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Tag: Georgia

  • Flight diverted after person made threats with a box cutter

    Flight diverted after person made threats with a box cutter

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    ATLANTA, Ga. — A commercial flight from Cincinnati to Tampa was diverted to Atlanta on Friday night after a disruptive passenger was seen with a box cutter.

    The Frontier Airlines flight made an unplanned landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where one person, not identified by police, was taken into custody. Authorities later found a second box cutter in the suspect’s belongings. The incident did not result in any injuries.

    Lillian Hoffman, who was aboard the flight, said the suspect had threatened to use the box cutters to harm passengers.

    “When he went to go to the bathroom, the passenger in the window seat looked at me and said, ‘Hey he has a knife and he told me he was threatening to stab people, we need to say something to somebody,’” Hoffman told WLWT-News. “So I went up and talked to the flight attendants in the front of the airplane and let them know like this guy has a box knife and he’s been telling us he wants to stab people.”

    Following the emergency landing and the suspect’s arrest, the airline deplaned all other passengers and canceled the flight.

    Box cutters are prohibited on airplanes. It was not immediately clear how the suspect managed to bring the instrument on board. In a statement, the Transportation Security Administration said it had started an internal review of the incident.

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  • Georgia candidate makes history as first known Muslim and Palestinian woman elected to state House | CNN Politics

    Georgia candidate makes history as first known Muslim and Palestinian woman elected to state House | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Ruwa Romman remembers the sadness she felt as an 8-year-old girl sitting in the back of a school bus watching classmates point to her house and erupt in vicious laughter.

    “There’s the bomb lab,” they jeered in yet another attempt to brand her family as terrorists.

    On Tuesday, the same girl – now a 29-year-old community organizer – made history as the first known Muslim woman elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, and the first Palestinian American elected to any office in the state.

    After 10 months of relentless campaigning, the Democrat said she is eager to begin representing the people of District 97, which includes Berkeley Lake, and parts of Duluth, Norcross, and Peachtree Corners in Gwinnett County.

    As an immigrant, the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees, and a Muslim woman who wears the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, the road to political office hasn’t been easy, especially in the very Christian and conservative South.

    “I could write chapters about what I have gone through,” Romman told CNN, listing the many ways she’s faced bigotry or discrimination.

    “All the times I am ‘randomly’ selected by TSA, teachers putting me in a position where I had to defend Islam and Muslims to classrooms being taught the wrong things about me and my identity… it colored my entire life.”

    But those hardships only fueled her passion for civic engagement, especially among marginalized communities, Romman said.

    “Who I am has really taught me to look for the most marginalized because they are the ones who don’t have resources or time to spend in the halls of political institutions to ask for the help they need,” she said.

    Romman began in 2015 working with the Georgia Muslim Voter Project to increase voter turnout among local Muslim Americans. She also helped establish the state chapter for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

    Soon after, Romman began working with the wider community. Her website boasts: “Ruwa has volunteered in every election cycle since 2014 to help flip Georgia blue.”

    She said her main focus is “putting public service back into politics,” which she intends to do by helping expand access to health care, bridging the economic opportunity gap, protecting the right to vote, and making sure people have access to lifesaving care like abortion.

    “I think a lot of people overlook state legislators because they think they’re local and don’t have a lot of impact, not realizing that state legislatures have the most direct impact on them,” Romman said. “Every law that made us mad or happy started in the state legislature somewhere.”

    Romman said she always wanted to influence the political process, but never thought she’d be a politician.

    The decision to run for office came after attending a Georgia Muslim Voter Project training session for women from historically marginalized communities, where a journalist covering the event asked if she wanted to run for office.

    “I told her no, I don’t think so, and she ended up writing a beautiful piece about Muslim women in Georgia, but she started it with ‘Ruwa Romman is contemplating a run for office,’ and I wasn’t,” Romman recounted. “But when it came out, the community saw it and the response was so overwhelmingly positive and everyone kept telling me to do it.”

    Two weeks later, Romman and a group of volunteers launched a campaign.

    She was surrounded by family, friends and community members who were rooting for her success. Together, they knocked on 15,000 doors, sent 75,000 texts, and made 8,000 phone calls.

    Her Republican opponent John Chan didn’t fight fair, she said.

    “My opponent had used anti-Muslim rhetoric against me, saying I had ties to terrorism, at one point flat-out supporting an ad that called me a terrorist plant,” she said.

    Flyers supporting Chan’s candidacy insinuated she is associated with terrorist organizations.

    Chan did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    It was the same type of bullying Romman faced as a schoolgirl, she said. Only this time, she wasn’t alone. Thousands of people had her back.

    “What was incredible is that people in my district sent his messaging to me and said ‘This is unacceptable. How can we help? How can we get involved? How can we support you?’ and that was such an incredible moment for me,” she said.

    Representative elect Ruwa Romman at the Georgia State Capitol for her new member orientation.

    It was also ironic, Romman added, because her passion for her community and social justice is rooted in her faith: “Justice is a central tenant of Islam,” she pointed out. “It inspires me to be good to others, care for my neighbors, and protect the marginalized.”

    It’s also rooted in her family’s experience as Palestinian refugees, who she said were banished from their homeland by Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

    “My Palestinian identify has instilled in me a focus on justice and care for others,” Romman said. “Everyone deserves to live with dignity. I hope that Palestinians everywhere see this as proof that consistently showing up and working hard can be history making.

    “I may not have much power on foreign policy, but I sincerely hope that I can at least remind people that Palestinians are not the nuisance, or the terrorists, or any other terrible aspersion that society has put on us,” she added. “We are real people with real dreams.”

    Romman joins three other Muslim Americans elected to state and local office in Georgia this election cycle, according to the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, but her win is particularly groundbreaking.

    “We’ve had Muslim representation at the state level in Georgia, but these wins take representation for Georgia Muslims further than ever before because now we have more gender and ethnic representation for Muslims,” the group’s executive director Shafina Khabani told CNN. “Not only will we have a representation that looks like us and aligns with our values, but we will have an opportunity to advocate and influence policies that impact our communities directly.”

    “Having diversity in political representation means better laws, more accepting leadership, and welcoming policies for all of Georgia,” she said.

    More than anything, Romman hopes her election points to a future free of hate and bigotry.

    “I think this proves that people have learned that Muslims are part of this community and that tide of Islamophobia is hopefully starting to recede,” Romman added.

    Looking back at her childhood, Romman wishes she could tell her younger self things would get better with time, and that one day she would not only make Georgia history, but hopefully a real difference in the world.

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  • ‘A whole new world’: Georgia debuts all-terrain wheelchairs at its state parks | CNN

    ‘A whole new world’: Georgia debuts all-terrain wheelchairs at its state parks | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Wheelchair users will now be able to explore Georgia’s state parks with free all-terrain wheelchairs.

    The new fleet of wheelchairs are part of a collaboration between the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Aimee Copeland Foundation, launched by Aimee Copeland, a social worker who in 2012 lost her both of her hands, one foot and most of one leg due to a rare bacterial, flesh-eating infection. The organization works to improve accessibility for disabled people, particularly through outdoor recreation.

    “All Terrain Georgia is the pride and joy of Aimee Copeland Foundation,” said Copeland in a news release from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “It’s been a long time coming and we’re honored to offer this life-changing program to the community.”

    The all-terrain wheelchairs allow wheelchair users to navigate more difficult terrain than they might be able to in an everyday wheelchair, according to the release. The chairs will be free with reservation at 11 state parks and historic sites in Georgia.

    The new wheelchairs were unveiled at Panola Mountain State Park, southeast of Atlanta, on November 4. Users will need to reserve the wheelchairs in advance and also have a designated “buddy” with them at all times.

    Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites Director Jeff Cown emphasized the importance of providing access to the outdoors for everyone in Georgia.

    “Our mission is to provide outdoor opportunities for every Georgia citizen and visitor,” said Cown in the release. “I am proud to partner with the Aimee Copeland Foundation to offer access to visitors with mobility or physical disabilities.”

    Georgia follows in the footsteps of Minnesota and Michigan, which have also introduced free all-terrain, electric-powered wheelchairs at their state parks.

    Cory Lee, the writer of a blog focused on traveling as a wheelchair user, told CNN that he’s excited to explore Georgia’s state parks using the new chairs.

    “It’ll open up a whole new world for me and for other wheelchair users,” he said.

    He added that many of the Georgia state parks he has visited are “lacking in accessibility.”

    “Some of them only have one accessible trail,” he said. “Now, there will be so many other trails that I’m able to do. I’m really looking forward to getting out on those trails soon.”

    Lee added that state parks should still focus on adding more wheelchair-accessible routes if possible. Getting out of his everyday wheelchair and into the all-terrain wheelchair can be challenging.

    Still, the all-terrain wheelchairs “are really a phenomenal resource,” he said.

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  • Drake and Justin Bieber among VIPs celebrating the life of rapper Takeoff | CNN

    Drake and Justin Bieber among VIPs celebrating the life of rapper Takeoff | CNN

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    Atlanta
    CNN
     — 

    State Farm Arena was transformed into a church Friday as family and fans gathered to celebrate the earthly departure of Takeoff from Migos.

    The three-hour sendoff was a superstar affair, featuring performances from Justin Bieber, Chloe Bailey and Yolanda Adams, as well as a poem by Drake, and words of remembrance from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the founders of Migos’ label, Quality Control Music.

    Cousin Offset, who along with Takeoff’s uncle, Quavo, formed the platinum hit factory known as Migos, struggled to compose himself remembering his bandmate, who he grew up with and considered a brother. His head down, dreadlocks obscuring his face, he repeatedly apologized.

    “I love you, dog. I love you,” he said.

    Offset hasn’t been able to sleep or eat following the November 1 killing, he told the several thousand people in attendance, most of them dressed in black. Every time he dozes off, he said, he wakes up hoping news of his 28-year-old cousin’s fatal shooting in Houston was a terrible dream.

