2024 - A Blank Canvas

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

President-elect DeSantis Cabinet thus far (pending Confirmations)

Secretary of State: Robert O'Brien
Ambassador to the United Nations: Ric Grenell
Director of National Intelligence: Chris Stewart
CIA Director: TBD (To be determined)
Attorney General: TBD (To be determined)
Department of Homeland Security: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Commerce: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin
Secretary of Transportation: Nicole Nason
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Brad Close
Secretary of the Treasury: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Education: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of the Interior: TBD (To be determined)
Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency: TBD (To be determined)
NASA Administrator: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
Secretary of Health & Human Services:

Non-Cabinet Level Appointments

White House Chief of Staff: Byron Donalds
White House Press Secretary: Kayleigh McEnany
White House Communications Director: Christina Pushaw
White House Counsel (Head of WH Legal Team): TBD (To be determined)
Chair Council of Economic Advisors: Steve Moore
National Security Advisor: Dina Powell



When it says DeSantis makes a move for quote "Himself" it probably means he resigns his Governorship paving the way for his Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez to take over as Governor of Florida as first Woman and first Cuban-Hispanic.
And if Youngkin gets confirmed his Lt. Governor Winsome Sears will create even more History becoming the first Black Female Republican Governor in the History of the Country.

Given how this is going I wouldn't be surprised if indeed Pam Bondi gets the AG Spot. That move probably would be praised by Conservatives but shredded by Liberals.

One thing though is for sure: Given the extraordinary large Republican-House Majority President DeSantis will likely be secure from any Investigations for the entirety of his Presidency. He basically can do what he wants and no one can ask Questions or issue subpoeanas.

In response to that statement, knowing how Democrats despise the CW that DeSantis is "untouchable", some are saying "hold my beer", but you are very likely right. If Pam Biondi gets the AG spot, DeSantis is pretty sure that he could have anyone he pretty much wants as AG, and if Pam Biondi or someone else is chosen, who can also torque liberals off no end, and DeSantis wants to p*ss on them too, then he will do it, because he can and there's not much Democrats can do about it, except probably whine like crybaby little bi*ches on CNN, Sean Hannity can then give a monologue about how whiny little liberal crybabies need their hot cocoa, crayons, coloring books and special crying rooms!

You forgot blankies, adult diapers and an endless supply of wipes, barrier cream, Similac and Sesame Street for the crybaby socialists!
Well the crybaby socialists who are now gleefully speaking their unending gibberish about Trump's and the Mar-A-Lago raid for their own political purposes, will be the one's whining about why DeSantis can't do this, and can't do that, blah blah yada yada and if CNN makes too much noise, Kayleigh McEnany can make life extremely in the WH press room, and basically ignore their questions and if CNN calls her out on it, she will just apologize and say she didn't see them, and keep ignoring them, while apologizing more. What can CNN do? Whine a little more. All the White House has to do is, gaslight CNN and dismiss them for being silly little pussies. All the other networks would end up squeezing CNN out of the Q & A pecking order The ultimate payback.
If Democrats try to demand some sort of investigation over something, if I were Pam Biondi's press Secretary, I'd make an announcement that the DOJ is reviewing the Hunter Biden situation and they might consider launching an investigation. Well Democrats did say they wanted an investigation. 😆
Also I have an UPDATE with regards to Alaska: Mary Peltola ekes out a win over Sarah Palin in the special election for Don Young's seat in real life. This doesn't necessarily mean that Palin is going to lose in November, but while this trend is certainly concerning of Democrats outperforming Republicans in a consistent string of special elections since Dobbs, this is certainly not how it's going to turn out. What Republicans do need to do is ask themselves if constantly crowing about 2020 + attacking Joe Biden without offering an ACTUAL prescription rooted in conservative principles is really worth it.

They also need to boost turnout not just to beat the Democrats, but rather crush them, all while treating ALL of their potential voters like family regardless of their attitudes about Trump, and it goes without saying that in the Hudson Valley, Marc Molinaro is going to have a better time in November than he did a couple of weeks ago, given that the current NY-19 is more an Ulster County seat that favored Pat Ryan than an Ulster-Dutchess split, and that Molinaro's only problems mainly are going to be that Dutchess County is not in the new NY-19 but Ithaca (where Josh Riley, his Democratic opponent) is. For Molinaro in November, Binghamton will be the true wild card, and it is the sort of region where Obama-Trump voters are quite plentiful and will likely prove crucial to him in November.

But getting back to point, this special election result in Alaska is more an indictment of Palin herself than that of the national mood. Again, Democrats are quite energized in the post-Dobbs stage of this election, but the whole "Caribou Barbie" and wannabe Gretchen Wilson/Teen Mom/Kardashian act has gotten quite old with enough Alaska voters of a certain persuasion to where some relatively rational Republicans who voted for Palin will unsurprisingly give Nick Begich III a second look in November. Indeed, Begich got the endorsement of both the state GOP (which also gave the big middle finger to a certain Senator who shall not be named in this cycle IRL) as well as the state chapters of AFP and FreedomWorks - two organizations whose emphasis on principled conservatism should never be ignored regardless of Trump's influence (and Palin's loss certainly doesn't bode well for him or Nikki Haley or Stefanik, who all endorsed Palin). For what it's worth, I can see this election all coming down to those who voted for Chris Bye, the Libertarian nominee, as well as the expected shift of a couple of Palin voters to Begich, including plenty of those who are looking forward to Sen. Kelly Tshibaka in November.

For now, in this TL I'm going to say that Palin will benefit from Trump's exposure to eke out a win in the midterms and will have gotten a second term, but it won't be easy and there will be a competitive reelection regardless of whether Palin or Begich is the winner, especially since Peltola will now get to serve four months as Alaska's Congresswoman and - as is the case with the aforementioned Pat Ryan in New York - will have a record of sorts that is going to get poo-pooed by the Republicans. But it's fair to say that if Begich overtops Palin in November - which actually would be the preferable course especially given what just happened (another one of Begich's endorseés happens to be the CURRENT Mayor of Wasilla, as well as Palin's ex-in laws), he will likely beat Peltola (especially with the exhaust votes that doomed Palin coming back online to help Begich) and will probably have an easier time getting reelected in 2024.

[SaintStan86]

December 4, 2024
CONGRESS DEPARTEÉS HEAD TO THE BASEMENT AS NEW CONGRESS BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE
With members of the new freshman class and others beginning work on their congressional offices, those members of Congress who are not coming back are heading for the basement as defeated and retiring members begin to wind down their careers in the lame duck session of the 118th Congress. While there have been instances where Congress has adjourned their business sine die before the election, this has not been the case for most recent Congresses, and this meeting is certainly no different with both sides looking to wrap unfinished business, particularly areas of common ground between Democrats and moderate Republicans (especially in the closely divided, Republican-leaning Senate) likely to be lost with an exceedingly large Senate majority for the GOP on the horizon (and likely to guarantee what critics are already calling a "rubber stamp DeSantis administration").

Amongst the dozens of departing members heading to the basement is outgoing former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who is leaving Congress after 21 full terms out of 22, his first term having been won in a special election in 1981 to succeed Rep. Gladys Spellman, who became comatose and ultimately never regained consciousness following a heart attack days before her 1980 reelection. Having eventually rose to the rank of House Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023, Hoyer has expressed zero regrets about his longtime career in Congress. "From the first day I served in Congress, I always sought to make a difference in my district", which originally was based in Prince George's County before eventually morphing into a southern Maryland district stretching across outer suburbs of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, while also vowing that "this is not the end for me and that the influence I have had in shaping America will survive the test of time". Restaurateur and Charles County Commissioner Bobby Rucci will succeed Hoyer next month, having held the seat for Democrats who have continuously held the seat since 1975.

