The Full Belmonte, 11/10/2022
The latest results
Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a New York Democrat, conceded yesterday.Kenny Holston for The New York Times
“Control of the House remains unclear. Republicans are nearing a narrow House majority.” Read more at New York Times
“Senate control is also uncertain, with races in Nevada and Arizona uncalled. The Georgia Senate race will go to a December runoff between Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Herschel Walker, a former football star.” Read more at New York Times
“It could take days to count Nevada’s tens of thousands of remaining ballots. In Arizona, Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is leading.” Read more at New York Times
“In Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican who frequently spreads misinformation, beat Mandela Barnes, the Democratic lieutenant governor, to win re-election.” Read more at New York Times
“Voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and other states rejected Republican candidates who cast doubt on the 2020 election results. But such candidates won in Ohio and North Carolina.” Read more at New York Times
“Alaska’s Senate seat will go to a Republican, either the incumbent, Senator Lisa Murkowski, or Kelly Tshibaka, who was endorsed by Donald Trump.” Read more at New York Times
“Republicans across the party publicly criticized Trump after many of his handpicked candidates lost.” Read more at New York Times
An election worker arrives with ballots to be tabulated inside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office on Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona.
Astronomical spending to flood Georgia
Photo illustration: Maura Losch/Axios. Photos: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, Sean Rayford/Getty Images
“Hundreds of millions of dollars will flood Georgia over the next few weeks if — as looks possible — Senate control hinges on the Dec. 6 runoff between Herschel Walker (R) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Axios' Alexi McCammond, Emma Hurt and Lachlan Markay report.
Walker and National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Rick Scott are already hitting up donors.
‘It's crucial that we raise the resources to stay on television,’ they wrote yesterday in a memo obtained by the group Documented and shared with Axios.” Read more at Axios
Marijuana
“Ballot measures that will legalize marijuana are expected to pass in two statesand fail in three others, CNN projects, as momentum has grown nationwide to push for lifting penalties once associated with cannabis. Voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota rejected measures that would have allowed certain amounts of cannabis possession and recreational consumption for people 21 and older. CNN projects Maryland and Missouri will approve measures to legalize recreational marijuana use. In Maryland specifically, individuals who were previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute will also be able to apply for record expungement. Recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in 19 states, along with Washington, DC.” Read more at CNN
Women, suburban voters and Latinos help drive 2022 election
“The anticipated ‘red wave’ barely registered as a ripple in Tuesday’s midterm elections, with Democrats defying dismal projections and perhaps underscoring President Joe Biden’s characterization of the day as a battle for democracy and preservation of abortion rights despite voters’ ongoing economic pains. And while it remains unclear whether Republicans or Democrats will have control of Congress in January, other analysts credited additional demographic forces and trends – namely women and suburban voters – for influencing Democrats' strong showings in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.” Read more
•Abortion rights were on the ballot in these 5 states. Here's what voters decided.
•Kentucky voters rejected an amendment that would have ended right to an abortion.
•Recreational weed is now legal in 21 states: Here's where it passed and where it was rejected.
•How Republicans fared in school board elections all over the country.” Read more at USA Today
Supporters cheer during an election night event for Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman on Nov. 9, 2022 in Pittsburgh. Fetterman defeated Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.Jeff Swensen, Getty Images
“Abortion clarity | US voters made it resoundingly clear they don’t want the near-total abortion bans currently being pushed across the nation following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs Wade. Americans supported upholding reproductive rights in four states that held referendums, and opposition to restrictions helped tip races elsewhere even if abortion wasn’t specifically on the ballot.” Read more at Bloomberg
Trump's new torments
New York Post covers from yesterday (left) and today capture Trump's new pressure.
“Some allies of President Trump are considering distancing themselves from his presumptive 2024 presidential campaign after Tuesday night's Republican disappointments across the map, Jonathan Swan reports.
Why it matters: Trump's involvement in Pennsylvania's Senate race, which the GOP lost — plus his endorsement of hard-right House candidates who lost or are struggling — dented his aura as a power broker.
‘Trump’s invincible … until he’s suddenly not,’ a former senior Trump administration official said.
‘But after so many false alarms, no one knows when will be the time we look back at and say: 'In retrospect, it was over then — we just couldn’t know for sure in the moment.’
