dingdong

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11/18 this looks to be election losses by safe and/or toxic gop/tp koch wackos, but extended to resignation from ethics?</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div>
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ding dong!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/is-keystone-xl/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/is-keystone-xl/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">comm dr</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2653296908"><div class="body-description"><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After more than a decade of grassroots <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/here-s-how-we-defeated-keystone-xl-pipeline" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">organizing, agitation, and tireless opposition </a>by

the international climate movement, the final nail was slammed into the

Keystone XL's coffin Wednesday afternoon when the company behind the

transnational tar sands pipeline officially <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/energy/keystone-pipeline-canceled/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pulled the plug </a>on its plans.</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Following

consultation with Canadian officials and regulators—including "its

partner, the Government of Alberta"—TC Energy confirmed its "<a href="https://www.tcenergy.com/announcements/2021-06-09-tc-energy-confirms-termination-of-keystone-xl-pipeline-project/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">termination</a>"<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

of the project i</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">n a statement citing the revocation of a federal U.S.

permit by President Joe Biden on his first day in office on January 20

as the leading reason.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate campaigners, however, were

immediate in claiming a final victory after years of struggle against

the company and its backers both in Washington, D.C. and Ottawa.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"TC

Energy just confirmed what we already knew but it's a thrilling reality

all the same—the Keystone XL pipeline is no more and never will be,"

said David Turnbull, strategic communications director with Oil Change

International (OCI).</font></p>

<div style="margin:1em 0"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">OMG! It’s official. We took on a multi-billion dollar corporation and we won!!

Keystone XL is dead!! The People</span> m… https://t.co/BT5PAhBxmy</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> — Dallas Goldtooth (@Dallas Goldtooth)

                        <a href="https://twitter.com/dallasgoldtooth/statuses/1402730374682320898">1623271957.0</a></font>

</blockquote>

</div>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"After more than 10 years of organizing we have finally defeated an

oil giant, Keystone XL is dead!" declared the<b> Indigenous Environmental

Network (IEN) i</b>n reaction. "We are dancing in our hearts because of this

victory! From Dene territories in Northern Alberta to Indigenous lands

along the Gulf of Mexico, we stood hand-in-hand to protect the next

seven generations of life, the water and our communities from this dirty

tar sands pipeline. And that struggle is vindicated."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IEN said

that the win over TC Energy and its supporters was "not the end—but

merely the beginning of further victories," and also reminded the world

that there are "still frontline Indigenous water protectors like Oscar

High Elk who face charges for standing against the Keystone XL

pipeline."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Calling the news "yet another huge moment in an

historic effort," Turnbull at OCI said that while the Canadian company's

press statement failed to admit it, "this project is finally being

abandoned thanks to more than a decade of resistance from Indigenous

communities, landowners, farmers, ranchers, and climate activists along

its route and around the world."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jared Margolis, a senior attorney

at the <b>Center for Biological Diversity, declared the victory in the

drawn-out battle—which largely took place under the Democratic

administration of former President Barack Obama—"a landmark moment in

the fight against the climate crisis."</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We need to keep moving

away from dirty, dangerous pipelines that lock us into an unsustainable

future," added Margolis, who said he now hopes President Joe Biden will

take this lesson and apply to other polluting fossil projects. "We're

hopeful that the Biden administration will continue to shift this

country in the right direction by opposing fossil fuel projects that

threaten our climate, our waters and imperiled wildlife," he said. "Good

riddance to Keystone XL!"</font></p>

<div style="margin:1em 0"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After YEARS the #NoKXL fight is over. The Keystone Pipeline is finally dead. Now do #Line3 and #DAPL

https://t.co/A7YukN0GR0</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> — RAN (@RAN)

                        <a href="https://twitter.com/RAN/statuses/1402742910265839618">1623274946.0</a></font>

