2023 elections
July 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Mark Halperin convened another of his 2WAY conversations last night. He has posted the video on his Wide World of News site. I have posted it below. As a whole, the conversation usefully contrasts with my tentative look ahead yesterday in “Where we are now.” If you are among the happy few who enjoyed Halperin’s 2WAY that I posted last week in “An open secret,” you may find this of
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February 14, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In 2022 shapeshifter George Santos upset Democrat Robert Zimmerman in New York’s Third Congressional District to help Republicans take the majority in the House. It’s the wealthiest district in New York and one that President Biden carried by 8 points in the 2020 election. In 2022 Santos won the seat by a 54-46 percent margin in a race against Democrat pol Robert Zimmerman. Santos faces a 23-count indictment for fraud
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November 22, 2023 — Steven Hayward
The Netherlands went to the polls today in a national election and Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (the PVV) won the most votes. “Polite opinion” (that is, the EU and the major media) have long considered Wilders beyond the pale, on the same plane as Nigel Farage in Britain or Marine Le Pen in France. After all, he is anti-immigration and a Euro-skeptic, and as such not clubbable. Like
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November 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Three hours ago the AP reported that Republican David Owen defeated Democrat former sex worker Susanna Gibson in the race for Virginia’s 57th District in the House of Delegates. The AP story runs under the headline “GOP’s David Owen wins Virginia legislative race over Democratic opponent who livestreamed sex videos.” We appreciate the reminder of the scandal Gibson had to surmount in her campaign, but I’m not sure the AP
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November 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The good news for Republicans is that Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves won reelection — by five points, against a cousin of Elvis Presley. That might have been the only good news of the night for Republicans. As far as I can tell they lost everything else. In Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin waged an energetic campaign to help Republicans take over the legislature by picking up a majority in the state
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September 14, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Virginia Democratic House of Delegates candidate Susanna Gibson is mired in a scandal of her own making. If she survives it, she deserves to be the “face” (broadly understood) of the Democratic Party. Like us, the Washington Free Beacon is giving the Gibson scandal the kind of attention it would get if she were a Republican. Joe Simonson’s Free Beacon story is headlined “Cocksure Virginia Democrat Slams Media for Reporting
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April 6, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The lead Wall Street Journal editorial (“The Left Wins Big in Midwest Elections”) focuses on the results of the elections for Chicago mayor and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The outcome in Chicago was narrow but the upshot is dire. The editors certainly have that right. Their assessment of causation strikes close to home: The biggest reason for Mr. [Brandon] Johnson’s 51%-49% victory was the money and muscle of the Chicago
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April 5, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday was a bad day for civilization. In descending order: • President Trump was arraigned on 34 felony counts in New York state court. The indictment was unsealed for the historic occasion, but it’s still something of a mystery. John covered the indictment here. As Andrew McCarthy puts it (behind NRO’s paywall): “Bragg’s indictment fails to state a crime. Not once . . . but 34 times. On that ground
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