This live blog is now closed. You can follow the action of the third Republican debate with us here:
Closing summary
Democrats basked in the glow of several victories in off-year elections held yesterday, both for their candidates and their causes. Among the triumphs was Democratic governor Andy Beshear’s re-election in deep-red Kentucky, Ohio’s vote to protect abortion rights in the state constitution and a slew of wins in Virginia legislative races that will prevent Republican governor Glenn Youngkin from enacting abortion restrictions. But trouble loomed elsewhere. The House last night voted to censure progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib for her use of a controversial pro-Palestine slogan, which was today also condemned by the White House. Meanwhile, election analysts say that despite Democrats’ recent successes, Joe Biden is not out of the woods yet.
Here’s what else happened today:
The Biden administration once again said it does not support a ceasefire in Gaza, despite growing calls on the left for Israel to cease its hostilities.
The Minnesota supreme court rejected an attempt to keep Donald Trump off next year’s primary ballot for his plot to overturn his 2020 election loss.
House Republicans sent subpoenas to two members of Biden’s family and a business associate, and demanded testimony from five others, drawing fury from the White House.
Ivanka Trump took the stand at her family business’s civil fraud trial in New York City, and could not remember many things.
Progressives including senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decried the decision to censure Tlaib.
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DeSantis and Haley to clash as Republicans prepare for Miami debate
With the race’s runaway leader appearing at his own private rally just across town, five survivors of an already bruising race for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination will gather in Miami on Wednesday night to argue why they are the better choice for the White House than Donald Trump.
The third Republican primary debate is expected to be a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California, with sparring over global conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine likely to dominate.
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Minnesota supreme court rejects challenge to Trump's appearance on primary ballot over 2020 plot
Minnesota’s supreme court has turned down a challenge to Donald Trump appearing on next year’s primary ballot due to his involvement in attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s election win in 2020, the Associated Press reports.
Plaintiffs in the case had argued Trump disqualified himself from holding office by participating in an “insurrection”, but the state supreme court did not agree, though it left open the possibility he could be barred from the ballot in the general election scheduled for November 2024.
Here’s more from the AP:
The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot under a constitutional provision that forbids those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
The state’s high court declined to become the first in history to use Section Three of the 14th Amendment to prevent someone from running for the presidency. However, it said in its ruling the decision applied only to the state’s primary and left open the possibility that plaintiffs could try again to knock Trump off the general election ballot in November.
The ruling is the first to come in a series of lawsuits filed by liberal groups that are seeking to use Section Three to end the candidacy of the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary by citing his role in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol that was intended to halt certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
Trump has attacked the lawsuits as ‘frivolous’ attempts by ‘radical Democrat dark money groups’ to short-circuit democracy by interfering with his attempt to regain the White House.
The provision at issue bars from office anyone who swore an oath to the constitution and then ‘engaged in insurrection’ against it. It was mainly used to prevent former Confederates from taking over state and federal government positions after the Civil War.
The plaintiffs in the cases contend that Section Three is simply another qualification for the presidency, just like the Constitution’s requirement that a president be at least 35 years old. They filed in Minnesota because the state has a quick process to challenge ballot qualifications, with the case heard directly by the state’s highest court.
And here’s more from earlier this month, when arguments in the case were first heard:
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The Guardian’s David Smith spent today trying to find the answer to the biggest question of last night’s off-year election results: how did it turn out so well for Democrats and their causes, even in states where Republicans have lately been dominant? Here’s what he found:
Nowhere was there a bigger sigh of relief on Tuesday night than at the White House.
Brutal opinion polls for Joe Biden at the weekend had revived murmurs over his viability as the Democratic standard bearer in next year’s presidential election. But then came sweeping victories for Democrats at the ballot box in general elections that offered a reminder of two key Republican liabilities: abortion and democracy.
Reproductive rights supporters won big in an Ohio ballot measure. The Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, was re-elected in Kentucky by campaigning on reproductive rights while his challenger, the state attorney general, Daniel Cameron, touted his endorsement by former president Donald Trump. A Democrat won an open seat on the Pennsylvania supreme court after campaigning on his pledge to uphold abortion rights.
