09 November 22
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In the early hours of the morning, as it became clear that Fetterman had won his crucial Senate race, his watch party turned from tension to celebration.
But a tight-knit crew in the balcony was going nowhere: Fetterman’s closest friends from Braddock, and elsewhere, were hanging out, making visits to the bar, feeling nervously optimistic. “I’m getting bombarded with messages,” Matt Katase, who founded Brew Gentlemen, a popular brewery in Braddock, told me. Fetterman had put Katase up for three years in a repurposed convent that he owns while Katase got his business started. Patrick Jordan, who started barebones productions, a theatre company in Braddock, told me, “I’m nervous for so many reasons—for the big picture, but also, that’s our friend.” Jordan has known Fetterman and his wife, Gisele, for some fifteen years. “Gisele worked a full shift in Braddock’s Free Store on Election Day,” he said. “While John was serving as lieutenant governor, the Fettermans stayed put in Braddock. They turned down living in the mansion, but kids were bused in every summer to use its pool as a community resource.”
It was now officially November 9th, and, as the minutes passed between midnight and 1 A.M., returns were looking better and better for Fetterman. County by county, he was outperforming Joe Biden’s results from 2020, which edged him closer, by the minute, to a win. “The Fettermans are the real deal,” Jordan said. “There’s no bullshit there.”
In tricky elections, Pennsylvania, the nation’s fifth most populous state, can take days to call winners, and King was making the throat-clearing indications that it wasn’t going to happen tonight. Then, MSNBC called the race for Fetterman, as did CNN, the Times, and, finally, the A.P. Friends and supporters who’d been fading or chatting on the balcony hustled down to the floor and grabbed Fetterman signs. CNN turned on a live feed of the event, and members of the crowd chanted Fetterman’s name at images of themselves on large screens. “I’m in the middle of insanity,” Jordan texted. Jake Tapper, the CNN correspondent, observed that the headquarters of Dr. Mehmet Oz, in the wealthier eastern part of the state, was empty, and admiringly noted the vim of the Fetterman crowd—comments that respectively earned boos and cheers. When Fetterman tweeted his victory, it seemed that a virtual acceptance speech might be his appearance for the evening. Then flunkies began to flit on and off the stage, and the bass lit into “Back in Black” by AC/DC.
Here came the confident and self-possessed John Fetterman, who moved easily, and delivered remarks without a single malaprop. “We held the line,” he said. “I never expected that we were going to turn these red counties blue, but we did what we needed to do . . . and, tonight, that’s why I’ll be the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.”
“We believe in you!” a man shouted from the fawning crowd. Fetterman called Gisele onto the stage with him. “Six months ago, she saved my life, walking out of a Sheetz bathroom,” he said. “We bet on the people of Pennsylvania, and you didn’t let us down!” But it was Gisele who had the last word. “Now the mother in me tells everyone to go to bed tonight and get some sleep!” The crowd didn’t obey. Instead, his staff flooded the stage, and Fetterman reappeared to take a photograph with some hundred young and grinning fans who’d made the impossible happen.
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Voters cast their ballots for the US midterm elections inside a voting center in Los Angeles, California, on November 7, 2022. (photo: Patrick T Fallon/AFP)
‘Green wave’ expands to Maryland with voters opting for recreational cannabis while California votes to enshrine abortion rights
Multiple states voted on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana, part of a growing “green wave” that has already led to many relaxing their laws on cannabis use.
In Maryland, voters green-lighted a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana for adults over 21, making it the 20th state to take that step. The constitutional amendment in Maryland does not mean that adults can simply go into a shop and lawfully buy marijuana; rather it opens the door for Maryland’s state legislators to establish a legal industry.
That industry could start “as soon as” 1 July, according to the Baltimore Sun. The vote also means that adults 21 and over can legally raise up to two marijuana plants at their homes starting 1 July.
Voters in four other states – including Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota – were considering similar marijuana measures in elections seen as a test of legalization’s support in more conservative parts of the country. As of late Tuesday night, the results were mixed, with recreation marijuana measures rejected in Arkansas and North Dakota.
