Not every count is in, but the general ambiance is “Yay we took the house — and a bunch of governorships” and “Boo, they still have the Senate — and sadly, Trump.”
Our polling area
Old High School lobby – Photo: Garry Armstrong
Not exactly a giant blue wave. More like a little wave that laps the shore. Garry is depressed. He was hoping for something more defining. A blue tsunami. I just wanted them to retake the house. And it’s not over yet. Really, it’s not. We don’t even have the votes from the west coast yet.
Photo: Garry Armstrong
The poll, AKA the old high school – Photo: Garry Armstrong
More polling Photo: Garry Armstrong
I realized I didn’t have any pictures or a single post for tomorrow, so it’s 11:18 and here I am, writing. We took a few pictures at the poll and near it.
I think we’ll know a lot more after we hear about the votes from the west.
Polling
And we did retake the House. That’s a bigger deal than you realize. It also means Mueller is good to go. I wish he’d get a move on it. Throw us a bone.
Tell us something.
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Categories: #Photography, Election, Voting
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I’m a little bit in a Garry’s mood, too. Hoping for a giant blue tidal wave. But still so happy to see women elected in state houses in record numbers. From all wakes of life, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and faiths. This is what is most noticeable, I think. That and also that the suburbs voted and massively blue. We’ll get there!
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Yes, but there will still be a heavy undercurrent of racism in this country. There always has been and I don’t know if it can be exorcized. When kids are brought up with that, they don’t know how to let it go.
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well, look at it this way. The Red Sox won the Series, so it wasn’t all bad. And we gained a Democratic seat here in NH, so it’s baby steps, but still steps. Im not listening, but my husband has the melt down on whatever show he’s watching on his computer, and I can hear scraps of it through my ear plugs. It is not pretty. Lotta shouting. Lotta republican meltdown going on.
For a small town like Farmington, we had a serious number of voters out in force, rain or no rain. I didn’t even mind the 1/2 mile walk from the car to the polling place, or the walk back. Considering that this was a midterm election, that’s pretty good.
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It was pretty busy here, too and it wasn’t all senior citizens either. Other than our beloved (make no waves) governor, all of our other representatives and senators are Democrats. All in all, we gained 29 seats in the house and 7 new governors which ain’t bad. Not enough, but a reasonable start. At least 45 has a major piece of the government he doesn’t own. I’ll take it.
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Poor Garry. I expected a blue wave, too. There wasn’t even a line where I voted. Now I’m reading other’s thoughts on whether winning the House was a good thing or not such a good thing. There is still too much uncertainty. What I have realized is that I am not privy to ALL of the political goings-on. The emails, hallway convos, phone conversations, cocktail party talks in regard to what should we do if this happens or that happens. Because I believe our politicians plan way ahead of time out of the hearing or knowing of their public. Still, I voted because Hope springs eternal.
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Winning the house was great because now there’s an actual “check” on he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned. We got 28 reps (so far) and probably one or two more and many of them women. Two Natives and lots of Black and Hispanic WOMEN. Women!!
Are we where we need to be yet? No, but we are in a much better place than we were. You know, it didn’t take one election to create this disaster. It has been many years in the making. We aren’t going to overturn it in one mid-term election, but this certainly was more than I expected. Unlike my husband, I never expected the blue tsunami. Getting the house back — and 7 new Democratic governors — is pretty good. I’ll take it.
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Congratulations … it’s a good start. 🙂
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Yes, it is. And let’s see if we can hold the ground and gain on it.
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We were watching from Canada. It was on our news. Your country gets a lot of coverage here.
Leslie
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Leslie; not only Canada was watching – the whole world is…. such is the power and power’s reach of the USA!!! And this can be a very good or a very bad thing…. I’m a Swiss living in France and believe me I was quick like a flash this morning to see what the results were…. And it was in all the Swiss papers. France is taking marginally less note but behind the scenes I think they are quite aware of what it all means for them too.
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I think we did okay. At least Trump no longer holds both houses of Congress. That’s huge. AND we got a lot of women voted it. There is now a check on him and if he wants to accomplish anything, he’ll have to work with the House or his agenda is dead. There are many things that need doing and he can’t so them without Congress’s help. So we are considerably better off. Not the blue tsunami we wanted, but better.
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You are right Kiki, what goes on in the USA affects us all over the world.
Leslie
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I, like Garry, was a little disappointed, hoping for the big wave, but I’ll settle for the wavelet and hope it builds itself up in the next two years. A strong push from the House will help.
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And remember: you can’t pass a bill unless the House okays it. So I think we can at least breathe easier.
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So Trump won then?…. according to Trump , of course.
Hang in there, Garry! One victory at a time and you’ll get there. 😉
Chalk up one for the guys in the White Hats.
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We got back the House of Representatives. He kept the Senate. We won half a dozen governorships. Not bad. At least he can’t do anything he wants anymore. He needed BOTH houses for that. It wasn’t what Garry wanted, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
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I’m counting it as Win! 🙂
I said our miracle by election win was a good omen – remember??
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I tend to agree. Not perfect, but hey … what IS perfect?
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Trump hasn’t yet realized what impact this election will have over the next two years. He’ll no longer be able to do whatever he wants without discourse and negotiation. Yes, — we’ll get there one victory at a time, but this was huge!
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I don’t think a lot of people realize what a big deal it is to get back one of the houses of Congress. They (hopefully) will see soon enough.