</blockquote>

</div>

<p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jamie Henn and Bill McKibben, both co-founders of 350.org and key

architects of the decision to make the Keystone XL pipeline a target and

symbol of the global climate movement, also heralded the news.</font></b></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"When this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldn't be beat." —Bill McKibben, 350.org co-founder</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"When

this fight began, people thought Big Oil couldn't be beat," said

McKibben, who was among those arrested outside the White House in 2011

protesting the pipeline.</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Keystone XL is now the most famous

fossil fuel project killed by the climate movement, but it won't be the

last," said Henn. "The same coalition that stopped this pipeline is now

battling <b>Line 3 </b>and dozens of other fossil fuel projects across the

country. Biden did the right thing on KXL, now it's time to go a step

further and say no to all new fossil fuel projects everywhere."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clayton

Thomas Muller, another longtime KXL opponent and currently a senior

campaigns specialist at 350.org in Canada, said: "This victory is thanks

to <b>Indigenous land defenders who fought the Keystone XL pipeline for

over a decade. Indigenous-led resistance is critical </b>in the fight

against the climate crisis and we need to follow the lead of Indigenous

peoples, particularly Indigenous women, who are leading this fight

across the continent and around the world. With Keystone XL cancelled,

it's time to turn our attention to the Indigenous-led resistance to the

Line 3 and the Trans Mountain tar sands pipelines."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McKibben also

made the direct connection to KXL and the decision now looming before

Biden when it comes to Line 3 in northern Minnesota. "When enough people

rise up we're stronger even than the richest fossil fuel companies," he

said. "And by the way, the same climate test that ruled out Keystone

should do the same for Line 3."</font></p><div class="around-the-web"><div class="from-your-site__headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From Your Site Articles</font></div>

