The Rick & Bubba Show - LIVE - Nov. 11, 2022

The Rick & Bubba Show - LIVE - Nov. 11, 2022

Election 2022: The Morning After | 11/9/22

Election 2022: The Morning After | 11/9/22

Red splash: Where the midterms stand right now



Although a red wave did not flood the nation as foretold, Republicans nevertheless made a significant splash Tuesday night. What follows is a rundown of the results as they stand early Wednesday morning.

Senate

In the Senate, 35 seats were up for grabs on Election Day: 13 Democrat-controlled seats and 21 Republican-controlled seats.

Democrats needed to keep 50 seats to maintain control (with Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote).

Fox News presently has the parties tied at 48-48 (+12 D and +19 R).

It appears as though Alaska will go to one of two Republicans; Georgia is a toss-up between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R); Nevada and Wisconsin are leaning red; and Arizona is leaning blue, with Sen. Mark Kelly (D) leading Blake Masters (R) by a significant margin.

The New York Times indicated that the fight for Georgia's Senate seat may be headed to a runoff election, to be held in December. Warnock (D) leads Walker (R) by less than 20,000 votes, 49.2% to 48.7%.

One of the bigger surprises of the night, particularly to politicos on PredictIt, was John Fetterman's win in Pennsylvania. Despite being unable to complete a cogent sentence in his October debate, Fetterman nevertheless managed to complete his race, leading Mehmet Oz by three points and over 100,000 votes.

The best-selling author and populist Republican J.D. Vance crushed Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for Ohio's Senate seat by roughly 6.6 points.

House

The New York Times estimated that the GOP will end up with 224 seats over the Democrats' 211. NBC alternatively predicted that the split will be 220 R to 215 D. Democrats had previously held a narrow majority (220 to 212).

Republicans have so far won five of the 19 competitive seats they need to take control. They flipped seats in New Jersey and Virginia, but lost seats in Ohio and Michigan.

218 seats are needed for control.

Republican control will likely mean that President Joe Biden will be unable to pass most of the rest of his agenda and will likely face increased oversight scrutiny.

According to CNN, the House popular vote had Republicans ahead by over 6 million votes with 80% of the estimated vote in.

Governors races

Of the 36 gubernatorial elections on the ballot in 2022, 18 Republicans won or are projected to win; 16 Democrats won or are projected to win. Two including Arizona remain in contention.

Republican gubernatorial projected wins:

Democrat gubernatorial projected wins:

The following two states remain in contention as of 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday:

  • Arizona, with Kari Lake (R) and Katie Hobbs (D) neck and neck and only 64.29% of the votes in; and
  • Oregon, with Republican Christine Drazan down one point behind Democrat Tina Kotek with 76% of votes in.
Two of the widest margins of victory for Republicans were in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis handily beat Charlie Crist by nearly 10 points, and in Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp crushed twice-failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams by nearly eight points.

'I recommend voting for a Republican Congress': Musk urges 'independent-minded voters' to back the GOP during midterms



Billionaire business magnate Elon Musk urged independent voters to back Republicans during the midterm elections in order to check the power of Democrats, who currently control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

"To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic," Musk tweeted on Monday. "Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who's in charge!" he added.

"To be clear, my historical party affiliation has been Independent, with an actual voting history of entirely Democrat until this year," he noted. "And I'm open to the idea of voting Democrat again in the future," he also tweeted.

While Election Day is on Tuesday, many Americans have already voted early.

Earlier this year, Musk said that he planned to vote Republican, and then in June, he announced that he had voted for GOP candidate Mayra Flores for U.S. Congress — Flores won a special election in June.

"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …" Musk tweeted in May.

"I voted for Mayra Flores – first time I ever voted Republican. Massive red wave in 2022," Musk tweeted in June.

Flores is currently running for a full term in office.

Musk also indicated back in June that he was leaning towards supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president — DeSantis, a Republican who is currently running for reelection in the Sunshine State, has not announced plans for a presidential bid, but is widely viewed as someone who could potentially mount a White House bid in the future.

"Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America. If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign," Musk tweeted in July.

Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Economists predict near 100% possibility of recession by this time next year



U.S. economists are predicting with near 100% certainty that the economy will enter a recession within the next 12 months, which is the last thing Democrats wanted to hear ahead of the midterm elections.

