memeorandum: Cruz: It's a mistake for House bill to raise taxes (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

9:20 AM ET, November 8, 2017

Top Items:

With Virginia, Voters Give Democrats First Big Wins of the Trump Era — FAIRFAX, Va. — Voters delivered their first forceful rebuke of President Trump and his party on Tuesday night, with Democrats exploiting Mr. Trump's deep unpopularity to capture the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, CNN, viraltop1, New York Magazine, The Week, Washington Post, New Republic, Talking Points Memo, Fox News Insider, The Atlantic, Washington Free Beacon and The Guardian

New York Times:

Live Election Results and Estimates: Virginia Governor Race — Dem. — 1,390,597 — Ed Gillespie — Rep. — 1,160,314 — Lib. — 30,020 — 99% reporting (2,561 of 2,566 precincts) — Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, won a decisive victory in the race for governor of Virginia …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politico, Vox, Townhall.com, viraltop1, The Daily Signal, The Gateway Pundit and Mother Jones

Lisa Hagen / The Hill:

Northam wins big in Virginia, thrilling Democrats — FAIRFAX, Va. — Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) won the Virginia governor's race in a blowout Tuesday, fending off a potential gut punch for his party and giving Democrats a badly needed jolt of momentum ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Rochester Democrat …, ABC News and IJR

New York Times:

Virginia Rejects Your Hateful Politics, Mr. Trump — Ralph Northam's election as Virginia governor amid reportedly high turnout on Tuesday is a stinging and welcome rebuke to President Trump and white nationalism. — Mr. Northam's Republican rival, Ed Gillespie, an establishment operative …

Discussion: CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Shareblue Media, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider, WRIC-TV, RT, WTKR-TV, Axios, Mediaite, IJR, Fox News Insider, Vox, ABC News, The Daily Caller and 105.9 FM and AM 630

Michael Tackett / New York Times:

Trumpism Without Trump: A Losing Formula in Swing-State Virginia — ALEXANDRIA, Va. — For Ed Gillespie, Trumpism was an ill-fitting suit. — His résumé was pure establishment — national Republican Party chairman, counselor to President George W. Bush, well-connected K Street lobbyist.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Bloomberg, Vox, Washington Post, Blunt Force Truth, Media Matters for America, IJR, Mediaite, Townhall.com and The Daily Caller

New York Times:

Live Estimates of the Final Vote — Our estimates are based on the results reported so far, the results of the previous election and demographic data. Unlike reported results, they attempt to account for precincts that have not yet reported their votes. The shaded area in the gauge below shows the range of our forecasts.

Discussion: Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Breitbart, New York Magazine and Politicus USA

Michael Scherer / Washington Post:
Republicans seek new path after failure of Gillespie's ‘Trumpism without Trump’

Discussion: New Republic, Althouse and Joe.My.God.

New York Times:
Election Results: Virginia

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Five takeaways from the Virginia governor's race

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, WTVR-TV and The Daily Caller

BuzzFeed:
Latino Victory Fund: We'll Double Down On Controversial Ad Strategy After Virginia Win

Discussion: Politico, Durango Herald, The Daily Caller, AOL and Washington Free Beacon

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:
Dem Wins in Virginia, New Jersey: Not a Repudiation of Trump, but a Warning

Discussion: Business Insider

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Northam beats Gillespie in Virginia governor's race

John Verhovek / ABC News:
Transgender Virginia candidate makes history and how other races to watch turned out

Discussion: Axios, Lawyers, Guns & Money and IJR

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Democrat Ralph Northam Wins Virginia Governor Race

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, New Republic, viraltop1, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and Mickey Kaus

Antonio Olivo / Washington Post:

Danica Roem is Va.'s first openly transgender elected official, unseating conservative in House race — Democrat Danica Roem ousted longtime incumbent Del. Robert G. Marshall (R) Tuesday, becoming the first openly transgender elected official in Virginia — and one of very few in the nation.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The FADER, ABC News, AOL, Refinery29, TheBlaze, The Slot, Raw Story, Shareblue Media, The Week and viraltop1

Michael Martz / www.richmond.com:

Democrats erase 32-seat GOP advantage in House; recounts likely to determine control — Virginia Democrats are poised to claim at least a share of control of the House of Delegates after erasing a 32-seat Republican advantage in a “tsunami election,” with control of the chamber likely to be ultimately decided by vote recounts.

Discussion: Power Line and Hullabaloo

The Charlotte Observer:

Democrat Vi Lyles makes history in Charlotte mayoral win — Casting herself as a unifier after two years of tumult, Democrat Vi Lyles easily defeated Republican Kenny Smith on Tuesday to become Charlotte's first African-American female mayor. — Lyles took about 58 percent to Smith's 42 percent in unofficial returns.

