Thursday, November 5, 2020

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

► From the Washington Post — Joe Biden wins Wisconsin and Michigan, nearing victory as Republicans threaten legal challenges — As Joe Biden amassed small but stable leads in critical states that edged him closer on Wednesday to winning the presidency, President Trump and Republicans threatened legal challenges as they sought to shift the battle for the White House from the ballot box to the courts. Hours after President Trump prematurely declared victory, his campaign made baseless claims of voter fraud, filed for a recount in one state and tried to stop the counting of ballots in others where the president was behind.

EDITOR’S NOTE — These are the desperate actions of a man who knows he is going to lose. America is a democracy, not a dictatorship. The voters choose their leaders and they have done their job in record numbers amid a pandemic. Election officials must be allowed to do their jobs and count every legal vote. The voters will decide who is president, not judges.

► From the NY Times — ‘Count every vote’: Protests over ballot tallies sweep through U.S. cities — Calling on election officials to “count every vote,” protesters marched through the streets of several American cities on Wednesday (including Seattle, pictured above) in response to Trump’s aggressive effort to challenge the vote count in Tuesday’s presidential election.

► From the Seattle Times — Demonstrators at Seattle post-election protests call on officials to ‘count every vote’ — As the group marched through downtown, Bess Sullivan, vice president of a local stagehands union, walked with the crowd after months of carefully avoiding crowds because of the coronavirus. “If we just sit at home, [Trump] may think he can get away with it,” Sullivan said. “I’ve been mad as hell for four years.” She and many of her coworkers lost their work when the pandemic hit, leaving them “mourning” a job they love and worried about finances and health care, she said. Sullivan worries about the future of unions under a second Trump term.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Illustrating that our nation’s political divide also permeates newsrooms, the Yakima Herald-Republic’s headline for this story: “Election demonstrators arrested in Seattle and Portland.”

► From the NY Times — With his path to re-election narrowing, Trump turns to the courts — Trump pursued lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and his campaign said it would demand a recount in Wisconsin.

► From ProPublica — If Trump tries to sue his way to election victory, here’s what happens — It’s easy enough for the Trump campaign to file a lawsuit claiming improprieties, but a lot harder to provide evidence of wrongdoing or a convincing legal argument. “A lawsuit without provable facts showing a statutory or constitutional violation is just a tweet with a filing fee,” says one law professor.

► From Politico — Biden campaign gears up for legal warfare as he nears 270

► From the Washington Post — Trump and his allies boost bogus conspiracy theories in a bid to undermine vote count — Trump, his son and top members of his campaign on Wednesday advanced a set of unfounded conspiracy theories about the vote-tallying process to claim that Democrats were rigging the final count.

► From the Washington Post — Surprise! The election is unfolding as predicted. (editorial) — In the end, the 2020 presidential election is unfolding much as had been foreseen by political analysts — and foreshadowed by Trump. The president’s ugly rhetoric is a direct attack on American democracy. It could leave a poisonous legacy of bitterness among his supporters and erode the legitimacy of the U.S. political system. But, by late Wednesday, his antics had yet to prevent an orderly, peaceful and lawful conclusion of the presidential election. State officials diligently proceeded with their counts… How much further mischief Trump stirs will depend on the degree to which he is abetted by fellow Republicans — especially elected officials.

Trumpers in Arizona: ‘Count the votes!’
Trumpers in Michigan: ‘Stop the count!’
??? pic.twitter.com/Az6kQdMGIR

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 5, 2020

► From the Seattle Times — Don’t let Trump spoil remarkable election (editorial) — Meanwhile, all can be thankful for the tremendous efforts of election workers in Washington state and across the country who appear to have performed admirably in extraordinary circumstances. These public servants rose to the challenge, overcame substantial health and logistical challenges and ensured that a particularly important election happened on time. Voters should also take pride in a strong turnout, regardless of whether their candidates win or lose. Keep calm and count on, America.

STATE ELECTIONS

TODAY at The Stand — UPDATED state election results in key races — Labor-backed candidates in tight races lost some ground in the latest counts, but not so much that there are new leaders in any of those races. The next major updates will begin at about 4 p.m. on Thursday.

► From Crosscut — WA Democrats see path to cleaner fuels, capital gains tax after election — Tuesday’s election wasn’t a blowout victory for Democrats in Washington state. Yet it looks as if Democrats may gain a few seats in the state Legislature — and even those modest gains could help propel some progressive priorities over the finish line, lawmakers said Wednesday.

► From KNKX — Washington state races seem to be moving the needle on diversity — This week’s general election appears to be moving the needle on diversity in the Washington State Legislature.

► From the Columbian — Herrera Beutler wins sixth term as Long concedes race — The congresswoman is a red dot on a strip of blue that stretches from Canada to Mexico. She has outlasted every other GOP member of the House on the West Coast — of the 48 contiguous United States, she’s the only Republican to represent a district bordering the Pacific Ocean, after the 2018 “blue wave” swept her remaining colleagues out of office. She’s also the only Republican woman of color in either chamber of Congress.

► From the Spokesman-Review — Inslee prepares for 3rd term; Culp claims fraud and loses job as Republic police chief — Inslee had 59% of the vote Wednesday evening while Republican Loren Culp had just under 41%. “Corruption, that’s the word of the day,” Culp said. “Something smells fishy.”

► From the Seattle Times — Wyman set to win 3rd term as Secretary of State as count continues

NATIONAL ELECTIONS

► From Bloomberg — Pro-worker ballot measures approved in Florida, Colorado as voters ignore business protests — Decisions by Florida and Colorado voters to pass labor-friendly ballot initiatives over objections from business groups underscored a national movement toward improving benefits and pay for low-wage workers, even as employers grapple with unprecedented financial pressures in the COVID-19 pandemic.

