Good morning, it’s Thursday, November 7, 2024. In today’s edition, GOP makes gains in legislatures; minimum wage measures win passage; Rhode Island Dems set for leadership fight:
Top Stories
LEGISLATURES: Republicans have won control of the Michigan House, ending a two-year Democratic trifecta and capturing 58 of 110 seats headed into 2025. House Speaker Joe Tate (D) said he would not seek a minority leadership position. Current Minority Leader Matt Hall (R) and Rep. Tom Kunse (R) will seek the speakership. Read more at Pluribus News.
Voters in Minnesota have delivered a split decision in the state House, where unofficial results show a 67-67 tie. Three races are contested by less than half a percentage point, the threshold that automatically triggers a recount. The results threaten the trifecta Democrats captured in the 2022 midterm elections. The Senate remains in Democratic control. Read more at Pluribus News.
One commonality between Michigan and Minnesota: Democrats lost one seat each — and with them, the majorities — in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Minnesota’s Iron Range. Both are historically Democratic areas that have trended culturally conservative in the last two decades, a broader example of Democratic struggles outside urban cores.
The Alaska state House is likely to be run by a bipartisan coalition, after a Democrat ousted an incumbent Republican in Anchorage and a Republican-turned-independent won re-election in Ketchikan. Those results mean Republicans will hold 20 seats, Democrats 14 and independents six. The Senate is still controlled by a bipartisan supermajority. (Alaska Beacon)
Control of the Pennsylvania House hangs on a single district in Cambria County, where a voting system malfunction caused a delay in vote counts. Incumbent Rep. Frank Burns (D) leads challenger Amy Bradley (R) by 13 percentage points, but it appears about half the ballots remain to be counted. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
We’re still waiting for results from the battleground states of Arizona and New Hampshire.
ECONOMY: Voters in Alaska and Missouri approved ballot measures that will raise minimum wages to $15 an hour and require employers to let workers accrue at least five sick days. Arizona voters rejected a business-backed measure that would have lowered base wages for employees who earn tips. (Pluribus News)
A California measure to raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour is trailing, 48%-52%, though about half the vote remains to be counted.
In Politics & Business
CALIFORNIA: Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, a ballot measure to increase punishments for those convicted of certain drug or theft crimes. The measure, which won 70% of the vote, rolls back Prop. 47, a 2014 measure that reduced legal consequences of drug and property crimes. (Pluribus News)
MASSACHUSETTS: Voters on Tuesday approved a ballot measure to allow gig economy workers to unionize. State government gets the final say on whether to approve pay, benefit and working condition; any collective bargaining agreement would have to win majority support from drivers who completed at least 100 trips in the prior quarter. (Pluribus News)
RHODE ISLAND: Democratic senators meet today to decide the fate of Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D), who faces a challenge from Majority Leader Ryan Pearson (D). Once allies, Ruggerio tried to oust Pearson after Pearson questioned his health and fitness for the job. Ruggerio and Pearson are also putting up rival candidates for the majority leader post. (Providence Journal)
CRIME BLOTTER: Jackson, Miss., Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) said he has been indicted on bribery and related charges, though no indictment has yet appeared in federal court records. Lumumba said he is being targeted ahead of his 2025 re-election campaign. (Associated Press)
By The Numbers
More than 5.6 million: The number of votes cast this year in Michigan, a new all-time record that surpasses the 5.5 million votes cast in 2020. (Detroit Free Press) Wisconsin also set a new turnout record, at 3.4 million. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
2: The number of Democrats who will serve in the West Virginia Senate next year, out of 34 members. Democrats will hold nine of 100 seats in the House of Delegates. When Sen.-elect Jim Justice (R) is sworn in, Republicans will control every statewide office there for the first time in nearly a century. (Associated Press)
$9.99: The cost to have Amazon packages delivered by drone for Prime members near the company’s facility in Tolleson, Ariz. Eligible packages must weigh less than five pounds, and Amazon pledges drone delivery in less than an hour. (Arizona Republic)
Off The Wall
Women will hold a majority of seats in New Mexico’s legislature, after six women won seats in the state Senate. Women hold 44 of 70 seats in the state House and 16 of 42 seats in the Senate. It’s only the third time in American history that women have comprised a majority in any legislature, following Nevada and Arizona. (Albuquerque Journal)
Pompano Beach, Fla., City Commissioner Andrea Leigh McGee lost her seat — to her own cousin. McGee said she only found out her cousin Audrey Fesik was running when Fesik texted her from city hall while she filed her papers. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Quote of the Day
“I think if you don’t reflect on what happened yesterday — even if you won — you’re kidding yourself.”
— New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), on Democrats’ needs for introspection after election losses across the country. (New Jersey Globe) Vice President Harris carried New Jersey by a slimmer margin, about 4%, than the margin by which President-elect Trump carried battleground Arizona, 5.5 points.