Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday morning newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.
Control of the U.S. Senate
A less-than-impressive week for the GOP culminated on Saturday with the race for U.S. Senate in Nevada, where Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto beat Republican challenger Adam Laxalt.
Her win gives Democrats 50 seats in the Senate, which means the party will maintain control regardless of the outcome of the runoff election in Georgia. Vice President Kamala Harris would continue to act as a tiebreaker vote if necessary.
"The American people rejected – soundly rejected – the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty, and divisive direction that MAGA Republicans wanted to take our country in," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday.
Control of the U.S. House
In what was expected to be an easy endeavor for Republicans, it’s still unclear whether the GOP will take control of the U.S. House. If it does, the margin will be narrow.
Washington’s 3rd Congressional District became a key narrative in that storyline over the weekend.
Once a reliably red seat, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez managed to defeat Republican challenger Joe Kent – a devastating blow to the GOP and a signal that the continued rift between factions of the party has real consequences.
Kent says he is not conceding the race, encouraging voters to cure their ballots (more on that below).
To "cure" your ballot means to fix any errors that may have prevented it from being counted. First, you must verify that it has been counted and, if not, take steps to ensure it is. This is something all voters should do regardless of whether you're in the 3rd Congressional District. It just makes sense! Click here.
A little context on the 3rd.
The 3rd Congressional District has been represented by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) since 2010. Herrera Beutler lost her reelection bid after Kent, a Trump-backed Republican, narrowly defeated her in the primary election.
Herrera Beutler was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, and despite a history of solid conservative leadership, the Trump wing of the party revolted.
There is little doubt that Herrera Beutler would have kept the seat red had Trump not backed a primary challenger. After all, a majority of voters in the 3rd Congressional District supported other Republicans candidates – like U.S. Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley – but did not favor Kent, which speaks directly to his perceived electability.
Republicans in Washington state now hold only two of ten U.S. House seats in Washington and no U.S. Senate seats.
Other races of interest
A race we’ve been tracking closely (due to stolen valor intrigue) is the 10th Legislative District in Washington.
Democrat Clyde Shavers, who embellished his military service and lied about being an attorney, has led since election night – but that lead has dropped to only 29 votes, with late returns favoring Republican Greg Gilday (speaking of curing votes, you may want to do that if you live in this district. Every single vote counts, quite literally).
Shavers' lies were exposed roughly a week after ballots hit mailboxes, so it’s no surprise Gilday is outperforming in late ballot counts. One wonders whether the race would even be close had Shavers’ lies emerged earlier.
With a few thousand ballots left to count in Island, Skagit, and Snohomish counties – this one will come down to the wire.
Trump goes off the deep end over DeSantis
In a statement released this week, former President Donald Trump attacked Governor Ron DeSantis after his decisive reelection victory in Florida, calling him an “average REPUBLICAN governor with great Public Relations.”
OK, Donald.
“And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”
If you care to read the entire petty thing, go for it.
Should Republicans care to get serious about winning, now is the time to start creating some distance between Trump and the future of the party. I'm not sure how one could arrive at any other takeaway after Tuesday.
Thank you, veterans!
This Veterans Day weekend, a huge thank you to all of those who have served our country.
I had the pleasure this week of spending time with one of my favorite veterans, my friend Darryl. In fact, if you watched the Friday show you would have caught his brief cameo at the end!
Darryl served in interior communications in the Navy and is using what he learned to overhaul our podcast studio. I can't wait for you to see the changes! We've moved from a one-microphone setup to three, which will allow for more in-person guests (I don't know about you, but I'm over the Zoom interviews). In fact, Secretary of state candidate Julie Anderson will be the first to try out the new system when she joins us tomorrow (a little tease).
The new setup will also help move us closer to doing the show LIVE and, eventually, every day. It has been really exciting to see the progress the show has made since our launch last November (when I did it once a week using a green screen out of the spare bedroom at my house). Help with our growth by becoming a paid supporter of the show, if you haven't already!
So, a big thank you to Darryl for helping move the show forward. As a bonus, here is a picture of us at the U.S. Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan, when we were just youngsters!
Have a greet week and thank you for your commitment to give common sense a comeback!
