WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. officials said on Tuesday that foreign actors did not have a significant impact on computer systems and other equipment underpinning the November, 2018 congressional elections, despite reports of hacking attempts. People fill out their ballots during the midterm election at Philomont Fire Station, in Purcellville, Virginia, U.S., November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Al Drago The statement by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security contrasted with U.S. officials’ view that the 2016 presidential election was the target of a sophisticated Russian hacking and propaganda campaign to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hilary Clinton. The two agencies said the U.S. government has found no evidence that foreign governments or agents had an impact last November, when Democrats won control of the House of Representatives. Neither political campaigns nor electronic voting machines or other infrastructure was … [Read more...] about U.S. says foreign meddling didn’t affect 2018 election systems
2018 elections
Colorado Republicans need to rebuild after the 2018 election. But first they’ll pick a new leader.
When movers and shakers of the Colorado Republican Party meet in March to decide who will lead them into the 2020 election, the stakes will be high. Their standard-bearer, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Yuma, will be up for re-election, and he has been considered vulnerable since the day after the 2018 election, in which Republicans suffered their most devastating defeat in modern state history. And there will be an effort to regain ground in the state Senate to provide some sort of check on Democratic Gov. Jared Polis and the near super-majority that Democrats hold in the state House. “I’m tired of losing,” said Marla Spinuzzi Reichert, chairwoman of the Pueblo County Republicans. “More of the same is not the answer. We have to go in a bold new direction.” What that “bold new direction” is may depend on who the next state party chair is. While there’s debate about how much influence the chair has in shaping the party’s platform and … [Read more...] about Colorado Republicans need to rebuild after the 2018 election. But first they’ll pick a new leader.
671,000 political ads were broadcast in Minnesota during 2018 election
If you started watching every political ad aired in the run-up to the November election in 2018 on New Year’s Day, it would take you until somewhere around Labor Day to see them all. And that’s just the ads for Minnesota’s eight congressional, two U.S. Senate and statewide races such as governor, attorney general and secretary of state. It doesn’t include legislative elections or local contests. In fact, the 2018 election in Minnesota saw an unprecedented amount of political advertising: $120 million was spent on 671,000 political ads on television, cable and radio to influence voting. That’s according to an accounting of every ad listed in FCC filings by a team of student journalists as part of a project at the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. This is the first election cycle that such ad-spending data can be easily gathered, since the Federal Communications Commission only recently required cable operators to … [Read more...] about 671,000 political ads were broadcast in Minnesota during 2018 election
After the 2018 election, do Democrats own the suburbs — or are they just renting them?
In November, Minnesota Democrats won back the Minnesota House by winning in the Twin Cities’ suburbs. DFL vote totals in the cities surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul bolstered the party’s wins in races for governor, attorney general and U.S. Senate, too. That’s probably heartening for Democrats looking toward another big election in 2020. But data — and experts — caution against assuming the suburbs are now safely in DFL hands. “The question is whether one interprets these midterm results and the various partisan shifts that we saw in the electorate as the new status quo or a more fleeting part of the natural ebb and flow purplish states tend to see,” said Eric Ostermeier, a research fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the author of Smart Politics, political analysis website. Why the suburbs were a big deal There are two reasons there was so much talk about the suburbs in the run-up to the 2018 election. First, the suburbs … [Read more...] about After the 2018 election, do Democrats own the suburbs — or are they just renting them?
WashPost Columnist: 2018 Elections Mark ‘Beginning of the End’ of ‘Gun Lobby’
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. claims the guilty plea of suspected Russian spy Maria Butina and the outcome of the 2018 congressional elections mark the “beginning of the end” for the “gun lobby” in the U.S. Dionne believes Butina’s plea keeps Americans focused on the still-unproven claims of Russian collusion in the 2016 election, and he thinks the midterm elections indicate a shift in the electorate that favors the gun control lobby.He writes: “Taken together, the events of 2016 and the results of the 2018 election will be remembered as the beginning of the end of the gun lobby’s power. Dionne hedges his bets by admitting his frustration that the overthrow of the “gun lobby” may not be complete as quickly as leftists would like because of the “vast over-representation of rural states in the Senate [which] tilts the system, undemocratically, toward those who claim that government is powerless to take meaningful … [Read more...] about WashPost Columnist: 2018 Elections Mark ‘Beginning of the End’ of ‘Gun Lobby’