An economic forecast by the Bloomberg Economics model projects the probability of a recession by October 2023 to be 100%, an increase from the last report, which estimated the likelihood of a recession within the next 12 months to be 65%.

The model uses 13 macroeconomic and financial indicators to predict the odds of hitting a recession. Bloomberg predicts the chance of a recession happening in the next 11 months to be 73%, while the 10-month probability is at 25%.

Bloomberg economists said persistent inflation and expectation of continued rate hikes from the Federal Reserve are contributing to the risk of contraction.

The U.S. economy technically entered a recession in July after the real gross domestic product decreased for two quarters in a row. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said GDP — the inflation-adjusted value of goods and services for sale produced by the economy — decreased by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2022. A rule-of-thumb measure of a recession is whether GDP declines in two consecutive quarters.

At the time, the Biden administration waved away recession concerns, citing strong jobs numbers reported throughout the summer. President Joe Biden has continued to insist that while a recession is possible, it is unlikely. Last week, Biden told CNN that if there is a recession, it will be "very slight."

On Saturday, Biden called the economy "strong as hell" while eating ice cream in Portland, Oregon.

\u201cJoe Biden saying, \u201cOur economy is strong as hell,\u201d while eating an ice cream cone is so tone deaf and out of touch to what Americans actually see in their lives that it feels like the Democrats are intentionally tanking the election.\u201d
— Clay Travis (@Clay Travis) 1665952010

"I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell," Biden said. "Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off than it is in the United States. So the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours."

White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein separately told "Fox News Sunday" this weekend that government revenues are rising as a result of "how strong this economy has been."

"We have an unemployment rate that is 3.5%. There is no recession that would prevail with that kind of unemployment rate. We’re obviously adding hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. We have consumers who still have pretty strong balance sheets. We still have job vacancies. … We actually think the probability for a soft landing is good," Bernstein said.

Meanwhile, an economic report last week said that inflation rose more than expected in September, with headline inflation at 8.2%, near a four-decade high. While Americans who want jobs may have them, they are being squeezed, as every dollar they earn purchases less and their savings depreciate.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that the economy or inflation ranks as the top issue for a plurality of voters. Voters concerned with the economy and inflation think Republicans will handle the issue better than Democrats 64% to 30%.

Dr. Oz hits Fetterman for requiring computer to understand reporter's questions, not being transparent on health



Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz reacted to the interview his opponent Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) gave to NBC News this week, which raised questions about Fetterman's health.

Fetterman, who suffered from a life-threatening stroke last May, struggled to speak and required a closed-captioning device to understand questions from NBC News reporter Dasha Burns in an interview that aired on Tuesday. Burns and NBC News observed that Fetterman had difficulty understanding her questions, which stoked outrage on social media from Fetterman's supporters, who accused the network of misrepresenting his health.

Oz, a celebrity doctor and television host, was asked about the computer device Fetterman used by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday.

"It's called closed-captioning, as you know, it's actually what he's requested in the only debate he's granted me, which would be in two weeks, so it's getting towards the end here. But finally I'm going to be able to talk to him," Oz said.

He expressed concern for Fetterman's health before criticizing him for refusing to be transparent with voters and release his medical records, a point that was brought up in the NBC interview.

"I've got tremendous compassion for John Fetterman," Oz said. "I'm a doctor who's actually specializing in heart failure, irregular heartbeats, strokes, these are things he's been suffering from. And I'm glad that he's getting back on the campaign trail. But this isn't about me, or the reporter, or anybody else but the voters. They deserve transparency, and John Fetterman's team has repeatedly refused to release his medical records."

"The question for the voters is: What's he hiding?" he added. " Be transparent about what you're up to. Either you've got a medical problem, which we can work through, or you're hiding a radical agenda, which is a bigger concern that I have."

Burns had pressed Fetterman on his refusal to disclose his medical records. The Democrat insisted that his doctors have cleared him to campaign and that voters can see for themselves that he's ready to serve if elected by witnessing him on the campaign trail.

But Bartiromo asked Oz, “How is he gonna make decisions about Pennsylvania and fight for the Pennsylvanian people if, in fact, he needs to have a device alongside him?

"So is this just all the time he needs that device, or is it just during an interview? I don’t understand,” she said.

"No one knows," Oz responded. "We’ve not been actually exposed to this before. It’s the first in-person interview, here we are, less than a month before the election. And I’ve been asking John Fetterman to answer questions on the campaign trail. Initially he wasn’t even on the campaign trail for the first couple months. But answer questions from voters, answer questions from reporters while you’re actually campaigning. That’s what we normally do in a democracy."