    “I wish we could laugh again,” he said. “I wish I could smoke one with you.”

    He closed saying how Migos changed the future of music – “You did that, Take” – and called for more brotherhood and fellowship in the world before asking the crowd to pray with him.

    The ceremony opened with about an hour of gospel music. White roses covered the stage and Takeoff’s casket sat at the foot of stairs made to resemble mother of pearl. Acrobats in angel outfits danced in the back corners, suspended from white ribbons as a choir sang. An infinity symbol with Takeoff’s signature rocket emblem at its center ringed the arena, a nod not only to his latest productions but also to how he’ll be remembered – forever.

    Bieber took the stage in a dark toboggan, as box candles on the stadium screens bathed the arena floor in a soft glow. Perched on a stool with only a piano backing him, the two-time Grammy winner performed “Ghost.”

    “And if you can’t be next to me/Your memory is ecstasy/I miss you more than life,” he crooned.

    Drake, who in 2013 catapulted the rising stars into an altogether other universe when he remixed and added a verse to their hit, “Versace,” leaned on British entertainer Joyce Grenfell and writer Maya Angelou in his eulogy.

    He quoted from Grenfell: “If I should go before the rest of you/Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone/Nor when I’m gone speak in a Sunday voice/But be the usual selves that I have known.”

    He then paraphrased Angelou’s “When Great Trees Fall,” a poem on how it’s understandable to be sad when great trees are felled, or when great souls pass, but it’s wise to remember, “They existed. They existed/We can be. Be and be better/For they existed.”

    The hip-hop superstar who just released an album with Atlanta’s 21 Savage then recited his own poem, “We Should Do That More,” remembering how he got to know Migos on their 54-city tour in 2018. He teared up recalling the Swiss wristwatch, an Audemars Piguet, that Takeoff gave him as a gift

    “I miss performing with my brothers,” he said. “We should do that more.”

    Takeoff will always be remembered as the quiet Migo. But several speakers cautioned the crowd not to mistake his silence for a lack of things to say. He is regarded by many as the best rhymesmith of the trio, and Jesse Curney III, pastor of the Lilburn church Takeoff’s family attends, shared a story that Quavo once told him about Takeoff’s sobriquet.

    Where Quavo and Offset needed multiple takes to get their verses onto tracks, retaking and retaking until they got it right, Takeoff – the youngest of the three – would walk up to the mic and lay down his lyrics in one perfect take. “He was an introvert,” the pastor said, “but he trusted God” to not hold back.

    From left, Takeoff, Quavo and Offset of Migos perform in Los Angeles last year.

    Between Bailey’s stirring rendition of Beyonce’s “Heaven” and Adams’ performance of the gospel song, “The Battle is Not Yours,” Takeoff’s family members took the podium to offer fond memories of the humble, wise, peaceful young man who always wanted to be a rapper but never fretted over credit or the spotlight. Even as a baby, he had a unique voice, his mother, Titania Davenport-Treet, said.

    “I could tell his cry from any other child,” she said, adding that God must have given him that voice because he always knew what he wanted to be.

    He was quiet but always paid attention, family members said, and he never bothered anyone. He was the funniest guy in the room, and no matter how famous he got, he never stopped putting family first and making sure their needs were met, they said.

    “He hugged so tight, you could feel the love transferring through him,” his mother said.

    State Farm was a fitting venue for Takeoff’s farewell. The rapper was often courtside – usually with Quavo and Offset – for Atlanta Hawks games, iced out and dripping. For years, his music has bellowed through the PA system during timeouts and replay reviews.

    Though doors did not open until noon, fans began lining up outside the arena at around 8:30 a.m., despite a cool, steady drizzle. Around 10, a woman held her arm out of a passing silver Mazda and barked, “Rest in peace, Takeoff.” The fans in line waved back.

    Kalandrick Woods, 24, and girlfriend Kailey Allen, 20, of Covington were second in line. Woods took the day off as a sandblast machine operator, and they drove about 45 minutes to get downtown.

    Woods became melancholy when asked his favorite song – “Last Memory” off Takeoff’s 2018 debut solo effort – and said it’s still hard to talk about his favorite Migo. He cried when he heard the news, he said.

    “I’m still depressed about it,” he said.

    Woods likes that Takeoff was known to keep to himself, but by no means did that mean he was the lesser third of the group. With every new song, he appeared more developed as a lyricist, able to switch from rapid fire rap to deliberate four- or five-word bursts that painted vivid scenes. He put on mind-blowing displays of lyricism on 2014’s “Cross the Country” and more recently on his and Quavo’s “Integration,” staying on beat like a metronome as he flipped styles on the tracks.

    “Deadshot (brrt)/AK make that head rock (brrt)” is the beginning of Fifi Solomon’s favorite Takeoff verse, though she had to think on it for a few seconds. From Migos’ 2017 hit, “Slippery,” Takeoff goes last – following Quavo, Offset and fellow ATLien Gucci Mane – and brings his band’s Quentin Tarantinoesque cartel personae into graphic focus.

    “He said a lot in just a few words,” Solomon said. “He was the quietest, but I think he was the deepest lyrically.”

    Solomon, 25, and her friend, Nani Kidane, 28, traveled from Migos’ onetime home base of Gwinnett County for the funeral. The band’s impact reached well beyond Atlanta, they said. They were trendsetters in fashion and influenced the way rappers inject ad-libs into their music.

    They also set an example with their work ethic, Kidane said. Takeoff will be dearly missed, she said.

    “I’m a big fan,” Solomon said. “He was my favorite lyrically out of the group, and he’s from where I’m from so it hit harder.”

    Added Kidane, “It hit close to home being from Gwinnett.”

    Maliyah Tindall, 22, of Riverdale, and Sequoia Thomas, 20, of Atlanta, also cited Takeoff’s “Slippery” verse as one of their favorites. The pair drove from Clayton State University in Morrow, about 30 minutes away, to pay their respects.

    “He’s huge for the culture,” Thomas said before the funeral. “They paved the way for a lot of rappers who are going to be here today.”

    “He was quiet but had a big impact,” Tindall said, spurring Thomas to add, “Like a tame lion.”

    Migos were a fixture of Tindall’s and Thomas’ adolescence, they said, and he didn’t always get the recognition he deserved, but he showed up on every track.

    “He’d even take over people’s songs outside Migos,” Thomas said of his features with other artists, including Lil Wayne, Roddy Rich and Travis Scott.

    Takeoff seemed aware of his notoriety as the subdued Migo, but the Lawrenceville-born rap star also seemed ready to shake the reputation, eerily telling the podcast, “Drink Champs,” last month, “It’s time to pop it, you know what I mean? It’s time to give me my flowers, you know what I mean? I don’t want them later on when I ain’t here. I want them right now, so …”

    After more than a dozen Migos mixtapes and four studio albums – two of them platinum – Takeoff and Quavo recently announced they’d be performing as Unc & Phew. Last month, the pair released, “Only Built for Infinity Links,” with Offset noticeably missing. Though the band had not officially broken up, there were rumors of some sort of beef among the trio.

    It was abundantly clear from Friday’s remembrance that Offset would give a lot to speak with his cousin one more time. Migos fans are hopeful that Takeoff’s tragic killing might help Quavo and Offset reconsider whatever drove them to move in different directions.

    “I hope they can set aside their differences,” Solomon told CNN. “You know, come together for Takeoff.”

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  • Georgia runoff highlights GOP worries about Trump — and excitement surrounding DeSantis | CNN Politics

    Georgia runoff highlights GOP worries about Trump — and excitement surrounding DeSantis | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Herschel Walker’s success in his upcoming runoff against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock could depend on GOP luminaries flocking to Georgia between now and December 6, several Republicans say.

    Many are torn over whether that should include former President Donald Trump, whose status as the anchor of the party is under renewed scrutiny amid an underwhelming midterm outcome for Republicans.

    “Since Tuesday night, the No. 1 question I’ve been getting is, ‘Is Trump going to screw this up?’” said Erick Erickson, a prominent Georgia-based conservative radio host who backed Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.

    Though the former president helped recruit Walker, a Georgia football legend and longtime Trump family friend, into the Senate contest last year, he was ultimately advised to campaign elsewhere during the general election, two people familiar with the matter told CNN. Some Republicans are still haunted by Trump’s appearances in Georgia leading up to a pair of 2021 runoffs that ended with Democrats winning both seats and gaining control of the Senate. At the time, then-President Trump littered his campaign speeches with false claims that voter fraud was rampant in Georgia and that Republican officials had worked against him.

    Walker allies feared that a Trump appearance ahead of the midterms would turn off independents and suburban women, critical voting blocs in the battleground state. Those concerns remain as Walker now enters the runoff period after neither he nor Warnock took more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday.

    Some Georgia Republicans said Trump’s decision to proceed with an anticipated 2024 campaign launch next week will distract from what should be paramount for every Republican at the moment – helping the party secure a Senate majority. Trump aides sent out invitations late Thursday for a November 15 event at Mar-a-Lago, which the former president hopes will blunt the momentum behind Ron DeSantis, the popular Florida governor and potential presidential primary rival who glided to reelection this week.

    In fact, while a debate unfolds over whether Trump should campaign for Walker in the coming days, several Republicans said they would eagerly welcome an appearance by DeSantis.

    “We need every Republican surrogate we can get into the state to put their arm around Herschel. I think that [Virginia Gov. Glenn] Youngkin or DeSantis is a better fit for soft Republicans or independents in the suburbs that we need to turn out,” said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

    Reed later noted that he believes Trump could also be helpful in driving turnout among rural Georgia voters, though he cautioned that he was “not speaking for the [Walker] campaign.”

    “I’ll let them work that out,” he said.

    Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise did not return a request for comment.