Also departing is outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California, who will be moving across the Capitol to the Senate side after his victory over now-prospective U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Ric Grenell, but who himself also had to move to the basement to allow for a new member to fill his space before the next Congress is sworn in on January 3rd. "Serving all of California, as opposed to just the people of Central Valley, is going to be a challenge, but I would say the sacrifice is worth it when you get the opportunity to represent a microcosm of America back home in California", McCarthy said as he also vowed that "the great work that I will be doing in the Senate these next six years is going to reenergize Republicans across the state, and also introduce our brand to millions of voters who have never witnessed governance under a Republican", without giving specifics as to how his style of leadership would differ from that of Democrats who had a strangehold on the state's Senate seats since 1992. He also remarked that the transition in his district, where his former aide Vince Fong will be taking over, will be "smooth" and noted that several of his current staffers will be going to work for Fong.

In all, a total of 118 members of Congress will not be coming back to the lower chamber, with a whopping 63 of those due to retirements (including Hoyer and former House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina), 31 due to Senate runs (including seven who actually have been elected to the Senate including Republicans McCarthy, Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Jim Jordan of Ohio, John James of Michigan and Matt Rosendale of Montana and Democrats John Sarbanes of Maryland and Suzan DelBene of Washington) along with another (Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana) who is running for the Senate in 2026, three who were defeated in their primaries, and 20 (13 Democrats and seven Republicans) who lost reelection last month, including Rep. Dan Newhouse who was one of only two remaining Republicans among the ten who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for "incitement of insurrection" following the 2021 attack on the Capitol. Democrats also lost a net of one seat in Illinois due to a court-ordered redistricting that resulted in the elimination of two heavily Democratic districts in Chicago and the creation of three competitive seats in the city's suburbs that all went to Republicans (two primarily serving DuPage and Will counties, along with a third primarily based in southwest Cook County where Rep. Keith Pekau won a second term).

One member of Congress who will be returning is Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who becomes the first ever member of the Constitution Party to win a congressional election, after leaving the GOP over the summer. Greene was reelected on Tuesday night in her otherwise overwhelmingly Republican district anchored in the state's northwest corner including the northwestern exurbs of Atlanta and the Georgia side of the Chattanooga TV market, winning 56 percent of the vote to 44 for her opponent, former write-in candidate Jennifer Strahan, who began to mount an aggressive write-in campaign following Greene's party switch, citing among other things Greene's "divisive rhetoric" as well as her endorsement of former GOP candidate-turned-Constitution Party nominee Mike Lindell. While Democrats made up around half of Strahan's total votes, Greene also gained some Democratic votes of her own, if only to "keep the crazy in the GOP", effectively cancelling out the argument that a unified Democratic vote would put Strahan over the top.

Greene, who continues to call for the impeachment of President Joe Biden despite his retiring from the White House, herself has not ruled out the possibility of running for Governor or for the U.S. Senate in 2026, when GOP Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is up for reelection to a second term, which Ossoff has already declared. Greene has also not ruled out running under her new banner, citing Georgia's election rules where an absolute majority is required to win and avoid a December runoff like the one Greene just faced. Kemp and outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have ruled out future political runs, while former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has since been critical of former President Trump over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, has formed an exploratory committee to challenge Ossoff in 2026; GOP Reps. Barry Loudermilk, Buddy Carter and Austin Scott are rumored to be considering runs for either office.

The only remaining election in the House will be for Higgins' seat in Louisiana's 3rd District, which covers the Lafayette and Lake Charles areas along with most of the state's Acadiana region. Voters on Saturday will decide between former State Public Service Commissioner and former Trump administration official Scott Angelle and State Rep. Vincent Pierre. Though Pierre placed first with near-unified Democratic support on Election Night, Angelle is heavily favored to win the seat as the district voted for Ron DeSantis by a more than 2-1 margin. As this was the only race that was undecided before House freshmen had their orientation the week before Thanksgiving (which Angelle attended but not Pierre), the winner will also assume Higgins' existing congressional office for the coming Congress. "My constituents in Acadiana, especially if Scott Angelle is elected our next Congressman, will have the benefit of seeing their elected representative in Washington in the same familiar place I have been honored to meet them in these last eight years," said Higgins.

December 5, 2024
McDERMOTT DECLARED WINNER IN RAZOR-THIN INDIANA GUBERNATORIAL RACE; ROKITA CONCEDES FOLLOWING RECOUNT
After a month of wrangling over close votes in Indiana's gubernatorial showdown, a recount requested by state Attorney General and Republican candidate Todd Rokita failed to change the outcome in the open gubernatorial race between him and his Democratic challenger, Tom McDermott. After a final recount, McDermott won 47.7 percent of the vote to 47.2 for Rokita, with a Libertarian candidate, Donald Rainwater, winning the remaining 5.4 percent. Rainwater, who also ran in 2020 and won over 11 percent against Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb on the basis his criticism of Holcomb's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, targeted Rokita on his handling of the abortion matter - for which he favored banning abortion with no exceptions - as well as his "slow walking" of concerns regarding the moderate Holcomb's handling of COVID and other matters of concerns to conservatives who have viewed Holcomb's governorship with mediocrity, at least in comparison to now-former Vice President Mike Pence and before that, Mitch Daniels.

In a press conference outside his hometown of Hammond, a suburb of Chicago in northwest Indiana where he has served as Mayor since his first election in 2003, the 55-year-old McDermott (who also ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 against Sen. Todd Young) called the victory "a victory for Hoosier values and Hoosier families" and vowed to serve as "a Governor for all Hoosiers". McDermott will be the first Democrat to serve as Governor since the late Joe Kernan, who ascended to the role following the death of fellow Democrat Frank O'Bannon, lost reelection in 2004 to Daniels. (Evan Bayh, who was elected in 1988 and 1992 - the first Democrat to win since 1964 - and eventually was elected to the U.S. Senate for two terms from 1999-2011), is the only living Democrat amongst past Governors.)

Meanwhile, Rokita conceded defeat following the conclusion of the recount. A former Secretary of State who also served four terms in Congress before being elected Attorney General in 2020, Rokita hoped to draw on his conservative record and endorsements from both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, as well as from Holcomb himself, to continue the state's 20-year winning streak of electing GOP Governors, but largely underperformed amongst both suburban swing voters in the crucial Indianapolis area counties of Hamilton, Hendricks and Boone, as well as blue-collar voters in many of the state's smaller metro areas including around Terre Haute and Evansville, losing both of their respective Vigo and Vanderburgh counties which otherwise gave majorities to President-elect DeSantis.

One gubernatorial race still remains undecided. In Missouri, Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft continues to dispute the election results in his race against his Democratic predecessor, Jason Kander, who won the final tally of votes with 48.66 percent to 48.17 percent for Ashcroft - a margin of just under 0.5 percent which is the required threshold for a recount to be requested. Ashcroft has brought forth allegations of ballot stuffing in key urban areas across the state; however election officials in St. Louis and Kansas City have disputed these allegations, and with increasing calls from Kander and his fellow Democrats, as well as Republican former Sen. John Danforth and the editorial boards of both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Kansas City Star, to concede defeat, many argue that Ashcroft's claims are "futile" and "carry little - if any - legal basis". Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who is term-limited from seeing a third term, has not spoken on the matter but could be pressured to respond in the coming days.

December 6, 2024
DeSANTIS UNVEILS DEFENSE SECRETARY, OTHER KEY MEMBERS OF INCOMING CABINET
On Friday, President-elect Ron DeSantis continued to roll out his Cabinet, this time by announcing his picks for Defense Secretary and other positions where the incoming President stressed the importance of "electing a team of leaders who not only will defend our country from enemies foreign and domestic, but also secure our future for generations to come" as the former Navy JAG and reservist, who is set to receive an honorable discharge effective December 31st, began to build his defense team. For Defense Secretary, DeSantis selected former Navy Secretary and fellow Navy veteran Kenneth Braithwaite to serve in this critical position, praising Braithwaite as "a distinguished leader both in our military and in the private sector who will work to ensure that our military is prepared to take on the challenges facing the country". A former town councilman in the Philadelphia suburb of Ridley Park, Pa. who also served as an adviser to the late Sen. Arlen Specter, Braithwaite was appointed to serve as Navy Secretary by former President Donald Trump following the latter's firing of Richard Spencer over a controversy surrounding whether or not a court-martialed Navy SEAL could retire with that designation, and at one point was even considered a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024.

