Democrat Andy Beshear, Attorney General of Kentucky, defeated hard-right Republican Governor Matt Bevin!
Hooray!
Bevin made war on public schools and teachers and threatened teachers’ pensions. He allied himself with Trump and Betsy DeVos. Bevin threatened to cut healthcare insurance. Teachers in Kentucky walked out and demonstrated at the state capitol to oppose Benin’s efforts to destroy their pension rights.
Trump visited Kentucky to help Bevin.
Bevin wanted to make the election a referendum on Trump’s impeachment proceedings. He wanted to distract voters from his agenda to privatize schools and shred the social safety net..
Bevin lost. He hasn’t conceded yet. But he lost.
“After a hard-fought race marked by angry rhetoric about teachers and the intervention of national politics, Kentucky voters finally got the chance to make their decision at the ballot box.
“In the end, Attorney General Andy Beshear was able to emerge victorious in a gubernatorial race being watched as much for what it says next year’s national elections as it does about the direction of the commonwealth.
“Both men were with supporters in Louisville on Tuesday night watching as the results came in.
“The Democrats — Beshear and his running mate, Jacqueline Coleman — placed much of their focus on Kentucky’s educators and their anger over moves by the Bevin administration to make changes to their pensions.”I believe the more Kentuckians that come out, the better our chances are, because people are hungry for a governor that listens more than he talks and solves more problems than he creates,” Beshear said earlier Tuesday.
”Bevin, a Republican who has polled consistently as among the least popular governors in the nation, highlighted his anti-abortion rights agenda and close ties with President Donald Trump. He switched his lieutenant governor running mate this time out to Ralph Alvardo.”
Lesson in Kentucky: Don’t run against public schools!
PS: The Associated Press says the race is too close to call. CNN has declared Beshear the winner.
With 100% of the vote counted, Beshear is ahead by about 4,500 votes.
From the New York Times:
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Beshear | Democrat | 711,955 | 49.2% |
| Matt Bevin* | Republican | 707,297 | 48.9 |
| John Hicks | Libertarian | 28,475 | 2.0 |
1,447,727 votes, 100% reporting (3,659 of 3,659 precincts)
* Incumbent
The governor’s race in Kentucky has been cast as a showdown between an unpopular governor and an unpopular party. The Republican incumbent, Matt Bevin, has focused his campaign on his alignment with President Trump and his opposition to impeachment, with the president holding a rally on Monday in Lexington to reciprocate the support. The Democratic challenger, Andy Beshear, the state’s attorney general, has been buoyed by the governor’s diminished popularity — Mr. Bevin is among the least popular governors in the country.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And..Dems won Virginia…both houses…we are on a roll.
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Fantastic news. And it’s noteworthy that Republicans did well in other statewide races. This was a pointed and personal rebuke to a governor who made such a show of his disdain for public school teachers.
I’m no longer able to post links on this blog (can you help with this, Diane?), but I encourage readers to check Governor-Elect Beshear’s victory speech tonight at youtube to see what appreciation for public education looks like.
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Thank goodness! Some progress!
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Issue #1. “Strengthening Public Education-I believe in a Kentucky where we fully fund every public school and make sure every child has a shot at the American dream—regardless of zip code or family income. It’s a disgrace that some of our kids read from ten-year-old text books held together with duct tape. I’m proud to be the only candidate with an active educator on the ticket in Jacqueline Coleman. Strong public schools will help us attract companies who want to invest in Kentucky and allow our children to pursue their dreams without having to move away.” Very good news!
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This is soooooo awesome!!!!
This and Virginia.
And, btw, Moscow Mitch currently has a very low approval rating in his own state. https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/mitch-mcconnells-support-in-kentucky-has-cratered-since-he-attached-himself-to-trump-and-now-his-seat-is-on-the-line/
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Wouldn’t ‘China Mitch’ would be more appropriate?
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John, it works either way.