What we're hearing: Tuesday's quick disaster in Pennsylvania clouded what might be a more tolerable final outcome for Trump-endorsed candidates.
Trumpworld is holding out hope that he could still come up with wins in the too-close-to-call Senate races in Nevada and Arizona.
Kari Lake, the Trump-aligned candidate for Arizona governor, is also still fighting a neck-and-neck race.
Behind the scenes: Some of Trump’s top advisers want him to delay his ‘big announcement’ — likely of a 2024 presidential campaign — until after the Georgia runoff election on Dec. 6.
But Trump has made clear he has no intention of listening to that advice, at least for now.
Zoom out: Many Republican elites and influential GOP lawmakers have been done with Trump for a long while — and felt even more done with him after Tuesday.
Several well-known Republicans declined an opportunity to tell Swan on the record that they feel it's time to move on from Trump.
Their desire to keep their views private shows Trump, and his hold over a hardcore portion of the base, still scares them.
What's next: All GOP eyes will be on the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting in Las Vegas next week.
Trump isn't in the speaker lineup. But it's a who’s-who of potential 2024 opponents: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
The other thing we're watching — and haven't yet seen — is whether GOP megadonors start to publicly repudiate Trump.
Ken Griffin — the billionaire CEO and big Republican donor, endorsed DeSantis in an interview published by Politico this week: ‘I think it’s time to move on to the next generation.’
The intrigue: Pence’s memoir, ‘So Help Me God,’ will be out Tuesday, giving him a big burst of media attention.
An excerpt was published yesterday by The Wall Street Journal, and quickly made the rounds in GOP circles.
The headline: ‘My Last Days With Donald Trump.’” Read more at Axios
A rare November hurricane for storm-weary Florida
“Hurricane Nicole made landfall early Thursday on North Hutchinson Island, just south of Vero Beach, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It's the first hurricane to make landfall so late in the year on the east coast of Florida. New warnings and watches were issued for many parts of the state, including the southwestern Gulf coastline which was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 28. As a tropical storm, Nicole made its first landfall at 11:55 a.m. Wednesday on Great Abaco Island in the northwestern Bahamas.” Read more at USA Today
Listeria outbreak
“The CDC issued a warning Wednesday about a deadly listeria outbreak in six states that has been linked to contaminated deli meat and cheese. People at high risk of severe illness from listeria infection -- such as pregnant people, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems -- should not eat meat or cheese from any deli counter without first reheating it ‘steaming hot,’ the CDC said in a statement. At least one death was reported in Maryland and 16 people have been infected, according to reports from six states. If you have recently purchased deli cheese or meat, the agency recommends a careful cleaning of your refrigerator -- and any containers or surfaces the meat or cheese may have touched -- with hot, soapy water.” Read more at CNN
“Two events underlined the challenges Russian President Vladimir Putin now faces over his invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian military’s order late yesterday for troops to retreat from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is a major setback on the battlefield. And Putin’s decision not to go to next week’s Group of 20 summit in Indonesia underlines his diminishing diplomatic clout.
Key reading:
Russia to Exit Kherson, Its First Big City Seized in Ukraine
Putin’s Elite Tremble as Hardliners Call for ‘Stalinist’ Steps
Xi Tells Scholz China Opposes Nuclear Force in Message to Putin
Putin wasn’t present when his defense minister and top military commander in Ukraine announced the pullout in a televised meeting. The Kremlin isn’t eager to associate the president with defeats that contradict his claim to have annexed Kherson and three other Ukrainian territories forever.
Equally, the risk of Putin facing harsh public criticism over his invasion from US President Joe Biden and other world leaders at the G-20 outweighed any potential gain from attending.
Putin might have looked to Chinese President Xi Jinping or Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for some diplomatic cover. But both sent signals of discontent in the past week: Xi warned against any use of nuclear weapons, and Modi’s foreign minister made clear in Moscow that developing nations are feeling ‘pain very acutely’ from the conflict’s stoking of food and energy insecurity.
The top US military commander estimated yesterday that more than 100,000 Russians have been killed or wounded since Putin began his February invasion, with probably a similar number on Ukraine’s side.
