The people's House could grow more distant

'Go back to Mexico,' Tea Party members tell border congressmen
U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa and UTPA Gear Up staff member Maria Flores pose for a picture at a luncheon in the UTPA Ballroom on Monday. EDINBURG, Oct. 19 - There were gasps in the audience as U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa told educators Monday how he and U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes had been told to “go back to Mexico” by a group of Tea Party supporters. Hinojosa said the incident happened in the Sam Rayburn U.S. House building in Washington, D.C. The two border congressmen were racing ...

The End of the Tea Party
The End of the Tea Party As a quick look back at any McCain-Palin rally in the fall of 2008 will confirm, the Tea Party Movement hardly began with the inauguration of Barack Obama. But for all intents and purposes, it ended yesterday. As it turns out, the Tea Party's looming demise stems not from its failure at the Polls, but from its now largely successful transformation of the GOP. Not, of course, according to the media reaction to Tuesday's red Midterm Tsunami. Pointing to easy wins by Tea...

Jordan Michael Smith: The Future Might Still Be Democratic Blue
With results from last night seemingly devastating to the Democratic Party and the cause of Liberalism, it's worth keeping in mind the good news: this won't last very long. The Republican recovery, such as it is, is bound to be short-lived. That, at least, is the argument of Democratic Strategist Dylan Loewe in his provocative new book, Permanently Blue: How Democrats Can End the Republican Party and Rule the Next Generation. Loewe, a Speechwriter with the firm West Wing Writers, marshals an i...

The best campaign of the cycle
The best campaign this cycle, as many pundits are noting, was run by Senator Harry Reid. He was always confident of victory. He never once backed away from anything he did. He stood his ground and stuck with his president. Most importantly, he turned to his base the old-fashioned way and used political tactics straight out of the old-school Democratic Boss playbook. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Reid was one of the weakest Incumbents in the nation, dealing with an economy that is the highe...

Latino Voters Choose Democrats in Key Races
Latino voters seem to have tipped the scales in favor of Democrats like governor-elect Jerry Brown and Sens. Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer and Michael Bennet, according to poll results from Latino Decisions. Democratic candidates were preferred in almost every race by Latino registered voters from Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. “The Latino firewall in the west actually saved the election for Democrats,” Frank Sharry, executive director of the immi...

Hispanics saved the Dems
Luis Gutierrez is pushing Harry Reid today to return to Immigration Legislation, on the grounds that Hispanic voters saved his hide. Reid got an amazing 90% of the state's 12% Hispanic voters, according to Exit Polls; Sharron Angle got just 8%. And as Democrats talk today of a "Western Firewall," the trend that stands out is the disastrous Republican collapse among Hispanic voters. Hispanics make up over a third of the California electorate, and Meg Whitman's dismal peformance -- s...

Did Hispanics Save Harry Reid?
Politico reports: Longtime Immigration advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) credited Hispanics Wednesday for keeping Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in the Senate. “Latino citizens responded to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s aggressive pursuit of Immigration Reform by voting for him in overwhelming numbers,” he said in a statement. “They were clearly the difference in his victory.” Latinos made up 12 percent of Nevada voters, with 90 percent of them supporting ...

Gutierrez: Hispanics saved Reid - On Congress
Longtime Immigration advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) credited Hispanics Wednesday for keeping Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in the Senate. "Latino citizens responded to Majority Leader Harry Reid's aggressive pursuit of Immigration Reform by voting for him in overwhelming numbers," he said in a statement. "They were clearly the difference in his victory." Latinos made up 12 percent of Nevada voters, with 90 percent of them supporting Reid. Angle got only an 8 ...

Mid-Term Elections - Nevada
I have known you since 1995 and had always been a republican but I still voted for you, now I became a democrat and wil vote for you again and also your son. Good Luck and I know you and your son will win this election. Anyone that would vote for Harry Reid and Pelosi deserve anything they get. For Danny TGarkanian: You appeared on the Jon Ralston show and were excellent, however, Ralston is a very biased host, and being on hbis show is like going into the mouth of the lion. You did very well. G...

Nevada, Other US States, See Drop in Illegal Immigrants
Yahoo! Buzz The Pew Hispanic Center reports that the number of Illegal Immigrants in the United States has dropped as a result of tougher border enforcement and the struggling U.S. economy. Our correspondent reports from Las Vegas on how Immigrants - both legal and Illegal - are faring in the western state of Nevada. At a Spanish-speaking church in suburban Las Vegas, local residents who face tough economic times get free groceries.    The Las Vegas Unemployment Rate is approaching 15 ...

Latinos Help Score Some Wins for GOP
By Ana Campoy Voters in the Southwest put a dent in the widely held notion that Latinos overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party, helping to score big wins 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 Edwards , a 20-year ...

Guest Post, Andrew Wainer, Immigration Policy Analyst, Bread for the World Institute: Xenophobia 101
“We need Immigration Reform…We must assert our values and reconcile our principles as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. That is a priority I will pursue from my very first day.” - Sen. Barack Obama, June 2008 These can be frustrating times for Immigration Reform advocates. In spite of President Obama’s pledges and a streak of national interest early this year due to Arizona’s restrictive Immigration law, momentum for policy change has waned. In the near term

Republicans add diversity to their overwhelming numbers
The Earthquake that swallowed Democrats on Tuesday night also produced something that the Texas House hasn't seen in a few years: minority GOP members. Not only that, the election produced a record number of black (1) and Hispanics (5 -- with an asterick) Republicans that will serve in the House. Among the new minority members are James White in District 12 -- the first black Republican to serve in modern history. The new Latino members are Raul Torres, replacing Solomon Ortiz Jr. from Corpus ...