Moscowmitch or chinamitch
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This one will be bad: Moscowmitchina. Forgive me. 😦
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TAGO!!
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He is an equal-opportunity opportunist. LOL.
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I just sent $50 to Amy McGrath, who is Moscow Mitch’s opponent. China Mitch too!
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Kentucky is one of the poorest states in the country but has continually re-elected Moscow Mitch McConnell, who wants to cut Social Security and Medicare to pay for the deficit-creating tax cuts for rich people that he supported. Those facts led me to write this:
Oh, some folks are not too bright,
In my Old Kentucky home.
Irony’s the major trope in play.
The people there feed meagerly
On social welfare checks
And want the government
To go away.
But now it seems that folks in Kentucky are wising up. Congrats, Kentucky! And thank you for leading the way to a solid trouncing of the Repugnicans in 2020!
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Be in lost the cities and suburbs and even some coal mining districts. He won the poorest, most rural districts.
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This is the challenge for Democrats. They need to learn how to reach out to poor whites and educate them.
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Better yet, figure out what makes them tick.
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And, help the poor to vote. Republicans do everything in their power to thwart potential Democratic voters.
The voting percentage of the rich dwarfs the percentage of poor who vote.
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Beshear Beats Bevin for Governor of Kentucky is not the only good news.
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Democrats Win Control in Virginia and Claim Narrow Victory in Kentucky Governor’s Race
…Control of Virginia’s government fell to Democrats for the first time in decades, while Andy Beshear held an edge over Gov. Matt Bevin in the Kentucky election.
Democrats Win Control in Virginia and Claim Narrow Victory in Kentucky Governor’s Race
Control of Virginia’s government fell to Democrats for the first time in decades, while Andy Beshear held an edge over Gov. Matt Bevin in the Kentucky election.
In capturing both chambers of the legislature in Virginia, Democrats have cleared the way for Gov. Ralph S. Northam, who was nearly driven from office earlier this year, to press for measures tightening access to guns and raising the minimum wage that have been stymied by legislative Republicans…
In Virginia, where Mr. Northam and two other statewide Democrats were pressured to resign following a series of scandals earlier this year, the party overcame its own self-inflicted challenges by harnessing voter antipathy toward Mr. Trump to win a series of seats. For the first time since 1993, Democrats control both chambers in the legislature and the governor’s office — allowing them to redraw the state’s legislative boundaries after next year’s census.Linking Republican incumbents to the unpopular president and criticizing them for opposing gun control measures in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Virginia Beach in May, Democratic challengers built their victory with strong showings in suburbs stretching from outside Washington to Richmond and Hampton Roads. In Fairfax County, the state’s largest jurisdiction, the last remaining Republican lawmaker was defeated.
Mr. Northam, who admitted and then denied wearing blackface as a young man, said Tuesday night that Virginia voters made clear they “want us to defend the rights of women, L.G.B.T.Q. Virginians, immigrant communities and communities of color.” And he vowed to broaden access to health care, improve public schools, combat climate change and pass gun control legislation.
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It seems that their too, public school teachers’ strikes helped the turnout and the vote.
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oh that the teachers across the nation see how essential the strikes have been and MUST CONTINUE to be: the governor is now a better choice in KY but the down voting was still extremely red
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Trump and the Koch network (Bluegrass Institute) were rebuked in Cincy and in Northern Kentucky. The Cincinnati school levy passed with a wide margin.
Kentuckians recognized billionaire hedge funders who take care of their rich friends don’t belong in state government.
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This is off topic but one that I find sickening. Pence in many ways would be worse that the Orange IDIOT.
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How Mike Pence’s Office Meddled in Foreign Aid to Reroute Money to Favored Christian Groups
Nov. 6
The email underscored what had become a stark reality under the Trump White House. Decisions about U.S. aid are often no longer being governed by career professionals applying a rigorous review of applicants and their capabilities. Over the last two years, political pressure, particularly from the office of Vice President Mike Pence, had seeped into aid deliberations and convinced key decision-makers that unless they fell in line, their jobs could be at stake.