Discussion: ABC News, Daily Kos, NPR, The Hill and The Root

Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Dems win from coast to coast

Discussion: Governing magazine and TalkLeft

Mike Allen / Axios:
Democrats swamp Republicans in pre-midterms wave

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and The Nation

Brent Johnson / New Jersey Online:
Phil Murphy beats Kim Guadagno to succeed Christie as N.J. governor

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, CNN, Axios, The Nation and The Week

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:
Democrats euphoric after Tuesday election romp

Discussion: Mother Jones and ABC News

The Hill:
First openly transgender state legislator elected in Virginia

Discussion: Washington Post, bizpacreview.com, New York Times, ABC News, Business Insider, KTLA, Axios, Rewire, The Daily Caller, The Week and MTmofo

Matthew Yglesias / Vox: Democrats picked up 2 seats in the Georgia state legislature, too

Leigh Ann Caldwell / NBC News:

Trump Tells Democrats He'll ‘Get Killed’ Financially in GOP Tax Bill — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called 12 Senate Democrats Tuesday, hoping to sway them in favor of the Republican tax cut bill, and told them he would personally “get killed” financially by the GOP bill.

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Cruz: It's a mistake for House bill to raise taxes

Discussion: RedState, Townhall.com and IJR

Joseph O'Sullivan / The Seattle Times:

Manka Dhingra leading Jinyoung Englund in pivotal 45th District Senate race — Democrat Manka Dhingra held a double-digit lead over Republican Jinyoung Englund Tuesday night for the 45th District state Senate seat. — Holding a double-digit lead Tuesday night over her 45th District Senate opponent …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill and The Week

Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Democrats In Washington State Win Full Control Of The Government

Discussion: CNBC, GeekWire and Vox

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Maine just became the 33rd state to expand Medicaid — A ballot initiative will allow as many as 89,000 Maine residents to gain coverage. — Maine will become the 33rd state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, extending coverage to as many as 89,000 low-income residents.

Discussion: Politico, Axios, The Week and Mother Jones

New York Times:
Maine Ballot Question 2: Expand Medicaid Eligibility

Discussion: Forbes, Rewire and Balloon Juice

H.W. Vail / Vanity Fair:

Gay Talese Would Like to Profile Kevin Spacey — And not necessarily for the reason one might imagine. Plus more scenes from the New York Public Library's Literary Lions Gala. — One night a year, the New York Public Library, the Beaux-Arts bastion of the city's literary life, becomes a shade less public.

Discussion: Jezebel and Mediaite

Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
Author Gay Talese feels sorry for Kevin Spacey, says his accusers should ‘suck it up’

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Corey W. McDonald / New Jersey Online:

Ravi Bhalla wins Hoboken election, becomes N.J.'s first Sikh mayor — HOBOKEN — City Councilman Ravi Bhalla has emerged victorious in the six-person mayoral race, becoming the first Sikh mayor of the Mile Square City — and the state of New Jersey. — Bhalla, an Indian-American born in New Jersey …

Discussion: CNN, The Week, The Hill and 105.9 FM and AM 630

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Inside secret court hearing in Mueller's Trump-Russia probe — One of the first court appearances by special counsel Robert Mueller's team got off to an inauspicious start with a federal magistrate scolding prosecutors for being late. — “Where were you all?

CNN:

Trump attempted to go to DMZ but had to turn back because of weather — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Seoul (CNN)President Donald Trump attempted to make an unannounced visit to the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea on Wednesday morning, but was forced to turn back because of bad weather.

Discussion: KTLA, New York's PIX11, The Week and CBS Los Angeles

Shane Savitsky / Axios:
Trump in South Korea and China: Itinerary and photos

Discussion: ABC News

Trudy Ring / Advocate:

Jenny Durkan Elected Seattle Mayor … Jenny Durkan has been elected mayor of Seattle, making her the city's first out lesbian mayor and its first woman mayor since the 1920s. — Durkan won 61 percent of the vote, more than 21 percentage points ahead of her opponent, Cary Moon, The Seattle Times reports.

Discussion: GeekWire

Bloomberg:

Senator Menendez Juror Asks Trial Judge: ‘What Is a Senator?’ — On their first full day of jury deliberations at the bribery trial of Senator Robert Menendez, a juror asked the judge a basic question: What is a senator? — U.S. District Judge William Walls declined to answer the question …

Discussion: Instapundit and twitchy.com

afsa-nfe2015.informz.net:

Time to Ask Why — As I have done a few times previously this year, I am sharing with you an advance copy of my President's Views column for the December edition of The Foreign Service Journal. — ADVANCE COPY — President's Views — By AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson

Discussion: Axios and ABC News

Griffin Connolly / Roll Call:

Wasserman Schultz Ducks Questions On Brazile Accusations — Brazile accused former DNC chair of handing 2016 ops to Clinton campaign — O'Rourke Hosts 110 Barbecues in One Day for Senate Campaign Assault on Rand Paul Had ‘Absolutely Nothing’ to Do With Politics, Attacker's Lawyer …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Althouse and CBS Miami

Thomas Plank / Helena Independent Record:

Collins unseats Mayor Smith; ‘progressive ticket’ sweeps Helena City Commission — Wilmot Collins will be Helena's new mayor, unseating incumbent Jim Smith in a close race Tuesday. — Collins, 54, will be the city's first new mayor in 16 years after running a long campaign based in progressive principles.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.