Another ballot measure on legal drug use was in Colorado, where voters weighed a ballot measure that, if passed, would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. The result of that proposition was still too close to call late on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, voters weighed up measures on abortion access in the wake of the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade. Reliably, Democratic California and Vermont voted to protect abortion rights in their state constitutions, while in Michigan – a closely watched presidential battleground – voters approved a ballot measure affirming the right to make personal reproductive decisions without interference.
California also rejected a ballot measure developed by a coalition of environmental and labor groups that would have raised taxes on the richest residents to address global heating by helping put more electric vehicles on the roads. The proposal, which was supported by Lyft, became highly contentious after governor Gavin Newsom and other opponents characterized it as a corporate carve-out for the ride-hailing platform.
A pair of competing measures that would have legalized sports betting in the state – and became the most expensive ballot initiative campaign in US history – failed by a landslide. Sports betting has been legalized in 30 states in the US but not in California, making it a large untapped market for gambling interests.
The two propositions would have expanded gambling access in the state in different ways, with one allowing sports betting online and the other limiting it to Native American casinos and the state’s four horse tracks. Californians overwhelmingly rejected both propositions, with 84% voting against sports betting online and 70% voting no on allowing it at Native American casinos.
Separately, California voted to ban flavored tobacco sales in the state, marking the fifth state in the US to do so.
In three states, Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont, voters approved measures to ban slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime, while Oregon remained too close to call. But Louisiana rejected a ballot question asking voters whether they supported a constitutional amendment to ban involuntary servitude in the criminal justice system.
While such changes will not force state prisons to immediately change, it could encourage legal challenges.
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Brittney Griner is escorted from a court room after a hearing, in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. (photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)
The process has begun for the WNBA All-Star to be transferred to a Russian penal colony, her legal team in Russia announced Wednesday in Moscow, a move her camp has dreaded since her August conviction on drug charges.
A long-shot appeal for Griner was denied on Oct. 25, opening the possibility she would be moved from her previous jail in Moscow to the significantly harsher conditions of a penal colony, where prisoners are forced into hard labor and often abused.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in August.
The transfer reportedly began Friday, a day after U.S. embassy officials met with Griner. Her attorneys reportedly said such transfers typically take weeks or months, so the move seemingly came far earlier than usual. Those attorneys say they no longer know where she is, as notification of her ultimate destination comes via physical mail and can take up to two weeks to arrive.
Griner's agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas released a statement requesting public support:
"Our primary concern continues to be BG's health and well-being. As we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing, we ask for the public's support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her."
It remains unclear how the move will affect negotiations for Griner's release between U.S. officials and Russia. The U.S. is believed to have offered convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in a 2-for-1 deal for Griner and fellow American prisoner Paul Whelan, but Russia has apparently demanded more in one of the highest-profile prisoner swap standoff in recent history.
Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor-turned-diplomat specializing in such matters has it will likely take a 2-for-2 deal to get Griner and Whelan home.
White House reacts to Brittney Griner's transfer
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre released a statement affirming the Biden administration's commitment to returning both prisoners:
Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long. As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony. As we have said before, the U.S. Government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens. In the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels. The U.S. Government is unwavering in its commitment to its work on behalf of Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia —including fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan.
Russia moving ahead with Griner's sentence on an expedited schedule could be a negotiation tactic, and ESPN noted officials believe the country is more likely to negotiate in good faith after Tuesday's midterm elections in the U.S., as Vladimir Putin's government would not want to give President Joe Biden a victory at such a pivotal time.
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Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock. (photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty; Megan Varner/Getty)
Neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) nor Republican Herschel Walker is projected to score the majority support needed to clinch the hotly contested Senate seat. The results mean that one of the most competitive statewide contests in the country will be left unresolved for weeks.
NBC News and CNN both projected the race would go to a runoff.
Under Georgia’s election laws, a candidate must receive at least 50 percent plus one to win an election outright.