In addition to Defense Secretary, DeSantis also made his (very notable) selections known for Secretary of the Interior and Energy Secretary, selecting South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for the former and former Ambassador and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for the latter. Noem has long been one of DeSantis's political allies, having both served in Congress during the 2010s and been elected Governor in closely contested races in 2018, and both had been strident in defying calls from health experts and others to mitigate the community spread of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, with Noem notably hosting an Independence Day gathering at Mount Rushmore featuring a speech by then-President Donald Trump that critics cited as a major reason - along with that year's edition of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - for her state's subsequent COVID surge that was among the worst in the country at a time when vaccines were only in their testing phases.

Huntsman, who served a highly-regarded tenure as Governor from 2004 to 2009 before becoming a U.S. Ambassador to China under Barack Obama and Russia under Trump, as well as also serving in the administrations of both George H.W. and George W. Bush, ran for the GOP nomination for President in 2012 won by fellow Mormon (and future Utahn) Mitt Romney and has since served on a number of corporate boards, including current roles with Chevron and Ford Motor Company. He supports an "all of the above" energy policy oriented towards environmentally sound upstream practices for fossil fuels (with an emphasis on natural gas), also involving continued research on renewables and a strong focus on nuclear power and biomass, as well as hydrogen-based sources including cars powered by water. During the press conference held on the waterfront in New Orleans on Friday (home to a joint military base and a key American port), Huntsman made the clarion call that "The days of America being dependent on other countries for our energy - coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, biomass, hydro - are over", and vowed to "undo the damage caused by President Biden to our energy economy and to our spirit of innovation that made America the envy of the world".

Highlighting his emphasis on strategic decisions in matters relating to the nation's food supply, environmental resources and space travel, other key appointments announced in New Orleans on Friday included former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles to serve as Agriculture Commissioner; Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, to serve as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Jon Niermann, Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, upgrading to the federal level as the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality. Former Sen. Bill Nelson, who currently serves as NASA Administrator under President Biden, will continue in his capacity at NASA under DeSantis for "at least one, maybe two years" before the 82-year-old Miami native eventually retires, thanking DeSantis for his "dignified service to the Navy and to the people of Florida" and stressed the importance of "bipartisan leadership in one of America's most heralded frontiers - space", for which the former Senator and Congressman (who lost his reelection in 2018 to Sen. Rick Scott (who endorsed Nelson's appointment to lead NASA in 2021) in the same election that elected DeSantis Governor) once flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as a member of Congress in 1986, returning ten days before the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

December 7, 2024
LOUISIANA FILLS FINAL PUZZLE PIECE IN CONGRESSIONAL SWEEPSTAKES
It didn't take long late Saturday evening for a call to be made on the last remaining congressional race, as Louisiana's 3rd District held a runoff for the open seat of Republican Rep. Clay Higgins, who is leaving to focus on a run for the U.S. Senate in 2026 against embattled GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump for "incitement of insurrection" in the run up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. In the runoff, Republican former State Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, who briefly served as Lieutenant Governor during a time in 2010 when the state was dealing with the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf that greatly affected the state's economy, and who later joined the Trump administration as Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, won the runoff with over 65 percent of the vote in the heavily Republican district over Democratic State Rep. Vincent Pierre.

Angelle benefited from the district's strong Republican leanings, as the district gave 70 percent of the vote to President-elect Ron DeSantis in November and is dominated by some of the most Republican areas in the state including the cities of Lafayette and Lake Charles along with much of the Acadiana region, where Angelle drew admirable praise during a rousing 2010 rally that strongly condemned the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, in which Angelle made mention of many of the region's familiar French surnames and its associated Cajun culture. While Pierre benefited from strong support amongst African-Americans and endorsements from various Democratic dignitaries including former Gov. John Bel Edwards, Pierre failed to gain much traction in the conservative district, where Angelle finished second to the more conservative Higgins in a runoff in 2016.

December 8, 2024
DeSANTIS COUNTS 30 DAYS TO LEAVING TALLAHASSEE AS NUÑEZ IS SET TO MAKE HISTORY
On Sunday with his family by his side, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced outside the Governor's Mansion that he will be resigning from the office on the morning of January 7th, 2025 - the first Tuesday of the incoming year, in order to prepare for his new role as the 47th President of the United States, during which DeSantis is expected to address the incoming session of the Florida Legislature before exiting the governorship. In making his announcement official, DeSantis thanked the people of his state for "giving me the golden opportunity to serve as your Governor, a Governor for all Floridians" and vowed that "Florida's best days are straight ahead and coming, and it's because of people like you who made it possible and gave me the opportunity to lead this wonderful state".

DeSantis also took the time to introduce Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who will be sworn in on January 7th as Florida's first female and first Latina Governor, as well as its first Hispanic since Bob Martinez was elected in 1986. Nuñez vowed to "continue the great progress our state has made under Ron DeSantis, as he himself makes great progress turning our country around", with the timing giving Nuñez the maximum amount of time to serve as Governor while also being eligible to run for reelection in both 2026 and 2030 (the latter year of which would not have been possible had DeSantis resigned earlier due to Florida's term limit laws).

Next: Pennsylvania comes calling, with one month to go before Inauguration Day...

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

How are the European markets doing? The NATO withdrawal will probably hurt their economies.

[2016]

Continueing my Post to complete the Cabinet

President-elect DeSantis Cabinet thus far (pending Confirmations)

Vice President: Former South Carolina Governor & Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki R. Haley

Secretary of State: Robert O'Brien
Ambassador to the United Nations: Ric Grenell
Secretary of Defense: Kenneth Braithwaite
Director of National Intelligence: Utah Congressman Chris Stewart
CIA Director: TBD (To be determined)
FBI Director: Christopher Wray (FOR NOW)
Attorney General: TBD (To be determined)
Department of Homeland Security: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Commerce: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin
Secretary of Transportation: Nicole Nason
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Brad Close
Secretary of the Treasury: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Education: TBD (To be determined)
Secretary of Energy: Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.
Secretary of Agriculture: Former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles
Secretary of the Interior: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem
Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency: Eric Eikenberg
NASA Administrator: Bill Nelson (Democrat) Holdover from the Biden Administration
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development: South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
Secretary of Health & Human Services: TBD (To be determined)

Non-Cabinet Level Appointments

White House Chief of Staff: Byron Donalds
White House Press Secretary: Kayleigh McEnany
White House Communications Director: Christina Pushaw
White House Counsel (Head of WH Legal Team): TBD (To be determined)
Chair Council of Economic Advisors: Steve Moore
Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality: Jon Niermann
National Security Advisor: Dina Powell


We have now a bit more bits and pieces of the DeSantis Cabinet. Braithwaite, Noem, Huntsman & Nelson ain't all that surprising. As far as Ryan Quarles is considered I would have thought DeSantis would have picked someone more coming from a Farmer State like former Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts.
We're still left in a holding pattern when in comes to CIA Director, Homeland, Attorney General as well as Education, Health and Human Sevices & Treasury. I'm inclined now to believe that David McCormick might indeed get the Treasury Gig. Maybe he nominates a couple more Women.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

It makes sense, about Treasury. DeSantis can afford to wait until the Pennsylvania recount is settled one way or another, it's a win, win. If McCormick miraculously defeats Casey then he goes to the Senate, bringing the Republican party's Senate caucus up to 66, if McCormick loses, he gets Treasury and there's a husband and wife team on DeSantis's team. It must be frustrating for Casey, to know that McCormick is almost likely to get Treasury. I'm thinking there's some sort of political shenanigans by Democrats in slow walking the recount in the hopes that DeSantis loses his patience and goes somewhere else. But the recount has to be completed in time for December 12th when the electoral college meets; so certification of whatever outcome has to be completed. So DeSantis knows this too, so he's gonna wait. So Democrats are gonna be denied even a pyrrhic victory. Its a theory, that's all. I wonder if DeSantis and Harris are gonna meet in a show of unity, unless they already met. Harris is gonna have to endure what Nixon, Humphrey and Gore endured when they announced their political defeat before a joint session of Congress. I wonder if a Democrat congressperson or Senator will attempt to challenge the results in an act of defiance and will Harris be complicit in the protest. Should be interesting. DeSantis is pretty clever in how he waits to resign on a date, that ensures Nunez can run in both 2026 and 2030. Always that attention to detail. Anyway this is an amazing storyline and I really hope it runs right through the 2026 and 2028 election cycles, as it appears so realistic. I'm trying to flesh out the 2024 presidential County Map, looking back at how both Romney performed in 2012 and how Trump performed in 2016 and 2020, and having DeSantis improve over there performances. The California county map was easiest, Florida needs a bit of teasing out, as does Michigan and Pennsylvania. Ohio shows DeSantis completely dominating as does Wisconsin.  I hope it will be possible to post it when it's done. Note: Braithwaite selection is a solid one, the Navy connection, is probably why DeSantis tapped him, Huntsman at Energy, is a perfect choice, as Huntsman is vast experience as Ambassador to China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺. The fact that both Stewart and Huntsman are of the Mormon faith and O'Brien converted into the faith, suggests to me, that DeSantis wants a high ethical standard within his administration.

