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2018 Midterm Results and What It Means For U.S. Jews

[additional-authors]
November 6, 2018

Polls have closed in six states and most of Florida s Midterm election day comes to a close in the East Coast. With this in mind, information about the where the House will swing is up in the air.

If Democrats want to take back the House during the “blue wave” they will need to rely on Virginia. The Democrats’ need to win in the 10th District where according to CNN, “both parties say Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock is unlikely to hold onto her seat in the DC suburbs.”

Sen. Tim Kaine is projected to win for a second term in Virginia beating out far-right Republican candidate Corey Stewart. Stewart has been accused of supporting white nationalists, an allegation he has denied. According to the New York Times, Stwearts early opponents Nick Freitas, sent out an email in June telling voters to “reject Corey Stewart’s dog-whistling of white supremacists, anti-Semites and racists.”

Stewart has also amplified President Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward the media and Democrats, accusing them of being an “angry mob.”


Indiana and Kentucky votes have started to roll in favoring Republican candidates while Florida and Virginia are showing Democrat support.

Here in California, earlier Tuesday Darrell Issa announced that Democratic Jewish candidate Mike Levin could win and replace him.

“My district was never in play this cycle. And so it was never funded and quite frankly we know the results already and there will be a Democrat representing La Jolla to Solana Beach for the first time in a number of years,” he told Fox News.

Issa represents California’s 49th Congressional district, which covers the coast between  San Diego and Long Beach. Diane L. Harkey is the Republican running to replace him.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is the projected winner for Vermont while Sen. Bill Nelson is projected to win Florida with 51.9% of votes.

Polls are still open in California and close at 8 p.m. PT (11 ET). Polls close on the East Coast at 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET. We will update when more information is given.


Update: CNN is projecting that Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Wexton, will take a Virginia House seat.


Update: Voter registration around Los Angeles has slowed down due to problems with machines. According to ABC7 Long lines formed at First United Methodist Church in North Hollywood and in Lanark Park in Canoga Park. Ballot boxes were jammed or reportedly broken at both locations. As a result, voters who had sample ballots were allowed to vote using provisional ballots. All other voters were asked to return to the location later Tuesday.

The boxes have since been replaced and the four hour wait times have halted.


Update 6:06 p.m. PT: The Florida governor race and Senate race have moved to lean Republican. Marsha Blackburn is projected to win and keep her Senate seat in Tennessee with 62% of the vote.


Update: 6:30 p.m. Garlin Gilchrist, the running mate of Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer, is under fire from the Jewish community for supporting Hamas and demonizing anyone “kissing Israel’s ass.” These remarks were made on Twitter almost a decade ago.

“I’m suck [sick] of politicians and Evangelicals kissing Israel’s ass regardless of what they do in the name of ‘defense’,” Gilchrist wrote on Jan. 4, 2009.

Tweets were found this week after Whitmer declined to take a stance on the BDS movement at a town hall event.

Whitmer is currently leading in the polls against Republican Bill Schuette. Michigan candidates have been a hot topic when it comes to anti-Israel and anti-semitism rhetoric. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat running unopposed and expected to be elected from the state’s 13th Congressional District as the first Muslim woman in Congress, supports BDS and revoked her two-state solution stance after the primaries. Republican House candidate Lena Epstein is running in Michigan’s 11th District and invited a Messianic rabbi to pray on behalf of the Jewish community following the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Shooting.


Republican Mike Braun is flipping Indiana red in the Senate taking Sen. Joe Donnelly’s place. Fox News is projecting an 82 percent chance the Democrats take over the House and a 68 percent chance Republicans win over the Senate.


Democrat Ilhan Omar has defeated Republican Jennifer Zielinski in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district. Omar is the first Muslim woman elected to U.S. Congress.

Ilhan Omar is a Somalian woman who came to the United States through a Kenyan refugee camp at the age of 12 and was elected to the Minnesota House in 2016; she is currently running for Congress in the district vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who is running for Minnesota attorney general and has past associations with Louis Farrakhan. As she is gaining notoriety, some of her past tweets on Israel are coming under scrutiny.