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    </div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===<br /></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/here-are-10-republicans-who-lost-last-night"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/here-are-10-republicans-who-lost-last-night</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...D<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">emocrats</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/2018-midterm-elections-results-polls-us-races-live-updates-today-2018-11-06/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">won the House</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">for the first time in nearly a decade, picked up</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-had-a-big-night-in-governors-races-but-it-could-have-been-bigger/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seven governorships</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, flipped a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/7/18071410/democrat-state-legislature-colorado-minnesota-election-results" style="text-decoration-line: none;">half dozen state legislative chambers</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and won some important</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/11/06/nc-elections-results-democrat-earls-elected-state-supreme-court/1906094002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">state</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">judicial</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cleveland.com/open/2018/11/michael-donnelly-and-melody-stewart-ahead-in-ohio-supreme-court-election.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">races</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and ballot referendums on</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.axios.com/2018-midterm-elections-medicaid-expansion-aca-669c4e9a-1a85-4783-a1e9-969932854156.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">health care</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.michiganradio.org/post/redistricting-proposal-passes-michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none;">redistricting</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/florida-amendment-4-passes" style="text-decoration-line: none;">voting rights</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. But Republicans made</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/2018-midterm-elections-results-polls-us-races-live-updates-today-2018-11-06/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">significant gains in the Senate</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and pulled off a few victories in some of the most closely-watched governor races, like</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/democrats-had-a-big-night-in-governors-races-but-it-could-have-been-bigger/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Florida and Ohio</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, complicating the path to further Democratic gains in 2020.</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Democrats, however, there is plenty to rejoice about. It was indeed a&nbsp;<a href="https://politicalwire.com/2018/11/06/yes-its-a-blue-wave/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wave election</a>&nbsp;for them — and in the process, they unseated a number of their particularly hated GOP foes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are ten notable Republicans who were defeated last night:</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the Senate results in general were a groaner for Democrats, they did manage to topple the one Republican this cycle from a state Hillary Clinton won: Nevada's Dean Heller, who was first appointed to a vacancy in 2011 by Gov. Brian Sandoval and who had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/7/18053746/senate-midterm-election-results-nevada-jacky-rosen-winner" style="text-decoration-line: none;">never lost a race</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heller once positioned himself as a moderate, but in the Trump era enthusiastically&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/dean-heller/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">did the president's bidding</a>. He promised constituents he would never repeal protections for pre-existing conditions, only to turn around and&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/410426-new-dem-ad-says-heller-lying-about-protecting-pre-existing-conditions" style="text-decoration-line: none;">back a bill that did just that</a>. He later threw a cancer patient who asked him about it out of his town hall and called her a "<a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/dean-heller-cancer-patient-democrat-political-operative" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Democrat political operative</a>." He was also a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/03/01/thousands-nevadans-already-benefiting-tax-cuts-heller/386226002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">proud backer</a>&nbsp;of the GOP's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/poll-gop-tax-scam-benefits-wealthy" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tax scam bill</a>&nbsp;and the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, dismissing the sexual assault allegations against him as a "<a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/dean-heller-brett-kavanaugh-hiccup" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hiccup</a>."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heller lost to Rep. Jacky Rosen, a former computer programmer and synagogue president who was first elected to Congress in 2016. With Rosen's win, Nevada will become the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.twincities.com/2017/12/13/minnesota-joins-states-with-2-women-senators/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">seventh state in U.S. history</a>&nbsp;to send two women to the Senate concurrently (Nevada's other senator, Catherine Cortez Masto, won former Democratic Leader Harry Reid's seat in 2016.)</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="2"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Walker has long been the bane of Midwestern Democrats' existence, and for good reason: he was a ruthless right-wing ideologue in a state that (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/wisconsin" style="text-decoration-line: none;">usually</a>) votes blue.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Walker is best known for&nbsp;<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/17/news/economy/wisconsin-act-10-teachers/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">severely gutting</a>&nbsp;collective bargaining rights for public workers, triggering&nbsp;<a href="https://madison.com/wsj/the-protest-that-wouldn-t-end-act/article_08d9d341-b665-5733-983a-de170c671de0.