The Guardian has been keeping a live blog running ever since Hamas’s 7 October terrorist attack against Israel, covering the fallout from the bloody incursion and Israel’s retaliatory invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Follow along below for the latest developments in the conflict:
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Biden to meet with bipartisan group of senators who visited Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Joe Biden will meet this evening with a group of Democratic and Republican senators who just returned from a trip to the Middle East, Punchbowl News reports, as his administration navigates the ongoing fallout from Israel’s invasion of Gaza following Hamas’s terrorist attack last month:
SCOOP — Senators who recently traveled to Israel, Saudi Arabia & Egypt are heading to the White House tonight to meet with President Biden, per multiple sources.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 8, 2023
This CODEL was led by Graham and Cardin. Included Thune, Reed, others.
Biden traveled to Israel shortly after the 7 October terrorist attack, and his secretary of state Antony Blinken in recent days visited the country, including the West Bank, as well as Iraq. However the president’s policy has attracted criticism from some Democrats as well as many Arab American voters, who see Biden as enabling the thousands of civilian deaths reported in Gaza since Israel’s counterattack against Hamas began.
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Ivanka Trump concludes testimony in civil fraud trial
It’s a big news day in New York City, where Ivanka Trump just departed the witness stand in the ongoing civil fraud trial against Donald Trump and his family.
The former president’s daughter kept her testimony in line with that of two of her brothers, who already testified, while repeatedly saying she did not recall details of correspondences about loans – a plank of the case against the family, which centers on a judge’s finding that the Trump Organization for years inflated the value of its assets to secure better loan terms and other benefits.
We have a separate live blog that will tell you all about Ivanka’s time on the witness stand today, and you can read it here:
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White House blasts Republican move to subpoena Biden family
The Republican-led House oversight committee today sent subpoenas to the president’s son Hunter Biden, the president’s brother James Biden and family associate Rob Walker, prompting a furious response from the White House.
The subpoenas, which compel the three men to appear for depositions, come as House Republicans press forward with an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden that centers on unproven allegations that he benefited from corrupt business dealings by his family members.
“The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes. Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence,” the committee’s chair James Comer said in a statement.
In addition to the three subpoenas, Comer requested that five other members of the Biden family and their associates appear for interviews.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Ian Sams condemned the GOP for dragging the president’s relatives into their long-running investigations:
Hallie Biden is the widow of the President's deceased son Beau
— Ian Sams (@IanSams46) November 8, 2023
Elizabeth Secundy is her sister
Melissa Cohen is the President's daughter-in-law
They're all private citizens
He won't be, but Comer should be ashamed of desperately resorting to nasty personal smears like this https://t.co/zmvwSvSFHZ
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Indeed, what to make of yesterday’s off-year election victories by Democrats and their causes, particularly if you are somebody worried about Joe Biden’s poll numbers?
Tuesday’s election came just days after the New York Times and Siena College released a survey that found Biden was trailing the Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump in five of the six swing states expected to decide the winner. Democrats’ strong electoral performance yesterday seems to contradict that grim conclusion, but, in an analysis, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics says the result is actually not as surprising as it appears.
“Off-year elections feature smaller electorates and don’t feature presidential candidates at the top of the ballot,” the center writes.
All signs point to next year’s race being a close contest between Biden and Trump. Here’s more from the Center for Politics’s piece:
Last night’s results have given Democrats a shot in the arm and have confounded the recent narrative about Democrats being in deep trouble next year. But it’s also true that these races in many respects differ from the election coming up next year. It may be the case that President Biden is in fact uniquely vulnerable, and that even former President Trump – himself dragged down by plenty of vulnerabilities that likely are not getting the kind of attention now that they will if he is renominated – could beat Biden. It may also be the case that polling a year out from an election is not predictive (and it often is not). Maybe the Democrats do just have an advantage now in smaller turnout, off-year elections as their base has absorbed many higher-turnout, college-educated voters while shedding lower-turnout voters who don’t have a four-year degree. Maybe the presidential year turnout will bring out more Trump voters and give the Republicans a clearer shot. About all we feel comfortable saying is that we should continue to expect the presidential race to be close and competitive – a boring statement, we know, but probably true.
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Kentucky has not supported a Democratic president in more than 25 years, but last night, voters in the Bluegrass State decided to give Democratic governor Andy Beshear a second term.