He continued, "The concern, of course, is if you don’t ever leave your home and answer questions, we don’t know the answers to the questions you’re asking. But I don’t think there’s closed captioning on the floor of the Senate, and maybe he doesn’t need closed-captioning when he’s actually moving around. But maybe he does. Again, lot of question marks, and voters deserve better."

Oz and Fetterman are scheduled to meet on the debate stage on Oct. 25, just two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 8. Fetterman has requested a closed-captioning device to understand the debate questions.

Watch:

Nevada won't have a Senate candidate debate before midterm elections



Voters in Nevada will be denied a debate between the major party candidates for U.S. Senate after the Republican and Democratic campaigns could not come to an agreement on a televised debate before the Nov. 8 election.

The respective campaigns for Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and her Republican opponent Adam Laxalt each pointed blame at the other for their failure to schedule a debate. Each campaign had accepted invitations to debate from different Nevada media outlets, but never the same outlet.

“The senator was eager to debate and accepted three statewide debates that, unfortunately, her opponent decided he would not participate in,” Cortez Masto spokesman Josh Marcus Blank told NBC News on Thursday.

Laxalt accused Cortez Masto of "hiding" in a recent statement.

“I have accepted televised, statewide debate offers with two respected, neutral Nevada media outlets: Sinclair Broadcast Group, which runs the Las Vegas and Reno NBC Stations, and Nevada Newsmakers,” Laxalt said. “We hope that Catherine Cortez Masto will stop hiding and agree to at least one of them.”

Polls show a very tight race in Nevada, with Cortez Masto considered to be one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators. Democrats currently hold a 50-50 Senate majority, the narrowest possible, meaning even a single loss this election cycle could wrest control of the chamber away from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Televised debates can carry high risk and high reward in such an environment. A strong debate performance or unfortunate gaffe could make or break a political campaign, and candidates that do not feel capable of defending their positions under high pressure face strong incentives to avoid or limit debate appearances.

Cortez Masto's campaign accepted three invitations to debate. The first was to be hosted in Reno by KOLO-TV in partnership with the League of Women Voters and the Reno Gazette-Journal. That debate was scrapped after Laxalt's campaign did not respond to the invitation. The senator has also accepted invitations to debate from Vegas PBS/Nevada Public Radio, scheduled for Oct. 13, and KLAS-TV, scheduled for Oct. 20.

Laxalt accepted two invitations to debate from Sinclair Broadcast Group and Nevada Newsmakers.

Since the candidates could not agree on the same debate venue, there will be no debate before the election.

Other Senate candidates in key battleground races either have already debated or are scheduled to debate sometime in the next three weeks before the election.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) will face his Democratic opponent, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, for the second time at 7 p.m. Eastern time tonight. The debate will be livestreamed.

In Georgia, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) will square off against challenger Herschel Walker for their first and only scheduled debate on Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Ohio Senate candidates J.D. Vance (R) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D) will face each other for a second time on Monday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) will debate independent challenger Evan McMullin the same night at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

In Colorado, Sen. Michael Bennet (D) and his Republican challenger, Joe O'Dea, will participate in a 30-minute forum on mental health on Tuesday, Oct. 18, and then debate again a week later on Tuesday, Oct. 25, with a third and final debate scheduled for Friday, Oct. 28.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz will also debate on Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

Senate candidates in North Carolina and Arizona have already debated.

Stacey Abrams identifies a limit on abortions she supports in interview with Fox News



Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appeared to walk back her radical abortion with no-limits position in an interview in which she indicated she might support some restrictions on late-term abortion.

Abrams told Fox News on Wednesday that she believes politicians should not restrict abortion with "artificial time constraints," repeating a position she's taken before. She affirmed that "abortion is medical care" and should be a decision between a woman and her doctor, with politicians uninvolved.

But when pressed if there should be any limit at all, she did say that women should have the right to an abortion "up until the point of viability as determined by a doctor."

"And as of that moment, if the woman's life is in danger or if her health is in danger, then there should be a decision made to protect the life of that woman. But otherwise, the point of viability. But what I object to are artificial time constraints that do not conform to biology or logic," Abrams said.