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">massive protests</a>&nbsp;in 2011, but that was just the beginning. His budget cuts&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/schools-plan-massive-layoffs-after-scott-walker-guts-funding-2099e08b6dac/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">decimated</a>&nbsp;the University of Wisconsin system, which was once&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/histoftech/status/1060139600180641792?s=21" style="text-decoration-line: none;">renowned internationally</a>. He cruelly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2018/jun/15/dana-wachs/how-scott-walkers-rejection-medicaid-expansion-und/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">rejected</a>&nbsp;$1 billion in federal money to expand Medicaid, leaving hundreds of thousands in his state uninsured. He signed one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/magazine/the-new-front-in-the-gerrymandering-wars-democracy-vs-math.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most gerrymandered maps in the country</a>, rigging elections for Republicans. And after being caught in a&nbsp;<a href="https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5517090" style="text-decoration-line: none;">serious campaign finance scandal</a>, he worked with his allies in the legislature to&nbsp;<a href="https://fox6now.com/2015/10/22/gov-scott-walker-says-hell-sign-bill-banning-john-doe-probes/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ban the type of public corruption investigation</a>&nbsp;that caught him.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Walker built up a reputation for political invincibility. He is the only governor in U.S. history to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/06/05/154384654/live-blog-wisconsin-decides-governors-fate-in-recall-vote" style="text-decoration-line: none;">survive a recall vote</a>. And he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2014/wisconsin-elections" style="text-decoration-line: none;">won re-election</a>&nbsp;in 2014 handily. But when he tried to win a third term this year, his antics finally caught up with him.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fittingly, the governor infamous for destroying teachers' right to unionize lost to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/us/elections-wisconsin-governor-evers-walker.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Tony Evers</a>, the state superintendent of public instruction.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="3"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois was the largest blue state to have a Republican governor — and Bruce Rauner, a billionaire former private equity manager first elected in 2014, shared Walker's antipathy toward public programs and collective bargaining. He was the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/labor/billionaires-could-destroy-public-sector-unions" style="text-decoration-line: none;">financial backer</a>&nbsp;of the lawsuit that led to this year's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Supreme Court decision</a>&nbsp;declaring large parts of public-sector union financing illegal. His administration was largely defined by a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20180413/ISSUE05/180419921/illinois-democrats-rauner-head-to-another-budget-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none;">three-year budget standoff</a>&nbsp;with the Democratic legislature that wrecked the state's credit rating and jeopardized education and social services.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rauner was always in grave danger going into this election —&nbsp;<a href="https://morningconsult.com/2018/10/10/americas-most-and-least-popular-governors-q3-2018/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">polling</a>&nbsp;showed he was the most unpopular governor on the ballot this year, with a whopping 62 percent disapproval. His Democratic opponent, J.B. Pritzker, was also a billionaire investor, and consequentially the race became one of the most expensive in history, totaling nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/02/ill-governors-race-nasty-contest-could-costliest-u-s-history/1849262002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$300 million</a>&nbsp;between the two candidates.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the end, there was nothing Rauner could do to save himself. With his loss, Illinois returns to being a state Democratic trifecta, one of&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/2018_election_analysis:_State_government_trifectas" style="text-decoration-line: none;">five new trifectas</a>&nbsp;that Democrats managed to secure.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="4"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kris Kobach (R-KS)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Few people have been more involved in the right-wing plot to restrict access to the ballot under the guise of preventing "voter fraud" than Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A right-wing firebrand who has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/05/trump-ally-kris-kobach-donations-white-nationalists" style="text-decoration-line: none;">accepted donations from white supremacists</a>, Kobach served as an election integrity czar on President Donald Trump's short-lived&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/us/politics/trump-voter-fraud-commission.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">voter fraud commission</a>. He created the Interstate Crosscheck System, which is supposed to help states prune duplicate voter registrations but which is prone to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/this-anti-voter-fraud-program-gets-it-wrong-over-99-of-the-time-the-gop-wants-to-take-it-nationwide/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">false positives</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/the-crosscheck-voter-database-is-a-security-threat/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">security flaws</a>. And a unique state law he helped design in Kansas gives him his own team of prosecutors to charge people with voter fraud, but his investigations were a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article77519827.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">laughable failure</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The crown jewel of his projects, however, was a Kansas law requiring people to prove citizenship before registering to vote. After that law disenfranchised some&nbsp;<a href="https://shareblue.com/kris-kobach-aclu-legal-fees/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">36,000 legal voters</a>&nbsp;without even informing them, Kobach was ordered to stop by a federal judge, but flouted that ruling, culminating in a trial where he performed so incompetently the judge&nbsp;<a href="https://shareblue.com/republican-kris-kobach-trump-voter-suppression/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">had to explain to him how trials work</a>. Kobach was ultimately found in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/politics/kris-kobach-contempt-of-court/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">contempt of court</a>&nbsp;and ordered to take&nbsp;<a href="https://americasvoice.org/blog/kobach-more-legal-challenges/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">remedial law classes</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This year, undaunted by his legacy of voting rights scandals, Kobach threw his hat into the ring for governor,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/14/17691178/jeff-colyer-kris-kobach-kansas-governor-primary-2018-midterms" style="text-decoration-line: none;">narrowly beating</a>&nbsp;sitting Gov. Jeff Colyer for the nomination while overseeing the whole election himself. He was actually&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-midterm-election-forecast/governor/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">favored to win</a>&nbsp;the three-way race between Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly and independent Greg Orman. But in the end, Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/us/laura-kelly-wins-kansas-governors-race.