In an interview with CNN, Beshear was asked if his victory in the strongly Republican state offered any lessons for beleaguered Democrats elsewhere. Here’s what he had to say:
Gov. Andy Beshear (D), when asked if his reelection in deep-red Kentucky is a blueprint for Democratic campaigns:
— The Recount (@therecount) November 8, 2023
“Our blueprint was ... show up, work hard, get results, and care about everybody. And don't get distracted by whatever the issue of the day is in Washington, D.C.” pic.twitter.com/EZZcEb3TQ0
Speaking at the White House, Kamala Harris told reporters yesterday was a “good night” after voters in Ohio and Virginia handed victories to advocates of reproductive rights:
“Voters have been clear, regardless of whether they're in a so-called red or blue state, that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 8, 2023
— VP Kamala Harris on Election Night pic.twitter.com/CAlW3ICgOs
The bigger question that is undoubtedly on her mind – and, of course, on Joe Biden’s – is whether the momentum Democrats have seen at the state-level since Roe v Wade was overturned will remain in a year, when the presidential elections are held.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has denounced the Republican-led House of Representatives’ decision to censure Rashida Tlaib over her criticisms of Israel.
In a statement released on Wednesday, CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad said:
The American Muslim community stands against this hypocritical and racist targeting of representative Rashida Tlaib, whose voice is indispensable in representing the concerns of millions of Americans who are horrified by the war crimes our government supports against the Palestinian people. She should wear this cowardly censure as a badge of honor. We will not be cowed by those attempting to muzzle our voices.
Both Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives who orchestrated the suppression and censure of the only Muslim Palestinian voice in Congress under the cover of darkness while ignoring the openly racist, bigoted and violent remarks that members of Congress have made about Muslims and Palestinians, should be deeply ashamed of their actions. They are on the wrong side of history.
Speaking to reporters, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called last night’s Democratic victories across the country an “important night for the American people.”
“They rejected these extreme, extreme policies that we’re seeing from the Republican party and they also lifted up the president’s agenda, the president’s values.”
In response to a follow-up question on Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, Jean-Pierre said:
“You have to take these polls with a grain of salt… I talked about 2020…what we saw is a president that was able to bring an incredibly strong, diverse coalition to win in 2020. We saw the same thing in 2022… we kept on hearing about a ‘Red Wave’ that didn’t materialize…
We don’t put much stock in polls. The president’s going to focus on delivering for the American people. He has an agenda that is incredibly popular and that matters.”
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White House denounces Tlaib's use of controversial pro-Palestinian slogan
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “we strongly disagree” with Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib’s support for the controversial pro-Palestinian phrase “from the river to the sea”, for which the sole Palestinian congresswoman was censured by the Republican-controlled House on Tuesday night.
“We strongly disagree with using that phrase – it’s been said by many people at the White House. I do not have any conversations to read out to you with the congresswomen,” Jean-Pierre said after being asked if Joe Biden has spoken to Tlaib about the matter.
But Jean-Pierre added: “We have been very, very clear how it is important to be mindful about the language that we use at this time, and we will continue to speak out on that.”
Tlaib, who is the only Palestinian American in the US Congress, on Tuesday defended her criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and urged US lawmakers to join in calling for a ceasefire.
Tlaib has long criticized Joe Biden’s support of Israel, but received intense backlash after her defense of the slogan “from the river to the sea”.
In a social media post on Friday, Tlaib defended the phrase as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate”.
The full slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, references the land that sits between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. While many recognize the slogan as a call for Palestinian liberation, others argue that the term has been used to call for the destruction of Israel and the persecution of Jewish people.
Updated
White House reiterates that it does not support ceasefire in Gaza
White House national security spokesman John Kirby was just asked at the daily press briefing how long is a humanitarian pause – in the sense of something being characterized as such.
Is, for example, a 72-hour humanitarian pause different from a ceasefire, Kirby was asked by one of the gathered journalists.
Kirby said a humanitarian pause was “as long as it needed to be”, eg to get aid in to Gaza or people out of the Palestinian territory, and was something different from “a general ceasefire” that stands as a “cessation of hostilities” between both sides as they seek to negotiate towards an end game in a war, he said.
“We do not support that at this time,” Kirby said. He said the White House regarded at ceasefire as currently being to the benefit of Hamas, as opposed to Israel, in military and propaganda terms.
A humanitarian pause, in contrast, is something “temporary, localized and for specific purposes,” Kirby said.
Updated
White House national security spokesman John Kirby adds, at the press briefing now ongoing in the west wing, that it could take “more than one pause” in the fighting in Gaza to get all hostages out of the territory.
That is not to say there is any sign today that an opportunity has yet been created for them to be released.