    A person close to the Walker campaign said DeSantis would be “a huge draw if we could get him,” noting that the Florida governor did not campaign for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp despite being just over the border and recently stumping for candidates in New York, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Kemp won his own reelection bid on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Stacey Abrams for the second time. And the Georgia governor has told allies he wants to help Walker any way he can, including by hitting the campaign trail for him, according to a person briefed on those conversations.

    “DeSantis would be helpful. Youngkin would be helpful. Kemp will be helpful. I think those are the biggest draws in Georgia,” said Erickson.

    A Republican with knowledge of DeSantis’ political operation said DeSantis’ interest in campaigning for Walker “depends on what happens with the remaining two races” for Senate in Arizona and Nevada. Both contests remain too close to call but if Republicans win one of the races, control of the upper chamber will come down to Georgia.

    “It becomes the center of the political universe at that point,” this person said.

    A spokesman for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment about his future travel plans. Though DeSantis endorsed Republicans in tough battlegrounds and campaigned for controversial candidates like Arizona’s Kari Lake and Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano, he made no such effort during the midterms to aid Walker amid a flurry of headlines about the former Heisman Trophy winner’s tumultuous past and personal troubles.

    DeSantis – whose Tallahassee executive residence is 20 miles from the Florida-Georgia border – also did not join the GOP fight in the Peach State two years ago for a pair of Senate runoffs Republicans ultimately lost.

    But a Republican fundraiser close to DeSantis said the Florida governor would likely make the trip across the border if he believes he can help Walker. “He’s a Republican leader and wants Republicans to take the Senate,” the fundraiser said.

    But if DeSantis shows up in Georgia, Trump allies said it would be exponentially harder to convince the former president to stay out of the state himself. Much to the frustration of those who want a distraction-free environment for Walker, Trump has continued to hurl insults at DeSantis in recent days, snapping at the Florida governor in a statement Thursday that referred to him as “an average Republican governor” who lacked “loyalty and class” for refusing to rule out a White House bid of his own.

    If the Florida Republican goes to campaign for Walker, those attacks would likely intensify, said a person close to Trump.

    “Imagine [Trump] seeing Ron campaign for Herschel while he is being told, ‘Please stay away.’ He would go ballistic,” this person said.

    One Trump aide, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said one idea being floated is to have the former president help Walker financially with a generous check. Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC gave $16.4 million to candidates in the closing weeks of the 2022 cycle and he was sitting on more than $100 million across his fundraising committees at the end of September, according to federal election data.

    “He is looking at how he can salvage this moment and one of the ways for him to do that is to help Walker win,” said a Trump adviser, referring to Tuesday’s underwhelming outcome for Republicans and the stinging defeat of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, whom Trump had endorsed in the Republican Senate primary.

    “But I think there’s no way he can announce a campaign for president and not go campaign for Walker,” the person added, claiming that Trump’s absence from Georgia as the presumptive frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination would suggest he is a liability for vulnerable Republicans – a toxic message to be sending at the outset of a presidential campaign.

    Michael Caputo, a 2016 Trump campaign aide who remains close to the former president, said Trump should do as much as possible to raise money for Walker because a presidential announcement will likely cause a surge in Democratic contributions to Warnock.

    “You have to offset that on the Walker side. From my perspective, the best thing Trump can do is donate and raise a ton of money for Herschel because he can,” Caputo said.

    Trump’s political team has held discussions about how he can best help Walker since it became clear the Georgia Senate race would advance to a runoff, according to two sources familiar, both of whom said nothing has been firmly decided.

    “President Trump is 220-16 in races that have been called, and with the support of President Trump, Herschel Walker, after forcing a run-off, is well-positioned to win,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said in a statement to CNN.

    Much of the sensitivity around a Trump visit to Georgia stems from his campaign appearances for former GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler two years ago, when both Republicans were fighting for survival in their own runoff contests.

    On the eve of those runoffs in 2021, Trump tore into statewide Republican officials for refusing to challenge the 2020 election results in Georgia, falsely claiming that he had won the state and promising to return when Kemp was up for reelection to campaign against the GOP incumbent, which Trump later fulfilled by recruiting Perdue to challenge Kemp in a primary.

    Republicans back in Washington watched the rally in horror at the time, deeply concerned that Trump’s intense focus on election fraud and various attacks on statewide Republican officials would depress voter turnout among his core supporters the following day. In the end, both Loeffler and Perdue lost their runoffs, catapulting Warnock and Jon Ossof into the Senate and handing Democrats a narrow majority.

    The episode has come back to haunt Trump as Republicans face a potentially identical scenario to 2021, with control of the Senate riding on Georgia if Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly wins reelection in Arizona and Republican Adam Laxalt unseats incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada. Laxalt currently has a razor-thin lead while Kelly is more than 100,000 votes ahead of his Republican challenger, according to the vote counts as of Friday morning. Less concerned that he would deliver a message that depresses turnout, Republicans are primarily worried this time around that Trump would ultimately be a drag on Walker in a once deep-red state that is now trending purple and where the polarizing former president might alienate the exact voters Walker needs to prevail.

    “Herschel needs to do better among Kemp voters and independents in the suburbs,” said Reed. “About 5% of the voters that went to Kemp didn’t go to Herschel and he needs to get a minimum of 1 out of every 4 of them.”

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  • Georgia runoff may decide Senate control

    Georgia runoff may decide Senate control

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    Georgia runoff may decide Senate control – CBS News


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    Votes are still being counted across the U.S. and control of Congress is still up for grabs. In Georgia, the next campaign is already underway as Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker get ready for a December runoff. Mark Strassmann reports.

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  • Sprawling Tropical Storm Nicole Drenching Florida, Georgia

    Sprawling Tropical Storm Nicole Drenching Florida, Georgia

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    MIAMI (AP) — Nicole hit Florida’s east coast as a hurricane Thursday and remains such a sprawling tropical storm that it has covered nearly the entire state while reaching into Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama. A large area of the weather-weary peninsula was being lashed by strong winds and heavy rain, with a damaging ocean surge in a few coastal areas.

    The rare November hurricane prompted officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations in areas that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Authorities warned that Nicole’s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September.

    Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions as Nicole turned northward over central Florida Thursday morning. It could briefly emerge over the northeastern corner of the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon before moving over the Florida Panhandle and Georgia, forecasters said.

    Passenger check-in kiosks are covered in protective plastic at Daytona Beach International Airport in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. The airport was closed as Tropical Storm Nicole approached the coast.

    SOPA Images via Getty Images

    Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami advised people to understand that hazards from Tropical Storm Nicole “will exist across the state of Florida today.”

    The storm left south Florida sunny and calm as it moved north, could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain over Blue Ridge Mountains by Friday, forecasters said.

    Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane around Vero Beach at about 3 a.m. Thursday before its maximum sustained winds dropped to 60 mph (100 kph), the Miami-based center said. The storm was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph).

    Officials in Daytona Beach Shores deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole. At some locations, authorities went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.

    A car tries to navigate a flooded road in Hollywood Beach on Wednesday.
    A car tries to navigate a flooded road in Hollywood Beach on Wednesday.

    A few tornadoes were possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast Florida, the forecasters said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the St. Johns River, across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday. Heavy rainfall will spread northward across portions of the southeast, eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and New England through Saturday.

    Large swells generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida, and much of the southeastern United States coast over the next few days. The storm was expected to weaken into a tropical depression over Georgia on Thursday night or early Friday.

    Nicole became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into Grand Bahama Island, having made landfall just hours earlier on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm. It was the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.

    For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.

    Waves crash near a damaged building and a lifeguard tower in Daytona Beach Shores in Florida Wednesday.
    Waves crash near a damaged building and a lifeguard tower in Daytona Beach Shores in Florida Wednesday.

    SOPA Images via Getty Images

    Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, was in one of the evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated, and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.

    There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.

    Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.

    At a news conference Wednesday in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.

    “It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.

    Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.

    Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.

    Warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline that was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state — damage that many are still dealing with. Ian brought storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters), causing widespread destruction.

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  • Opinion: A really bad night for some high-profile Trump-backed candidates | CNN

    Opinion: A really bad night for some high-profile Trump-backed candidates | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    CNN Opinion contributors share their thoughts on the outcome of the 2022 midterm elections. The views expressed in this commentary are their own.

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a clear message to every Republican voter Tuesday night: My way is the path to a national majority, and former President Donald Trump’s way is the path to future disappointments and continued suffering.

    Four years ago, DeSantis won his first gubernatorial race by less than a percentage point. His nearly 20-point win against Democratic candidate Charlie Crist on Tuesday sent the message that DeSantis, not Trump, can win over the independent voters who decide elections.

    DeSantis’ decisive victory offers a future where the Republican Party might actually win the popular vote in a presidential contest – something that hasn’t been done since George W. Bush in 2004.

    Meanwhile, many of the candidates Trump endorsed in 2022 struggled, and it was clear from CNN exit polls that the former President – with his 37% favorability rating – would be a serious underdog in the 2024 general election should he win the Republican presidential nomination for a third time.

    My friend Patrick Ruffini of Echelon Insights tweeted a key observation: DeSantis commanded huge support among Latinos in 2022 compared to Trump in 2020.

    In 2020, Biden won the heavily Latino Miami-Dade County by seven points. DeSantis flipped the county on Tuesday and ran away with an 11-point win.

    In 2020, Biden won Osceola County by nearly 14 points. This time, DeSantis secured the county by nearly seven points, marking a whopping 21-point swing.

    DeSantis combined his strength among Latinos with his support among working class Whites, suburban white-collar voters and rural Floridians. That’s a coalition that could win nationally, unlike Trump’s limited appeal among several traditional Republican voting segments.

    Last year, it was Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin of Virginia who scored an earthquake in a Biden state by keeping Trump at arm’s length and focusing on the issues. Tonight, it was DeSantis who ran as his own man (Trump rallied for Marco Rubio but not DeSantis at the end of the campaign) and showed what you can do when you combine the political instincts required to be a successful Republican these days with actual governing competence.