[2016]

@PRESIDENT STANTON,
Interesting Stuff regarding the Maps you mentioned. Looking forward to that.

I wonder if South Carolina Governor McMaster appoints Haley Alum Nancy Mace to the Senate to fill up Tim Scotts Seat assuming he gets confirmed as HUD Secretary.

The thing is this: Schumer can't do anything regarding the Nominations. If Cornyn wants it he doesn't even have to hold votes I believe. Schumer can't force Votes for the Nominations given he has only 35 Seats (Votes).

If the Hearings for Grenell get too heated and Democrats playing Games then Cornyn can confirm via Voice Vote I think.

Democrats are totally powerless. It will be interesting to see what the Final House Margin is minus Byron Donalds who already said that he won't take his Seat.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

Democrats are in the worst of all possible worlds! Schumer and his caucus are going to be like parts of the scenery for the next two sessions, not being able to affect any of DeSantis's agenda or obstruct. Cornyn won't tolerate any Democrat chicanery and if McConnell's judicial bulldozing was bad enough for Democrats its about to get worse during the DeSantis Administration! No compromise, just nominations and Confirmations.

[SaintStan86]

Before I continue to the next post, here are a few appendix entries relating to the House...

APPENDIX A: Party Flips in the House

AL-02: Became a minority opportunity district in south Alabama (specifically Montgomery, Tuskegee and parts of Mobile) after the state proceeded to correct its districts under a strong recommendation from the Justice Department. Democratic State Sen. Kirk Hatcher defeated Republican former U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin in this Democratic-leaning district that only gave Ron DeSantis a slim plurality.

CA-47: Coastal Orange County district vacated by Katie Porter who was one of the many Democrats who ran for the U.S. Senate only to be shut out by Republicans in the June primary. Republican former Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh defeated a comeback bid by former Congressman Harley Rouda.

GA-02: Southwest Georgia seat where Republican Chris West defeated 15-term Rep. Sanford Bishop in a stunning upset. State House Minority Leader James Beverly, whose caucus led the opposition to Georgia's controversial election reforms that culminated in the controversial pulling of the 2021 MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta, defeated West to take the district back for the Democrats, where Kamala Harris scored a narrow plurality win.

IL-05: While a favorably Democratic district on paper centered on Chicago's northwest side and such northwest suburbs as Niles, Arlington Heights, Schaumburg and Rosemont, Raja Krishnamoorthi spent considerably in a bruising primary, fueled by a court-ordered redistricting that declared Illinois's Democratic gerrymander unconstitutional, against fellow Rep. Mike Quigley that centered on Krishnamoorthi's ties to pharmaceutical lobbyists, only to become embroiled in such allegations as the FBI raided his congressional office. Former Schaumburg Township Trustee Nimish Jani, who lost his seat in 2021 just as President Biden's honeymoon period began to end (but before the momentum for Republicans that led to Glenn Youngkin's election as Governor of Virginia), narrowly defeats Krishnamoorthi to become the first Republican to represent a significant portion of Chicago since Michael Patrick Flanagan's 1994 triumph over another scandal-plagued Democratic incumbent, Dan Rostenkowski.

IL-06: With the new congressional map in Illinois having eliminated one of its three majority Black districts in Chicago and the old 7th being reformatted as a southwest suburban Cook County seat where incumbent Keith Pekau got reelected, a newly open 6th District is drawn exclusively within historically Republican DuPage County, which has not gone Republican for President since it last did in 2004. Republican former State Rep. Peter Breen defeated former Congressman Sean Casten in this suburban battleground, despite Casten's aggressive targeting of Breen - the Senior Counsel for the Thomas More Society - over his pro-life views on abortion.

IL-13: After her gerrymandered and brazenly linear district connecting Democratic areas of central and southern Illinois got stricken in the courts, first-term Democratic Rep. Nikki Budzinski lost her reelection bid against former State Rep. Avery Bourne, who previously ran as the running mate of then-Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin in the latter's 2022 bid for the GOP nomination that ultimately went to Darren Bailey, who went on to lose to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

IN-01: In a rematch of her 2022 bid against Rep. Frank Mrvan, Democratic pilot and Air Force reservist Jennifer-Ruth Green becomes the first Republican in decades to win this historically Democratic district in northwest Indiana (aka "The Region").

IA-01: Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks loses her bid for a second term to Democratic Davenport Mayor Mike Matson in this southeast-based district that turned on Matson's moderate-to-liberal record and strong support in Davenport and Iowa City, which canceled out Miller-Meeks' base of support in the southern and eastern outer suburbs of Des Moines.

MD-06: After narrowly losing to Rep. David Trone in 2022, former State Del. Neil Parrott won a rematch against the wealthy Trone, becoming the first Republican to represent the northwest exurban Washington, D.C. district, which also covers all of western Maryland from Frederick onward, since 2012.

MA-09: Republican Jesse Brown, a businessman and Marine Corps veteran who ran a surprisingly competitive race in this district anchored in Cape Cod and such communities as New Bedford and Plymouth, defeats State Sen. Julian Cyr to become the first Republican in 28 years to represent Massachusetts in the House, succeeding retiring Democrat Bill Keating.

MI-03: After defeating first-term Republican Peter Meijer in a GOP primary that turned on Meijer's vote to impeach Donald Trump over the attack on the Capitol, first-term Republican John Gibbs loses a rematch with his 2022 opponent, three-time Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten, who becomes the first Democrat in decades to represent this traditionally Republican district anchored in Grand Rapids. Though academically gifted with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, Gibbs' penchant for controversial remarks including fringe conspiracies, as well as his criticism of more moderate Republicans (especially on social issues), ultimately led to Gibbs' defeat by Scholten after a narrow win in 2022.

MI-08: In another rematch, this Mid-Michigan district connecting Flint, Saginaw and Bay City saw a rematch between Rep. Dan Kildee and former Trump administration official and TV news anchor Paul Junge. In the rematch, Junge defeated Kildee to become the first Republican to represent the district since 1973, when incumbent and future U.S. Senator Donald Riegle became a Democrat over political differences with then-President Richard Nixon on the Vietnam War and other matters.

NV-04: Despite a strong reelection campaign in this northern Clark County and central Nevada-based district, Republican freshman Scott Peters lost reelection to State Sen. Mo Denis in a district whose core city of North Las Vegas and surrounding parts of Clark County is considered to be more Democratic than even Las Vegas itself, and which does not have as many of the upper-middle-class suburban areas such as Henderson and Summerlin that otherwise favored Republicans in other districts; Peters won every county outside of Clark in this district.

NJ-03: In a rematch with Rep. Andy Kim, Republican businessman Bob Healey wins his first term in a narrow defeat of the three-term Democrat most famously known for his cleaning up of the U.S. Capitol following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol that disrupted the certification of electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election.

