit on Wednesday as he declared victory. “Thank you. This is all yours.”

El-Sayed defeated Rogers, a 63-year-old former congressman who lost an extremely close Senate race to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin two years ago, and who has since broken with President Trump on tariffs and the war in Iran.
....
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/de...m-michigan

More eye-catching of the two: Gina Hinojosa or Annie Andrews? I'll let you gents ponder.

Texas governor-elect Gino Hinojosa

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa has defeated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a three-term Republican, NBC News projects, wresting control of the red-state governorship from Republicans for the first time since 1995.

Hinojosa’s projected victory, which will make her the state’s first Hispanic governor, comes after Abbott’s campaign outspent her by tens of millions of dollars. Abbott, who could have become Texas’ longest-serving governor had he won, initially looked poised to earn another term in what has been a ruby-red state for decades.

But changing demographics and a steadily worsening political environment for Republicans across the country and in Texas, where GOP nominees for several offices faced personal scandals and criticism, eventually took their toll on Abbott, too.

In a victory speech, Hinojosa said Abbott called to congratulate her, and she promised big changes coming to Texas. “I want to say something to the powerful people who have gotten very comfortable running this state,” Hinojosa said. “The voters have delivered a mandate for change, and it is change they will get.”

Hinojosa, who was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, was elected to the state House in 2016. Before she became a legislator, she was a civil rights and a labor lawyer.

Education has been a pillar of her political career.
....
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-el...rcna603360

Donald Trump’s favorite butt also lost.

Former Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will again represent Ohioans in the U.S. Senate, after defeating Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted. The Associated Press projected the Brown victory at 11:11 p.m.

Brown, 73, was projected the winner Tuesday in a special election. Husted was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat at the start of 2025.
....
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/11/0...-projects/

(11-04-2026 12:23 PM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 12:01 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  It wasn't just a Tsunami, it was a 100 year flood. I heard Christie say last night on ABC that there were 31 Republican Governors when Trump won in 2016, and now there are 31 Democratic governors. A net loss of 12 over a decade, including deep red territory like Texas, is mind boggling. My buddy Nate Sheets was run over in Texas by the wave, I figured he had it made after primarying a candidate that Trump had endorsed for Agriculture Commissioner. Nope. Mississippi is a coin flip to elect a Democrat for the first time in 40 years to the Senate and a Black man for the first time since Reconstruction. In light of those events, a Democrat winning in Georgia, a State that already had both Senate seats held by Democrats, is more of a footnote.

It’s not unprecedented though. I think the Reps won over 60 house seats in one of Obama’s midterms and picked up 9 senate seats in his other. Once the middle 40% of the country realizes the Dems can’t do anything about affordability, we’ll go back the other way

Yep. It's a safe bet that the Democrats will break their arms patting themselves on the back for a big election win now, just as the Republicans did in 2024. Hopefully, next time the Wheel turns and the Republicans are back in power, they can do something positive with it.

US stocks soared Wednesday as Wall Street digested the resounding Democrat sweep in the midterm elections and mulled what a divided government will mean for the war with Iran, President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, and the AI trade.

The Dow surged 1,569 points, or 3%, and had its best day since April 2025. The Dow also posted its biggest post-midterm elections single-day gain since 1982, according to data from CFRA Research.

The S&P 500 rose 1.58% and had its second-biggest post-midterm elections single-day gain since 1982, following its gain after the 2018 midterms. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.44%, its biggest post-midterm elections one-day gain since 2018.
....
Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) fell about 3.3% and 3.9%, respectively. Musk has made Texas the home for his companies, and Democrats’ victories in the gubernatorial and Senate races are casting uncertainty over his future relationship with the state.

“While a blue wave could spark volatility in certain sectors, such as tech and AI, given growing public opposition to the buildout of data centers, we believe markets can grind higher regardless of the outcome as investors applaud falling uncertainty,” Justin Buell, chief investment officer at Continuity Group, wrote in a note.
....
https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/04/investing...-elections

(11-04-2026 02:42 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  
Texas governor-elect Gino Hinojosa

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa has defeated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a three-term Republican, NBC News projects, wresting control of the red-state governorship from Republicans for the first time since 1995.