    DeSantis made a convincing case that he, rather than Trump, gives Republicans the best chance to defeat Biden (or some other Democrat) in 2024. With Trump plotting a reelection campaign announcement soon, DeSantis has a lot to think about and a solid springboard from which to launch a challenge to the former President.

    Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor and Republican campaign adviser, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He is a partner at RunSwitch Public Relations in Louisville, Kentucky. Follow him on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY.

    Roxanne Jones

    Let it go. If election night confirmed anything for me it is this: We can all – voters, doomscrollers, pundits and election deniers included – stop believing every election revolves around former President Donald Trump. Instead, when asked in exit polls across the country, younger people, women and other voters in key demographics said their top concerns were inflation, abortion rights, crime and other quality of life issues.

    What a relief. It finally feels like a majority of voters want to re-center American politics away from the toxic, conspiracy theory-driven rhetoric we’ve experienced over the past several years.

    Yes, Republicans are still projected to take control of the House of Representatives, with a narrow (and narrowing) majority – but will that make much difference? Despite the advantage Democrats had in the chamber the past two years, President Joe Biden has still had to battle and compromise to get parts of his agenda passed. How the balance of power will settle in the Senate is unclear, with a few races in key states still undecided as of this afternoon. It will likely hinge, again, on Georgia, and a forthcoming runoff election between the incumbent, Democrat Raphael Warnock, and his GOP challenger, former football star Herschel Walker.

    No matter what party you claim, there were positive signs coming out of the midterms. My hometown, Philadelphia, and its surrounding suburbs, came up big in another election – rejecting the Trump-backed New Jersey transplant, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and helping to send Democratic candidate John Fetterman to the US Senate. Pennsylvania voters also rejected an election denier, Doug Mastriano, in the race for state governor, and made history by electing Democrat Summer Lee as the state’s first Black woman to serve in Congress.

    Maryland voters, meanwhile, elected Democrat Wes Moore as their state’s first Black governor. And in New England, Maura Healey became Massachusetts’ first female governor. She’s also the first out lesbian to win a state governorship anywhere in the US.

    Democracy, freedom and equality also won out on ballot issues.

    In unfinished business, voters tackled slavery, permanently abolishing “involuntary servitude” in four states – Vermont, Oregon, Alabama and Tennessee. (Louisiana held on to the slavery clause under its constitution, however.)

    Despite efforts to limit voting rights across the nation, voters in Alabama approved a measure requiring that any change to state election law goes into effect at least six months before a general election. And, in Kentucky, voters narrowly beat back an amendment that would have removed constitutional protections for abortion rights – one of several instances in which voters refused to accept restrictive reproductive rights measures.

    Still, the highlight of my midterms night was watching 25-year-old Maxwell Frost win a US congressional race in Florida – holding a Democratic seat in a state whose 2022 results skewed red, no less. More and more, we are seeing young people energized, voting and stepping up with fresh ideas to lead this democracy. I’m here for it.

    Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of “Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete.” She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia’s 900AM WURD.

    Michael D'Antonio

    Voters made Tuesday a bad night for former President Donald Trump. Despite his efforts, many of his favorites not only lost but denied the GOP the usual out-party wave of wins that come in midterm elections. This leaves a diminished Trump with the challenge of deciding what to do next.

    In the short term, the man who so often returns to his well-worn playbook resumed his years-long effort to ruin Americans’ confidence in any election his team loses. “Protest, protest, protest,” he told his followers, even before all the polls closed. In a sign of his declining power, no mass protests ensued.

    Nevertheless, false claims of election fraud will likely be a major theme if he follows through on his loudly voiced hints that he plans to run for the White House again in 2024.

    To run or not to run is now the main question. It’s not an easy choice. Trump could end up like other one-term presidents he has mocked, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, who retreated from politics and devoted themselves to new interests. However, he has other options. He could revive his television career – Fox News? – or return to his businesses. Or, he could develop a new role as leader of an organization that can exploit his prodigious fundraising ability, and give him a platform for grabbing attention, while leaving him plenty of time for golf.

    Running could forestall the various legal problems he faces, but he has lawyers who might accomplish the same goal. Fox News is unlikely to pay enough, and his businesses are now being watched by a court-appointed overseer. This leaves him with a combination of easy work – fundraising and pontificating – combined with his favorite pastimes: fame, money and fun. What’s not to like?

    Michael D’Antonio is the author of the book “Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success” and co-author, with Peter Eisner, of the book “High Crimes: The Corruption, Impunity, and Impeachment of Donald Trump.”

    Jill Filipovic

    Democrat Kathy Hochul won the New York State gubernatorial race, and thank goodness. Her opponent, Lee Zeldin, is not your typical moderate Republican who usually stands a chance in a blue state. Instead, he’s an abortion opponent who wanted voters to simply trust he wouldn’t mess with New York’s abortion laws.

    Zeldin was endorsed by the National Rifle Association when he was in Congress. He is a Trump acolyte who voted against certifying the 2020 election in Congress, after texting with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and reportedly planning to contest the outcome of the 2020 election before the results were even in.

    New Yorkers sent a definitive message: Our values matter, even in moments of profound uncertainty.

    Plus, Hochul made history as the first woman elected to the governor’s office in New York.

    This race was, in its final days, predicted to be closer than it actually was. Part of that was simply the usual electoral math: The minority party typically has an advantage in the midterms, and Republicans are a minority in Washington, DC, with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in Congress. And polling in New York state didn’t look as good for Hochul as it should have in a solidly blue state: Voters who talked to pollsters emphasized crime fears and the economy; abortion rights were galvanizing, but didn’t seem as definitive in an election for a governor vastly unlikely to have an abortion criminalization bill delivered to her desk.

    The polls were imperfect. It turns out that New Yorkers are, in fact, New Yorkers: Not cowed by overblown claims of crime (while I think crime is indeed a problem Democrats should address, New York City remains one of the safest places in the country); determined to defend the racial, ethnic and sexual diversity that makes our state great; and committed to standing up against the tyranny of an anti-democratic party that would force women into pregnancy and childbirth.

    However, Democrats shouldn’t take this win for granted. The issues voters raised – inflation, crime – are real concerns. And the reasons many voters turned out – abortion rights, democratic norms – remain under threat.

    Hochul’s job now is to address voter concerns, while standing up for New York values: Openness, decency, freedom for all. Because that’s what New Yorkers did today: The majority of us didn’t cast our ballots from a place of fear and reaction, but from the last dregs of hope and optimism. We voted for what we want. And we now want our governor to deliver.

    Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter.

    Douglas Heye

    North Carolina’s Senate race received less attention than contests in some other states – possibly a result of the campaign having lesser-known candidates than states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

    In the waning weeks of the race, multiple polls had the candidates – Democratic former state Supreme Court chief justice Cheri Beasley and Republican US House Rep. Ted Budd – separated by a percentage point or less.

    Perhaps more than in any other Senate campaign, the issue of crime loomed large in North Carolina, with Budd claiming in his speeches that it had become much more dangerous to walk the streets in the state. That talking point, along with his focus on inflation, appeared to help propel him to victory in Tuesday’s vote.

    Beasley, by contrast, focused much of her attention on abortion, making it a central plank of her campaign that she would stand up not just for women’s reproductive rights, but workplace protections and equal pay.

    The two candidates were vying for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Despite being seen as a red state – albeit that is less solidly Republican than neighboring southern states – North Carolina has elected Democrats as five of the last six governors and two of the last six senators.

    Former President Barack Obama won the state in 2008 but lost it in 2012 by one of the closest margins in the nation. And while Donald Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020, he never received 50% of the vote.

    Douglas Heye is the ex-deputy chief of staff to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a GOP strategist and a CNN political commentator. Follow him on Twitter @dougheye.

    Sophia A. Nelson

    Many of us suspected that Democratic Florida Congresswoman and former House impeachment manager Val Demings would have an uphill battle unseating incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio, and weren’t entirely surprised when she lost the race. With 98% of the vote counted, Rubio won easily, garnering 57.8% of the vote to Demings’ 41.1%.

    As it turns out, Tuesday was a tough night all around for Black women running statewide. Beyond Demings’ loss, Judge Cheri Beasley narrowly lost her Senate bid in North Carolina.

    And in the big heartbreak of the night, Stacey Abrams lost the Georgia governor’s race to Gov. Brian Kemp – a repeat of her defeat to him four years ago, when the two tangled for what at the time was an open seat.

    Abrams shook up the 2018 race by expanding the electoral map, enlisting more women and people of color who turned out in record numbers – but she fell short of punching her ticket to Georgia’s governor’s mansion. And on Tuesday she lost to Kemp by a much wider margin than in 2018.

    Had Abrams succeeded, she would have been the first Black woman to become the governor of a US state. After her second straight electoral loss, America is still waiting for that breakthrough.

    Meanwhile, an ever bigger winner of the night was Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, who handily defeated Democrat Charlie Crist.

    DeSantis’ big night solidifies what some feel is a compelling claim to front-runner status for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, on what turned out to be a strong election night for Republicans in the state.

    It’s hard for a Democrat to win statewide in the deep South. And as Demings, Beasley and Abrams have shown, it’s particularly tough for a Black woman to win statewide in the region: In fact, it’s never been done.

    All three women were well-qualified and well-funded stars in their party. But, when we look at the final vote tallies, it tells a familiar story. Take Demings, for example, a former law enforcement officer – she was Orlando’s police chief – and yet, she did not get the big law enforcement endorsements. Rubio did, although he never wore the blue.

    That was a big red flag for me, and it showed how much gender and race still play in the minds of male voters and power brokers of my generation and older. For Black women, a double burden of both race and gender at play. It is the nagging story of our lives.

