Update: 7.30am London time
If you are a R senator in a state less red than Ky. you are in deep trouble
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) November 6, 2019
The conventional wisdom shaping up is that we shouldn't read too much into Kentucky governor's race, Bevin was unpopular, local issues mattered etc.
But it's hard to believe that given fact Trump went down to Kentucky and personally staked claim on race & nationalising it. https://t.co/pMpZYszQko— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 6, 2019
NEW: Democrats claim total control of Virginia thanks to the suburban shift away from the GOP and Trump isn’t enough to save Bevin
On this off-off year election and what it told us >https://t.co/6ofJNLPH8N
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 6, 2019
Sen. @timkaine: "The reason we won is, Democrats in Virginia, we run as a practical problem-solving progressives, while the Republicans run as the ideologues." #VALeg pic.twitter.com/MZXMe8obq1
— The Hill (@thehill) November 6, 2019
The woman who lost her job after displaying her middle finger at President Trump's motorcade has won a seat on a county board of supervisors in Virginia. https://t.co/vefTTdGbBC
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 6, 2019
Since Trump took office, Democrats have flipped governorships in Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, and now, Virginia and Kentucky.
The people have had enough.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 6, 2019
My latest: Alarm in the GOP tonight following the Kentucky outcome… Scott Reed tells me “the Republican Party is lacking message discipline, and that needs to be addressed… it seems to be overwhelmed by the drama.” https://t.co/bFG9RHfbHH
— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 6, 2019
Mitch McConnell has a serious Russian Aluminum Plant issue on his hands in Kentucky. He voted to lift sanctions on a Russian Oligarch that then immediately invested hundreds of millions of dollars into a scam in KY. I imagine the new Governor will be interested in that.
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) November 6, 2019
Earlier: Dems upbeat in key elections as impeachment process heats up
BREAKING NEWS New numbers in from the voter registrar in Virginia Beach. As of 5pm 96,000 people have voted compared to 63,000 in 2015 when the entire General Assembly was up for election. That is 32% and climbing. @WAVY_News
— Andy Fox (@AndyFoxWAVY) November 5, 2019
Polls are closed in Virginia as the General Assembly's balance of power is at stake.
Follow our election results here: https://t.co/TZkPt8nhyo
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 6, 2019
Virginians are voting today in races that will determine which party controls the state Legislature. The results will test of the strength of anti-Trump sentiment in a state that has been trending blue. https://t.co/e3XsHokgd6
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 5, 2019
If Democrats take control of the Virginia state legislature on Tuesday, they will hold unified power for the 1st time in a generation. Yet in the western edge of the Washington suburbs that have turned the state blue, this election is mostly about traffic. https://t.co/J5IE0AI3jc
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) November 5, 2019
THREAD on races to watch & how to roughly interpret tonight's results:
1. Dems are having a bad/terrible night if they: lose #KYGOV, #MSGOV, fail to take over the VA House of Dels. and only muster a 20-20 tie in VA Senate by picking up #SD13
(unlikely)
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 5, 2019
Thread…
Some way, way down-ballot races to watch:
🗳️South Bend Mayor – Pete Buttigieg's former CoS is running to replace him. Heavily Dem city, but margin could indicate views of his legacy.
🗳️ Philly – Dem machine vs. left insurgency (@WorkingFamilies) in 2 at-large city council seats.— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) November 6, 2019
so the demographic group that's overrepresented in tipping point states and that swung most dramatically to trump is the least visible to polling and relatively less likely to vote in a low turnout election so we're basically just flying blind
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) November 5, 2019
In other words, when it comes to getting out the vote, President Trump motivates his opposition as much as he motivates his own base.https://t.co/bL9sDGqweN
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) November 5, 2019
Polls close 8 pm! #bospoli pic.twitter.com/gz1VwRgBht
— Boston Ward 4 Dems (@Ward4Dems) November 6, 2019
Meanwhile, today’s Impeachment update…
NEWS: Sondland has provided new testimony to impeachment investigators. He says he told a top Ukranian official in September that to get the aid unlocked the Ukrainians would likely need to put out a statement committing to the investigations. https://t.co/JpGQzdmefg
— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) November 5, 2019
The Quid Pro Quo was found.
Donald Trump's million $$ donor & handpicked Amb. Sondland confirmed that US military aid was used to extort foreign ally Ukraine into smearing Joe Biden for Trump's personal political benefit.