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pulled off a victory</a>, giving Kansas its first Democratic governor since 2010.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="5"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher, who represents a traditionally conservative congressional district on the coast of Orange County, is often known by the nickname "<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/putin-congress-rohrabacher-trump-231775" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Putin's favorite congressman</a>" and for good reason: he is disturbingly sympathetic to the authoritarian Russian regime. He has&nbsp;<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/03/gop-congressman-met-in-moscow-with-kremlin-linked-lawyer-at-center-of-russia-investigation/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">traveled to Moscow</a>&nbsp;and met with Russian nationals implicated in the special counsel investigation, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/politics/rohrabacher-assange-interview/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">supports</a>Julian Assange, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-latest-mueller-indictment-reveals-about-wikileaks-ties-to-russia-and-what-it-doesnt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Russia-linked</a>&nbsp;"transparency" activist who distributed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/31/the-podesta-emails-show-who-runs-america-and-how-they-do-it" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hacked information</a>&nbsp;on Democrats through WikiLeaks. Even his fellow House Republicans were so unsettled by his chumminess with the Kremlin that they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-leaders-refusing-to-pay-for-dana-rohrabachers-travel-over-russia-fears" style="text-decoration-line: none;">cut off his travel budget</a>&nbsp;earlier this year.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But even putting aside the Russia issue, Rohrabacher is a poisonous politician. He has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-GOP-Rep-Dana-Rohrabacher-says-it-s-12945193.php" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a>&nbsp;there's nothing wrong with refusing to sell homes to gay couples. He has been caught&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/alleged-holocaust-denier-chuck-johnson-attends-matt-gaetz-fundraiser-dana-rohrabacher/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">multiple times</a>&nbsp;associating with Chuck C. Johnson, a far-right Internet troll who has denied the Holocaust. And he&nbsp;<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/rohrabacher-homeless-shelters-statement-94d3340b0040/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">vehemently opposes</a>the creation of homeless shelters.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His Democratic opponent was businessman and attorney Harley Rouda. Though the race has not officially been called yet, Rouda&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/07/election-results-2018-dana-rohrabacher-harvey-rouda/1917374002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">leads</a>&nbsp;by 1.4 percent with all precincts reporting.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="6"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beto O'Rourke did not run against Sen. Ted Cruz for nothing. His close race spurred Democratic turnout in Texas, and may have played a hand in the defeat of Pete Sessions, a longtime Dallas-based GOP incumbent.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sessions chaired the powerful House Rules Committee — a position he has used to ruthlessly&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.norml.org/2017/09/07/house-rules-committee-blocks-marijuana-amendments/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">block</a>&nbsp;any consideration of amendments that would loosen the federal prohibition on marijuana. Even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/25/for-the-first-time-a-majority-of-republicans-support-marijuana-legalization/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most Republicans</a>, and some&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-republicans-legal-marijuana-20180417-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Republican lawmakers</a>, are starting to doubt marijuana should be illegal, at least at the federal level — but Sessions was one of the biggest obstacles to any debate of the issue in the House.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sessions was unseated by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/11/06/former-nfl-player-colin-allred-beats-powerful-incumbent-pete-sessions-congress" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Colin Allred</a>, a former linebacker for the Tennessee Titans who went on to become a civil rights attorney and a legal assistant at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="7"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia was a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginias-most-important-midterm-elections-could-turn-the-state-blue/2018/11/06/7e22bbce-deb6-11e8-85df-7a6b4d25cfbb_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bloodbath</a>&nbsp;for House Republicans. Reps. Scott Taylor in the 2nd District and Barbara Comstock in the 10th District fell to Democrats. But perhaps most interesting is the&nbsp;<a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/david-brat-loses-abigal-spanberger-virginia-house" style="text-decoration-line: none;">defeat</a>&nbsp;of Dave Brat in the 7th District.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A former professor of economics at Randolph-Macon College, Brat himself was first elected to Congress in a surprise upset in 2014,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/us/politics/eric-cantor-loses-gop-primary.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">defeating</a>&nbsp;GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in his own primary. A member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, Brat has&nbsp;<a href="https://shareblue.com/virginia-republican-congressman-compares-his-constituents-to-murderous-white-supremacists/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">compared</a>&nbsp;his own constituents to neo-Nazis for protesting his vote to repeal health coverage for the poor.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His race against Democratic former CIA operative Abigail Spanberger was one of the nastiest contests of the cycle. Republican strategists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/cia-officer-house-election-super-pac.amp.