Latinos Help Score Some Wins for GOP

Latinos Help Score Some Wins for GOP
(Wall Street Journal) - Voters in the Southwest put a dent in the widely held notion that Latinos overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party, helping to score big wins Tuesday for several Hispanic Republicans and some unexpected losses for Hispanic Democrats. In Texas, home to the largest number of Hispanics after California, voters elected two Republican Latinos to the House. Republican Bill Flores, a former Oil and gas executive and political newcomer, handily defeated Democratic Rep. Chet Edwa...

Latinos Help Score Some Wins for GOP
(Wall Street Journal) - Voters in the Southwest put a dent in the widely held notion that Latinos overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party, helping to score big wins Tuesday for several Hispanic Republicans and some unexpected losses for Hispanic Democrats. In Texas, home to the largest number of Hispanics after California, voters elected two Republican Latinos to the House. Republican Bill Flores, a former Oil and gas executive and political newcomer, handily defeated Democratic Rep. Chet Edwa...

Elex day was a good day for Hispanic Republicans, too
From the Pew Hispanic Center: Tuesday's Midterm Elections were historic for Hispanics. For the first time ever, three Latino Candidates-all of them Republicans-won top statewide offices. New Mexico: nation's first Latina Governor, Republican Susana Martinez Nevada: Republican Brian Sandoval won the Governor's race and became Nevada's first Hispanic governor. Florida: Republican Marco Rubio won the U.S. Senate race. But Democratsh should not d...

Cheer Up, Democrats. Things Will Improve.
Via Ben Smith, this Stu Rothenberg prognostication from April 2009 is bound to live in infamy: Over the past couple of weeks, at least three Republicans — House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) and campaign consultant Tony Marsh — have raised the possibility of the GOP winning back the House of Representatives next year. That idea is lunacy and ought to be put to rest immediately. None of the three actually predicted that Republicans would gain ...

Nicholas Stephanopoulos: A Rare Progressive Success
Tuesday was a disaster for Democrats, of course, but it was perhaps the best day ever for a cause that many Progressives hold dear: redistricting reform. In California, Proposition 20 passed with over 60 percent of the vote, giving the citizen commission established in 2008 responsibility for Congressional redistricting as well as State legislative redistricting. Proposition 27, which would have dismantled the commission and returned redistricting to the Legislature, was soundly defeated. In F...

Latino influence on election day
The study conducted by advocacy organizations as Latino Decisions and sponsored by the National Council of La Raza, Service Employees International Union and America’s Voice, revealed 86% of the Latinos polled supported Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Jerry Brown and U.S. Senate Incumbent Barbara Boxer over Republican Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, respectively. A total of 3,200 voters were interviewed over the phone between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1, with a reported a Margin of Error of plus ...

2 longtime Texas Democrats ousted from Congress
WACO, Texas — Two longtime Texas Democrats were ousted from Congress by Republican newcomers who capitalized on a wave of voter frustration at the Federal Government and The Economy, and a third Democrat was trailing by about 800 votes early Wednesday. Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco was ousted after 20 years in Congress as Republican Bill Flores, an Oil and gas executive who had never run for public office, defeated him Tuesday with about 62 percent of the vote. Edwards, chairman of ...

ELECTION DIGEST: Texas GOP posed to pick up 3 seats in Congress; Democrat Nunez falls to Republican in education board race.
Final results have confirmed early returns for the Austin Community College District's bid to annex five Central Texas School Districts: Two School Districts joined the ACC taxing zone, and residents of three School Districts rejected the option in Tuesday's Election. In the Elgin School District, 2,494 voters, 61.4 percent of the vote, voted for annexation; 1,567 voters, 38.6 percent, voted against. In the Hays School District, the split was 6,931 voters (58.5 percent) for and 4,924 voters (41....

Election Digest: Texas GOP poised to pick up 3 seats in Congress
Final results have confirmed early returns for the Austin Community College District's bid to annex five Central Texas School Districts: Two School Districts joined the ACC taxing zone, and residents of three School Districts rejected the option in Tuesday's Election. In the Elgin School District, 2,494 voters, 61.4 percent of the vote, voted for annexation; 1,567 voters, 38.6 percent, voted against. In the Hays School District, the split was 6,931 voters (58.5 percent) for and 4,924 voters (41....

Longtime Texas Dems lose
Democrats lost two well-known competitive seats in Texas, and they’re trailing in one late-breaking sleeper race — totals that could amount to a complete wipeout for long-serving Democrats. Reps. Chet Edwards and Ciro Rodriguez both lost, and Rep. Solomon Ortiz is in the fight of his life in the state’s 27th District. Ortiz, who was first elected in 1982, is trailing Republican challenger Blake Farenthold in the heavily Democratic Rio Grande Valley — as of 3 a.m. EDT, w...

Richardson pledges smooth transition for gov-elect
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Gov. Bill Richardson is naming his Chief of Staff to lead a team that will help Republican Susana Martinez take over as Governor next year. Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Wednesday the Democratic Governor called Martinez on Tuesday night to offer congratulations on her victory and he is prepared to ensure a smooth transition for the Governor-elect, who takes office Jan. 1 Richardson Chief of Staff Brian Condit will head the administration's transition effort....

CD races: Tipton, Gardner, Perlmutter among winners
Supporters celebrate with Ed Perlmutter after his win in the 7th Congressional District on Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn in Lakewood. Playing off a TV ad his opponent ran during the campaign, Perlmutter wanted to prove he could do a real cartwheel. ( Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post ) Teamwork, tenacity helped propel Bennet in Senate race in Colo. Republicans intent on picking up three additional Congressional Seats in Colorado tossed out two Democrats but were unable to defeat Ed Perlmut...