This is a high crime & misdemeanor. pic.twitter.com/P01bPaVsyy
— Joel Rubin (@JoelMartinRubin) November 5, 2019
Ok, so, thanks to Sondland's re-invigorated memory, it is now a matter of record that Trump wanted a *statement* more than an *investigation* (though this was already obvious) pic.twitter.com/VrvcgWhz66
— Just Plain Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) November 5, 2019
This Sonland debacle today should remind us that As hire Bs and Bs hire Cs and Trump hires clowns.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 5, 2019
.@RudyGiuliani told us that he was no rogue actor and was invited by the State Department to get involved in Ukraine. But the depositions that came out today show that he was not telling the truth about that.https://t.co/51J1ORyBrE
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 6, 2019
Since Graham is so eager to apply obviously inapt principles of courtroom behavior to the impeachment process … doesn't this mean that, on his own terms, he should have to recuse himself from the Senate trial? https://t.co/aJCONrbPt3
— Josh Chafetz (@joshchafetz) November 5, 2019
A pair of Giuliani allies have been sending around a brutal, thinly sourced, and kinda bizarre oppo file on Steve Bannon after he publicly criticized Giuliani's legal work for Trump https://t.co/PiSfkIx8ny
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) November 5, 2019
Justice Dept places new legal barrier between Democrats and Trump impeachment witnesses https://t.co/YLV6OEpsl5 pic.twitter.com/2LQuY9GmN4
— The Hill (@thehill) November 5, 2019
Top Republicans consider putting Jim Jordan on House Intel committee https://t.co/MzBtaoC2sV pic.twitter.com/FQeNo6ka7q
— The Hill (@thehill) November 5, 2019
***
WORLD
The U.S. and China wrangle over a deal to end their trade tensions. A so-called ‘phase one' agreement is expected to see Washington drop tariffs on $156 billion worth of Chinese imports https://t.co/6oxSJujP8t pic.twitter.com/3ypBVOXXQm
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 5, 2019
"The US navy secretary has warned that the “fragile” American supply chain for military warships means the Pentagon is at risk of having to rely on adversaries such as Russia and China for critical components."https://t.co/MOza8cCe8w
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 5, 2019
11,000 scientists from around the world unite to declare global climate emergency https://t.co/Lw9LJmStuz pic.twitter.com/SS0VtXLA6D
— The Hill (@thehill) November 5, 2019
Another month ranks as the warmest on record:https://t.co/QsuDIeKAnP
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) November 5, 2019
The fire-scorched state's history has long been marked by calamities. But its latest disaster did not come to teach Californians a lesson.@mslaurabliss reports: https://t.co/LKDHzyYmGj
— CityLab (@CityLab) November 5, 2019
How do you pack a go bag when you might be leaving everything behind for good? https://t.co/I6wKaEREez
— Slate (@Slate) November 5, 2019
The U.S. is now the only country to pull out of the pact.https://t.co/ESCXxtTotv
— NPR (@NPR) November 4, 2019
Bitcoin’s record price surge of 2017 'was caused by a single person' https://t.co/QrItLyixfh
— The Independent (@Independent) November 5, 2019
You can buy a robot clone of anyone from this Russian startup https://t.co/EJMRFhZ8TG pic.twitter.com/AakDdmnWTm
— New York Post (@nypost) November 5, 2019
***
BREXITSHAMBLES BRITAIN
BREAKING: Boris Johnson launches his general election campaign tomorrow and, yes, they really and truly are going for the Chaos With angle **for a third time** pic.twitter.com/GQcSLUE7gY
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) November 5, 2019
Is this all he’s got? pic.twitter.com/gcU9c3WEZc
— John Harris (@johnharris1969) November 5, 2019
First two stories on BBC News at Ten on the eve of Johnson's campaign launch are: 1) Calls for Alun Cairns to resign 2) Calls for Jacob Rees-Mogg to resign. Going well for the Cons, this election
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) November 5, 2019
Nigel Farage is in secret talks with individual Eurosceptic Tory candidates about withdrawing Brexit Party opponents at the general election after Boris Johnson snubbed a nationwide pact. https://t.co/PC0MkXPXlY
— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) November 5, 2019
One of the main reasons Cummings refused to allow the Brexit bill to go through Parliament was that the Commons would have passed my amendment to make an extension to the transition the default unless MPs decided otherwise. Johnson wants to force through a WTO Brexit next Dec. https://t.co/euhWKml9qs
— Nick Boles (@NickBoles) November 5, 2019
A stunning valedictory speech from @IanCLucas in which, using the actual words of Dominic Cummings, he reveals to a shocked House that the Prime Minister and Michael Gove have known of Vote Leave's illegality for over three years!
Full speech here: https://t.co/4iBrAkRxTa pic.twitter.com/MNwj11F2OZ— Brexitshambles (@brexit_sham) November 5, 2019
So this happened. The Conservative Party took an interview from @GMB this morning. They edited it to add on the last shot in which Keir Starmer looks stumped. But that didn't happen. In the original Keir Starmer immediately answered @piersmorgan 's question. https://t.co/G8tU2SUpbq
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) November 5, 2019
We are taking legal action against ITV for their outrageous decision to exclude Jo Swinson, the strongest voice for millions of Remainers across the country, from their TV debates.
Add your name if you think Corbyn and Johnson must #DebateHer ⬇️https://t.co/gwvvUnGMNy pic.twitter.com/itsviayW8p
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 5, 2019
I’ve got loads, probably quicker if you just let me come along. #DebateHer https://t.co/PgQpYK5MOl
— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) November 5, 2019
Quick delete. https://t.co/R48OKuPIDn
— Stuart Cosgrove (@Detroit67Book) November 5, 2019
Jacob Rees-Mogg has to resign. No more: oh it’s just JRM, what else do you expect? When did politicians stop being removed or resigning over horrific comments THEY made. He must resign. To use his own words: ‘It just seems the common sense thing to do..’https://t.co/dSGwcTlMrv
— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) November 5, 2019
The election story: the Conservatives deserve to lose but Labour don’t deserve to win. Everything else is just detail.
— alexmassie (@alexmassie) November 5, 2019
Parliament is now officially dissolved. There are no more MPs.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) November 6, 2019