ELECTION 2020
What we can expect on the environment from a Biden administration
Immediately following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, I wrote a column titled “Why Trump won’t stop the clean energy revolution.” If you were to read it now, you would yawn. What seemed bold back then now feels like forecasting the inevitable. Of course coal has not come back. Of course wind and solar are […]
A troubling foray to Philly and other election observations
A few thoughts about Election 2020 and its aftermath: • Why did two men from Chesapeake – supporters of Republican candidates, and one an adherent to bizarre QAnon conspiracies – tote an AR-15 style rifle and handguns to Philadelphia while trying to monitor vote-counting in the closely contested Keystone State? That’s what local and federal […]
Virginia General Assembly passes rules for newly approved redistricting commission
With Virginia’s redistricting debate now settled by voters, state lawmakers approved a package of rules Monday for how the new, bipartisan map-drawing commission will work next year. Democrats’ dispute over the redistricting commission, which almost 66 percent of Virginia voters approved last week, delayed the formal conclusion of the special session that began in August. […]
Virginia deserves credit for making it easier for people to vote, but reporting the results needs work
That sense of whiplash you may have felt as you watched election returns in Virginia after its largest turnout election ever —more than 4.1 million votes — is not your imagination. Some Republicans were excited for most of Tuesday evening as ballots cast on Election Day at Virginia’s nearly 2,500 polling places were tabulated and […]
AP declares Joe Biden is the next president
WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania on Saturday secured his victory to become the next president of the United States when The Associated Press reported he had gained enough votes there to win the electoral college. The AP called Pennsylvania for Biden at 11:25 a.m., which gave the former vice president 284 […]
An embarrassing failure for election pollsters
By W. Joseph Campbell Election polling is facing yet another reckoning following its uneven-at-best performance in this year’s voting. Although the outcome in the 2020 presidential race remained uncertain the next day, it was evident that polls collectively faltered, overall, in providing Americans with clear indications as to how the election would turn out. And […]
Georgia voters could determine control of the U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON — Control of the U.S. Senate may depend on two runoff races in Georgia, where the outcome won’t be known until early January—opening the door to a fresh round of massive campaign spending in the Peach State. One runoff between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock is already set. While the […]
Battleground states count mail ballots, with Biden just shy of votes to clinch presidency
WASHINGTON — Two days after Election Day, the nation waited for vote-counting to finish in several critical states, where the tallying of mail ballots has left Democrat Joe Biden just short of the votes needed to become the next president. Thursday’s updated totals could push Biden beyond the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory […]
Debunking social media claims, Virginia officials say it’ll take time for online voter info to update
Virginia elections officials say voters shouldn’t be alarmed if the state’s election website doesn’t immediately show their ballot was counted, noting it usually takes several days for that information to appear. The Virginia Department of Elections released the statement in response to viral, false social media theories circulating under the hashtag #WheresMyVote. Many people are […]
Chesterfield and Lynchburg hadn’t backed a Democrat for president since 1948. Biden changed that.
Virginia came out of Election Day looking a little bluer and a little more polarized. Joe Biden continued Democrats’ winning streak in the suburbs, carrying seven cities and counties won by President Donald Trump in 2016, according to preliminary results that began to come into focus Wednesday. Trump, meanwhile, ran up his own margins in […]
Spanberger declares victory after pulling ahead of Freitas
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico, pulled ahead Wednesday afternoon in what had been a too-close-to-call congressional race against Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, after Spotsylvania County reported its absentee ballot numbers and Henrico County updated its absentee totals. With the new numbers in in, Spanberger was leading Freitas by more than 5,100 votes, according to unofficial results […]
Democrats reel after losses, setbacks in Congress
WASHINGTON— Tuesday’s election was a disaster for congressional Democrats, who were expected to pick up nearly a dozen GOP seats in the House but instead lost races while also failing to flip Senate seats held by vulnerable Republicans. The outlook for Democratic control of the Senate did not improve the day after the election, either, […]