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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — November 9, 2022

By November 9, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Voters Rebuke MAGA Republicans And Trump’s Conspiracy Theories 

  • New York Times: Trump Hoped for a Celebration but Did Not Have Much to Cheer: Donald J. Trump wasn’t on the ballot Tuesday, but he’d spent the past two years behaving otherwise, aiming to deliver key victories to a Republican Party from which he’s likely to seek, once again, a presidential nomination. Several battleground races remained too close to call early Wednesday, but it was clear there would be no “giant red wave” that Mr. Trump had spent weeks pleading with his supporters to deliver. In some key states, Trump-backed candidates lost or were faring poorly. In Pennsylvania, the Democrat Josh Shapiro won the governor’s race against the Republican Doug Mastriano, while the Democrat John Fetterman defeated Mehmet Oz, a Republican, to flip control of a U.S. Senate seat. In Michigan, Tudor Dixon, Mr. Trump’s pick in the governor’s race, came up short in her bid to unseat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. In Arizona, where Kari Lake and Blake Masters had campaigned together as “America First” candidates in Mr. Trump’s mold, both were behind in their races for governor and Senate, respectively, although results were too close to call.
  • Politico: Trump’s Biggest Midterm Bets Don’t Pay Out: It was meant to be a crowning evening for the former president, a chance to show that he remained the axis around which the Republican Party still orbited. It ended up a night of missed opportunities and disappointments — and rumblings of unrest within the party. Donald Trump spent Tuesday evening at his club in Palm Beach, hosting a lavish midterm election watch party for a who’s who of MAGA elite and reporters from some of the top media outlets in the country, invited there by his team. But as the results began trickling in at Mar-a-Lago, the site of his most recent legal troubles, the party took a turn. A tropical storm barreled toward the east coast of Florida, forcing some in the press to flee for the airport and a quick flight out. Then, a different type of storm — a Republican wave — failed to materialize. Trump was left without the triumph he was hoping for.

Democracy Was A Top Concern For Voters 

  • Associated Press: Votecast: Inflation Top Concern, But Democracy A Worry Too:  Just as Republicans had hoped, high inflation was the top consideration for voters in the midterm elections, AP VoteCast shows. But the survey reveals that a core issue for President Joe Biden, the survival of democracy, also weighed heavily on voters’ minds, as control of Congress — and a choice between sharply contrasting visions of America — hung in the balance. The result, as of early Wednesday, was an election in which Democrats displayed strength, appearing to avoid the massive losses that often beset the party in power during a midterm vote. With ballots still being counted, though, it was unclear if they would retain control of at least one chamber of Congress.

Despite Swirling Misinformation And Threats Voting Was Mainly Smooth 

  • CNN: Voting Goes Mostly Smoothly On Election Day As Baseless Fraud Claims Swirl: State and local elections officials said Tuesday’s voting in the midterm elections went smoothly overall, with a few isolated problems reported, including in the key swing state of Arizona where issues with voting machines sparked baseless claims about fraud. In Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous, Republicans filed a lawsuit seeking to keep polls open three hours after they were scheduled to close, claiming there were excessive delays and long lines due to ballot tabulator malfunctions. A county judge, however, denied the request, saying that while some voters may have been confused or faced difficulties, he “does not have any evidence” voters were unable to vote. Maricopa County officials said tabulators had tech issues in about 20% of its voting locations. Maricopa County chairman Bill Gates and recorder Stephen Richer advised voters experiencing issues to put their ballots inside a secure box attached to the tabulators and assured they would be counted by bipartisan vote counters after polls close.
  • New York Times: Despite The Fears, Election Day Mostly Goes As Planned: While there were reports of delays, glitches and disinformation in some key swing states — Arizona in particular — that could loom larger as vote counting plays out, few of the major disruptions that had been feared came to pass on Election Day. But far-right media figures and Republican politicians seized upon even the limited issues and typical problems that occurred to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the vote.

Election Deniers Suffer Significant Setbacks, But Also Win Dozens Of Races Around The Country 