Hinojosa’s projected victory, which will make her the state’s first Hispanic governor, comes after Abbott’s campaign outspent her by tens of millions of dollars. Abbott, who could have become Texas’ longest-serving governor had he won, initially looked poised to earn another term in what has been a ruby-red state for decades.

But changing demographics and a steadily worsening political environment for Republicans across the country and in Texas, where GOP nominees for several offices faced personal scandals and criticism, eventually took their toll on Abbott, too.

In a victory speech, Hinojosa said Abbott called to congratulate her, and she promised big changes coming to Texas. “I want to say something to the powerful people who have gotten very comfortable running this state,” Hinojosa said. “The voters have delivered a mandate for change, and it is change they will get.”

Hinojosa, who was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, was elected to the state House in 2016. Before she became a legislator, she was a civil rights and a labor lawyer.

Education has been a pillar of her political career.
....
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-el...rcna603360

My kids only high school govt teacher, a die hard Republican, voted for Hinojosa, very publicly doing so in fact. Not because of anything good that he thought of her necessarily, but solely b/c as an educator in a small-ish town, he thought that the school choice mandate that Abbot pushed so hard for would significantly harm the Public Schools of the State. I still voted for Abbot b/c I supported most of his other policy positions, but I could understand why that one issue could be a huge sticking point for otherwise reliably R voters. Just another example of what happens when one party or even just one person stays in charge for too long, Abbot left behind a lot of the voters who propelled him to the Governor's office in the first place.

Seen on TikTok:

“Hey, Greg. Now you can say a Mexican took your job!”

Trump told Caitlin Collins to smile more.

This week, he got his wish.

(11-04-2026 01:06 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  

Austin Democrats won races for Senate, governor, and lieutenant governor. Democrats also won other statewide offices such as comptroller.

That GOP candidate who posted ugly comments about Asian students at the University of Texas? Voters have removed him as a public nuisance.

The blue-nami in Texas reshapes politics in the nation’s second most populated state, and changes the equation for presidential campaigns in the future.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/04/polit...or-decades

One of the Texas for Train rail Commision was won by a Texas oil driller worker and he won because that office was corrupted and allowed abandoned oil drills to leak oil into the watershed of farms and ranches. He ran as a Democrat, and he knows how to fixed and cleaned up that mess that was ignored by the Republican. So, we are seeing working class people stepping up where career politicians failed to do their jobs right. Republicans ditched that Republican like they did with Paxton and endorsed the Demorat. I think the voters actually want to clean up the career politicians in this case Republicans. Democrats did with some of theirs. One problem is some of the Republicans in the house and senate would fight against the Dems trying to fixed the issues.

CNN: Election Night coverage, condensed to five minutes

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/04/polit...ess-digvid



The results in the Senate are beyond what the Democrats would have expected. North Carolina was a likely pick-up but the previously deep red state of South Carolina was a huge shock and Kansas had not returned a Democratic senator since 1932.

Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Maine also turned blue and the Democrats held Michigan. There are two seats remaining, Alaska and Mississippi, both are on a knife edge.

BBC: How America voted in maps and charts
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm4g1j0n92qdo

(11-04-2026 01:17 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 12:35 PM)glacier_dropsy Wrote:  Obama running laps around DJT over the last week was great. He makes the Cheesecake Factory joke, pundits on the right demonstrate how to use it as an attack on elitist Dems. Trump takes the bait, and repeatedly goes on stage to defend his exquisite taste as an interior decorator, classic Trump.

Barack Obama can close, can’t he? He made big appearances in Ohio and Georgia, where some races were tight. Then his Democrats swept those.

Donald Trump can also close... for Democrats. They won in Iowa and Kansas(!) after he made personal visits to both states and told everyone to vote as if he were on the ballot.

It was a change election, the GOP had no issues, and their banner carrier led with his chin the whole way.