    As for Abrams, I think Kemp was helped by backing away from Trump and modulating his campaign message to appeal to suburban women and independents.

    Abrams, meanwhile, just didn’t have the same support and enthusiasm this time around for her candidacy. And that is unfortunate, but for her to lose by such a big margin says much more.

    At the end of the day however, these three women have nothing to regret. They ran great campaigns, and they created great future platforms for themselves. And they each put one more crack in the glass ceiling facing candidates for the US Senate and governors’ mansions.

    Sophia A. Nelson is a journalist and author of the new book “Be the One You Need: 21 Life Lessons I Learned Taking Care of Everyone but Me.”

    David Thornburgh

    Reflections on the morning after Election Day can be a little fuzzy: Chalk it up to a late night, incomplete data and a still-forming narrative. Still, as a longtime Pennsylvania election-watcher, I see three clear takeaways:

    1) Pennsylvanians don’t take to extreme anti-establishment candidates. The GOP candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano, broke the mold of just about any statewide candidate in the last few decades.

    The state that delivered wins to center-right and center-left candidates like my father Gov, Dick Thornburgh, Sen. Bob Casey and Gov, Tom Ridge gave establishment Democrat Josh Shapiro a wipeout double-digit victory.

    2) “You’re not from here and I am” and “Stick it to the man” proved to be sufficiently powerful messages for alt-Democrat John Fetterman to win his Senate race, albeit by a much smaller margin.

    Amplified by more than $300 million in campaign spending (making PA’s the most expensive Senate race in the country), those two simple themes spoke to the quirky, stubborn authenticity that is a longstanding strand of Pennsylvania’s political DNA.

    3) In the home of Independence Hall, independent voters made a significant difference. Pretty much every poll since the beginning of both marquee races showed the two party candidates with locked in lopsided mirror-image margins among members of their own party.

    Over 90% of Democrats said they’d vote for Shapiro or Fetterman and close to 90% of Republicans said the same of Mastriano or Oz. The 20 to 30% of PA voters who consider themselves independent voters may have been more decisive than most tea-leaves readers gave them credit for.

    Most polls showed Shapiro and Fetterman with whopping leads among independent voters. They may not have been the same independent voters: Shapiro’s indy supporters could be former GOP voters disaffected by Trump, and Fetterman’s indy squad could be young voters mobilized by the abortion rights issue (about half of young voters are independents nationally).

    The growing significance of this independent vote in close elections may increase pressure on both parties to repeal closed primaries so that indy voters can vote in those elections. Both parties will want to have more time and opportunity to court them in the future.

    With Florida ripening to a deeper and deeper Red, Pennsylvania may loom larger and larger as the most contested, consequential swing state in the country: well-worth watching as we move inexorably to 2024.

    David Thornburgh is a longtime Pennsylvania civic leader. The former CEO of the Committee of Seventy, he now chairs the group’s Ballot PA initiative to repeal closed primaries. He is the second son of former GOP Governor and US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh.

    Isabelle Schindler

    The line of students registering to vote on Election Day stretched across the University of Michigan campus, with students waiting for over four hours. There was a palpable sense of excitement and urgency around the election on campus. For many young people, especially young women, there was one motivating issue that drove their participation: abortion rights.

    One of the most important and contentious issues on the ballot in Michigan was Proposal 3 (commonly known as Prop 3), which codifies the right to abortion and other reproductive freedoms, such as birth control, into the Michigan state constitution. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, many Michiganders have feared the return of a 1931 law that bans abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, and contains felony criminal penalties for abortion providers.

    Though the courts have prevented that old law from taking effect, voters were eager to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution, and overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop 3 with over 55% of voters approving the proposal. This is a major feat given the coordinated campaign against the proposal. Both pro-life groups and the Catholic Church strongly opposed it, and many ads claimed it was “too confusing and too extreme.”

    The issue of abortion was a major focal point of the gubernatorial campaign between Gov, Gretchen Whitmer and her Republican challenger, Tudor Dixon. Pro-Whitmer groups consistently highlighted Dixon’s support of a near-total abortion ban and her past comments that having a rapist’s baby could help a victim heal. Whitmer’s resounding win in the purple state of Michigan is certainly due, in part, to backlash against Dixon’s extreme positions on the issue.

    After the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, so many young voters felt helpless and despondent about the future of abortion rights. However, instead of throwing in the towel, Michigan voters showed up and displayed their support for Whitmer and Prop 3, showing that Michiganders support bodily autonomy and the right to choose.

    Isabelle Schindler is a senior at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. She is a field director for College Democrats on her campus and has worked as a UMICH Votes Fellow to promote voting.

    Paul Sracic

    From the beginning, the US Senate race in Ohio wasn’t expected to be close. In the end, it wasn’t – with author and political newcomer J.D. Vance defeating Rep. Tim Ryan by over six percentage points.

    Republicans also swept every statewide office in Ohio, including the elections for justices on the Ohio Supreme Court who, for the first time, had their political party listed next to their names on the ballot. This will give the Republicans a dependable majority on state’s highest court, which is significant since there is an ongoing unresolved legal battle over the drawing of state and federal legislative districts.

    It is now safe to say that Ohio, for so long the quintessential swing state, is a Republican state. What happened is simple to explain: White, working-class voters have become a solid part of the Republican coalition in the Buckeye State. In 2016, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump convinced these voters that the Democratic Party had abandoned them to progressive and internationalist interests with values they did not share. This shift was symbolized by the movement of voters in the former manufacturing hub of Northeast Ohio, once the most Democratic part of the state, to the GOP.

    The question going into 2022 was whether the Republicans could keep these voters if Trump was not on the ballot. The Democrats recruited Rep. Tim Ryan to run for the Senate because he was from Northeast Ohio, having grown up just north of Youngstown. They hoped that he could win those working-class voters back, and Ryan designed his campaign around working-class economic interests, distancing himself from Washington, DC, Democrats and even opposing President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. Once the votes were counted, however, Ryan performed only slightly better than Biden had in Northeast Ohio. In fact, he even lost Trumbull County, the place where he grew up and whose voters he represented in Washington for two decades.

    Ohio Democrats will face another test in two years, when the Democratic Senate seat held by Sherrod Brown will be on the ballot. Brown won in 2018, but given last night’s result, the Republicans will have no problem recruiting a quality candidate to run for a seat that, right now, at least leans Republican.

    Paul Sracic is a professor of politics and international relations at Youngstown State University and the coauthor of “Ohio Politics and Government” (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2015). Follow him on Twitter at @pasracic.

    Joyce M. Davis

    Pennsylvanians clearly rejected the worst of right-wing extremism on Nov. 8, sending a strong message to former President Donald Trump that his endorsement doesn’t guarantee victory in the Keystone State.

    Trump proved to be a two-time loser in the commonwealth this election cycle, despite stirring up his base with screaming rallies for Republican candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz, Doug Mastriano and Rep. Scott Perry.

    And a lot of people are breathing a long, hard sign of relief.

    Mastriano, who CNN projects will lose the race for the state’s governor to Democrat Josh Shapiro, scared many Pennsylvanians with his brash, take-no-prisoners Trump swagger. He inflamed racial tensions, embraced Christian nationalism, and once said women who violated his proposed abortion ban should be charged with murder. On top of all that, he’s an unapologetic election denier.

    Dr. Oz, meanwhile, couldn’t shake his carpetbagger baggage, and Oprah’s rejection – on November 4, she endorsed his rival and now-victorious candidate in the Senate race, John Fetterman – seems to have carried more weight than Trump’s rallies, at least in the feedback I’ve received from readers and community members.

    All of this should compel some serious soul-searching among Republican leadership in Pennsylvania. What could have they been thinking to place all their marbles on someone so outside of the mainstream as Mastriano? Did they think Pennsylvanians wouldn’t check Oz’s address? Will they rethink their hardline stance on abortion?

    In a widely-watched House race, Harrisburg City Councilwoman Shamaine Daniels made a valiant Democratic effort to unseat GOP Rep. Scott Perry, after the party’s preferred candidate pulled out of the race. But her lack of name recognition and inexperience on the state or national stage impacted her ability to establish a base of her own. So the five-term incumbent, who played a role in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, will return to Washington – though perhaps with a clipped wing.

    Many Pennsylvanians may be staunch conservatives, but we proved we’re not extremists – and we won’t embrace Trump or his candidates if they threaten the very foundations of democracy.

    Joyce M. Davis is outreach and opinion editor for PennLive and The Patriot-News. She is a veteran journalist and author who has lived and worked around the globe, including for National Public Radio, Knight Ridder Newspapers in Washington, DC, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague.

    Edward Lindsey

    In the last two years, President Joe Biden, Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock, all Democrats, won in the Peach State. There has been a raging debate in Georgia political circles since then as to whether these races signal a long-term left turn toward the Democratic Party, caused by shifting demographics, or whether they were merely a negative reaction to former President Donald Trump. Tuesday’s results point strongly to the latter.

    Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who had rebuffed Trump’s demand to overturn the 2020 presidential result, cruised to a convincing reelection on Tuesday with a pro-growth message by defeating the Democrats’ rising star Stacey Abrams by some 300,000 votes. His coattails also propelled other Republican state candidates to victory – including the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who had also defied the former President – and helped to keep the Georgia General Assembly firmly in GOP hands.

    However, before sliding Georgia from a purple political state back into the solid red state column, we still have one more contest to look forward to: a runoff for the US Senate, echoing what happened in Georgia’s last set of Senate races.

    Georgia requires candidates to win over 50% of the vote and the presence of a Libertarian on the ticket has thrown the heated race between Warnock, the incumbent senator and senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Georgia football great Herschel Walker into an overtime runoff campaign to be decided on December 6.

    Both Walker and Warnock survived November 8 to fight another day despite different strong headwinds facing each of them. For Warnock, it has been Biden’s low favorability rating – hovering around 40% nationwide, and only 38% in Georgia, according to Marist. For Walker, it has been the steady drumbeat of personal allegations rolled out over the past few months, some admitted to and others staunchly denied.