Five months before Ferguson sent the email, his former boss had been ousted following a mandate from Pence’s chief of staff. Pence had grown displeased with USAID’s work in Iraq after Christian groups were turned down for aid…
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-mike-pences-office-meddled-in-foreign-aid-to-reroute-money-to-favored-christian-groups
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“USAID announced two grants…(one of the two) a Catholic university…”
Worth a read – The Guardian (6-11-2019), “The Populist Right is Forging an Unholy Alliance with Religion”.
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The celebrations for Beshear in Kentucky may be premature. https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2019/11/06/kentucky-governor-race-tell-us-what-you-think-election-results/4175588002/
Looks like Bevin will not accept the result and try anything to reverse the outcome.
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These radical right wingers think they are entitled to the office.
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Attacking teachers is a bad idea. In his victory speech, Bashear said, “Educators, this is your victory.” It is.
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Big loss for DeVos and privatizers-
The Bevin-DeVos education meeting in April had 11 “stakeholders” listed, two were identified only as a parent and a student, two were from public higher ed., 6 were from recognizable, secular, privatizing organizations, and, the 11th, a representative from the Kentucky Catholic Conference.
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I remember that Bevin-DeVos meeting. A group of student journalists tried to cover it but were turned away. They came from Paul Laurence Dunbar HS in Lexington and represented the PLD Lamplighter. I met them in May and they presented me with a PLD Lamplighter T-shirt. I will wear it today in their honor!
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I’m sure the now-college students remembered the DeVos/Bevin rebuff and voted for Beshears (and, especially after hearing from and meeting an American hero- Diane Ravitch.)
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Pls, show us then a picture you wearing that tshirt.
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An eyewitness account by a female voter yesterday at a precinct in Kenton County
(a Northern Kentucky county that went for Trump) –
When she voted last time, there were mostly men exercising their right to vote. This year, she encountered mostly women.
Hear them roar.
There are consequences to 11 GOP women in the U.S. House while 186 Republican men make political decisions about families.
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Trump’s condescension towards women and the GOP misogyny matter. They are a government of old white men. Think of the staged photo in the Situation Room when al-Baghdadi was killed. Trump surrounded by old white men.
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The condescension from the Bluegrass Institute (Koch) and their think-a-likes reeks. It’s evident in the masked contempt that McConnell/Bevin have for the tribes they create and in the disdain directed at women and the 99%.
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Beshear is a moderate. Dems take note. The surest path to removing Tangerine Nightmare.
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Kentuckians voted against Bevin.
In 2020, Democrats don’t want the corporate shills of Third Way, including Pete Buttigieg. And, they’d prefer not to have a repeat of Biden/CAP.
Corporate bipartisanship screws the 99% and continues existing entitlement.
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Most Dems just want to win, and they’d gladly accept a moderate if it means beating Trump. A moderate would garner more independents and thus increase Dem chances of winning. Let’s not make the perfect the enemy of the good.
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Wall Street and corporations chose Hillary. Her campaign told her that Repubs who didn’t like Trump would hold their noses and vote for her along with union voters who had no other choice. Hillary’s campaign staff, funded by billionaires, may not have cared one way or the other who won. The planning of Robbie Mook’s reported talk circuit tour with Cory Lewandowski came very quickly after the loss.
We know Trump has delivered for billionaires. They got the outcome they wanted. You advise a redo of 2016 whereas sanity suggests otherwise. Unexpected victories have been by progressives.
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Good riddance to Governor Bevins.
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It never occurred to me that teacher’s unions would/could get involved in political ideas. California and Massachusetts are involved in Green New Deal and climate change.