Vivak blunder in Ohio by airing the ad of Action's mother who Amy and brother taken away after Amy's step-father raped her between the ages 10 and 12. Her mother stands beside the pedophile and not her daughter. You had a lot of Republicans siding with Amy to support her.

(Yesterday 02:32 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 01:06 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  

Austin Democrats won races for Senate, governor, and lieutenant governor. Democrats also won other statewide offices such as comptroller.

That GOP candidate who posted ugly comments about Asian students at the University of Texas? Voters have removed him as a public nuisance.

The blue-nami in Texas reshapes politics in the nation’s second most populated state, and changes the equation for presidential campaigns in the future.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/04/polit...or-decades

One of the Texas for Train rail Commision was won by a Texas oil driller worker and he won because that office was corrupted and allowed abandoned oil drills to leak oil into the watershed of farms and ranches. He ran as a Democrat, and he knows how to fixed and cleaned up that mess that was ignored by the Republican. So, we are seeing working class people stepping up where career politicians failed to do their jobs right. Republicans ditched that Republican like they did with Paxton and endorsed the Demorat. I think the voters actually want to clean up the career politicians in this case Republicans. Democrats did with some of theirs. One problem is some of the Republicans in the house and senate would fight against the Dems trying to fixed the issues.

Thank you for the detail! I saw brief coverage of that race and was surprised to learn how much responsibility goes with being railways commissioner. If you aren’t familiar with the Texas system you wouldn’t guess from some of the statewide job titles how much responsibility they entail.

(11-04-2026 02:27 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  More eye-catching of the two: Gina Hinojosa or Annie Andrews? I'll let you gents ponder.

Gina. Annie Andrews has masculine facial features.

(Yesterday 02:35 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 01:17 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 12:35 PM)glacier_dropsy Wrote:  Obama running laps around DJT over the last week was great. He makes the Cheesecake Factory joke, pundits on the right demonstrate how to use it as an attack on elitist Dems. Trump takes the bait, and repeatedly goes on stage to defend his exquisite taste as an interior decorator, classic Trump.

Barack Obama can close, can’t he? He made big appearances in Ohio and Georgia, where some races were tight. Then his Democrats swept those.

Donald Trump can also close... for Democrats. They won in Iowa and Kansas(!) after he made personal visits to both states and told everyone to vote as if he were on the ballot.

It was a change election, the GOP had no issues, and their banner carrier led with his chin the whole way.

Vivak blunder in Ohio by airing the ad of Action's mother who Amy and brother taken away after Amy's step-father raped her between the ages 10 and 12. Her mother stands beside the pedophile and not her daughter. You had a lot of Republicans siding with Amy to support her.

Vivek was a horrible candidate and I said as much on this board several months back. Working class Republicans never warmed to him long before the commercial with Acton’s mother. Didn’t help he is a billionaire and Indian.

Ohio has voted Red in the last 4 presidential elections, but there has always been a lot of Far Left and Center-Left people here. The three large population centers of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus range in the spectrum of Chicago or in the case of Columbus, Minneapolis. Republicans stayed home. As a result of Vivek, this affected the Senate race and other down stream Republican candidates.

Musk put $224M behind two candidates in Texas, Paxton and Abbot. Which explains why my son was complaining about getting Paxton adds during streaming sports even though we aren’t in TX.

(11-04-2026 12:03 PM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  It doesn't matter anyway. You morons think you won something? Absolutely nothing will change in Washington.

Yep. And there is still a Repub in the WH with veto power.

(Yesterday 08:39 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 02:27 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  More eye-catching of the two: Gina Hinojosa or Annie Andrews? I'll let you gents ponder.

Gina. Annie Andrews has masculine facial features.

Now that you note ... I kind of see it.

I prefer the lovely Ms. Hinojosa, too.

(Yesterday 09:16 AM)TripleA Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 12:03 PM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  It doesn't matter anyway. You morons think you won something? Absolutely nothing will change in Washington.

Yep. And there is still a Repub in the WH with veto power.

Some of these people must be really young (or really stupid, hey I bet that's it) to not be aware that this happens almost every single mid-term. It was far worse than this for Barry in 2014.