Harry Reid: Election results show Americans want bipartisanship
The Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle was characterized by some of the most vitriolic, negative, mudslinging campaigning that took place during a 2010 Midterms, marked by bitter divisions across the country. But by the morning after his win, Reid seemed to have forgotten all of that, boiling his promise for the future down to a single concept: Bipartisanship. "I think the main message that we should have received last night ... is that the People of Nevada and the American People ...

Trouble on the Border
Of all the gloomy outcomes that the Democrats have cause to fear in tomorrow's election, here's one that seems to have escaped wide notice: They're in trouble on the Border -- the one with Mexico. From Solomon Ortiz's District, where the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico, to Raul Grijalva's district in southwest Arizona, five Democratic Incumbents whose districts abut Mexico are facing the toughest challenges of their careers. As of today, all nine districts on the U.S-Mexico Border are...

Grijalva hangs on
Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva will return to the House after a white-knuckled, down-to-the-wire race against 28-year-old rocket scientist Ruth McClung. With 90 percent of the vote tallied, Grijalva was ahead by just 2.5 percent, 48.5 percent to 46 percent. Grijalva sits in a heavily Hispanic, reliably Democratic district — but his call for a Boycott of Arizona in the wake of a Controversial anti-immigration law seriously hurt him. National Democratic groups were forced to spend lots of l...

Rep. Bachmann To Glenn Beck: "You Are The Nation's Educator"
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show this morning and had nothing but glowing praise for the conservative entertainer and Conspiracy theorist extraordinaire. Bachmann credited Beck's chalkboard for motivating people to head to the Ballot Box and vote for Conservatives: Beck: Congresswoman, congratulations. Bachmann: Glenn, thank you. It is so awesome to see what happened last evening and it really was a fruition of a few years work by a tremendous number of coalitio...

Rand Paul Credits Thomas Jefferson With Quote From Thoreau
Tea Party Candidates already have a tradition. In the course of co-opting the Founding Fathers in order to support an agenda that routinely misinterprets the intent and provisions of Founding documents like the Constitution, Tea Partiers often manage to get not only the spirit of what they're quoting wrong, but also the words. Except, no. He didn't. Henry David Thoreau did. According to the official Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, kept by his estate at Monticello, "Although the saying 'That gover...

Congress Mostly Straight, White, Male
By Louise Radnofsky One quirky statistic that’s being retweeted today: “Of the 9 freshman Democrats elected this year, just two are straight white males.” That may be so, but it has little bearing on overall Congressional diversity. Here’s what we found: Democrats lost nine female Incumbents in the House in Tuesday’s Elections and one in the Senate. Two more House races with female Democratic Incumbents haven’t been called yet, nor has Democratic Sen. Patty Murray ’..

Grijalva claims victory, GOP takes AZ delegation 5-3 - Stories - ktar.com
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Democrat Raul Grijalva has claimed victory in Arizona's District 7 Congressional race, leaving Republicans with a gain of two Seats in the state's delegation. Sarvana said Grijalva had decided he was the winner in the southwestern Arizona district, although a number of mail-in and provisional ballots remained to be counted. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Grijalva led Tea Party challenger Ruth McClung by about 3 percentage points, or 3,586 votes. McClung has not co...

AZ-07: Grijalva Declares Victory
He didn't have a whole lotta people in his corner, but it looks like Raul Grijalva had enough to survive last night's slaughter: Democrat Raul Grijalva claimed victory in Arizona's District 7 congressional race Wednesday, leaving Republicans with a gain of two seats in the state's delegation. A spokesman for Grijalva said the congressman had decided he was the winner in the southwestern Arizona district, although a number of mail-in and provisional ballots remained to be counted. Right now,...

House Races to Watch for Immigration Policy
I mentioned earlier a few of the Immigration hawks who are likely to win House seats today, but it’s worth running through some of the other congressional races that could impact how Immigration policy plays out in the next two years. (See here for a summary of some of the key Senate races that could impact Immigration.) Most of the changes will be broad, based on the potential for Republicans taking control of the House and implementing their own ideas on Immigration, but here are the ar...

Arizona congressional majority up for grabs on Tuesday
TUCSON, Ariz. — Voters went to the polls Tuesday for an election that could change the balance of Arizona’s Congressional delegation from heavily Democratic to majority Republican. Republicans are widely expected to do very well nationally and could take over the U.S. House with a net gain of at least 40 seats. In Arizona, it’s no different. Republicans now hold three of eight seats, but only the 3rd District, where John Shadegg is retiring, is close. Meanwhile, four of five D...

Sharron Angle's Very, Very Bizarre Concession Speech
Alan Grayson's Got Your Back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get his on November 2nd? UPDATED Raul Grijalva has your back on Foreclosure Fraud. Will you have his on November 2nd? Mary Jo Kilroy's Got your back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get hers on November 2nd? Justin Coussoule's got your back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get his on November 2nd? Will the First Amendment Get a Funeral Exception? Just say no to Cass Sunstein. The Supreme Court is ready to li...

Tenther Senate Candidates Get Thumped At The Polls
For over a year, ThinkProgress has been tracking “tentherism”, the radical view that pretty much everything the Federal Government does is Unconstitutional.  A shockingly large number of the GOP’s Senate Candidates this cycle embraced tentherism, proclaiming that essential programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and the Federal Minimum Wage are all Unconstitutional.  Yet, even as Republicans as a whole rode the economic downturn to significant Congressional gains, the P...