Top Items:
Zachary D. Carter / The Atlantic:
The Democratic Unraveling Began With Schools — Republican Glenn Youngkin's victory in Tuesday's Virginia gubernatorial election was about schools. It wasn't about Donald Trump, or inflation, or defunding the police, or Medicare for All, or President Joe Biden's infrastructure agenda.
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, Townhall, The Federalist, Bloomberg and HotAir
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Tim Miller / The Bulwark:
Virginia Results: Giving Up on Rural America Is Proving a Nightmare for Democrats — Margins matter. — About a year ago I wrote about the big “trade” that had taken place in our politics. Democrats were picking up former Republican “red dogs” who live in the suburbs.
Discussion:
HotAir, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Fox News, The Hill, Washington Examiner, National Review and Townhall
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Let the Democratic freakout begin — DRIVING THE DAY — THE NAIL BITER — New Jersey's gubernatorial race is still too close to call as you wake up this morning. With 88% of the expected vote in, incumbent PHIL MURPHY is trailing Republican JACK CIATTARELLI by just over 1,000 votes.
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Post, The Bay State Banner, New York Magazine, Fox News, WTOP, The Daily Beast, ABC News and Instapundit
Philip Murphy / New York Times:
New Jersey Election Results — In New Jersey, the headline matchup is between Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, Jack Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman. The entire State Legislature is also up for election, and there are two ballot questions. Read more »
Discussion:
HotAir, Sacramento Bee, The Daily Caller and RedState
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
A sobering reality hits Democrats after Tuesday's elections losses — Democrats awoke Wednesday to a sobering reality. A year after celebrating victory in the 2020 elections, their slender congressional majorities are now even more at risk than they feared, and it is not clear that President Biden …
Discussion:
Fox News, USA Today, Politico, Bloomberg, The Daily Wire and Florida Politics
Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:
Takeaways from Tuesday's elections: Bad omens for Democrats — The off-year elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey tend to receive outsize attention, and the results are mined for deeper meaning about what they portend for the midterm elections the following year that determine which party controls Congress.
Jim Swift / The Bulwark:
How McAuliffe Lost Virginia — An uninspiring candidate with no big ideas and terrible messaging. — Going into the 2021 gubernatorial election in Virginia, a state that Joe Biden won by ten points, former governor Terry McAuliffe likely reasoned that he had a good chance of repeating his remarkable feat from eight years earlier:
Discussion:
Washington Post, Virginia Mercury, CNN, Associated Press, Breitbart, Townhall, KTLA, Washington Examiner, The Guardian and Mother Jones
Robby Soave / Reason:
Glenn Youngkin Defeated Terry McAuliffe Because Democrats Betrayed Parents — While former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's loss to Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin was cemented very late on election night, in practice the day that he forfeited the gubernatorial race was September 28.
Discussion:
Fox News, We Love Trump and RedState
Charles Sykes / Politico:
Terry McAuliffe Bet on Voters Hating Trump. Turns Out They Dislike Democrats More. — The Republican Party — populated with cranks, crooks, clowns, bigots and deranged conspiracy theorists — has spent five years alienating women, minorities and young voters.
Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:
The Next Democratic Reckoning
The Next Democratic Reckoning
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, The Hill, Reuters, BizPac Review, One America News Network and NBC New York
Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
5 takeaways from Republicans' big win in Virginia and the shocker in New Jersey
5 takeaways from Republicans' big win in Virginia and the shocker in New Jersey
Discussion:
Washington Post, Newsweek, New York Times, HuffPost, Vanity Fair, National Review, ABC News, Washington Examiner and The Hill
Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
Who is Glenn Youngkin and How Did He Win the Virginia Governor's Race?
Who is Glenn Youngkin and How Did He Win the Virginia Governor's Race?
Discussion:
HotAir, Washington Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Forbes
Washington Examiner:
A deserved Democratic defeat and Republican victory
A deserved Democratic defeat and Republican victory
Discussion:
Persuasion, New York Magazine, CBS News, Los Angeles Times and Associated Press
Lisa Lerer / New York Times:
What Youngkin's Win in the Virginia Governor Race Means for Democrats
What Youngkin's Win in the Virginia Governor Race Means for Democrats
Discussion:
Fox News, NBC News, Bloomberg, NPR and Washington Post
Washington Post:
Trump campaign payments for ‘command centers’ at D.C. hotels could undermine executive privilege claim in Jan. 6 investigation — It was a month after the 2020 presidential election, and Bernard Kerik was starting to panic. The former New York City police chief and his friend Rudolph W. Giuliani …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars
Zach Williams / City & State New York:
Byron Brown's write-in gambit apparently worked — The former state Democratic Party chair worked with the GOP to seemingly defeat socialist India Walton. — Byron Brown at his election night party on Nov. 2. — When India Walton won the June Democratic mayoral primary for Buffalo mayor …
Discussion:
Fox News, Democrat and Chronicle, Buffalo News, New York Post, New York Magazine, WIVB-TV, Forbes and Washington Examiner
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Jerry Zremski / Buffalo News:
Walton failed to broaden support beyond her primary base
Walton failed to broaden support beyond her primary base
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Amitai Ziv / Reuters:
U.S. Blacklists Israeli Cyberarms Firms NSO, Candiru for Harming ‘National Security and Interests’ — NSO Group and Candiru developed and supplied spyware ‘to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers,’ the U.S. Commerce Department said in a statement
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Times of Israel, more at Techmeme »
Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Dem disaster: Did they lose ... *New Jersey*? — Joe Biden won New Jersey by sixteen points one year ago. Polls had incumbent Democrat governor Phil Murphy ahead outside the margin of error. Challenger Jack Ciattarelli jumped out to a lead in early vote counting, but everyone knew Murphy …
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Brent Johnson / New Jersey Online:
N.J. election 2021: N.J. governor race still too close to call. Murphy, Ciattarelli waiting for all votes to be counted.
