Hard Pass

Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has lost his unique leverage in Washington now that his party has pulled off a blue wave in the midterm elections.

The Democratic Party was handed control of the House and the Senate on Tuesday, dramatically reshaping Congress for the country.

In Pennsylvania, Fetterman has wielded the power of being the deciding vote in what was a narrowly divided Senate, as a Democrat willing to break with his party. But Democratic Senate gains across the country on Tuesday have pushed their seats from a minority of 47 to a majority of at least 54, after flipping at least seven seats, as of early Wednesday morning.

This means Fetterman, who has long faced criticism from wings of his party for obstructing the Democratic agenda by voting with Republicans, will now have less power to force his party to listen to the views he represents.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/62743547

Spotted in TX

is a profound repudiation of Trumpism, helped along by Trump’s unerring ability to pick truly despicable candidates from Texas’s criminal Ken Paxton to Ohio’s creep Vivek Ramaswamy to South Carolina’s inane Darline Graham.

In that it’s the end of something, and when the celebration is over, it’ll be time to remember it’s the beginning of something, of rebuilding this country in all the ways it’s been broken and corrupted. So tonight there was a finish line, and tomorrow or the day after it’ll be our starting line.

- Rebecca Solnit, author and Guardian US columnist

The Alabama State House District 25 results show Montgomery winning 12,456 votes (53.2%) to Rigsby’s 10,929 (46.7%).

Writing after the results, Montgomery urged supporters not to get distracted. “I know the headlines tomorrow are gonna be provocative and catchy, but let’s focus on the most important part of this victory: we showed that a truly grassroots campaign that stands on its policies and its principles has a real shot in Alabama,” she wrote.

Wow. Ala-fucking-bama? Weird times. This is great to see, but I would never have expected to live to see something like this come out of Alabama. My whole life I've had the tought 'at least I'm not in Alabama' rattling around in the back of my head. I'll still have that thought, but it will be a little quieter. Not by much. But, still . . ..

That we Kentuckians are trying are best. Give us time. In the meantime feel free to bully our reps, because they don't truly represent us. Source: https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/kentucky-us-senate-results/