Warnock and Walker will now advance to a Dec. 6 runoff election that will determine who will go to Washington next year.
A runoff in Georgia wasn’t entirely unexpected. The vast majority of polling in the race showed both candidates falling short of a majority in the lead-up to Election Day.
Still, the results carry a sense of maddening déjà vu for both parties. Two years ago, Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) advanced to runoffs against GOP incumbents in two Senate races in Georgia. Those runoffs ultimately ended in narrow wins for both Democrats — victories that handed their party Senate control.
Warnock is facing a much different political environment this year than he did in 2020. Democrats have played defense for much of the year, with Republicans hammering them over stubbornly high inflation, economic uncertainty and perceived rising crime.
Still, Walker, who was endorsed by former President Trump last year, had more than his fair share of stumbles on the campaign trail. He repeatedly faced questions about his personal life, business record and qualifications to serve in public office.
Warnock, meanwhile, sought to solidify his reputation as one of the Democratic Party’s most accomplished fundraisers, raking in tens of millions of dollars that helped him outgun Walker in campaign spending.
A pastor at Atlanta’s storied Ebenezer Baptist Church, Warnock frequently leaned on his rhetorical acumen and affable persona during his campaign. He often cast himself as a restrained presence in a chaotic political environment, ignoring attacks from his critics and playing up his bipartisan achievements in Washington.
But that wasn’t enough to win him the election outright. With the general election out of the way, Warnock and Walker will now enter a chaotic four-week sprint to the runoff.
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Campaigners outside a polling station in Brattleboro, Vermont encourage voters to vote yes on Article 22 during the midterm elections. (photo: Kristopher Radder/AP)
The amendment adds another layer of protection in Vermont that abortion rights advocates say is necessary in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The right to an abortion is already protected in Vermont under a 2019 state law.
The amendment was largely expected to pass in the left-leaning state. Two consecutive state legislatures approved the proposed amendment before it was added to the ballot. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has also signaled his support for the amendment.
Still, in the leadup to Election Day, anti-abortion groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on canvassing services and ad campaigns to convince Vermonters to vote no. Some critics of the new constitutional amendment said its language is overly broad. Others were concerned that it could allow for late-term abortions.
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Kirill Stremousov is pictured in his office, with a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin seen on the wall behind him, in the city of Kherson on July 20, 2022. (photo: Kirill Stremousov Telegram Channel)
Russian state media reports Moscow-appointed official in occupied Ukrainian region killed in car crash under unclear circumstances.
The TASS news agency said the death on Wednesday had been confirmed by the press service for the head of the region, without giving details of the circumstances.
“It’s true,” TASS quoted the press service as saying.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Sergei Aksyonov, head of the Russia-annexed Crimea Peninsula, called Stremousov a “true fighter” and a “Russian patriot”. Aksyonov did not specify the cause of the death.
A Ukrainian and Russian national, Stremousov was one of the most prominent public faces of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s territory. He was regularly using social media to promote war propaganda, including video updates while being inside vehicles moving at speed.
In his latest Telegram update on Wednesday morning, Stremousov said the Ukrainian offensive in the region had unsuccessfully tried to break through the Russian forces’ defence line.
“The situation is under the full control of the Russian military,” he said.
Ukrainian legislator Oleksiy Goncharenko called Stremousov a “traitor”.
“He actively opposed the surrender of Kherson and said that Russia is here forever. And then he mysteriously dies,” he said on Twitter.
Lately, Stremousov had been urging civilians to evacuate the western bank of the Dnieper River in the face of a mounting Ukrainian counteroffensive to take the southern region, which Russia claimed to have annexed.
Ukrainian officials have been weary of such statements as well as blatant signs of a Russian defeat in Kherson, including photos circulated on social media of key buildings no longer flying Russian flags, saying they could be a trap.
Kherson, which sits just northwest of Crimea, was occupied during the first week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Since then, it has seen regular civilian protests that were put down by Russian troops.
In July, another official of the Kherson military-civilian administration, Dmitry Savluchenko, was killed in a bomb blast.