Israel’s military is currently reiterating that there will be no ceasefire in Gaza – but the military will allow for “humanitarian pauses,” Reuters notes.
The White House reckons such pauses could “last hours or days.”
Kirby says the US continues to urge Israel to minimize civilian deaths in Gaza, especially putting people who are currently trying to flee to the south of the territory or out of it altogether “in harm’s way”.
He acknowledged that “most Palestinians don’t want to leave” and there are around a million people internally displaced within Gaza right now.
The White House is holding its press briefing and national security spokesman John Kirby is reiterating a point he made yesterday, that the notion of Israel occupying Gaza is “not a long term solution to post-conflict governance.”
This follows Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration earlier this week that Israel would take control of security in Gaza for an indefinite period, adding to the sense of uncertainty over the future of the Palestinian territory even as it is currently gripped by war and humanitarian crisis.
Kirby said, meanwhile, that there are still between 500 and 600 Americans that the US is trying to get out of Gaza. And, asked by journalists about what the militant group Hamas, that controls Gaza, is demanding to release the more than 200 hostages that its fighters snatched when they attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed at least 1,400 people, Kirby would not give details. The hostages include Americans.
“We have a way to communicate with Hamas, we are using that way. We are doing everything we can to get those folks back with their families,” he said.
Updated
Bernie Sanders on House's censure of Rashida Tlaib: 'Pathetic and shameful'
Bernie Sanders has also hit back at the Republican-led House’s decision to censure Rashida Tlaib over her criticisms of Israel amid its deadly bombing campaign that has killed over 10,000 Palestinians, saying:
“The House should pass desperately needed aid for Gaza, work to stop the conflict in the Middle East, and address the pressing needs of the American people.
Instead they voted to censure my friend Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress. Pathetic and shameful!” the Independent Vermont senator said.
The House should pass desperately needed aid for Gaza, work to stop the conflict in the Middle East, and address the pressing needs of the American people. Instead they voted to censure my friend @RashidaTlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress. Pathetic and shameful!
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 8, 2023
Updated
MPower Change, a Muslim-led grassroots organization, has thrown its support behind Rashida Tlaib following her censure by the Republican-led House of Representatives.
In a post on Instagram, the group said:
“Shame on those who voted to silence the only Palestinian voice in Congress. Rep. Rashida Tlaib has been censured for defending the rights of Palestinians to live free of Israeli occupation and siege and for demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.
Rashida has always been on the side of humanity and she will continue to do that regardless of those who try to stop her.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks out against Rashida Tlaib censure
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has spoken out against the House’s censure of Rashida Tlaib over her criticisms of Israel amid its deadly bombing campaign across Gaza that has killed over 10,000 Palestinians in reponse to the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
“It is not lost on anyone how many offensive, violent, and racist things people regularly hear members of Congress say, yet virtually the only one that gets censured for her political speech also happens to be the only Palestinian American.
It does not reflect well. At all,” the New York Democratic representative said.
It is not lost on anyone how many offensive, violent, and racist things people regularly hear members of Congress say, yet virtually the only one that gets censured for her political speech also happens to be the only Palestinian American.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 8, 2023
It does not reflect well. At all. https://t.co/LzQUtg2WbU
Updated
The Republican-led House of Representatives has voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, Michigan’s Democratic representative and Congress’s only Palestinian-American.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein reports:
The 234-188 tally came after enough Democrats joined with Republicans to censure Tlaib, a punishment one step below expulsion from the House. The three-term congresswoman has long been a target of criticism for her views on the decades-long conflict in the Middle East.
The debate on the censure resolution on Tuesday afternoon was emotional and intense. The Republican representative Rich McCormick of Georgia pushed the censure measure in response to what he called Tlaib’s promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. He said she had “levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on October 7”.
Tlaib provoked criticism last week by defending the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea”.
In remarks on the House floor, Tlaib defended her criticism of the country and urged lawmakers to join in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said. “No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation.”
She also said she had condemned the Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens several times.
For further details, click here:
Chuck Schumer: 'It's time to recognize Maga extremism is the wrong answer'
Following a series of Democratic wins across the country, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said that “it’s time to recognize Maga extremism is the wrong answer.”
In an address on Wednesday, the New York senator said:
“There is no possible takeaway from last night other than this: Americans fiercely opposed Maga extremism, fiercely opposed total abortion bans and want bipartisan leaders who can put America’s needs first.