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">improperly obtained</a>&nbsp;Spanberger's security clearance file and used it to write attack ads about her teaching at a school that was also attended by terrorist recruits. Ultimately, this fearmongering was not enough to save Brat's job.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="8"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jason Lewis (R-MN)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Minnesota Democrats were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2016/11/wild-night-minnesota-jason-lewis-pulls-victory-while-rick-nolan-hangs/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">taken aback</a>&nbsp;when Jason Lewis managed to win this open Twin Cities seat in 2016, defeating newspaper reporter and LGBTQ adoption rights plaintiff&nbsp;<a href="https://www.angiecraig.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Angie Craig</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lewis, a former right wing talk-radio host styling himself "America's Mr. Right," was notorious for his vile comments on air. He&nbsp;<a href="https://m.startribune.com/lewis-facing-strong-criticism-for-past-comments-about-women/368885181/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">complained</a>&nbsp;single women are "ignorant of the important issues in life,"&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/meet-minnesotas-mini-trump/495641/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a>&nbsp;that same-sex marriage and progressive income taxes are like slavery, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/18/politics/kfile-jason-lewis/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bemoaned</a>&nbsp;the fact that it is no longer socially acceptable to call women "sluts."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This time around, however, the media paid more attention to Lewis' extremist history, to the point where CNN was even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/cnn-andrew-kaczynski-lawsuit-jason-lewis" style="text-decoration-line: none;">threatened</a>&nbsp;with a frivolous lawsuit for quoting excerpts of his radio show. Craig was nominated for a rematch, and this time, she&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/minnesota-house-district-2" style="text-decoration-line: none;">beat him</a>.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="9"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY)</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claudia Tenney represented New York's 22nd Congressional District, an upstate seat that voted for Trump by&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/claudia-tenney/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">15 points</a>. This fact was not lost on her, as she did her utmost to be as Trumpy as possible,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/08/13/tenney-embraces-trump-at-fundraiser-amid-protests-556699" style="text-decoration-line: none;">welcoming</a>&nbsp;him to fundraisers and voting for his agenda 97 percent of the time.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like Trump, Tenney also had a penchant for baselessly demonizing her opponents. In one radio interview, she&nbsp;<a href="https://shareblue.com/gop-claudia-tenney-lying-shootings-blames-media-liberals/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">echoed</a>&nbsp;an Internet hoax that most mass shooters are Democrats, then shouted "<a href="https://shareblue.com/claudia-tenney-house-republican-new-york-fake-news/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Fake News!</a>" at reporters challenging her assertion. On another occasion, she suggested the "<a href="https://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/claudia_tenney_deep_state_ben_carson.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Deep State</a>" was responsible for Housing Secretary Ben Carson overspending tax dollars on a dining room set. And she faced anger over a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/claudia-tenney-anthony-brindisi-memo-mob-ties" style="text-decoration-line: none;">campaign memo</a>&nbsp;telling her staff to watch out for her (Italian-American) opponent Anthony Brindisi's "thuggish" family because they might be tied to the mob.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brindisi, a moderate state assemblyman, ended up&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/democrat-anthony-brindisi-projected-to-unseat-gop-rep-claudia-tenney-in-new-york-nbc-news.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">winning the day</a>&nbsp;as voters rejected Tenney's abrasive, far-right politics.</font></p><ol style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" start="10"><li><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kim Davis</font></strong></li></ol><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the local level in Kentucky, Republicans received a special blow with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/06/us/kentucky-county-clerk-kim-davis-loses/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">loss</a>&nbsp;of Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who became briefly famous in 2015 when she directed her office to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even though the Supreme Court had just extended the right to same-sex marriage nationwide. Davis ended up serving a brief&nbsp;<a href="https://www-m.cnn.com/2015/09/04/us/kim-davis-things-to-know/?r=https%3A%2F%2Famp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org%2F&rm=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;">stint in jail</a>&nbsp;for contempt of court, for which the conservative movement made her a martyr.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elwood Caudill Jr., her Democratic opponent, says that she has already called to congratulate him.</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican known for his unapologetic pro-Russia stance, is projected to lose against Democrat Harley Rouda in California's 48th congressional district race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rohrabacher has advocated for a better relationship with Russian President Vladimir. He has voted with President Trump nearly 84 percent of the time, according to nonpartisan analysis from FiveThirtyEight. He also has been known to back Trump's stance on immigration.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rouda, a businessman and lawyer promising to protect health care coverage and reduce gun violence, appeared to take the win Wednesday morning after midnight data showed a near tie between the two candidates. Rouda held over 91,000 votes and Rohrabacher had 89,068.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats won the majority in the House of Representatives as midterm election results finalized. This ends unified Republican rule of Washington and opens the possibility that Trump could be investigated when they take power in January. They could demand Trump’s tax returns, subpoena his Cabinet members and investigate alleged corruption across the executive branch.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More: Democrats seize control of House, power to investigate President Trump</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div>