Winner!

Candidates watch recounts, Congressman looks to 2020

Allyson Bonhaus, Editor in Chief|November 19, 2018

Theodore Weng

KEEP A TALLY. Senior Theodore Weng snaps this photo during the watch party for Aftab Pureval. Though Pureval lost the seat to incumbent Republican Steve Chabot, the first district includes parts of Hamilton and Warren County, tilting the district red. “I think its unlikely for a Democratic candidate to win the first district until 2022 when gerrymandering is supposed to be fixed. Aside from that, I do think Aftab did a good job rallying the Democrats in Hamilton County,” Weng said.

Days after the election, presidential bids are being sized for 2020 as some candidates are still watching the vote tallies.

Election results continue rolling in

Arizona’s Senate seat was called for Kyrsten Sinema, who will become the first openly bisexual Senator. Her election was close, called only on Nov. 12.

A moderate Democrat, Sinema was able to flip the Senate seat Democrat after about 30 years being held by Republicans. She took the seat Senator Jeff Flake just vacated, narrowing the Republican majority in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the Florida Senate seat is in a recount due to signatures declared invalid indiscriminately and the closeness of the race.

Incumbent Bill Nelson filled a federal lawsuit to give each of Florida’s counties “adequate time to finish a legally mandated and accurate recount,” according to USA Today.

Nelson is running against Republican Governor Rick Scott, who had a slight lead in the polls before the recount was called.

Another major outstanding race is in the Georgia governors race, which calls for a unique situation. While voting fraud is speculated, Brian Kemp both oversees the election as the secretary of state and runs in it.

Candidate Stacey Abrams has filed a class-action suit to delay Kemp’s acquisition of the governor-elect position until every vote is counted. Abrams claims there are more provisional ballots that need to be counted than the government is stating.

Associated Press reported that 53,000 registrations are on Kemp’s desk, left unregistered due to problems with “exact match” of applications. Though Georgia’s population is 32 percent black, the registrations waiting on his desk are 70 percent blacks.

Through all of this, President Donald Trump has not stayed silent. In both the Florida Senate and Georgia Governors race, the Republicans have been winning (despite with small margins and voting fraud allegations). Trump has encouraged the nation to move on and declare victors.

“It was not a bad night at all for Republicans. Especially Trump…It was a huge win for Trump because many of his backed candidates won,” Weng said.

2020 Vision

One man people are looking to run for president in 2020 is Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.

That is something one SHS student in particular supports- senior Theodore Weng. Weng interned with Aftab Pureval, who lost to incumbent Steve Chabot in Ohio’s First Congressional District.

“Sherrod Brown is truly a special candidate in Ohio… [he is] a political legend in Ohio and has very deep ties to the working class voters,” Weng said.

Brown is an interesting prospect for Democrats- he had a solid support from the working class and average voters. Plus, coming from a swing state such as Ohio is an advantage. He won against challenger Jim Renacci with 53.2 percent of the vote to Renacci’s 46.8.

Though Brown has only publicly said he is considering it, the way only judicial seats and his Senate seat were declared blue in Ohio during the midterms may serve as a motivating factor.

As to his political views, he airs perhaps too populist to retake the White House. Progressive Democrats have not fared well against Republicans keeping to Donald Trump’s more extreme side.

“A progressive can win decisively without compromising on women’s rights and civil rights and LGBTQ rights and without caving to Wall Street or the gun lobby,” Brown said, according to Cincinnati.com.

Disclaimer: There are many other Democrats and Republicans hinting at 2020 runs, Brown is noted because of his proximity to SHS.

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