    Warnock has faced his challenge by emphasizing his willingness to work across the aisle on some issues and occasionally disagreeing with the President on others. Walker, who is backed by Trump, has pulled from the deep well of admiration many Georgians feel for the former college football star.

    Both of these strategies were strong enough to get them into a runoff, but which strategy will work in that arena? The answer could be crucial to determining which party controls the US Senate, depending on the result of other races that have yet to be called. Stay tuned while Georgians enjoy having the two candidates for Thanksgiving dinner and into the holiday season.

    Edward Lindsey is a former Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives and its majority whip. He is a lawyer in Atlanta focusing on public policy and political law.

    Brianna N. Mack

    In his bid to win a seat in the US Senate, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan tried to appeal to working class voters who felt abandoned by establishment Democrats. Those blue collar voters – many of them formerly members of his party – overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2016 and again in 2020.

    Unfortunately for Ryan, his strategy failed. He lost to J.D. Vance by a decisive margin, according to election projections.

    It was, perhaps, a predictable ending for a candidate who threw away the traditional approach of rallying your base and instead courted the almost non-existent, moderate Trump voter. And it’s a shame. Had Ryan won, Ohio would have had two Democratic senators. The last time that happened was almost 30 years ago, when Howard Metzenbaum and John Glenn represented our state.

    But in wooing Republicans and right-leaning moderates, Ryan abandoned many of Ohio’s left-leaning Democrats who brought him to the dance.

    That approach was perhaps most evident in his ads. In a campaign spot in which he is shown tossing a football at various computer screens showing messages he disapproves of, he hurls the ball at one emblazoned with the words “Defund the Police” and dismisses what he disdainfully calls “the culture wars.”

    Another ad showed Ryan, gun in hand, hitting his mark at target practice, as the words “Not too bad for a Democrat” appear on the screen. To imply you’re pro-gun rights when majority of Americans support gun control legislation – and when your party explicitly embraces a pro-gun control stance is bewildering. Ryan’s ads on the economy began to parrot the anti-China rhetoric taken up by Republicans. And when President Joe Biden announced his student debt plan in an effort to invigorate the Democratic bringing economic relief to millions of millennial voters, Ryan opposed the move.

    As a Black woman living in a metropolitan area, I would have liked to see him reach out to communities of color, perhaps by making an appearance with African American members of Ohio’s congressional delegation Rep. Joyce Beatty or Rep. Shontel Brown. But I would have settled for one ad addressing the economic or social concerns of people who don’t live in the Rust Belt.

    Ryan might have won if he’d gotten the kind of robust backing from his own party that Vance got from his – and if he’d courted his Democratic base.

    Brianna N. Mack is an assistant professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan University whose coursework is centered on American political behavior. Her research interests are the political behavior of racial and ethnic minorities. She tweets at @Mack_Musings.

    James Wigderson

    Wisconsin remains as split as ever with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers surviving a challenge from businessman Tim Michels and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson barely holding off a challenge from Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

    In late February, Johnson, who Democrats hoped might be a beatable incumbent, was viewed favorably by only 33% of Wisconsin’s voters, according to the Marquette University Law School poll. He was viewed unfavorably by 45% of the electorate with 21% saying they didn’t know what to think of him or hadn’t heard enough about him. He finished the election cycle still seen unfavorably by 46% with 43% of the voters holding a favorable view of him.

    However, Democrats decided to run possibly the worst candidate if they wanted to win against Johnson. At one point in August, the relatively unknown Barnes actually led Johnson by 7%. But familiarity with Barnes didn’t help him. Crime was the third most concerning issue for Wisconsin voters this election cycle, according to the Marquette University Law School poll, and Johnson’s campaign successfully attacked Barnes for statements in support of decreasing or redirecting police funding and for reducing the prison population. In the end, Johnson came out victorious.

    So, with Republicans winning in the Senate, what saved Evers in the gubernatorial race? Perhaps it was women voters.

    The overturning of Roe v. Wade meant Wisconsin’s abortion ban from 1849 went back into effect. Michels supported the no-exceptions law but then flip-flopped and said he could support exceptions for rape and incest. Johnson, for his part, successfully deflected the issue by saying he wanted Wisconsin’s abortion law to go to referendum.

    Another issue that may have soured women voters on Michels was the allegation of a culture of sexual harassment within his company. Evers’ campaign unsurprisingly jumped at the opportunity to argue that “the culture comes from the top.” (In response to the allegations against his company, Michel said: “These unproven allegations do not reflect the training and culture at Michels Corporation. Harassment in the workplace should not be condoned, nor tolerated, nor was it under Michels Corporation leadership.”) Michels’ divisive primary fight against former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch also didn’t help his appeal to women voters, especially in Kleefisch’s home county of Waukesha, formerly a key to a Republican victory in Wisconsin.

    If Republicans are going to win in 2024, they need to figure out how to attract the support of suburban women.

    James Wigderson is the former editor of RightWisconsin.com, a conservative-leaning news website, and the author of a twice-weekly newsletter, “Life, Under Construction.”

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  • 2022 Georgia Senate race: CBS News projects Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker headed for a runoff

    2022 Georgia Senate race: CBS News projects Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker headed for a runoff

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    Warnock was elected in a special election in 2020 against incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Sen. Johnny Isakson stepped down due to health problems in 2019. Warnock had led the 21-person “jungle” (multi-party) special election, but only captured 32% of the vote, so he and Loeffler, the second-highest vote-getter, went into a January runoff. Warnock ultimately prevailed, becoming the first Black senator from Georgia.


    Georgia Senate candidates make final pitch to voters

    01:43

    The January runoff election was held on Jan. 5, 2021, one day before former President Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Just a few days ahead of the runoff, on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find” more than 11,000 votes to put him over the top in the state. 

    Now Warnock faces Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner who was a running back for University of Georgia. Walker is the rare Republican who in the primaries had the support of not only of Trump, but also Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

    Democrats have been invested heavily in the race, and former President Barack Obama traveled to Georgia in the final sprint, calling Walker “a celebrity that wants to be a politician.”

    Walker announced his run for the Georgia Senate race August 2021, saying he  “can’t sit on the sidelines anymore.” This is his first candidacy, and he frequently invokes his Washington outsider status on the campaign trail.

    His campaign was rocked last month by a Daily Beast report that in 2009, Walker, who has vocally opposed abortion rights, allegedly paid for an abortion for a woman he’d been seeing. CBS News has not independently confirmed this payment. The Daily Beast said the unidentified woman supported her claim with a $575 receipt from an abortion clinic and a signed $700 personal check from Walker to cover expenses. She told The Daily Beast she came forward because of Walker’s stance on abortion, saying “I just cant with the hypocrisy anymore. We all deserve better.”

    On Oct. 5, The Daily Beast reported that she also said she later gave birth to a child by Walker. He also denied that report. The woman told The New York Times that when she became pregnant again two years later, Walker again asked her to end the pregnancy. This time, she refused, she and Walker ended their relationship, and she gave birth to a son, who is now 10 years old. 


    Second woman comes forward accusing Herschel Walker of encouraging her to get an abortion

    02:56

    “He has to be held responsible, just like the rest of us. And if you’re going to run for office, you need to own your life,” the woman told The Times. 

    In late October, another woman came forward, claiming that Walker had paid for her to have an abortion in the early 1990s. Walker also denies this accusation. The woman, known as Jane Doe to conceal her identity, said Walker drove her to an abortion clinic in the spring of 1993 after he learned she was pregnant.

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  • Marjorie Taylor Greene projected to win reelection in Georgia

    Marjorie Taylor Greene projected to win reelection in Georgia

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    CBS News projects incumbent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green has easily defeated her Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers in the race for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. If reelected, Greene’s committee assignments are expected to be restored after the House in February 2021 voted to strip her of them because of controversial remarks she made on social media. 

    Greene raised nearly $12 million in campaign funds, according to Open Secrets, which tracks candidate fundraising and spending, while Flowers raised over $15 million. Both were in the top 10 for fundraising among House candidates these midterm elections. However, just $400,000 was spent in advertising to defend the 14th district seat. 

    Former President Donald Trump endorsed Greene, who frequently appeared as a speaker as his rallies. In 2020, he won in her congressional district by a landslide. 

    Greene was also one of the many Republican candidates running this year who raised unfounded doubts about the 2020 election and objected to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6, 2021. Greene still continues to incorrectly insist the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, even though those claims are unfounded. 

    Greene repeatedly made false claims and perpetuated conspiracy theories during her first term. In January, her personal Twitter account was permanently suspended for perpetuating false claims about COVID-19. She can still tweet from her Congressional account, however.

    Before she was elected, Greene posted several right-wing conspiracy theories and shared videos with antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment. She expressed support for violence against Democratic leaders in Congress. She “liked” a Facebook post that challenged the veracity of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Another video captured her confronting Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor David Hogg.

    After her posts resurfaced, Congress voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments, meaning she could not write bills. She could only vote as a member of the House of Representatives, but could not attend committee hearings. At the time, every Democrat and 11 Republicans voted for the measure, but Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s opposed it.

    Some Republicans have rebuked Greene for her comments, but many were opposed to to stripping her of committee assignments. In an interview with CNN this week, McCarthy said Greene will serve on committees again if the GOP wins control of the House.   

    Each party assigns members of the House and Senate to different committees. Democrats were particularly opposed to her seat on the Education and Labor Committee, since she had previously promoted conspiracy theories related to the Parkland and Newtown school shootings. 

    Caitlin O’Kane


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    Caitlin O’Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.

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  • Photos: 2022 US midterm elections | CNN Politics

    Photos: 2022 US midterm elections | CNN Politics

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    A worker uses a steamer to get the wrinkles out of an American flag before the start of at an election night watch party in Los Angeles on Tuesday, November 8.

