Matt Yglesias: Trump's gains with Hispanic voters should prompt some progressive rethinking

Election night started with a major underperformance for Democrats in Miami-Dade County that cost Rep. Donna Shalala her House seat and sank Joe Biden’s hope of an early win.

Miami has always been a bit of a city apart in terms of Latino politics in the United States, with a heavily Cuban American population that has a tradition of Republican voting and deep emotional and intellectual investments in the Latin American Cold War.

But while Cuba-specific issues are tactically central to electoral battles in Florida, the fact is that even before all the results are in, it’s clear Biden’s weakness with Latino voters was broader than that. In South Florida, Biden lost ground with a diverse Hispanic population that includes many families from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, or Colombia, as well as Cuba broadly.

More to the point, Democrats turned in extremely disappointing performances in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, even in the context of a large overall improvement in the state. Trump actually won Zapata County, for example, a small border jurisdiction that’s 84 percent Hispanic and which Hillary Clinton won by 30 points in 2016.

more: https://www.vox.com/2020/11/5/21548677/trump-hispanic-vote-latinx

CNN Projection: Biden wins Wisconsin

Source: CNN

oe Biden will win Wisconsin, CNN projects.

There are 10 electoral votes at stake in Wisconsin. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the 2020 presidential election.

Who won in 2016: President Trump carried the state and won the general election.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-and-news-11-04-20/index.html

Thanks a lot protesters

Postal Service Worker Charged With Dumping Over 100 Absentee Ballots

Source: Newsweek

A Postal Service worker accused of dumping more than 100 absentee ballots has been charged for willfully obstructing the passage of mail.

DeShawn Bojgere, 30, of Louisville, Kentucky, has been charged with the delay or destruction of mail after approximately 111 ballots from the Jefferson County Clerk's Office which had been being sent to voters to be filled out were found in a construction dumpster on Galene Drive.

According to the criminal complaint, Bojgere discarded the large quantity of mail some time between October 5 and October 15. The dumped mail also included 69 mixed class pieces of flat rate mail, 320 second class pieces of mail, and two national election campaign fliers from a political party in Florida.

All the mail was from a single route from one scheduled delivery day.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/kentucky-postal-service-ballot-dumping-deshawn-bojgere-1542467

Trump announces that Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize relations

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump announced Friday that Sudan and Israel have agreed to normalize relations -- a foreign policy achievement for the incumbent president less than two weeks before the US presidential election.

"President @realDonaldTrump has announced that Sudan and Israel have agreed to the normalization of relations— another major step toward building peace in the Middle East with another nation joining the Abraham Accords," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said on Twitter.

It is unclear if the deal establishes full diplomatic relations between the two nations.

His announcement came shortly after the White House said he had informed Congress of his intent to remove Sudan from the state sponsor of terrorism list. The rescission of the 27-year old designation was widely seen as being tied to the deal with Israel, despite Khartoum's desire to keep the issues separate.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/politics/trump-sudan-israel/index.html

Florida reports 5,557 new COVID-19 cases, most in over two months

Source: SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL

Florida health officials on Thursday reported 5,557 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the latest results, an indication that new cases appear to be trending higher.

It’s the most infections on a daily coronavirus report since the state tallied 6,352 cases on Aug. 15.

The seven-day average number of new cases in the state was below 3,000 from Sept. 8 to Oct. 13. Since then, there have been five days over that level. Public health experts recently have expressed concern that Florida could be at risk of a new wave of infections, as much of the nation is experiencing.

Including Thursday’s results, the state Department of Health says at least 768,091 people have tested positive for the highly contagious disease since the start of the pandemic.

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-florida-coronavirus-deaths-cases-thursday-october-22-20201022-ensbrnh4nbgqdesenfzjew6l64-story.html

More than 100 blank Jefferson County absentee ballots found in dumpster

Source: WLKY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than 100 absentee ballots meant for Jefferson County voters were found in a dumpster on Thursday.

Nore Ghibaudy, Jefferson County clerk spokesperson, confirmed 112 blank ballots were found in a construction dumpster. The ballots were meant for voters in the Jeffersontown area - ZIP code 40299.

He said they were still in the plastic container used by the USPS and other mail was mixed in.

Ghibaudy said the mail was discovered by a construction worker.

Read more: https://www.wlky.com/article/more-than-100-jefferson-county-absentee-ballots-found-discarded-in-dumpster/34386984#

C-SPAN suspends Scully after he admits to lie about hack

Source: ABC News

NEW YORK -- C-SPAN suspended its political editor Steve Scully indefinitely Thursday after he admitted to lying about his Twitter feed being hacked when he was confronted about a questionable exchange with former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci.

The news came on the day of what was supposed to be a career highlight for the 30-year C-SPAN veteran. Scully was to moderate the second debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, which was canceled after Trump would not agree to a virtual format because of his COVID-19 diagnosis.

A week ago, after Trump had criticized him as a “never Trumper," Scully tweeted “@Scaramucci should I respond to Trump.” Scaramucci, a former Trump communications director and now a critic of the president, advised Scully to ignore him.

Scully said that when he saw his tweet had created a controversy, “I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/span-suspends-scully-admits-lie-hack-73637849

Supreme Court won't take up ex-Kentucky clerk Kim Davis' case

Source: WCAX-TV

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that allowed a lawsuit to move forward against a Kentucky clerk who was jailed in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The high court said Monday it would not take the case involving Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan County, and two same-sex couples who had sued her. Soon after the 2015 Supreme Court decision in which same-sex couples won the right to marry nationwide, Davis, a Christian who has a religious objection to same-sex marriage, stopped issuing all marriage licenses.

That led to lawsuits against her, and a judge ordered Davis to issue the licenses. She spent five days in jail after refusing.

Davis had argued that a legal doctrine called qualified immunity protected her from being sued for damages by couples David Ermold and David Moore as well as James Yates and Will Smith. Their case will now move forward.

Read more: https://www.wcax.com/2020/10/05/supreme-court-wont-take-up-ex-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-case/

Minnesota Second Congressional District race delayed after death of Legal Marijuana Now candidate

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Legal Marijuana Now Party’s candidate in the race for the Second Congressional District has died, prompting a special election in February.

Adam Charles Weeks died earlier this week, said Kevin O’Connor, the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. “It’s a sad and sudden thing. We are pretty much taken aback,” he said.

Weeks was facing off with Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Republican candidate Tyler Kistner to represent the district. That election will now be postponed.

“The law is clear on what happens next,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement Thursday. “If a major party nominee dies within 79 days of Election Day; a special election will be held for that office on the second Tuesday of February (February 9, 2021).”

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/second-congressional-district-race-delayed-after-death-of-legal-marijuana-now-candidate/572523221/