NJ-05: A Republican surge in the suburbs surrounding New York City, especially following the revelation of potential national debt default and also the presidential candidacy of Andrew Yang, combined with revelations of cruel behavior towards his congressional office employees, prove too much for four-term Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer to overcome, as he loses to State Asm. Christopher DePhillips in the north Bergen- and Passaic County-based swing district.

NJ-11: After narrowly losing the Republican primary two years prior in this west suburban New York City-based district anchored in most of Morris and west Essex counties, Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen flips this district for the GOP, defeating former Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano to reclaim the seat of three-term Democrat Mikie Sherrill, who lost the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate against now-departing Sen. Bob Menendez, who lost reelection to Selen's fellow Turkish-American, Dr. Mehmet Öz.

NM-03: Environmental engineer Alexis Martinez Johnson flips this district for the Republicans in northern and eastern New Mexico, defeating two-term Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez in a district where Martinez Johnson's large margins in such areas as Farmington and Roswell canceled out Leger Fernandez's stronger margins in Santa Fe and in Gallup.

NY-17: Former DCCC Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney lost reelection in this suburban Hudson Valley district connecting most if not all of Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam and northern Westchester counties, losing a rematch to former State Asm. Mike Lawler, who narrowly lost to Maloney in 2022.

NC-06: The addition of Republican-leaning Alamance County, combined with the loss of more Democratic-leaning areas such as High Point, in a mid-decade redistricting results in a narrow defeat for Democratic incumbent Kathy Manning, who loses in this Greensboro-based district to State House Majority Whip Jon Hardister.

NC-14: After redistricting made this district more Republican but still anchored in the southern and western suburbs of Charlotte, Rep. Jeff Jackson ultimately decided to move to the nearby 12th District where Rep. Alma Adams chose to retire. In a game of musical districts, Republican Rep. Dan Bishop moved to this district, with the 9th District in Charlotte's eastern suburbs being taken over by Rep. Richard Hudson and the 8th District - now anchored in exurban areas between Greensboro and Raleigh as well as much of Fayetteville and High Point - returning former Rep. and 2022 U.S. Senate candidate Mark Walker (who represented the old 6th District from 2014 to 2020) to Congress after a four-year absence.

OH-01: After a mid-decade redistricting resulted in this district being consolidated into all of Democratic-leaning Cincinnati and Hamilton County (save for a Republican-leaning northeastern sliver of it), Republican Rep. Steve Chabot chose to retire (though for reasons not related to the redistricting), as former Cincinnati Mayor and 2022 gubernatorial candidate John Cranley defeated former State Rep. Tom Brinkman to flip this seat for the Democrats.

OR-04: Despite a fiercely competitive reelection in the third-most Democratic district in the state (albeit not overwhelmingly so especially outside of the college towns of Eugene and Corvallis), Republican freshman Alek Skarlatos lost a narrow reelection to Democratic former State Sen. Chris Edwards.

PA-04: The combination of strong support in the Berks and northern Montgomery County portions along with a moderate voting record in Harrisburg is enough for Republican State Rep. Todd Stephens to narrowly defeat Democratic incumbent Madeleine Dean in this suburban Philadelphia district anchored in the lion's share of Montgomery County.

PA-08: In this blue-collar swing district connecting Scranton and Wilkes-Barre to more Republican areas bordering New York and New Jersey, Democratic former Rep. Matt Cartwright gets his old job back, defeating freshman Republican Jim Bognet who shortly after conceding defeat was asked to lead the Export-Import Bank of the United States - a position usually not appointed until after Inauguration Day - by Ron DeSantis in his upcoming administration.

TX-07: After getting a lucky break in the initial Texas redistricting, three-term Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher's luck finally runs out as she loses in a district now anchored in west and southwest Houston (but now devoid of some of its more Democratic areas that were added in 2022) to Pierce Bush, who leads the local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter and is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, who once represented the 7th from 1967 to 1971.

TX-24: The mid-decade redistricting ordered by the courts in Texas resulted in a second majority-minority district being drawn in Dallas County, this one covering downtown Dallas and its western environs along with much of Grand Prairie and south Irving, where Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia becomes the first Hispanic and first Latina to represent the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Congress. Not all is lost for the current incumbent, Republican Beth Van Duyne whose central Irving residence along with DFW Airport is moved into a new 12th District that extends across much of northeast Tarrant County and the northern parts of Fort Worth, where House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger announced her retirement with Van Duyne succeeding her.

TX-28: Following the retirement of Blue Dog Democrat Henry Cuellar, who recently switched to the Republican Party following the May runoffs, Republican former Ted Cruz staffer Cassy Garcia defeated progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros in this competitive district connecting Laredo to southern parts of San Antonio.

TX-34: After defeating Republican Rep. Mayra Flores in 2022, only to see her defeat Republican Rep. Michael Cloud in the nearby 27th District which got singled out in the court-ordered redistricting of Texas's congressional map (resulting in that district now stretching from Victoria and western Corpus Christi to McAllen), Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez loses a hard-fought reelection in the newly redrawn district that added several heavily Republican parts of Corpus Christi and several exurban areas to the north, which strongly favored Cameron County GOP Chairwoman Morgan Cisneros Graham.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

Here's something about the Casey-McCormick dynamic in Pennsylvania, should Casey who's a member of the Senate Finance Committee win reelection, and McCormick ends up being nominated to be Treasury Secretary, Casey will be involved in the confirmation process, as the Finance Committee oversees the confirmation hearings and McCormick and Casey will be facing each other in different roles.

[SaintStan86]