  • Washington Post: Election Deniers Score Big Wins, But Also Suffer Significant Setbacks:  Dozens of candidates for House, Senate and state-level office who have echoed former president Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential race was rigged were projected to win their elections Tuesday, with scores more contests still being tallied. The vast majority of those winning candidates claimed seats in the House, but candidates who have denied or questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 vote had also won statewide races late Tuesday night. Their success came less than two years after Trump summoned a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on the premise that he had been cheated out of victory. Among the more than 150 election deniers projected to have won by midnight: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Rep. Greg Pence (Ind.), the brother of former vice president Mike Pence. But some of the most outspoken election deniers sustained defeat in races that had been seen as winnable for Republicans when the year began, including Doug Mastriano, who lost his bid for Pennsylvania governor.
  • New York Times: Election Skeptics Are Winning Races Across The Country: While votes are still being counted across the country, nearly 200 Republicans who have questioned the results of the 2020 election — or denied President Biden’s victory outright — have won races so far in the midterms. The New York Times recently examined statements made by Republican candidates in all 50 states for seats in the U.S. House and Senate and in the state races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, and found that more than 370 had cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election, despite the lack of evidence of any widespread voter fraud. As of 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, at least 80 candidates who questioned the past election had lost their races. The election skeptics identified by The Times ranged from those who fully denied the 2020 results to those who stopped short of that falsehood, but rather, questioned the process or results, often by suggesting that there were irregularities, unresolved issues or a need for further examination. More than 30 candidates who explicitly denied the results of the 2020 election have won so far. Most are incumbents, and all were favored to win.

In The States 

ARIZONA: Kari Lake And Donald Trump Spread Unfounded Conspiracy Theories As Races Remain Uncalled 

  • CNN: Kari Lake Raises Unfounded Doubts About Election Results In Arizona Governor Race That’s Too Early To Call: Democrat Katie Hobbs is leading Republican Kari Lake in Arizona governor’s race with a little more than half of precincts reporting, and though much could change as ballots are counted, the GOP nominee is already casting doubt about the election results. Lake won the GOP primary after amplifying former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election, falsely insisting that the election was rigged and stolen. And though the current margins could change dramatically as votes are counted, Lake is suggesting without any evidence that there could be problems with Tuesday’s results. (Hobbs, as secretary of state, rebuffed GOP efforts to overturn the results in the 2020 election). In a speech Tuesday night at her election night headquarters, Lake said she felt like it is “groundhog day.” “We had November 3, 2020, that was called incompetency 101,” Lake said. She went on to suggest there was “incompetency” at play in both the August primary and in Tuesday’s election – a not-so-subtle critique of her opponent’s oversight over elections. It was not immediately clear what she was referring to, but there has been no evidence of any widespread fraud. “We need honest elections and we’re going to bring them to you, Arizona, I assure you of that. The system we have right now does not work,” Lake said. She later told her supporters to be patient and said she was confident that she would win.
  • Daily Beast: Trump Pounces on ‘Ordinary’ Voting Machine Issues in Arizona:  Automatic vote-counting machines went down Tuesday morning at some 20 percent of polling places in Maricopa County, Arizona, a locale that has become a hotspot for far-right conspiracy theorists—ex-President Donald Trump among them—looking to “prove” fantastical allegations of electoral fraud. However, the truth-bending claims perpetuated during the first several hours of voting fell flat when the issue was fixed by adjusting the printer settings on affected vote tabulators at about 40 voting centers.

MICHIGAN:  Tudor Dixon Refuses To Concede Loss To Governor Gretchen Whitmer

  • WJBK: Tudor Dixon: Governor’s Race “Too Close To Call, Despite What Fox Thinks”: Michigan Republican nominee Tudor Dixon spoke in front of her supporters in Grand Rapids late Tuesday night and told the raucous crowd that her campaign is not conceding the race and does not accept the call by FOX News that declared Governor Gretchen Whitmer as the winner. Around 11:15 p.m., FOX News called the race for Whitmer with 33% of the vote counted. At that time, Whitmer had garnered 51% of the vote compared to Dixon’s 46.6%. Dixon hosted an event in Grand Rapids, where she lives, which aired FOX News throughout the night. When FOX called the race for Whitmer, there was an audible gasp in the ballroom.  About 20 minutes later, Dixon spoke to the crowd and said her campaign isn’t conceding yet. “This race is going to be too close to call, despite what FOX thinks,” Dixon said. “The results continue to trickle in, the major counties have a very, very long way to go.”

PENNSYLVANIA: Josh Shapiro Decisively Defeats January 6 Participant Doug Mastriano For Governor 

  • NBC: Democrat Josh Shapiro Defeats Republican Doug Mastriano In Pennsylvania Governor’s Race: Democrat Josh Shapiro defeated far-right Republican Doug Mastriano in the Pennsylvania governor’s race on Tuesday, NBC News projected, providing Democrats with a significant victory in a contest where oversight of the 2024 election and abortion rights took center stage. Just after 1:30 a.m. ET, Shapiro led by double-digits. Shapiro, the state attorney general, framed his opponent as an extremist and sought to make his campaign about protecting Pennsylvanians’ freedom to vote, to access abortion care and to unionize. Mastriano, a state senator who led the charge to try to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, generated a core of grassroots GOP supporters during the primary but was unable to broaden his coalition. “You met this moment,” Shapiro said at his election night party. “We showed in this campaign that no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love or who you pray to, you are valued here in Pennsylvania and we hear you. Tonight, you, the good people of Pennsylvania, you won. Opportunity won. A woman’s right to choose won.”