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Democratic incumbent Governor Tony Evers celebrates during an election night event at The Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wisconsin. (photo: Jim Vondruska/Getty)
Climate action could be moving forward in Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, and even Texas.
The biggest setback of the night was in California, where voters rejected a proposal to raise taxes on multi-millionaires to fund electric vehicles for low-income people. Some races, like for Oregon governor and Arizona Corporation Commission have yet to be called. Even so, the early results show 2023 to be a year of serious headway in states on climate change.
Here are the biggest policy outcomes for climate change based on the wins and losses Tuesday night. We’re going to be updating it as more races are called.
Minnesota and Michigan can pass long-awaited climate laws
Democrats appear to have gained control of state chambers and the governor’s seat in four new states — Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, and Massachusetts. (As of writing, the AP hasn’t called the Minnesota state Senate race, but Dems are declaring victory.) The wins finally give those states an upper hand to push through new climate goals.
The biggest shift will be felt in Minnesota and Michigan. “Those are places where they’re ready to pass climate legislation,” according to Caroline Spears, executive director of the PAC Climate Cabinet Action, an organization that supports down-ballot candidates. Minnesota may be the next state to enact legislation to meet the state’s climate goals of boosting the 1 percent of electric vehicles to 20 percent by 2030, meet a zero-carbon new buildings target, and restore forests and wetlands. And Michigan, traditionally home of the US auto industry, could make new headway on clean cars.
Voters held off red supermajorities in three crucial states
Republicans fell just shy of gaining the supermajorities they hoped for in three state legislatures: Wisconsin, Montana, and North Carolina. Two of those states, Wisconsin and North Carolina, have Democratic governors who have issued climate executive orders. If Republicans had gained a veto-proof majority in those states, they were likely to reverse Democratic climate policies, and possibly go further. In North Carolina, for example, the state legislature has attempted to pass preemption laws blocking climate action in its cities. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the preemption bill passed by the Republican-controlled legislature.
In Montana, the GOP also was just two seats away from gaining a supermajority. The state has a Republican governor, but the results still mattered, in part, because there is a right to environmental protections enshrined in the state constitution. “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” The language means the state legislature has to play a role in protecting the environment for everyone, as an inalienable right. The supermajority would have met the state’s threshold to propose amendments to change that.
Billions of dollars more for climate infrastructure in New York
New York overwhelmingly passed $4.2 billion in state-issued bonds that will go to climate change. It breaks down as $1.5 billion for pollution cleanup, wetland protection, clean energy projects, and electric school bus fleets, with another $1 billion in coastal shoreline restoration, and the rest split between sewage infrastructure and land and fishery conservation.
A climate win in red Texas
Democrats have failed to gain a foothold in statewide Texas races for years, but further down the ballot, they’ve made more headway. Throughout the campaign, the race for Harris County Judge — a position that acts like the CEO of the area — was a nail-biter between incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo and Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer. On Wednesday morning, Mealer conceded her loss to Hidalgo.
Harris County encompasses Houston, and is home to sprawling oil and petrochemical industrial operations. Hidalgo’s first term as county judge saw her emphasize environmental priorities — including incorporating climate flood maps into city planning and hiring environmental prosecutors. Hidalgo’s expansion of the county’s pollution budget and air monitors has earned her a strong reputation among climate advocates. Mealer, for her part, had told the Houston Chronicle that climate change wouldn’t be her priority.
Michigan’s fight to shut down Line 5 will continue
Democrats had a big night in Michigan, making it more likely that Enbridge Line 5, a 1950s-era liquid gas and crude oil pipeline that transports 22 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids through Wisconsin and Michigan, will eventually shut down. Both Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, two incumbents who fended off GOP challengers, want to see the line closed, and have an ongoing lawsuit against the company to close the pipeline over its potential to wreak havoc on natural areas and tribal lands. Nessel’s opponent for AG, Matthew DePerno, also a 2020 election denier, had promised to drop the state’s lawsuits if elected, allowing the pipeline to continue indefinitely.
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