The Journal reported back in August that Omar In 2012, Omar tweeted, “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evils of Israel.” When someone on Twitter accused Omar of being “a proud Jew hater” Omar responded: “Drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime is far from hating Jews. You are a hateful sad man, I pray to Allah you get the help you need and find happiness.”


Update: 6:45 p.m. Jewish progressive Jared Polis wins his governor’s race in Colorado beating State State Treasurer Walker Stapleton (R). Polis makes American history being the first openly gay man elected governor.

Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, wins election to U.S. House in New York’s 14th congressional district making her the youngest woman elected in Congress. She defeated economics professor Anthony Pappas. Ocasio-Cortez has been wishy-washy when asked about finding a two-state solution in the Middle East.


Jewish veteran and Democrat, Max Rose, defeated Republican incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan in New York’s 11th Congressional District. The district contains Staten Island and a sliver of Brooklyn and was the only district in New York City to vote for President Trump in 2016. Now, a Democrat will serve in Congress.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won re-election to the Senate Tuesday beating Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, in one of the closest races of the 2018 midterms. This was the first time in 20 years where Cruz faced serious opposition.


Polls just closed in California, Hawaii, Part of Idaho, Oregon, North Dakota and Washington.


ABC News and Fox News are projecting that Gavin Newsom will become the next governor of California


Precincts in New York are reporting that Antonio Delgado leads by 10 percentage points over John Faso with 53 percent. Delgado who raised Jewish is projected to win New York’s 19th House District.


California’s Dianne Feinstein will retain U.S. Senate seat in California, ABC News projects. Feinstein, 85, won her bid for a fifth term representing California in the U.S. Senate, extending her career in politics that began in 1969.


Congressional candidate Katie Hill, a 31-year-old Millennial, is
running to unseat Republican incumbent Steve Knight in California’s
25th district.

Knight, the only Republican currently representing an L.A.
County-based district, ran a controversial campaign ad featuring an
air force veteran who had posted anti-Semitic and racist videos
online. The Knight campaign ultimately took down the ad.

California’s 25th district includes Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and
part of the Antelope Valley. It is Hill’s hometown.

The Congress 25th district has been on the Democrat’s radar ever since
former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton carried it in 2016. Hill
stepped down from her job as executive director of People Assisting
the Homeless, or PATH, to run for the seat.

The race between her and Knight is expected to be a tight one. Though
Knight is a two-term incumbent, Hill has garnered some high profile
supporters, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose
political action committee has contributed to Hill’s campaign. She has
also been endorsed by the likes of U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and
received $2,700 from the Democratic Midterm Victory Fund, according to
opensecrets.org. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is among those who have
worked to raise money for the fund.

Hill is openly bisexual. She is married to man and the two live
together on an animal rescue farm in Santa Clarita, according to the
bio on her website.

Nate Silver’s election forecasting site fivethirtyeight.com says Hill
has a more than 63-percent chance of winning the seat. Her victory
would turn blue a district that has been red since 1993.

California, the most populous U.S. state, has 53 congressional
districts. Polls closed here at 8 p.m.


CNN called the race for Florida’s Ron DeSantis at 8 p.m. PT. The ex-GOP congressman had a lead of 79,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting, “barely edging out Democrat Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee who was vying to be the first black governor in Florida’s 173-year history,” according to Rolling Stone. DeSantis is known for his relations with white nationalists and racist remarks. He dodged the conversation when forced to condemn his racist supporters. On Fox News, he even used the phrase “monkey this up” when referring to Gillum’s progressive ideals.


Before California votes were even finalized, Democrats had claimed almost all 23 seats needed to take back House. Republicans will continue to hold reign over the Senate. Democrats also won governorships in Midwest states Illinois, Kansas and Michigan.


Early polling results show a lead for Republican Duncan Hunter for San Diego’s 50th District. Hunter is up against Democratic small business owner Ammar Campa-Najjar.

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