No doubt it wasn’t the best of nights for the Republican Party at the state level. In Virginia, the Democrats retook everything. For the first time in two decades, the Democratic Party will control all of Richmond—and a parade of horribles is tow follow. The trash politics of deep blue Maryland have spilled over. It’s the Battle Antietam, but in reverse and with a clear and decisive winner: the anti-American Left. If I could, I would flee to West Virginia or South Carolina. Right now, Virginia Republicans have to tolerate the deluge of hyper-left-wing trash is about to emanate from Richmond whose sole purpose is to keep the liberal voters of Northern Virginia—and only Northern Virginia—happy at the expense of the rest of us.
In Kentucky, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin appears to have lost his re-election bid. He lost by a razor-thin margin, enough for him to hold off conceding until the ballots are recanvassed (via CNBC):
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin submitted a request for a recanvass Wednesday after narrowly losing to Democrat Andy Beshear in a tight gubernatorial race.
The request comes after Bevin refused to concede Tuesday night, following his apparent loss by less than 6,000 votes, according to NBC. Bevin alluded to “a few irregularities” in a speech to supporters but did not provide any further specifics.
Bevin’s request was submitted to Kentucky Secretary of State Alison L. Grimes, who is in charge of running the election.
Mitch McConnell is in deep trouble in 2020 in Kentucky.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 6, 2019
Hahahaha
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) November 6, 2019
Reality check: a <1% Dem win against an unpopular GOP governor is *not* a sign KY is competitive at the federal level in 2020.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 6, 2019
Still, there are some who think because Bevin “lost,” Mitch McConnell might be vulnerable in 2020. No. The Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman poured cold water over that hot take. Folks, even in friendly GOP territory, if you treat your constituents like trash, which I’ve seen been floated by those who aren’t shocked by Bevin’s results, or have a shoddy campaign operation, you’re not going to win (via Axios):
Senior officials at the White House and Republican Governors Association thought Bevin would win, but nobody who was studying the race closely felt overly confident about that outcome.
Bevin was telling people he would win — but throughout the campaign, sources in the Trump political orbit expressed concerns about the poor quality of Bevin’s operation and about his weaknesses in public opinion.
[…]
Indeed, polling shows Bevin is the most unpopular governor in America, and other Kentucky results were solid for Republicans.
As U.Va.'s Larry Sabato told Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC: "When you're a Republican running statewide in Kentucky, you have to try to lose. And Bevin tried for four years, and he succeeded."
Oh, and just so we’re clear, Republicans won the rest of the statewide office. The offices of the attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, ad agricultural commissioner will continue to be occupied by Republicans.