APPENDIX B: United States House of Representatives, 119th Congress

Alabama 1. Jerry Carl (R) 2. Kirk Hatcher (D) 3. Jessica Taylor (R) 4. Robert Aderholt (R) 5. Dale Strong (R) 6. Gary Palmer (R) 7. Terri Sewell (D) Alaska At-large. Sarah Palin (R) Arizona 1. Shawnna Bolick (R) 2. Eli Crane (R) 3. Laura Pastor (D) 4. Kelly Cooper (R) 5. Travis Grantham (R) 6. Juan Ciscomani (R) 7. Daniel Hernández Jr. (D) 8. Debbie Lesko (R) 9. Kelli Ward (R) Arkansas 1. Rick Crawford (R) 2. French Hill (R) 3. Steve Womack (R) 4. Bruce Westerman (R) California 1. Brian Dahle (R) 2. Mike McGuire (D) 3. Kevin Kiley (R) 4. Ryan Gregory (D) 5. Tom McClintock (R) 6. Ami Bera (D) 7. Richard Pan (D) 8. John Garamendi (D) 9. Tom Patti (R) 10. Mark DeSaulnier (D) 11. Catherine Stefani (D) 12. Loren Taylor (D) 13. Adam Gray (D) 14. Jenny Kassan (D) 15. Kevin Mullin (D) 16. Rishi Kumar (D) 17. Ro Khanna (D) 18. Sam Liccardo (D) 19. Jimmy Panetta (D) 20. Vince Fong (R) 21. Jim Costa (D) 22. David Valadao (R) 23. Jay Obernolte (R) 24. Salud Carbajal (D) 25. Manuel Pérez (D) 26. Matt Jacobs (R) 27. Mike Garcia (R) 28. Judy Chu (D) 29. Tony Cárdenas (D) 30. Laura Friedman (D) 31. Ed Hernández (D) 32. Adrin Nazarian (D) 33. Pete Aguilar (D) 34. Jimmy Gomez (D) 35. Norma Torres (D) 36. Ted Lieu (D) 37. Sydney Kamlager (D) 38. Ian Calderon (D) 39. Mark Takano (D) 40. Young Kim (R) 41. Melissa Melendez (R) 42. Robert Garcia (D) 43. Autumn Burke (D) 44. Nanette Barragán (D) 45. Michelle Steel (R) 46. Lou Correa (D) 47. Scott Baugh (R) 48. Darrell Issa (R) 49. Brian Maryott (R) 50. Scott Peters (D) 51. Sara Jacobs (D) 52. Juan Vargas (D) Colorado 1. Candi CdeBaca (D) 2. Joe Neguse (D) 3. Lauren Boebert (R) 4. Ken Buck (R) 5. Eli Bremer (R) 6. Jason Crow (D) 7. Erik Aadland (R) 8. Barb Kirkmeyer (R) Connecticut 1. Luke Bronin (D) 2. Mike France (R) 3. Ted Kennedy Jr. (D) 4. Jim Himes (D) 5. George Logan (R) Delaware At-large. Bryan Townsend (D) Florida 1. Michelle Salzman (R) 2. Neal Dunn (R) 3. Kat Cammack (R) 4. Aaron Bean (R) 5. John Rutherford (R) 6. Michael Waltz (R) 7. Cory Mills (R) 8. Bill Posey (R) 9. Darren Soto (D) 10. Maxwell Frost (D) 11. Anthony Sabatini (R) 12. Gus Bilirakis (R) 13. Anna Paulina Luna (R) 14. Kathy Castor (D) 15. Laurel Lee (R) 16. Vern Buchanan (R) 17. Greg Steube (R) 18. Scott Franklin (R) 19. Byron Donalds (R)* 20. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) 21. Brian Mast (R) 22. David Silvers (D) 23. Jared Moskowitz (D) 24. Shevrin Jones (D) 25. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) 26. Mario Díaz-Balart (R) 27. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) 28. Carlos Giménez (R) Georgia 1. Buddy Carter (R) 2. James Beverly (D) 3. Drew Ferguson (R) 4. Hank Johnson (D) 5. Nikema Williams (D) 6. Rich McCormick (R) 7. Lucy McBath (D) 8. Austin Scott (R) 9. Andrew Clyde (R) 10. Mike Collins (R) 11. Barry Loudermilk (R) 12. Rick W. Allen (R) 13. Demetrius Douglas (D) 14. Marjorie Taylor Greene (C) Hawaii 1. Sonny Ganaden (D) 2. Jill Tokuda (D) Idaho 1. Russ Fulcher (R) 2. Bryan Smith (R) Illinois 1. Jonathan Jackson (D) 2. Robin Kelly (D) 3. Delia Ramirez (D) 4. Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (D) 5. Nimish Jani (R) 6. Peter Breen (R) 7. Keith Pekau (R) 8. Catalina Lauf (R) 9. Daniel Biss (D) 10. Brad Schneider (D) 11. George Pearson (R) 12. Mike Bost (R) 13. Avery Bourne (R) 14. Scott Gryder (R) 15. Mary Miller (R) 16. Darin LaHood (R) 17. Esther Joy King (R) Indiana 1. Jennifer-Ruth Green (R) 2. Rudy Yakym (R) 3. Jim Banks (R) 4. Beau Baird (R) 5. Victoria Spartz (R) 6. Greg Pence (R) 7. André Carson (D) 8. Larry Bucshon (R) 9. Erin Houchin (R) Iowa 1. Mike Matson (D) 2. Ashley Hinson (R) 3. Zach Nunn (R) 4. Randy Feenstra (R) Kansas 1. Tracey Mann (R) 2. Jake LaTurner (R) 3. Amanda Adkins (R) 4. Ron Estes (R) Kentucky 1. James Comer (R) 2. Brett Guthrie (R) 3. Morgan McGarvey (D) 4. Thomas Massie (R) 5. Brandon Smith (R) 6. Andy Barr (R) Louisiana 1. Steve Scalise (R) 2. Troy Carter (D) 3. Scott Angelle (R) 4. Mike Johnson (R) 5. Julia Letlow (R) 6. Garret Graves (R) Maine 1. Ethan Strimling (D) 2. Bruce Poliquin (R) Maryland 1. Andy Harris (R) 2. Johnny Olszewski (D) 3. Sarah Elfreth (D) 4. Glenn Ivey (D) 5. Bobby Rucci (D) 6. Neil Parrott (R) 7. Kweisi Mfume (D) 8. Jamie Raskin (D) Massachusetts 1. Adam Hinds (D) 2. Joseph Early Jr. (D) 3. Lori Trahan (D) 4. Jake Auchincloss (D) 5. Katherine Clark (D) 6. Seth Moulton (D) 7. Ayanna Pressley (D) 8. Robbie Goldstein (D) 9. Jesse Brown (R) Michigan 1. Greg Markkanen (R) 2. John Moolenaar (R) 3. Hillary Scholten (D) 4. Bill Huizenga (R) 5. Tim Walberg (R) 6. Jeff Irwin (D) 7. Tom Barrett (R) 8. Paul Junge (R) 9. Lisa McClain (R) 10. Mike MacDonald (R) 11. Haley Stevens (D) 12. Rashida Tlaib (D) 13. Shri Thanedar (D) Minnesota 1. Brad Finstad (R) 2. Tyler Kistner (R) 3. Melisa Franzen (DFL) 4. Melvin Carter (DFL) 5. Ilhan Omar (DFL) 6. Tom Emmer (R) 7. Michelle Fischbach (R) 8. Pete Stauber (R) Mississippi 1. Trent Kelly (R) 2. Chuck Espy (D) 3. Michael Guest (R) 4. Mike Ezell (R)