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Teachers Unions Could Move the Climate Strikes Into Phase 2
November 6, 2019
…Educators, like those in the California Federation of Teachers and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), are beginning to leverage their power both as teachers and union members to push the bounds of climate activism…
MTA is not the first teacher union to endorse the Green New Deal. In March, the 120,000-member California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of it, and was actually the first statewide labor organization in the country to adopt a climate justice agenda in 2016. That agenda includes support for fossil fuel divestment, for enacting climate legislation, and for educating members and students about the crisis….
Looking Nationally
So far the national teacher unions have been more guarded.
Check out this article: https://truthout.org/articles/teachers-unions-could-move-the-climate-strikes-into-phase-2/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=mashshare&utm_campaign=mashshare
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Thanks for the info.
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This is interesting.
Ballot from space: Astronaut Drew Morgan votes from International Space Station
Through a collaborative effort at the county’s Department of Voter Services office and NASA, Astronaut Drew Morgan successfully voted in today’s election from aboard the International Space Station, orbiting some 250 miles above the Earth.
Ed Allison, who serves as director of Lawrence County’s Department of Voter Services, said he didn’t think anything out of the ordinary when he received Morgan’s Federal Post Card Application in the spring for an absentee ballot.
Until he saw the voting location.
“He had actually sent us a voter registration and absentee ballot request with all the pertinent data, his address,” Allison said. “We checked his address and he is a registered voter here in the county.
“As I kept reading it said where to sent the ballot to – it says ‘International Space Station, low Earth orbit.’ I said, ‘What?’ ”
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Trump will miss his ego campaigns when he is in prison.
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Trump rails against House Democrats, impeachment inquiry during campaign rally: ‘It’s all a hoax’
President Trump spent the outset of a campaign rally Wednesday evening railing against House Democrats, accusing them of pursuing a “deranged, delusional, destructive, and hyper-partisan impeachment witch hunt.”
“It’s all a hoax, it’s a scam,” Trump told a cheering crowd at the Monroe Civic Center in Louisiana.
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I’d throw out my TV if I had to watch this stack of garbage. Just think about how Trump can reminisce about the days of being the greatest president this country has ever had. He will boldly state how people adore him. I’m hoping a prison stint of 20 years takes care of that nightmare/dream.
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Trump and ‘Apprentice’ Creator Mark Burnett Are Discussing Their Next TV Show
The president misses his reality-TV days and is thinking of what show he can create once he’s out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
…One of the ideas kicked around by Burnett and the president was shooting a new version of the Trump-branded Apprentice, tentatively titled The Apprentice: White House, and to produce it shortly after the president leaves office. This time, however, the TV program would be explicitly politics-themed and take full advantage of Trump’s status as a former president of the United States and a newfound Republican kingmaker.
“There have been several discussions between Burnett and Trump about The Apprentice: White House,” a person with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Beast. “It is something Burnett thinks could be a money-spinner and Trump is very keen on doing.”…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-apprentice-creator-mark-burnett-are-discussing-their-next-tv-show?source=email&via=desktop
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Well, beafore Trump can again say “you are fired” to a presidential apprentice, he may have prepare for how to react to these words when Pelosi or whoever will tell him.
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Title of new Trump show: “The Greatest Ever”!
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Sob, sob…poor billionaires. How will they ever live with a higher tax rate? ‘Socialism’ OR “I have mine and you don’t need anything.”
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BILL GATES WOULD PAY $6.379 BILLION NEXT YEAR UNDER ELIZABETH’S WEALTH TAX.
Bill Gates has a net worth of $107,000,000,000.
Don’t worry too much about Bill Gates – if history is any guide, if billionaires do nothing other than invest their wealth in the stock market, it’s likely that their wealth will continue to grow.
CHARLES KOCH WOULD PAY $2.551 BILLION NEXT YEAR UNDER ELIZABETH’S WEALTH TAX.
Charles Koch has a net worth of $43,200,000,000.
Don’t worry too much about Charles Koch – if history is any guide, if billionaires do nothing other than invest their wealth in the stock market, it’s likely that their wealth will continue to grow.