Austin Books: Review - Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay from the Austin Chronicle.
UT Law Professor Steve Bickerstaff's exhaustive history of the 2003 (and much beyond) Texas re-redistricting saga may seem to some readers like too much of a bad thing. But it will become increasingly useful to have this material, sometimes in all but day-to-day form, recounting the battle that began in earnest with the November 2002 legislative campaigns. At the time, few realized what was at stake in those normally fairly local contests. But Tom DeLay's boys at Texans for a Republican Majority...

Memo to Tea Party Nation: You can't trash Latinos and claim to court them
Today's little missive from Tea Party Nation about Nevada made me laugh out loud, and should amuse you too. I especially liked the part where they blamed Sharron Angle for losing the Latino vote: They did not understand how to attract Hispanic votes . And they had better learn fast if they want to win any future Elections. Hispanics are good people, family is their foundation, there are many Hispanic Small Business owners, and Hispanics should be part of the Conservative Movement. Conservatives ...

Immigration: Losing Issue For GOP Out West
Talking tough on Immigration may have boosted GOP prospects in predominantly white states and districts, but it looks to have backfired in a big way in the West and the Southwest. A shocking statistic from last night: Despite the massive Republican gains in the House, it looks like the GOP won't net a single seat from the West Coast and Pacific Rim states. And they underperformed dramatically in Hispanic-rich Southwest states, losing an Albuquerque House seat that looked awfully winnable, an Ari...

How the National Exit Poll Badly Missed the Latino Vote in 2010
Latino Decisions estimates differ significantly from the network Exit Polls and this raises the question of whether we, or they, have a systematic flaw (complete Latino Decisions Election Polls posted here). Examination of the method of selection, clustered interviews, statistical properties of the resulting samples, uneven distribution of minority populations, and the low incidence of bilingual interviewing all suggest that the Exit poll estimates for racial and ethnic sub-populations, reported...

Nicholas Stephanopoulos: A Rare Progressive Success
Tuesday was a disaster for Democrats, of course, but it was perhaps the best day ever for a cause that many Progressives hold dear: redistricting reform. In California, Proposition 20 passed with over 60 percent of the vote, giving the citizen commission established in 2008 responsibility for Congressional redistricting as well as State legislative redistricting. Proposition 27, which would have dismantled the commission and returned redistricting to the Legislature, was soundly defeated. In F...

Reapportionment thoughts
Next month, supposedly, we’re supposed to get the final numbers from the Census Bureau that will determine which states lose Congressional Seats and which states gain. Polidata crunched the 2009 population estimates to come up with a best guess, and it’s a familiar story: closer to the Great Lakes, states lose Seats; in the South, they gain them. 1) States Obama won would lose a net of 7 votes in the Electoral College. That includes a net loss of 2 EVs in swing states — 3 if yo...

Wins in state Houses give GOP the advantage in redistricting process
Republicans are poised to control next year's redistricting process, which could solidify the party's House majority over the next decade. Major State legislative gains have the Republican Party poised to control next year's redistricting process, which could solidify its majority in the House for the next decade. The GOP flipped control of at least 19 State legislative chambers Tuesday, a result that gives the party a commanding redistricting edge. Republicans head into next year's round of ...

The American Independent
The anticipated GOP tidal wave turned out to be a Tsunami in Texas, with Republicans running away with statewide Elections and nearly all contests generally considered to be competitive, and also winning several that were supposedly safe for Democrats. More… TX: Bill Flores tops Incumbent Rep. Chet Edwards in 17th District After a 20-year career in Congress, Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards has lost his Reelection bid, defeated by Republican challenger Bill Flores in Texas’ 17th Congress...

Lewis also lobbying for Appropriations chairmanship
California Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) sent a letter to fellow Republicans Wednesday asking for their support in his bid to serve as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Lewis would need a special waiver from the House Republican Conference Steering Committee because he is term limited in the top slot on the Spending panel. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the second-ranking Republican on the committee, is also seeking the appropriations chairmanship. In the letter, obtained by Politico, Lewis ...

Cantor seeks House Majority Leadership role in new government
As the November 2, 2010 Elections came to an end, Eric Cantor began his campaign to seek the House Majority Leader role when Republicans take over control in January, 2011. Cantor is the 7th Congressional District representative with seniority in Congress. He has said that, "We must govern differently. Not just differently than the Democrats, but differently from our previous Majority," and he is ready to take the lead in this change. In a letter to his fellow Republicans, Cantor congratulates t...

Ascendant GOP to target federal health care law
Republican congressional leaders made noise Wednesday about targeting the nation’s new Federal Health Care law after winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives and adding a few more Republicans to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. It’s no secret that the GOP made repealing the law one of the battle cries of the 2010 Midterm congressional Elections, a position that helped fueled what the Post called the largest Republican sweep in nearly half a century...

Refudiation Day +1: California Screamin’
(This is the second of two posts. In the first I gave my impressions of the nationwide results. In this one, I’ll discuss results specific to California.) There’s no way around it: this was a bad day for California, from the sea to the Sierras, and from Calexico to Crescent City. The cry of “California, here I come!” is more and more turning into “ Flee! Save yourselves! “ In statewide offices, it was a near-wipeout with Democrats winning all, except maybe a s...

Did Polls Underestimate Democrats' Latino Vote?
The two Senate races where the actual winner was different from the leader in our polling-based projections were Colorado and Nevada (it’s also probable that we’ll miss Lisa Murkowski’s victory in Alaska once all her write-in votes are — eventually — counted). The miss in Colorado wasn’t bad — our forecast had Michael Bennet as about a 1-point underdog, and he won by 1 point instead, although there are still a few votes left to count. In Nevada, howeve...