Missouri 1. Cori Bush (D) 2. Dean Plocher (R) 3. Travis Fitzwater (R) 4. Mark Alford (R) 5. Kevin McManus (D) 6. Sam Graves (R) 7. Eric Burlison (R) 8. Jason Smith (R) Montana 1. Ryan Zinke (R) 2. Corey Stapleton (R) Nebraska 1. Mike Flood (R) 2. Don Bacon (R) 3. Adrian Smith (R) Nevada 1. Mark Robertson (R) 2. Mark Amodei (R) 3. April Becker (R) 4. Mo Denis (D) New Hampshire 1. Matt Mowers (R) 2. Bob Burns (R) New Jersey 1. Donald Norcross (D) 2. Jeff Van Drew (R) 3. Bob Healey (R) 4. Mike Crispi (R) 5. Christopher DePhillips (R) 6. Frank Pallone (D) 7. Tom Kean, Jr. (R) 8. Rob Menendez (D) 9. Bill Pascrell (D) 10. Donald Payne Jr. (D) 11. Tayfun Selen (R) 12. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D) New Mexico 1. Melanie Stansbury (D) 2. Yvette Herrell (R) 3. Alexis Martinez Johnson (R) New York 1. Nick LaLota (R) 2. Andrew Garbarino (R) 3. George Santos (R) 4. Anthony D'Esposito (R) 5. Gregory Meeks (D) 6. Grace Meng (D) 7. Julia Salazar (D) 8. Hakeem Jeffries (D) 9. Yvette Clarke (D) 10. Dan Goldman (D) 11. Nicole Malliotakis (R) 12. Jack Schlossberg (D) 13. Adriano Espaillat (D) 14. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) 15. Ritchie Torres (D) 16. Alessandra Biaggi (D) 17. Mike Lawler (R) 18. Colin Schmitt (R) 19. Marc Molinaro (R) 20. Phil Steck (D) 21. Elise Stefanik (R) 22. Brandon Williams (R) 23. Nick Langworthy (R) 24. Claudia Tenney (R) 25. Joe Morelle (D) 26. Brian Higgins (D) North Carolina 1. Don Davis (D) 2. Deborah Ross (D) 3. Greg Murphy (R) 4. Valerie Foushee (D) 5. Deanna Ballard (R) 6. Jon Hardister (R) 7. David Rouzer (R) 8. Mark Walker (R) 9. Richard Hudson (R) 10. Patrick McHenry (R) 11. Chuck Edwards (R) 12. Jeff Jackson (D) 13. Bo Hines (R) 14. Dan Bishop (R) North Dakota At-large. Kelly Armstrong (R) Ohio 1. John Cranley (D) 2. Brad Wenstrup (R) 3. Mike Turner (R) 4. Warren Davidson (R) 5. Bob Latta (R) 6. Mike Carey (R) 7. Joyce Beatty (D) 8. Kris Jordan (R) 9. J.R. Majewski (R) 10. Max Miller (R) 11. Shontel Brown (D) 12. Troy Balderson (R) 13. Bill Johnson (R) 14. Dave Joyce (R) 15. Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (R) Oklahoma 1. Kevin Hern (R) 2. Josh Brecheen (R) 3. Grace Enmeier (R) 4. T.W. Shannon (R) 5. Stephanie Bice (R) Oregon 1. Suzanne Bonamici (D) 2. Cliff Bentz (R) 3. Steve Novick (D) 4. Chris Edwards (D) 5. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) 6. Mike Erickson (R) Pennsylvania 1. Brian Fitzpatrick (R) 2. Brendan Boyle (D) 3. Dwight Evans (D) 4. Todd Stephens (R) 5. Mary Gay Scanlon (D) 6. Guy Ciarrocchi (R) 7. Lisa Scheller (R) 8. Matt Cartwright (D) 9. Fred Keller (R) 10. Scott Perry (R) 11. Lloyd Smucker (R) 12. Summer Lee (D) 13. John Joyce (R) 14. Guy Reschenthaler (R) 15. Jake Corman (R) 16. Dan Laughlin (R) 17. Jeremy Shaffer (R) Rhode Island 1. David Cicilline (D) 2. Allan Fung (R) South Carolina 1. Nancy Mace (R) 2. André Bauer (R) 3. Jeff Duncan (R) 4. William Timmons (R) 5. Ralph Norman (R) 6. Anton Gunn (D) 7. Russell Fry (R) South Dakota At-large. Dusty Johnson (R) Tennessee 1. Diana Harshbarger (R) 2. Tim Burchett (R) 3. Chuck Fleischmann (R) 4. Manny Sethi (R) 5. Andy Ogles (R) 6. John Rose (R) 7. Mark Green (R) 8. David Kustoff (R) 9. Tami Sawyer (D) Texas 1. Nathaniel Moran (R) 2. Brian Babin (R) 3. Keith Self (R) 4. Pat Fallon (R) 5. John Ratcliffe (R) 6. Jake Ellzey (R) 7. Pierce Bush (R) 8. Morgan Luttrell (R) 9. Mayes Middleton (R) 10. Michael McCaul (R) 11. August Pfluger (R) 12. Beth Van Duyne (R) 13. Ronny Jackson (R) 14. Bobby Eberle (R) 15. Monica De La Cruz (R) 16. Veronica Escobar (D) 17. Pete Sessions (R) 18. Amanda Edwards (D) 19. Jodey Arrington (R) 20. Joaquin Castro (D) 21. Cullen Loeffler (R) 22. Troy Nehls (R) 23. Tony Gonzales (R) 24. Elba Garcia (D) 25. Edward Pollard (D) 26. Michael Burgess (R) 27. Mayra Flores (R) 28. Cassy Garcia (R) 29. Sylvia Garcia (D) 30. Jasmine Crockett (D) 31. Dan Gattis (R) 32. Colin Allred (D) 33. Marc Veasey (D) 34. Morgan Cisneros Graham (R) 35. Greg Casar (D) 36. Matthew Wiltshire (R) 37. Kathie Tovo (D) 38. Wesley Hunt (R) Utah 1. Blake Moore (R) 2. Chris Stewart (R)* 3. John Curtis (R) 4. Burgess Owens (R) Vermont At-large. Becca Balint (D) Virginia 1. Rob Wittman (R) 2. Jen Kiggans (R) 3. Bobby Scott (D) 4. Donald McEachin (D) 5. Bob Good (R) 6. Ben Cline (R) 7. Yesli Vega (R) 8. Don Beyer (D) 9. Morgan Griffith (R) 10. Jennifer Wexton (D) 11. Gerry Connolly (D) Washington 1. Manka Dhingra (D) 2. Seth Fleetwood (D) 3. Joe Kent (R) 4. Tiffany Smiley (R) 5. Michael Baumgartner (R) 6. Derek Kilmer (D) 7. Pramila Jayapal (D) 8. Matt Larkin (R) 9. Jim Ferrell (D) 10. Marilyn Strickland (D) West Virginia 1. Carol Miller (R) 2. Gary Howell (R) Wisconsin 1. Bryan Steil (R) 2. Mark Pocan (D) 3. Derrick Van Orden (R) 4. Gwen Moore (D) 5. Kevin Nicholson (R) 6. Glenn Grothman (R) 7. Tom Tiffany (R) 8. André Jacque (R) Wyoming At-large. Harriet Hageman (R) Non-voting members American Samoa. Amata Coleman Radewagen (R) District of Columbia. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) Guam. Judith Won Pat (D) Northern Mariana Islands. Gregorio Sablan (D) Puerto Rico. Jenniffer González (R-PNP)[d] United States Virgin Islands. Stacey Plaskett (D)

Majority: 270 Republicans, plus 1 Constitution Party member
Minority: 164 Democrats
Second-largest Republican majority in American history. Only the 300-seat GOP majority of the 67th Congress from 1921-1923 had more Republicans.

*NOTE: Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Chris Stewart (R-UT) will be resigning to take posts in the DeSantis administration.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

Wow! So that's roughly a 13 seat pickup for Republicans in the House from the 118th Congress, between 65 seats for Republicans in the Senate, the Democrats are operating in a completely rump situation in both chamber's are more or less gonna be like mere spectators, its a very weakened and dangerous minority position to be in. Now unless DeSantis and his administration don't start behaving in a lawless and high-handed manner, and hubris takes over, but instead actually do stuff that's popular with the American people, even Democrats. He should do fine! So far the President-elect doesn't appear to have someone who's close to him, a peer so to speak, who gets to whisper in his ear from time to time, "remember you're mortal, remember you're mortal" as they did in Roman times, hubris can be a dangerous thing and lead to all sorts of dangers. He's in a similar situation to where LBJ was in 64-65, and look how things went downhill from there. First terms can be one's full of promise or epic screw ups. So let's hope DeSantis is the exception to the rule and resist those temptations, don't be like GHWB and lose it all, to someone like Andy Beshear in 2028.

[BigVic]

De Santis will have to be careful. Despite a large trifecta, things can always go downhill after a large win.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

May he will be, if he's a student of history, you know the old saying, "Those who ignore history or its lessons, it's destined to repeat itself", but of course arrogance is the byproduct of the human condition and many of us, always say, ah "I'll be different" or it "doesn't apply to me!"

[2016]

Although we are in Full Transition Mode here there is still a lot to dissect when it comes to the 2024 Election:

# 1 What are the Final Popular Vote Totals (with CA & NY about to certify those should be sort of Final)

# 2 Final Exit Polls:

Gender 2020
Men: Trump 53 % / Biden 45 %
Women: Biden 57 % / Trump 42 %

Gender 2024
Men: DeSantis ... / Harris ... / Yang ...
Women: Harris ... / DeSantis ... / Yang ...

Race 2020
White: 67 %
Black: 13 %
Hispanic/Latino: 13 %
Asian: 4 %
Other 4 %

Race 2024
White: ...
Black: ...
Hispanic/Latino: ...
Asian: ...
Others: ...

Note: The White Vote is declining. It went from 74 % in 2008 to 72 % in 2012 to 70 % in 2016 to 67 % in 2020. What was it in 2024?

Having said all that DeSantis got 14 % of the Black Vote against Gillum in 2018 and 44 % of the Hispanic Vote. Did that translate Nationally in 2024? My guess it did otherwise we would not have a 420-118 Electoral College Map.

Education/College Educated White Women 2020/2024
The White educated Women is a Swing Group. Went for Obama in 2008, Romney in 2012. Hillary Clinton won it barely 48-45 and Biden romped Trump 54-45 among that Group in 2020. Did that Group swing back to Republicans and by how much did DeSantis win it?

Suburban Vote 2020/2024.
Biden won it 50/48. Trump won it 49/45 in 2016. My guess DeSantis won it in 2024 but by how much? Haley probably made some difference here on the Ticket.

African American Voters 2020/2024
Trump got 8 % in 2016, 12 % in 2020. How much did DeSantis get?

Hispanic Latino Voters 2020/2024
Trump got 27 % in 2016 and 32 % in 2020. How much did DeSantis get? My guess he made sizable inroads here given the Map. Question is: Did he get more than the 44 % George W. Bush got in 2004?