What Experts Are Saying

Susannah Goodman, director of election security for Common Cause, re: problems at polling locations such as those in Maricopa County, Arizona: “‘What we are seeing are things that we usually see on Election Day,’ Susannah Goodman, director of election security for Common Cause, told reporters. ‘There are glitches in the system, but election administrators have learned from the past and they have resiliency built in.’” USA Today 

David J. Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research: “David J. Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said Election Day had in fact gone remarkably well, with high turnout, manageable lines and few problems. ‘That said, the disinformation network is kicking into high gear, with some candidates and even members of Congress spreading falsehoods seeking to amplify the ordinary glitches we’re seeing or spread lies about the ballot casting and counting process,’ Mr. Becker said.” New York Times 

Edward B. Foley, Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law at Ohio State University: “Edward B. Foley, a scholar of election law at Ohio State University, said the success of so many election deniers is worrisome but that much uncertainty remains about how these officeholders will use their power. He noted that some election deniers on the ballot this year have wavered, which leaves unclear how they would act once in office. Foley also suggested deniers’ acceptance of their own victories could, in some ways, strengthen public trust in their states’ elections. ‘The whole goal is that valid victories are authenticated as valid, and none of this perversion prevails,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to unduly soften this. We’re in treacherous waters. It’s going to be more difficult the more denialists are in office. But it’s not inevitable that the ship sinks.’” Washington Post 

Joanna Lydgate, Norm Eisen, and Christine Todd Whitman, co-founders of States United Action: “Among the many tragedies of the ‘Big Lie’ — the fiction that Donald Trump was denied victory in 2020 by rampant election fraud — is needless hostility toward our state-based system. Some wonder why we can’t be more like other countries, where elections are centralized and results seem to be immediate. But our federalist patchwork quilt is also a safety mechanism. America’s elections are more secure because they’re decentralized. More than 200,000 polling places were used in the 2018 midterm elections, with reporting rolling up through precincts, counties and states. Such an individualized system is impossible to hack. Of course, there are things we can learn from other countries, and there is always room for some uniform, nationwide processes. But we should also value our state variations.” LA Times Op-Ed: Get ready to wait for the midterm results

Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “One caution: down ballot races matter. In far too many cases, supporters of the big lie prevailed in state elections. Some of them will be in positions like Secretaries of State that will give them substantial control over the process and outcomes of future elections. In North Carolina, where state court judges are elected, Republicans won control of the Supreme Court. There are voting rights cases pending, including one that will impact the rights of people with old felony convictions to vote. We are going to have to be vigilant about protecting our elections and every American’s right to vote in the future.” Civil Discourse 

Government Accountability Project “releasing a new guide to help election workers navigate the complex path of blowing the whistle safely and effectively in today’s climate of increased threats to the integrity of our elections and proper functioning of our democracy. “On The Front Lines of Democracy: A Guide to Whistleblowing for Election Workers” highlights how election workers—whether poll workers, managers, clerks, inspectors, or a municipal, county or state election officials—may be the best, and possibly the only, people in a position to notice and report illegal election interference by other election workers and officials.”  “On The Front Lines of Democracy: A Guide to Whistleblowing for Election Workers” Guide PDF | Press Release 

Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “One particularly pernicious culprit in violence is jokes and memes. Jokes are actually far more likely to normalize prejudice than an overtly prejudiced argument, because sharp-edged humor circumvents our brain’s usual pathways for rational thinking. The internet subculture of misogynistic, racist and violent half-jokes against Democrats thus plays a particularly dangerous role in normalizing ideas that many people wouldn’t entertain if forced to speak it in plain language. We need to request that friends and neighbors refrain from such casual harm — and demand it from our leaders. When a key figure on the right can tweet a joke about an 82-year-old man getting hit by a hammer, and thousands of people like it, that is a sign of real danger.” Politico Magazine Op-Ed: How Political Violence Went Mainstream on the Right

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

HuffPost: Democrats’ Elevation Of Election Deniers Worked

Politico: Election officials look to harden tabulation centers against 2020-type chaos

Vice: New Election Day Conspiracies Are Already Running Wild

Washington Post: Misinformation floods the midterms, at times urging violence

January 6 And The 2020 Election

CNN: House select committee has interviewed the driver of Trump’s vehicle on January 6

Other Trump Investigations 

New York Times: Judge Dismisses Alexander Vindman’s Lawsuit Against Trump Allies

In The States 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Robin Vos easily wins reelection over Trump-backed write-in candidate Adam Steen

New York Times: Voting machine problems in Arizona fuel right-wing fraud claims.

Reuters: Election Day fires in Mississippi investigated as possible arson

Washington Post: Florida, Missouri tell Justice Department voting monitors to stay outside polling places