► From The Hill — Chamber-endorsed Dems struggle on election night — The poor showing by House Democrats on election night extended to first-term lawmakers endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, potentially leaving the business group with fewer allies in Congress next year.

► From the Washington Post — Democrats’ down-ballot misery continues with state legislative battles — Heading into Election Day, Democrats had hoped to pick up a half-dozen or more state legislative chambers to get a foot in the door when many state politicians get to redraw congressional maps next year, lines that will last for the next decade and help determine which party controls Congress. Instead, it’s possible Democrats end up with no new chambers, and it will be Republicans who leave 2020 with wins.

► From the LA Times — Prop 16 to reinstate affirmative action in California fails

► From The Hill — There was a clear winner on election night: marijuana — Voters in various states across the country approved a series of statewide ballot proposals on Election Day legalizing the use and distribution of marijuana for either medical or adult-use purposes.

► From The Onion — Passed California ballot measure allows Uber, Lyft to categorize workers as car parts

COVID-19

► From the Seattle Times — Washington sets record for daily coronavirus cases — Washington set a daily record for new coronavirus cases with 1,469 infections tallied on Tuesday, totaling 111,480 cases in the state. Sixteen new deaths from Tuesday were also confirmed, bringing the total to 2,416. The previous record for confirmed cases of the new coronavirus was set July 16, when state health officials reported 1,267 new cases, along with six deaths.

► LIVE from the Seattle Times — Coronavirus daily news update, Nov. 5 — The latest count of COVID-19 cases in Washington totals 111,480 infections (7-day average of new infections per day: 829) and 2,416 deaths (7-day average of deaths per day: 9)

► From the News Tribune — Tacoma hospital now reporting 20 COVID cases, 6 of them unrelated to initial outbreak — St. Joseph Medical Center this week announced it was going to expand surveillance testing after more cases of COVID-19 were detected among staff. On Wednesday, the CHI Franciscan hospital reported two more employee cases of COVID-19, separate from an initial outbreak of 14 cases tied to the building’s seventh floor.

► From the News Tribune — Who has the power to reopen, close schools in Pierce County — and will they use it? — Generally, health and school officials agree that school districts can decide what they want to do — whether that’s continuing remote learning or starting in-person classes. But health officials play a huge role in what they decide.

► From the Tri-City Herald — New Richland mayor ill with COVID

► LIVE from the NY Times — U.S. tops 100,000 new cases in a day for the first time — In the aftermath of a presidential election in which the pandemic was a top issue, 23 states have reached a record number of coronavirus cases in the past week.

► From the Washington Post — Management company owned by Jared Kushner files to evict hundreds of families as moratoriums expire — White House adviser’s company, Westminster Management, and other landlords prepare to remove tenants behind on rent during the pandemic.

AEROSPACE

► From the PS Business Journal — Boeing Machinists leader launches broadside against jet maker — IAM 751 President Jon Holden said the company’s move to end 787 production in Everett and shift all of it to South Carolina is “a short-sighted decision that puts the company’s future at risk… The people leading this company have no loyalty to our communities. They are only here to reap profit and line their own pockets.” He is urging Machinists to use the 787 decision to motivate their demand in future collective bargaining talks that the company build its next new airplane in the Puget Sound region. The union’s current deal expires in 2024.

► From the PS Business Journal — Ryanair says Boeing has delayed production of 737 Max 10 — Boeing has delayed plans to manufacture the new 737 Max 10 jet at its Renton factory for as long as two years, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said. He shared details about the Chicago-based jet maker’s production plans – details that Boeing itself has not previously disclosed – during a question-and-answer session with aerospace investment analysts after his European airline group released its latest financial results.

LOCAL

► From the WEA — Victory: Central Kitsap staff are recalled to work — It took a stubborn fight against job cuts in Central Kitsap, but by Thursday bus drivers and food service employees will be back to work. Members of CKESP — Central Kitsap Education Support Professionals — stood up, stood strong and stood united when the district announced it would cut about 100 support jobs because students were at home under the district’s distance-learning model. Employees emphasized that students and teachers need more support, not less, while schools are closed, and they offered to take on new duties to help as needed.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From the AP — 751,000 seek U.S. jobless benefits as virus hobbles economy — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 751,000, a still-historically high level that shows that many employers keep cutting jobs in the face of the accelerating pandemic. A surge in viral cases and Congress’ failure so far to provide more aid for struggling individuals and businesses are threatening to deepen Americans’ economic pain.

► From Roll Call — Coronavirus relief bill, omnibus spending on tap, McConnell says — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he wants to pass a COVID-19 aid measure and all 12 outstanding fiscal 2021 appropriations bills before the end of the year. The parties remain far apart on what a coronavirus aid package should look like.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Let’s review. The Democratic-controlled House passed the HEROES Act coronavirus relief bill back in May. The Republican-controlled Senate refused to vote on it, or on any alternative relief proposal. Then the House passed a scaled-back version more than a month ago. Still, the Senate refused to act. So when they return to work after the election, McConnell says the issue is “on tap,” but so far he has insisted on granting corporations legal immunity from lawsuit by COVID-sickened workers and blocking any relief for struggling state and local governments. Conclusion: Don’t hold your breath (but please wear a mask).

T.G.I.T.

► Although we will update Election Results on Friday, The Entire Staff of The Stand will not be posting Daily News tomorrow. So today’s TGIF thought for the day: “Finally, the tables are starting to turn.” Enjoy.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.