Watch:

Abrams is running for governor in a rematch against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who defeated her in 2018. Like other Democratic candidates this cycle, her campaign has placed a strong emphasis on defending abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. She has attacked Georgia's fetal heartbeat law, which restricts abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy and denied that unborn babies have a heartbeat at six weeks.

She has also said that in medical emergencies where the mother's life is in danger, abortion should be legal "until the time of birth," and claimed that supporting abortion rights is "part of my faith."

Fox News also asked Abrams about her false claims that the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election was "rigged" or "stolen." Abrams says she was taken out of context.

"I accepted the results in 2018. And the premise of the question always presumes that I did not accept the results," Abrams told Fox News. "Despite the cherry-picking and the decontextualization of what I've said, at the top of my speech I said that I acknowledged that Governor Kemp was the governor of Georgia."

Abrams said what she "always objected to" was the claim that thousands of black Georgia voters were denied access to the ballot box by state voting laws. She cited a court ruling from last month in a case brought by her organization Fair Fight Action to support her contention.

Though the federal judge who decided the case threw out Fair Fight Action's lawsuit, the court said that Georgia's election system was "not perfect" and, Abrams argues, highlighted how black people are disproportionately impacted by the Georgia's voting laws.

"We were right. And my intention is to always fight for access, but I am not entitled to the outcome. And I have never claimed that I did. Now, people have taken language that I've used out of context. I've tried to make certain that people across the state always understood the importance of their power. When they showed up in [2018], they changed the future of the state. And I will always celebrate their victories and the changes they were able to make in our elections," she said.

Kemp has consistently led Abrams in polls of likely voters through September and into October. The election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Mike Lee urges Mitt Romney to 'get on board' and endorse him against independent Evan McMullin



Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday pleaded with his fellow Utahan Mitt Romney, the state's junior Republican senator, to get off the sidelines and join every other Senate Republican by endorsing him for reelection.

Lee made his case to Romney on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight," where he said that his independent opponent Evan McMullin would vote to keep Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as majority leader if Republicans fail to win control of the Senate.

"My opponent, Evan McMullin, is a Democrat running in disguise. I understand the commitment made by my colleague. I work with him, like him — but here's the deal: I don't think Mitt Romney wants Chuck Schumer to continue to be the Senate majority leader," Lee said.

Lee urged Romney to "get on board" with every other Senate Republican who has already endorsed him against McMullin.

"Mitt, if you'd like to protect the Republican majority, give us any chance of seizing the Republican majority once again — getting it away from the Democrats who are facilitating this massive spending spree and a massive inflationary binge — please, get on board. Help me win reelection. Help us do that," he said.

Watch:

Last month, Lee posted a list of endorsements from 48 of his Senate Republican colleagues that notably excluded Romney.

\u201cI am grateful for the support of my Senate colleagues. Together, we will continue the fight for the American people. The failures of the Biden Administration and Democrats have damaged our nation for long enough.\u201d
— Mike Lee (@Mike Lee) 1662735053

Though both Utah lawmakers claim to be conservatives, they differ when it comes to former President Donald Trump. Romney is a longtime Trump critic and was the only GOP senator to vote to convict the Republican president in both of his impeachment trials. Lee, on the other hand, supported Trump's effort to challenge the results of the 2020 election and criticized the second impeachment effort against Trump as an overreach by Democrats.

While Utah is a red state where typically the two-term Lee would win reelection easily, McMullin has shaken the race up by running as an independent and convincing the Democratic Party not to field a candidate. An ex-CIA agent, McMullin previously ran for president as an independent against Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. He is attempting to build a coalition of Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans to unseat Lee, and polls show he is closer to winning than any Democratic candidate who's faced the incumbent Republican before.

Earlier this year, Romney told reporters that he considers both Lee and McMullin to be friends and said he intended to remain neutral.

“I don’t think endorsements make any difference in a race to speak of. People in the race are my friends. I usually try and avoid situations where they’ve been friends. I may endorse and I may not, but I really haven’t given it any thought at this point,” he said on a video conference call in March.

Lee told host Tucker Carlson that Romney's neutrality amounted to "tacit assistance" of his opponent.

"Evan McMullin continues to raise millions of dollars from progressive Democratic donors nationwide who are hellbent on getting rid of me," Lee said.

"I think a lot of Utahans are being duped or fooled, and it doesn’t help to have tacit acquiescence, the tacit assistance of my Republican colleague from Utah."