    Jae C. Hong/AP

    Updated 7:49 PM EST, Tue November 8, 2022

    The midterm elections on Tuesday will decide which party controls the chambers of Congress for the next two years.

    Democrats are playing defense in blue-state strongholds such as New York, Washington and Oregon as they aim to hold on to the House of Representatives. Republicans only need a net gain of five seats to win back control of the House.

    A handful of swing state showdowns will decide the destiny of the Senate, which is currently split 50-50. Some of the key Senate races to watch are in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

    A Republican triumph in either the House or the Senate has the potential to curtail Joe Biden’s presidency and set up an acrimonious two years of political standoffs ahead of the 2024 race for the White House.

    Dozens of governorships, secretaries of states and attorneys general are also on the ballot.

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  • 11/7: Red and Blue

    11/7: Red and Blue

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    11/7: Red and Blue – CBS News


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    Americans prepare for midterm elections tomorrow; How races are shaping up ahead of 2024 election

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  • 11/7: CBS News Prime Time

    11/7: CBS News Prime Time

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    11/7: CBS News Prime Time – CBS News


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    John Dickerson reports on the key races to watch in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, a possible hurricane heading for Florida, and Elon Musk’s continued controversial takeover of Twitter.

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  • Feds announce seizure of $3.36 billion in bitcoin stolen a decade ago from illegal Silk Road marketplace—the second-largest crypto recovery

    Feds announce seizure of $3.36 billion in bitcoin stolen a decade ago from illegal Silk Road marketplace—the second-largest crypto recovery

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    The crypto market has been battered this year, with nearly $2 trillion wiped off its value since its peak.

    Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it seized about $3.36 billion in stolen bitcoin during a previously unannounced 2021 raid on the residence of James Zhong.

    Zhong pleaded guilty Friday to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

    U.S. authorities seized about 50,676 bitcoin, then valued at over $3.36 billion, from Zhong during a search of his house in Gainesville, Georgia, on Nov. 9, 2021, the DOJ said. It is the DOJ’s second-largest financial seizure to date, following its seizure of $3.6 billion in allegedly stolen cryptocurrency linked to the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex, which the DOJ announced in February.

    According to authorities, Zhong stole bitcoin from the illegal Silk Road marketplace, a dark web forum on which drugs and other illicit products were bought and sold with cryptocurrency. Silk Road was launched in 2011, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut it down in 2013. Its founder, Ross William Ulbricht, is now serving a life sentence in prison.

    “For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.3 billion mystery,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.

    According to the Southern District of New York, Zhong took advantage of the marketplace’s vulnerabilities to execute the hack.

    Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, said Zhong used a “sophisticated scheme” to steal the bitcoin from Silk Road. According to the press release, in September 2012, Zhong created nine fraudulent accounts on Silk Road, funding each with between 200 and 2,000 bitcoin. He then triggered over 140 transactions in rapid succession, which tricked the marketplace’s withdrawal-processing system to release approximately 50,000 bitcoin into his accounts. Zhong then transferred the bitcoin into a variety of wallet addresses all under his control.

    Public records show Zhong was the president and CEO of a self-created company, JZ Capital LLC, which he registered in Georgia in 2014. According to his LinkedIn profile, his work there focused on “investments and venture capital.”

    His profile also states he was a “large early bitcoin investor with extensive knowledge of its inner workings” and that he had software development experience in computer programming languages.

    Zhong’s social media profiles include pictures of him on yachts, in front of airplanes, and at high-profile football games.

    But these types of hacks didn’t end with the Silk Road’s demise. Crypto platforms continue to be vulnerable to criminals.

    In October 2022, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, suffered a $570 million hack. The company said a bug in a smart contract enabled hackers to exploit a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub. As a result, the hackers withdrew the platform’s native cryptocurrency, called BNB tokens.

    In March 2022, a different hacker found vulnerabilities in the decentralized finance platform Ronin Network and made off with more than $600 million — the largest hack to date. The private keys, which serve as passwords to protect cryptocurrency funds in wallets, were compromised.

    According to a Chainalysis report, $1.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency had been stolen in hacks of services through July 2022, compared with just under $1.2 billion at the same point in 2021. 

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  • Georgia sees highest-ever early midterm voter turnout

    Georgia sees highest-ever early midterm voter turnout

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    Georgia sees highest-ever early midterm voter turnout – CBS News


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    With just one day to go until Election Day, more than 2.5 million Georgians have already cast their votes. This is the highest early turnout for a midterm year in the state’s history. Meanwhile, polls show the Senate race is in a virtual tie with candidates making their final appeals. Nikole Killion reports from Atlanta.

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  • Economy is top issue for voters in high-stakes Georgia races:

    Economy is top issue for voters in high-stakes Georgia races:

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    Polling shows the economy is the top issue for registered voters in Georgia, where 66% say the condition of the country is on the wrong track. Only 19% believe it is headed in the right direction, according to a recent University of Georgia poll.  

    “You know, when it’s all said and done, I think most people vote with their pocket. Right?” Lou Valoze, a retired federal agent, said at a restaurant in Atlanta. “What’s going on halfway around the world isn’t an important issue to me when I’m at the booth. It’s how my family’s doing economically is more important to me.”

    Inflation remains at a 40-year-high and is causing some voters in Georgia to cut back on groceries and other basic expenses. 

    “Every single day you go to the grocery store to buy food, it costs more. You go to the gas station, it costs more. And paychecks aren’t going up, so you have to make changes,” Atlanta resident Susan Reeder said.  

    But Reeder credited incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp for trying to keep prices down, and said the “state has done very well” when it comes to helping with gas prices. 

    Kemp is up for re-election just four years after defeating Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, who is once again running for the gubernatorial seat.

    Georgia is also facing another key race — between U.S. Senate between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, a University of Georgia football legend. The race will help decide which party controls the Senate and is one of the closest, most expensive and controversial elections in the country.

    “The only race I pay attention to right now is Warnock and Herschel,” Gary Heath said.

    The two have clashed on topics like abortion and gun control — issues that are also important for voters in the state, which saw record levels of early-voter turnout.

    When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Georgia resident Clara Jackson said she felt like something had been taken away from women.

    “I felt like something had been taken away from women, something they’d been fighting for for years, and now all of a sudden, here you go, it’s back again,” she said at a restaurant in Savannah.

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  • In the 5 states without lotteries, a case of Powerball fever

    In the 5 states without lotteries, a case of Powerball fever

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    Loretta Williams lives in Alabama but drove to Georgia to buy a lottery ticket for a chance at winning the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot.

    She was one of many Alabama ticket-buyers flooding across state lines Thursday. The third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history has people around the country clamoring for a chance to win. But in some of the five states without a lottery, envious bystanders are crossing state lines or sending ticket money across them to friends and family, hoping to get in on the action.

    “I think it’s ridiculous that we have to drive to get a lottery ticket,” Williams, 67, said.

    Five states — Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska and Alabama — do not have a lottery. A mix of reasons have kept them away, including objections from conservatives, concerns about the impact on low-income families or a desire not to compete with existing gaming operations.

    “I’m pretty sure the people of Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia appreciate all of our contributions to their roads, bridges, education system and many other things they spend that money on,” said Democratic legislator Chris England, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

    Several times weekly, England hears from constituents asking when Alabama will approve a lottery: “Especially when people look on TV and see it’s $1.5 billion dollars.”

    Opposition intertwined with opportunity

    In 1999, Alabama voted down a lottery referendum under a mix of opposition from churches and out-of-state gambling interests. Lottery proposals have since stagnated in its legislature, the issue now intertwined with debate over electronic gambling.

    In Georgia, a billboard along Interstate 85 beckons motorists to stop at a gas station billing itself as the “#1 LOTTERY STORE” — 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Alabama-Georgia line. Alabama car tags outnumbered Georgia ones in the parking lot at times and a line for ticket purchases stretched across the store.

    buce-gideos-nh-powerball.jpg
    Bruce Gideos, floor manager at Pierre’s Place, in Chesterfield, N.H., prints out Powerball tickets on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022. The Powerball jackpot climbed over $1.5 billion on Thursday after no one won Wednesday’s drawing. 

    Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP


    Similarly, anybody in Utah wanting a lottery ticket must drive to Idaho or Wyoming, the two nearest states to the Salt Lake City metro area, where most of the population resides. Lotteries have long been banned in Utah amid stiff opposition to gambling by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church. The faith has its headquarters in Salt Lake City and the majority of lawmakers and more than half of the state’s residents belong to the religion.

    In Malad, Idaho, 13 miles (21 kilometers) from the Utah line, KJ’s Kwik Stop is taking advantage of Powerball’s absence in Utah, advertising directly to Utah residents to cross over for tickets. “Just because Utah doesn’t participate in the lottery doesn’t mean you can’t!” their website read recently.

    KJ’s sold hundreds of Powerball tickets to Utah residents on Thursday alone, said Cassie Rupp, a Kwik Stop cashier.


    Can you boost your odds of winning the Powerball jackpot?

    06:45

    “Everybody wants to be part of the scene”

    In Alaska, when oil prices slumped in recent years, legislative proposals to generate revenue through lottery games, including possibly Powerball, faltered. A 2015 report suggested annual proceeds from a statewide lottery could be around $8 million but cautioned such a lottery could negatively affect charitable gaming activities such as raffles.

    Anchorage podcast host Keith Gibbons was in New York earlier this week but forgot to buy a Powerball ticket, even though he didn’t know the size of the jackpot. His response when told it could be $1.5 billion: “I need a ticket.”

    He believes even though Alaska is extremely diverse — Anchorage School District students speak more than 100 languages besides English in their homes — offering Powerball would appeal to everyone.

    “There’s a little bit of everybody here, and so when you bring things like that, it doesn’t just speak to our culture, it speaks to all cultures because everybody wants money, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to be part of the scene,” Gibbons said.