After last night’s results, I have a message to my Republican colleagues:
When the Maga agenda can’t win in deep-red Kentucky or in Ohio or help you in Virginia, it’s time to recognize Maga extremism is the wrong answer, not just for the country but even for the GOP.”
“When the MAGA agenda can't win in deep-red Kentucky, or in Ohio, or help you in Virginia, it's time to recognize MAGA extremism is the wrong answer, not just for the country but even for the GOP.”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 8, 2023
— Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) on Democrats' wins on Election Night pic.twitter.com/dOT5RGS34m
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Here is more from the Guardian’s staff and agencies on Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated '“Central Park Five” members who won a New York City council seat following yesterday’s election:
Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the city council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections playing out across New York state on Tuesday. He won his primary election in a landslide.
The victory comes more than two decades after DNA evidence was used to overturn the convictions of Salaam and four other Black and Latino men in the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. Salaam was imprisoned for almost seven years.
“For me, this means that we can really become our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Salaam said in an interview before the election.
Elsewhere in New York City, voters were deciding whether to re-elect the Queens district attorney and cast ballots in other city council races. The council, which passes legislation and has some oversight powers over city agencies, has long been dominated by Democrats and the party is certain to retain firm control after the election.
Local elections on Long Island could offer clues about how the city’s suburbs could vote in next year’s congressional elections.
For the full story, click here:
Philadephia has elected Cherelle Parker, the first female mayor to lead the city.
Following her victory, Parker, who served 10 years as a state representative for northwest Philadelphia, said:
“Thank you Philly. We did it. We made history, or “her” story. As a little girl, I never dreamed that this moment would arrive but it’s here now… From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me and in my vision for a safer, cleaner greener city with economic oppurtunity for all.”
Thank you, Philly!! Stay tuned for more announcements and updates coming soon right here! Our journey doesn't end here—it's just the beginning of the work we'll do together. Keep an eye on social media for exciting news to come! pic.twitter.com/wfEKYFPzXY
— Cherelle Parker (@PeopleforParker) November 8, 2023
Brandon Presley, the Democrat who lost to Mississippi’s incumbent Republican governor, Tate Reeves said that although the result “wasn’t what we wanted, I’m more confident than ever in our people”.
“May God bless Gov Reeves in his victory and this great state,” he added, following his defeat in yesterday’s gubernatorial election.
Mississippi is a wonderful state that welcomed me and Katelyn into all 82 counties over this campaign. While tonight’s result wasn’t what we wanted, I’m more confident than ever in our people. May God bless Gov. Reeves in his victory and this great state. pic.twitter.com/uCaxzhIq3Y
— Brandon Presley (@BrandonPresley) November 8, 2023
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Maine voters have rejected a utilities initiative to establish the state’s first public power company backed by climate groups.
The Guardian’s Aliya Uteuova reports:
Maine voters turned down an attempt on Tuesday to oust the state’s corporate-owned electric utilities and replace them with a non-profit backed by climate advocacy groups.
In one of several ballot initiatives, Maine voters rejected the proposed takeover of the two investor-owned utilities that distribute 97% of electricity in the state.
Voters opted for the status quo rather than a move that would have marked the first time a state with existing private utilities discarded them all at the same time. The proposal had called for dismantling Central Maine Power and Versant Power and creating a non-profit utility called Pine Tree Power to govern the grid.
Supporters had said there was little to lose because of the utilities’ poor performance.
Critics, though, argued there was no guarantee the non-profit utility would perform any better, while the move could spark lawsuits and buying out the existing utilities could cost as much as $13.5bn.
For further details, click here:
Here is video of Ohio voters celebrating their victory after securing abortion rights across the state:
Rhode Island has elected its first Black representative to Congress, Democratic Gabe Amo.
Following his win, Amo, who worked under the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations, said:
“I went to vote with my mom earlier today. When I was 8 years old helping my mother study for the citizenship test, I never could have imagined that I would go with her to cast her ballot to vote for her son for the United States Congress…
The journey of so many Rhode Islanders and their familes is one of grit, hard work, determination and resilience. I stand on the shoulders of so many who came before me.”
Gabe Amo will be the first person of color to represent Rhode Island in Congress.