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I agree… but Trump should not be under-estimated !?
If he doesn’t/cannot get what he wants then he will play dirty (his favourite) and make sure his opponents don’t either – or it willcost them more than they wanted to give.
He could still be very dangerous to the US… and the world. 😦
He’s not one to go down quietly – he’ll take as many as he can as low as he can so he feels he still won… that is what he is all about – him being higher up than anyone else – even if it means standing on the bow of a sinking ship so he’s the last one left he thinks he’s ‘won’.
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Yes, that’s true, but he can’t push through any legislation without the house. He’s still a dangerous and moronic narcissist, but at least we got back the house and 7 governorships. That’s more than I hoped for.
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No Doubt it was a decent result… i hope though that Dems don’t get so confident they think it’s going to be any easier over the next 2 years.
A wounded or cornered snake can be even more dangerous than a well-fed one.
I’d like to think his ability to offend or depress Americans and interested parties has been curtailed a little but i figure he’ll just find new ways to stir the pot. (and make more money/adulation for himself?)
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I think we are VERY aware of how dangerous he is. Maybe his arteries will clog?
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Maybe we should all send him a nice juicy fat hamburger each day?? 😉 Extra Cheese!
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Extra fat.
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I have been thinking of all of you so much last day and night and it seems that now you’re not the overall Hollywood Winners but safely on the better side – uff – you can all start breathing again!
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It’s better. It’s not a total sweep, but he can no longer run rampant without any kind of check on his behavior. And all the tallies aren’t in yet, so we’ll see.
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i’m happy for the progress we made, sad about some of the losses of good people who would have brought so much to the table, but progress on many fronts nonetheless. onward –
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Better. We’ve got further to go, but better. I think MUCH better.
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I was like Garry. I wanted a huge Blue Tsunami. I wanted the Dems to not only to take the House, but to take the Senate, as well and to win a bunch of gubernatorial races. And I wanted Donald Trump to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.
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I get that. That’s what he wanted too. But we got the House and Trump cannot just push through anything he wants unchecked. That is a LOT. Really, it is. Garry is not convinced, but it’s time to give ourselves a pat on the back, then think FORWARD.
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It is a step in the right direction. Was voter turnout good? People have mentioned queues to vote and polls staying open late but you always have queues don’t you? Good thing a lot of people use the pre-poll vote. I’ll try and catch some of the feedback tonight. I looked before I went to bed last night but it was too soon, voting had only just begun in some places. I will be interested to hear how the spin doctors play it. Politicians are good at making defeat sound like a victory.
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It was probably the best turnout EVER. The problem with non-voters is you cannot be sure which way they will vote. Garry was glum, but we won back the House of Representatives and a few Governors. That’s a LOT especially considering where we started. We aren’t going to turn this around in one mid-term election. But we GOT THE HOUSE.
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Yes and that’s worth being excited about. It will make a difference.
More people going to the trouble to vote is a great thing. Of course some of those new voters may have been motivated to vote for the other side but that’s to be expected I guess. I can understand how Garry would feel because I remember I felt crushed after the Liberals were re-elected for a second term. I couldn’t believe people could be so stupid after the things they had done. But next year I hope things will be different.
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I think it’s a right step. It’s a good start.
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Yes. It IS a good start and I think better than we had originally hoped for. I know everyone wants it to be back to Obama, but that’s not going to happen in one mid-term election.
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True, one step at a time.
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I’m actually pretty pleased with how things have worked out so far. It’s a step in the right direction.
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I agree. Garry wanted a Hollywood ending, but it was a mid-term election. I think we did pretty well and now, at least, there’s some balance in the government.
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At 9:33, the polls, which were supposed to close at 8 pm, are still open for those who were still in line at closing time — they have a 3-hour wait! The numbers that are coming in are just as evenly split as they have been nation-wide — with 1/3 of the votes reporting, a 50-50 split with 60 votes different in one race, and so on. At the moment, Rouda leads Rohrabacher by 80 votes — that is too tight for comfort, and could change again at any moment! We did take the House, and several of the Governorships, too — that IS huge!
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Garry was really disappointed that so many people DIDN’T try to oust Trump. I pointed out that a lot of people don’t care about anything but their own wallet and if it’s well-padded, they are happy. He simply cannot fathom that people accept this kind of behavior. I understand, but I have met a lot of people who thought entirely in the bottom line. I worked a lot more jobs than Garry and I learned a lot about those people. They always seem to own the company.
Personally, I think we did pretty well. Regaining Congress is not a small thing. It’s a very big deal.
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I agree. I didn’t see this election as an effort to oust Trump, but rather to stop his wild and irrational leadership. After all, although he tried, he was not on the ballot this time — just his support was on the ballot. I think we have a great deal in regaining the House — he will have some checks and balances now that he hasn’t had for the last two years. The huge turnout also speaks to the level of support (or lack thereof) for Trump’s actions. He’ll still try to “lead,” but Congress will be better able to take stands and make the government more accountable to the people. We will need to keep working towards 2020, but this was definitely the good start that was necessary at this time!
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Without the house, he can’t get policies in place. He really can’t. And I think maybe I can breathe again.
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Please take several deep breaths tonight and tomorrow!
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Marilyn, you were right. Bummed out but have moved on to whatever today presents for our pleasure or dismay.
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