United States Presidential & Congressional Election 2024

I’m guessing that Trump would rather have more secret intel on his VP nominee.

This doesn’t seem secret enough, but it does mean she may be open to shenanigans with Trump himself. So, one to the plus column there.

And Trump does believe in droit du seigneur.

Last paragraph from the article:

In any case, he has clearly noticed. A few days after the tooth news broke, Ms. Noem joined Mr. Trump at a rally for the Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in Vandalia, Ohio. After she spoke — they were wearing matching MAGA hats — Mr. Trump announced: “You’re not allowed to say it, so I will not. You’re not allowed to say she’s beautiful, so I’m not going to say it.”

A federal court ruled Thursday that time had run out to draw a new congressional district in South Carolina and said the state could use its existing map this year even though it had earlier determined that map was unconstitutional.

The panel of three judges last year concluded that South Carolina’s Republican-led legislature “exiled” 30,000 Black voters from the district to make it safer for a White GOP incumbent, Rep. Nancy Mace.

South Carolina appealed, and both sides asked the Supreme Court to expedite the case to ensure a final ruling was in place well ahead of election season. The justices heard arguments in October but have yet to rule.

With no decision and the June 11 primary on the horizon, South Carolina sought permission to use the map this year even though it had been deemed unconstitutional. The panel of judges unanimously agreed Thursday to keep the map in place for this election.

It noted that courts typically don’t allow maps to be used once they have been found to be invalid. “But with the primary election procedures rapidly approaching, the appeal before the Supreme Court still pending, and no remedial plan in place, the ideal must bend to the practical,” the judges wrote.

If the Supreme Court later upholds the lower court ruling, then new maps would have to be drawn for the 2026 election.

Last year the panel, which consists of two judges nominated by President Barack Obama and one by President Biden, found the map illegally split neighborhoods in the Charleston area to make Mace’s race easier. The new lines constituted a racial gerrymander that “exiled over 30,000 African American citizens from their previous district,” the panel found.

In arguments before the Supreme Court in October, attorneys for South Carolina argued that state lawmakers had not relied on race to draw maps in violation of the Constitution. Rather, they used political information to help them decide where to place the lines, they said.

During arguments, a majority of the Supreme Court appeared inclined to reinstate the lines the state had wanted. Five months later, the justices have yet to rule. Both sides had asked the justices to rule by January.

By hanging onto the case, the Supreme Court had effectively allowed the clock to run out for this year’s election.

Candidates must file paperwork to run by Monday and ballots must be sent to military and overseas voters by April 27 under federal law. That timeline led the panel of judges to let the state keep its congressional map for this year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/28/south-carolina-redistricting-2024-election/

Lol ok. I wonder if South Carolina will go the Alabama route and say, “Yes, our map is designed to be racist. Yes, the Supreme Court deemed it illegal. Racist maps are good for Republicans so we’re still using it.”

What I don’t follow is based on oral arguments, the expectation is that the South Carolina map will be found legal by a 5-4 vote. So SCOTUS delaying the decision for months so that the SC map has be reinstated by default doesn’t make sense.

Florida may actually come into play. Florida Supreme Court ruled 15 week abortion ban is ok (exception for life of mother), and is reinstating the 6 week ban (with rape, incest, life of mother exceptions). But at the same time, they are allowing a vote on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights to go forward. And also allowing a vote on marijuana legalization. So there will be a large anti-conservative turnout in November.

4 Likes

That’s legitimately amazing news.

I don’t think there’s been an abortion referendum yet that hasn’t been trounced? In my state, healthcare rights being on the ballot led to significant Democratic wins, I truly believe more than would have happened without it.

Healthcare AND marijuana legalization on the ballot? I know we’re talking Florida but that might really make a difference.

2 Likes

3 primaries yesterday. WI plus 2 in states that don’t matter (NY and CT). WI had an active campaign to vote undecided against Biden, uninstructed ended up with 8.4% of the vote while Biden got 88.6%. Meanwhile, Trump got 79.2% (Haley 12.8%, DeSantis 3.3%, Uninstructed 2.2%, … ) Open primary, so take with a grain of salt.

Abortion will be on the ballot in Arizona. Biden was the first Democrat in a while to win Arizona with a razor-thin 0.3% margin.

There is a decent chance that abortion, and to a lesser extent legal weed, will be the thing that gets Biden another four years.

Remember also this is a post-COVID world. Biden won AZ by only ~10,500 votes, and COVID killed over 30,000 in Arizona, with an obvious likely skew toward conservatives dying.

Connecticut’s mostly closed primary had Biden at 85%, Trump 78% with low turnout.

Presumably folks seeking to vote “Uncommitted” in the D primary, or “someone other than Trump, like Haley” in the R primary may have been more inclined than the average registered partisan to go out and vote.

Now that the primary is past, I need to file to disaffiliate.

Just saw a news article that observed:

  • “Low turnout” was around 10% (not a surprise)
  • Biden and Trump’s proportion of votes essentially matched the 2020 primary results in CT

On Late Night/Seth Meyers’ latest show it was amusing to see that Trump has begun talking about how good things were “three years ago”.

Somebody must have reminded him that 4 years ago was peak pandemic, so now he’s talking about how he will make America as great as it was in 2021, when Biden was President.

Edit: The video doesn’t properly embed starting at the correct time - skip to around 4:20.

1 Like

He’s talking about that wonderful slice of 2021 where we had an armed insurrection. Wasn’t that great!

2 Likes

Another good jobs report is bad news for Biden

1 Like

Wait are you being sarcastic or is it actually bad somehow? I just finished my coffee and probably haven’t been hit with the full force of the caffeine yet so apologies if I’m being dumb.

FOX News cut away from their coverage of the jobs report to talk about seniors who don’t have enough saved for retirement. I report, you decide.

1 Like

I put the entirety of the blame on what has happened in the last three years under Biden. /s

2 Likes

You missed a step.

I put the entirety of the blame on illegal immigrants because of what has happened in the last three years under Biden. /s

IMG_2566

1 Like