JEFF BEZOS WOULD PAY $6.697 BILLION NEXT YEAR UNDER ELIZABETH’S WEALTH TAX.
Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $112,300,000,000.
Don’t worry too much about Jeff Bezos – if history is any guide, if billionaires do nothing other than invest their wealth in the stock market, it’s likely that their wealth will continue to grow.
Elizabeth’s wealth tax, which only impacts America’s 75,000 wealthiest families, would generate enough revenue to cover universal child care, quality public education, forgive student loan debt, provide free public college, and help finance Medicare for All.
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Even if they pay those taxes, their net wealth will grow back before the next tax cycle.
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‘Billionaires Have Declared All-Out War on Sanders and Warren’
..The donations from billionaires to the current Democratic candidates could be viewed as a kind of Oligarchy Confidence Index, based on data from the Federal Election Commission. As reported by Forbes, Pete Buttigieg leads all the candidates with 23 billionaire donors, followed by 18 for Cory Booker, and 17 for Kamala Harris. Among the other candidates who have qualified for the debate coming up later this month, Biden has 13 billionaire donors and Amy Klobuchar has 8, followed by 3 for Elizabeth Warren, 1 for Tulsi Gabbard, and 1 for Andrew Yang. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has zero billionaire donors.
(The tenth person who has qualified for the next debate, self-funding billionaire candidate Tom Steyer, is in a class by himself.)
Meanwhile, relying on contributions from small donors, Sanders and Warren “eagerly bait, troll and bash billionaires at every opportunity,” in the words of a recent Los Angeles Times news story. “They send out missives to donors boasting how much damage their plans would inflict on the wallets of specific wealthy families and corporations.”
The newspaper added: “Sanders boasts that his wealth tax would cost Amazon owner Jeff Bezos $8.9 billion per year. He even championed a bill with the acronym BEZOS: The Stop Bad Employers By Zeroing Out Subsidies Act would have forced Amazon and other large firms to pay the full cost of food stamps and other benefits received by their lowest-wage employees.”
For extremely rich people who confuse net worth with human worth, the prospect of losing out on billions is an outrageous possibility. And so, a few months ago, Facebook mega-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg expressed his antipathy toward Warren while meeting with employees. As a transcript of leaked audio makes clear, Warren’s vision of using anti-trust laws to break up Big Tech virtual monopolies was more than Facebook’s head could stand to contemplate…
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/billionaires-have-declared-all-out-war-on-sanders-and-warren/
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My preference is inversely proportional to the billionairs’ preference.
As reported by Forbes, Pete Buttigieg leads all the candidates with 23 billionaire donors, followed by 18 for Cory Booker, and 17 for Kamala Harris. Among the other candidates who have qualified for the debate coming up later this month, Biden has 13 billionaire donors and Amy Klobuchar has 8, followed by 3 for Elizabeth Warren, 1 for Tulsi Gabbard, and 1 for Andrew Yang. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has zero billionaire donors.
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It’s let’s knock Bernie and Warren one more time.
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By David Leonhardt
Opinion Columnist
Good for him.
I’ll be surprised if Michael Bloomberg wins the Democratic nomination. We are living in a political era characterized by economic dissatisfaction and populism, and a 77-year-old Wall Street billionaire doesn’t look like an obvious nominee for a left-of-center party during such a time.
But I’m glad Bloomberg appears to be running. The current field is imperfect, split between candidates running weak campaigns (Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, for instance) and those who have so far shown little interest in appealing to swing voters (Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders). By entering the race, Bloomberg could sharpen the eventual nominee — or run such a strong campaign that he’ll prove skeptics like me wrong.
And it’s not fair to compare him to Howard Schultz, who threatened an independent campaign. Because he’s running in the primaries, rather than as an independent, Bloomberg won’t help re-elect President Trump by splitting the votes of progressives and moderates. Bloomberg understands this, as I’ve written before.
I’m glad he appears to be running for another reason, too. He has already shown that he knows how to use government to improve people’s lives.
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