— POLITICO (@politico) November 8, 2023
“When I was 8 years old helping my mother study for the citizenship test, I never could have imagined that I would go with her to cast her ballot to vote for her son.”https://t.co/aGSDLLQ4xK pic.twitter.com/YkmmpMVXTu
Campaigners hail voters for rejecting Republican 'false narrative' on abortion
ParentsTogether Action, a national family advocacy group, has hailed voters, including parents, for “rejecting the Republican party’s attempt to win their votes” in multiple states.
The organization’s executive director Ailen Arreaza said:
“This election season, we’ve seen the GOP’s strategy on full display: target parent voters with a false narrative about ‘parental rights’ that hinges on a manufactured sense of distrust, chaos, and loss of control that Republicans themselves have created to stoke fear in parents - and last night we saw that agenda fail.
From Ohio to Virginia to Kentucky and beyond, voters saw the GOP’s emphasis on education and parental rights as exactly what it is: an attempt to distract from their extreme and unpopular agenda. Let’s be clear: the real GOP agenda aims to obliterate abortion rights, undermine access to an honest education, ban books, all while attempting to cut benefits that actually help families thrive like the expanded Child Tax Credit and accessible child care.
Make no mistake though– Republicans see parents as a key voting bloc who they can persuade by creating a false sense that their rights are being threatened..
Like yesterday showed us, parents will continue to see through the rhetorical noise and vote for who will really support what families want and need to succeed.”
Updated
Here is an excerpt from a poll report released by CNN on Tuesday that showed Donald Trump leading Joe Biden by 4% in a hypothetical rematch:
“One year out from Election Day 2024, former President Donald Trump narrowly leads President Joe Biden, 49% to 45% among registered voters, in a hypothetical rematch in the latest CNN poll conducted by SSRS…
All told, 51% of voters nationwide say there is no chance at all that they would vote for Biden, and just 4% are not currently supporting him but say there is a chance they will. Nearly half, 48%, say there is no chance they will vote for Trump, and only 2% that they aren’t currently backing him but would consider it…
Among voters younger than 35, 48% support Trump, 47% Biden. Political independents break 45% Trump to 41% Biden. Black voters favor Biden, 73%vs. Trump’s 23%, while Latino voters split 50% Biden to 46% Trump. And among voters of color generally, women divide 63% Biden to 31% Trump, while men split about evenly, 49% Trump to 46% Biden.”
Andy Beshear thanks voters for re-electing him
Kentucky’s Democratic governor Andy Beshear has thanked his voters after winning a second term, saying:
“This is our chance to turn these four years of progress into decades of prosperity for your kids and mine. Let’s make it happen together.”
To my fellow Kentuckians: Thank you.
— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) November 8, 2023
This is our chance to turn these four years of progress into decades of prosperity for your kids and mine. Let's make it happen together. ^AB pic.twitter.com/isjH0CNRdZ
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Joe Biden hails Ohio's abortion rights victory: 'Democracy won'
Joe Biden has hailed the victory secured by Ohio voters to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Biden said:
“Americans once again voted to protect their fundamental freedoms – and democracy won. In Ohio, voters protected access to reproductive health in their state constitution.
Ohioans and voters across the country rejected attempts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors and nurses for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide.
This extreme and dangerous agenda is out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans. My administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law once and for all.”
Updated
Democrats secure victories in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky
Democrats have secured victories in multiple states including Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky in yesterday’s elections, while Mississippi saw its Republican incumbent governor beat out his Democratic opponent.
In Virginia, Democrats gained full control of the state legislature, a win that will allow them to block Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s conservative agenda – which includes a 15-week ban on abortions.
Ohio also saw a win for abortion rights with voters overwhelming deciding to add abortion protections to the state constitution.
In Kentucky, the predominantly conservative state saw its Democratic incumbent governor Andy Beshear retain his seat. Beshear beat his Republican opponent Daniel Cameron, also the state’s first Black attorney general.
Meanwhile in Mississippi, Brandon Presley, a Democrat and relative of Elvis Presley, conceded to the state’s Republican incumbent governor Tate Reeves following a heated race that included verbal blows exchanged on both sides.
Despite yesterday’s Democratic victories, Joe Biden is trailing behind Donald Trump in five swing states including Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan. A new CNN poll released on Tuesday also showed Trump leading Biden 49% to 45% in a hypothetical rematch.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The Republican-led House voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, Michigan’s Democratic representative and Congress’s only Palestinian American over her criticism of Israel.
Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated Central Park Five members, has won a New York City council seat.
Vice president Kamala Harris is set to attend a rountable with climate leaders, Politico reports.
Updated