    Not everyone agrees.

    Harmful “waste of money”

    Bob Endsley is no fan of Powerball. He says Alaskans shouldn’t have the opportunity to buy tickets. “It’s a waste of money,” said Endsley, also finding fault with the taxes that have to be paid on winnings and the increasing jackpots.

    Taking a break from shoveling snow off his sidewalk, the Anchorage man said he once won $10,000 in a Canadian lottery. But it was so long ago, he said, that he doesn’t remember what he did with the windfall other than “paid taxes.”

    Hawaii joins Utah as the two states prohibiting all forms of gambling. Measures to establish a Hawaii state lottery or allow casinos are periodically introduced in the Legislature but routinely fail in committee.

    Opponents say legalized gambling would disproportionately harm Hawaii’s low-income communities and encourage gambling addictions. Some argue the absence of casinos allows Hawaii to maintain its status as a family-friendly destination. Gambling is popular among Hawaii residents, however, with Las Vegas one of their top vacation destinations.

    Wearing a University of Alabama cap, John Jones of Montgomery, Alabama, bought a Powerball ticket on Thursday in Georgia. He voted for an Alabama lottery in 1999 and said he hopes lawmakers there try again. A retired painter, Jones said he usually doesn’t buy a lottery ticket, but decided to take a chance.

    He said many Alabamians seem to be doing the same at the Georgia store. “I even met some friends over here,” said Jones, 67.

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  • Three Meals in Georgia reveals what is on voters’ minds heading into midterm election

    Three Meals in Georgia reveals what is on voters’ minds heading into midterm election

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    Three Meals in Georgia reveals what is on voters’ minds heading into midterm election – CBS News


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    In our series “Three Meals,” CBS News co-anchor Nate Burleson discusses top issues for Georgia voters heading into the midterm election.

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  • Exclusive: DOJ mulling potential special counsel if Trump runs in 2024 | CNN Politics

    Exclusive: DOJ mulling potential special counsel if Trump runs in 2024 | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    As Donald Trump inches closer to launching another presidential run after the midterm election, Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump candidacy would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former president, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

    The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors so it’s ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former president.

    In the weeks leading up to the election, the Justice Department has observed the traditional quiet period of not making any overt moves that may have political consequences. But behind the scenes, investigators have remained busy, using aggressive grand jury subpoenas and secret court battles to compel testimony from witnesses in both the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of national security documents kept at his Palm Beach home.

    Now federal investigators are planning for a burst of post-election activity in Trump-related investigations. That includes the prospect of indictments of Trump’s associates – moves that could be made more complicated if Trump declares a run for the presidency.

    “They can crank up charges on almost anybody if they wanted to,” said one defense attorney working on January 6-related matters, who added defense lawyers have “have no idea” who ultimately will be charged.

    “This is the scary thing,” the attorney said.

    Trump and his associates also face legal exposure in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State and expects to wrap her probe by the end of the year.

    Indicting an active candidate for the White House would surely spark a political firestorm. And while no decision has been made about whether a special counsel might be needed in the future, DOJ officials have debated whether doing so could insulate the Justice Department from accusations that Joe Biden’s administration is targeting his chief political rival, people familiar with the matter tell CNN.

    Special counsels, of course, are hardly immune from political attacks. Both former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe came under withering criticism from their opponents.

    The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.

    The Justice Department has brought in a brain trust for high-level advice on the Trump investigations, according to people familiar with the moves.

    Top Justice officials have looked to an old guard of former Southern District of New York prosecutors, bringing into the investigations Kansas City-based federal prosecutor and national security expert David Raskin, as well as David Rody, a prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer who previously specialized in gang and conspiracy cases and has worked extensively with government cooperators.

    Rody, whose involvement has not been previously reported, left a lucrative partnership at the prestigious corporate defense firm Sidley Austin in recent weeks to become a senior counsel at DOJ in the criminal division in Washington, according to his LinkedIn profile and sources familiar with the move.

    The team at the DC US Attorney’s Office handling the day-to-day work of the January 6 investigations is also growing – even while the office’s sedition cases against right-wing extremists go to trial.

    A handful of other prosecutors have joined the January 6 investigations team, including a high-ranking fraud and public corruption prosecutor who has moved out of a supervisor position and onto the team, and a prosecutor with years of experience in criminal appellate work now involved in some of the grand jury activity.

    Taken together, the reorganization of prosecutors indicates a serious and snowballing investigation into Trump and his closest circles.

    The decision of whether to charge Trump or his associates will ultimately fall to Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom President Joe Biden picked for the job because his tenure as a judge provided some distance from partisan politics, after Senate Republicans blocked his Supreme Court nomination in 2016.

    Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    Several former prosecutors believe the facts exist for a potentially chargeable case. But Garland will have to navigate the politically perilous and historic decision of how to approach the potential indictment of a former President.

    In March, Garland avoided answering a CNN question about the prospect of a special counsel for Trump-related investigations, but said that the Justice Department does “not shy away from cases that are controversial or sensitive or political.”

    “What we will avoid and what we must avoid is any partisan element of our decision making about cases,” Garland said. “That is what I’m intent on ensuring that the Department decisions are made on the merits, and that they’re made on the facts and the law, and they’re not based on any kind of partisan considerations.”

    Garland’s tough decisions go beyond Trump. The long-running investigation of Hunter Biden, son of the president, is nearing conclusion, people briefed on the matter say. Also waiting in the wings: a final decision on the investigation of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, after prosecutors recommended against charges.

    It likely won’t take long after the midterms for focus to shift to the 2024 presidential race. That could incentivize top DOJ officials to make crucial charging decisions as quickly as possible, including whether to bring charges against Trump himself or other top political activists, other sources familiar with the Justice Department’s inner workings say.

    “They’re not going to charge before they’re ready to charge,” one former Justice Department official with some insight into the thinking around the investigations said. “But there will be added pressure to get through the review” of cases earlier than the typical five-year window DOJ has to bring charges.

    Matters could also be complicated by the situation in Georgia, where Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election there. Willis has said she’s aiming for a special grand jury to wrap up its investigative work by the end of the year.

    Willis has observed her own version of a quiet period around the midterm election and is seeking to bring witnesses before the grand jury in the coming weeks. Sources previously told CNN indictments could come as soon as December.

    Key Trump allies, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are among witnesses that have tried to fight off subpoenas in the state probe into efforts to interfere with the Georgia 2020 election.

    How those disputes resolve in Georgia – including whether courts force testimony – could improve DOJ’s ability to gather information, just as the House Select Committee’s January 6 investigation added to DOJ’s investigative leads from inside the Trump White House.

    The months leading up to the election have provided little respite from the political and legal activity around the investigations. The DC US Attorney’s Office–which is still shouldering the bulk of the January 6 investigations–has dealt with burnout in its ranks, as prosecutors are taking to trial or securing guilty pleas from more than 800 rioters who were on the grounds of the Capitol and still look to charge hundreds more.

    Trump has also foiled the DOJ’s efforts to keep things quiet in the weeks leading up to the election, leading to a steady barrage of headlines related to the investigation.

    Trump’s legal team successfully put in place a complicated court-directed process for sorting through thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago, to determine whether they’re privileged and off limits to investigators. But the Justice Department and intelligence community have had access for weeks to about 100 records marked as classified that Trump had kept in Florida.

    The outcome of the intelligence review of those documents may determine if criminal charges will be filed, according to one source familiar with the Justice Department’s approach.

    Yet in both investigations, under-seal court activity never subsided, with the Justice Department trying to force at least five witnesses around Trump to secretly provide more information in their grand jury investigations in Washington, DC, CNN has previously reported.

    On Tuesday a federal judge ordered Trump adviser Kash Patel to testify before a grand jury investigating the handling of federal records at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

    Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court granted Patel immunity from prosecution on any information he provides to the investigation— another significant step that moves the Justice Department closer to potentially charging the case.

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  • Georgia gubernatorial candidates sharply divided on key issues as midterms approach

    Georgia gubernatorial candidates sharply divided on key issues as midterms approach

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    While the races for control of the House and Senate are getting most of the headlines, Americans are paying close attention to several key gubernatorial races. In Georgia, it’s a high stakes rematch of the 2018 election between Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.

    CBS News joined both candidates on their campaign buses as they traversed the Peach State, where voter turnout surpassed the the 2 million mark Thursday. With five days to go until Election Day, the economy, health care and crime are all taking center stage. 

    “She said she would defund the police,” Kemp said of Abrams.

    Abrams argued that Kemp has “lied repeatedly.” 

    “We want law enforcement, but we also want accountability,” she said. 

    In regards to Georgia’s newest voting law, S.B. 202, which Abrams has heavily criticized, she told CBS News that “turnout does not disprove suppression, it actually defeats suppression.”

    Kemp said the record early voting numbers tell a different story. 

    “Stacey Abrams have been saying how bad our state is when it comes to election laws,” he said. “And the numbers just don’t prove that.”

    Abortion is another flashpoint in the race. A recent CBS News Battleground Tracker poll found that 82% of Democrats say the issue is very important in their vote. In a recent debate, the governor sidestepped whether he would consider additional legislation after enacting a so-called “fetal heartbeat” law.

    “It is not my intention to move the abortion debate any further in Georgia,” Kemp said. When asked if that meant he would not pursue any further restrictions to the procedure, he told CBS News, “I’ve been very clear about that issue. My focus is on the future.”

    But Abrams said she does not believe him.

    “I believe Brian Kemp intends to expand his prohibition on abortion,” Abrams said. “I believe he intends to ban access to certain forms of contraception because he said so.”

    The Senate race has also been contentious, with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker in a statistical tie, according to recent polls.

    Nikole Killion


    Nikole Killion

    Nikole Killion is a congressional correspondent for CBS News based in Washington D.C.

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