Even as his difficulties mount at home and abroad, though, there’s no sign yet that Putin is ready to throw in the towel and sue for peace. His room for maneuver is narrowing all the same.” ” Read more at Bloomberg
A destroyed Russian tank on the roadside in Izyum, Ukraine. Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images
The World’s Democracies Ask: Why Can’t America Fix Itself?
Conversations across continents reveal alarm over the United States’ direction, as it slides away from ideals it once pressed other nations to adopt.
By Damien Cave
Damien Cave reported from Taipei, Taiwan, and Sydney, Australia. Times colleagues contributed from around the world.
Nov. 8, 2022.
“Lin Wei-hsuan was just a child when he observed his first Taiwanese election almost two decades ago. His parents took him to watch the vote-counting, where volunteers held up each paper ballot, shouting out the choice and marking it on a board for all to see — the huge crowd of citizens inside, and many more watching live on television.
The open process, established islandwide after decades of martial law, was one of several creative steps that Taiwan’s leaders took to build public trust in democracy and to win over the United States, whose support might deter China’s aim of unification.
At the time, America was what Taiwan aspired to be. But now, many of the democracies that once looked to the United States as a model are worried that it has lost its way. They wonder why a superpower famous for innovation is unable to address its deep polarization, producing a president who spread false claims of election fraud that significant parts of the Republican Party and the electorate have embraced….
For most of the world, the U.S. midterms are little more than a blip — but they are another data point on what some see as a trend line of trouble. Especially in countries that have found ways to strengthen their democratic processes, interviews with scholars, officials and voters revealed alarm that the United States seemed to be doing the opposite and sliding away from its core ideals.
Several critics of America’s direction cited the Jan. 6 riots, a violent rejection of democracy’s insistence on the peaceful transfer of power. Others expressed concern about states’ erecting barriers to voting after the record turnout that resulted from widespread early and absentee voting during the pandemic. A few said they worried that the Supreme Court was falling prey to party politics, like judiciaries in nations struggling to establish independent courts.” Read more at New York Times
“Cultural division | The murder of two gay men in Slovakia triggered an initial outcry of sympathy for the victims, but in the month since, signs have emerged that the country is affirming rather than softening its conservativestance on minority rights. Church leaders and politicians have reasserted views similar to those espoused by politicians in neighboring Poland and Hungary, where crackdowns on LGBTQ communities are widening a cultural division between the European Union’s east and west.” Read more at Bloomberg
Paul Allen collection smashes auction record
Art handlers display Sandro Botticelli's "Madonna of the Magnificat," which sold for $48 million yesterday, during an October preview in London. Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
“Paul Allen's art collection fetched more than $1.5 billion at Christie's New York last evening — Part 1 of a two-day auction of works owned by the late Microsoft co-founder, Axios' Felix Salmon and Rebecca Falconer report.
Why it matters: The $1,506,386,000 reached for the 60 works owned by Allen obliterates the previous record for the most valuable private collection ever auctioned — set when divorcing spouses Harry and Linda Macklowe sold their artworks for $922 million last year.
Paintings by five celebrated artists each sold for more than $100 million:
Paul Gaugin ($106m) ... Georges Seurat ($149m) ... Paul Cézanne ($138m) ... Vincent Van Gogh ($117m) ... and Gustav Klimt ($105m).
Cézanne's "La Montagne Sainte-Victoire," which sold for $138 million yesterday. Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Today, Christie's will auction a further 95 artworks from Allen's collection.” Read more at Axios
Powerball plot twist
“The owner of a California gas station where the $2 billion Powerball ticket was purchased is the father-in-law of former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle and fan favorite Domata Peko, according to multiple reports. Joe Chahayed owns Joe's Service Center in Altadena, California. He is expected to receive about $1 million. Peko played for the Bengals from 2006 to 2016. He also played for the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals before retiring after the 2020 NFL season.” Read more at USA Today
Denver Broncos nose tackle Domata Peko (94) and Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins (97) talk after a Week 13 NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018, at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Denver Broncos won and the Cincinnati Bengals fell to 5-7 on the season with the loss. Kareem Elgazzar
“Lives Lived: The sculptor Lee Bontecou was one of the first women shown at the influential Leo Castelli Gallery, but she bristled at any suggestion that her work had feminist motivations. ‘Art is art,’ she said. She died at 91.” Read more at New York Times