N.J. election 2021: N.J. governor race still too close to call. Murphy, Ciattarelli waiting for all votes to be counted.
Discussion:
NorthJersey.com, New York Post, UPI, Breitbart, CNN, Associated Press, Fox News and Twitchy
Matt Friedman / Politico:
Shocker in New Jersey: Governor's race a nail-biter
Shocker in New Jersey: Governor's race a nail-biter
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, New York Post, Power Line, The Daily Wire, The Dispatch, BizPac Review, CBS New York and Bloomberg
David French / Common Sense with Bari Weiss:
The Threat From the Anti-Woke Right — America is confronting two powerful illiberal movements. Where you stand on their relative threats depends on where you live. … Late last week, my friends Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt published an important piece in the online journal Persuasion that contained a startling statistic.
Discussion:
The Dispatch
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Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Republicans Schooled the Left in Virginia
Republicans Schooled the Left in Virginia
Discussion:
Reason and New Republic
Meryl Kornfield / Washington Post:
Why hundreds of QAnon supporters showed up in Dallas, expecting JFK Jr.'s return — In rainy Dallas with temperatures dipping into the low 60s, hundreds huddled with umbrellas, flags and signs to wait for history to be made on Tuesday. Some even brought folding chairs.
Discussion:
The Hill, VICE, Newsweek, Insider, The Daily Beast, Dallas Morning News, Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Mediaite, Forbes, D Magazine, Rolling Stone, Althouse, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, POLITICUSUSA, WGN-TV, Texomashomepage.com, Raw Story, Vanity Fair, Slate and Gizmodo
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon:
Merkley Statement on Rahm Emanuel Nomination — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement regarding the nomination of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Japan:
Discussion:
Washington Post and Mediaite
Star Tribune:
Minneapolis voters reject plan to replace Police Department — Nearly 18 months after George Floyd was filmed pleading for breath under an officer's knee, community groups remain divided on how to change the system. — TEXT SIZE — MORE — Minneapolis voters on Tuesday rejected …
Discussion:
HotAir, CNN, National Review, New York Times, The Daily Caller, The Texas Tribune, New York Post, BuzzFeed News, USA Today, Washington Free Beacon, ABC News and TheGrio
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Dear Colleague on Moving the Build Back Better Act Forward — Last Thursday, House Democrats proudly put forth our Build Back Better legislation. While it was a reduction in dollars from the original $3.5 trillion package, it was not a reduction in values.
Discussion:
Insider, The Hill and POLITICUSUSA
Wall Street Journal:
Military Coups in Africa at Highest Level Since End of Colonialism — Attempted or successful coups in Africa are occurring more frequently as democratic states buckle under pressure from Covid-19 — On the day before launching the coup that halted Sudan's democratic transition last month …
Andrew Jacobs / New York Times:
Widespread Coronavirus Infection Found in Iowa Deer, New Study Says — The analysis by Penn State and Iowa researchers strongly indicates that deer are getting the virus from humans, worrying experts about a deep wild reservoir for the virus. — A new study of hundreds of white-tailed deer infected …
Discussion:
bioRxiv and New York Post
Bess Levin / Vanity Fair:
Trump's Odds of Escaping Criminal Charges in Georgia Do Not Look Good — Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger confirms the ex-president threatened him over the 2020 election results while demanding he magically come up with enough votes to beat Biden.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Fox News, Raw Story and The Hill
Politico:
The end of Manchema — Are they Sinemanch or Manchema? The debate can probably cease. — The centrist Democratic senators from Arizona and West Virginia, once united on shaving down the cost of a party-line social spending bill that started at $3.5 trillion, are now going their own …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Yahoo News, Washington Post and ABC News
Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
Supreme Court hears arguments on scope of Second Amendment and gun control laws — (CNN)Two days after hearing a major abortion case, the Supreme Court will take the bench again on Wednesday to discuss another topic that bitterly divides the country: gun rights.
Discussion:
Raw Story, FiveThirtyEight, New York Times and Wall Street Journal
Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Haley: ‘2021 Is the Year Socialism Took Control’ in America — Nikki Haley, former Trump administration ambassador to the United Nations and a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate, criticized her own party on Wednesday for allowing America to be taken over by far-left socialists.
Discussion:
National Review