# 3 Speaking of George W. Bush I am surprised that he hasn't commented on the Election.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

Probably DeSantis has done in 2024, what Obama achieved in 2008, and Reagan in 1980, and has forged a coalition that will only solidify going into the 2028 electoral contest, if there's no screw ups along the way. I can imagine many African American's will have found that the DeSantis message resonated; however it is would be hard to break generational voting habits in ethnic minority group's. We know that Harris would have largely depended on the stereotypical arguments that Democrats, especially a woman of color. "It's whitey's fault, and the man is gonna keep screwing you....remember George Floyd and Black Lives by ! Also Harris has her woke agenda on which to fall back on! However considering the shellacking she endured at the ballot box, there's a strong argument to support the idea, that the old time remedies utilized by Democrats like Harris, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters and many others who cash in on African American grievance narrative, is getting a bit stale and perhaps the 2024 election cycle with the type of result we got, that we are entering a new epoch in this TL.

[SaintStan86]

December 10, 2024
REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS NAME NEW CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
On Tuesday, as the Senate and House prepare to wrap up their unfinished business in the closing days of the 118th Congress, replete with tributes for departing members, reflections of last month's election and vice versa, both parties named their partisan leaders for the 119th Congress that will take office on January 3rd. As expected in the Senate, Republicans decided to keep their leadership team of Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn of Texas and Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, but there will be a change in leadership further down the pike as Joni Ernst of Iowa takes over as Republican Conference Chairwoman, replacing John Barrasso of Wyoming. Adam Laxalt of Nevada, a key ally and close friend of President-elect DeSantis, will serve as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

One of the more interesting Senate desk assignments in the next Congress will be for the coveted position of "Candy Desk", with first-termer Eric Schmitt of Missouri opting for a closer seat and not continuing at the desk near the very entrance where candies from Kansas City's own Russell Stover and other confectionaries had been handed out over the last two years. That duty will now fall to Sen.-elect Dan Crenshaw who plans to stock the desk with various candies manufactured in his home state of Texas, both from conglomerates like Mars (whose Snickers candy bars, Starburst chews and Skittles are mostly manufactured in Waco), along with local companies like Lufkin's own Atkinson's (known for their peanut butter bars and Chick-O-Sticks) and even a small company out of La Grange - called KatySweet - serving handmade pralines based off of a homemade recipe from the founder's grandmother. One particular item missing is Blue Bell ice cream, since Senate desks are entirely incapable of storing perishable goods let alone frozen treats like ice cream.

The Senate Democratic Caucus, meanwhile, will see considerable change below the top where Chuck Schumer of New York remains Senate Minority Leader. At Senate Minority Whip, Dick Durbin of Illinois will be replaced by Mark Warner of Virginia, who like Durbin is up for reelection in 2026 but is likely to be in less perilous territory going forward. Warner, who turns 70 on Sunday, calls his new leadership position "quite the birthday present" but stated that "this is not going to be taken for granted, because my leadership is not about me, it's about moving forward together as a country, and standing up to the impending damage that Ron DeSantis is going to do to our democracy - for which standing up requires putting the American people first in our decision making". Patty Murray of Washington will remain Assistant Floor Leader, while Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will become chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Across the Capitol on the House side, incoming House Speaker Steve Scalise, who is set to finally become the first Speaker from Louisiana's 1st District based in suburban New Orleans - some 25 years after one of his predecessors, Bob Livingston, was sidetracked in his bid and ultimately resigned from Congress (future Sen. David Vitter and Gov. Bobby Jindal eventually succeeded Livingston before Scalise did in 2008), but not without a wild series of midterm election swings, presidential battles, and even surviving serious injury in a June 2017 mass shooting of members of Congress during a practice for that year's Congressional Baseball Game along the way. Scalise will now be second in line to succeed the President, behind Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, and expressed "enormous gratitude to everyone for joining me along on this crazy journey that got me here", referencing the obstacles he had to overcome in the path to the Speaker's gavel.

Joining Scalise in leadership will be House Majority Leader Jim Banks of Indiana's 3rd District (based in Fort Wayne), House Majority Whip Drew Ferguson of Georgia's 3rd District (which connects southwest suburbs of Atlanta to northern suburbs of Columbus) and Republican Conference Chair Ashley Hinson of Iowa's 2nd District (which includes Cedar Rapids, Mason City and Waterloo). On the Democratic side of the ledger, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York's 8th District (in the heart of Brooklyn), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts' 5th District (based in Boston's immediate northern suburbs including Cambridge) and Pete Aguilar of California's 33rd District (based in San Bernardino) will continue to lead in their positions for the Democrats despite calls for fresh leadership from mostly younger, more progressive members of the caucus. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania's 12th District (based in Pittsburgh) indeed expressed reservations about the choices: "The Democratic leadership has forgotten that chasing after moral extremists and the wealthy who defend corporations is a lose-lose situation - they have learned nothing from their massive defeats and deserve no respect!".

December 12, 2024
McCORMICK CONCEDES TO CASEY AS COUNTY-LEVEL RECOUNTS FAIL TO FLIP RESULTS
With virtually every county in Pennsylvania having already canvassed their results and all remaining remedies having been exhausted, Republican financier Dave McCormick ended his recount challenge to Sen. Bob Casey Jr. on Thursday, conceding defeat in a race where the needle had not moved much from the 49.3 percent that Casey won versus 48.7 for the Republican, who in fact saw a net loss of 381 votes as a number of duplicate Republican votes were corrected in Harrisburg's Dauphin County as well as in his home county of Allegheny (which includes Pittsburgh). "While I am nonetheless disappointed that the result is not what we wanted it to be, I am at peace knowing the great work we have done to hold Senator Casey accountable, and pressure him to recognize that Pennsylvania is a state of 67 counties and not just a handful that decide elections", McCormick stated before continuing: "Dina and I wish our very best to Senator Casey and his beautiful family, and encourage all of my supporters to guide our Senator in the right direction for the next six years, working with Ron DeSantis to put America on the right track".

With the Senate now set at 65 Republicans and 34 Democrats, along with one Progressive caucusing with the Democrats, Casey stands alone as a blue-collar liberal in a Democratic caucus now largely dominated by center-left urban liberals and progressives, following a massive wipeout of much of the Class I contingent from the Midwest and even in parts of the Acela corridor and the West. Still, Casey remained upbeat, thanking "the people of Pennsylvania who showed themselves to be the independent, pragmatic thinkers they are" and vowed to "work with Ron DeSantis where Pennsylvanians stand to benefit and stand up to DeSantis when he bends over backwards for partisan Republican dividers who care more what Fox News hosts and corporate lobbyists think than what the people of Pennsylvania think".

While much speculation abounds about McCormick's political future, his wife Dina Powell is set to join the DeSantis administration as National Security Advisor and likely could be moving to Washington, albeit while maintaining his residence in Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, McCormick has denied rumors that he could potentially become Treasury Secretary - with iconic JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon, former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Justin Muzinich and Federal Reserve board member Miki Bowman amongst the other potential candidates.

And just like that...the news could not be any more worse for the outgoing Vice President, thanks to the power of faithless electors...

December 16, 2024
ELECTORS CERTIFY DeSANTIS PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY AS HARRIS SUFFERS FAITHLESS DEFECTIONS
On Monday, electors in all 50 states cast their presidential votes into stone as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won 420 electoral votes across 43 states - all but one of them being unanimous as DeSantis won three of the Maine's four electoral votes, the lone exception being the southern-based 1st District around Portland, which narrowly backed Vice President Kamala Harris. Among the electors casting votes for the Republican ticket of DeSantis and his vice presidential running mate, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, are Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who cast her electoral vote for DeSantis at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing as a resident of the Detroit suburb of Northville. "Honored to vote for @RonDeSantis as an elector in the great state of Michigan!", McDaniel wrote on her RNC Twitter account.

While DeSantis enjoyed perhaps the largest electoral mandate since George H.W. Bush won 426 electoral votes in 1988, Harris suffered a worse electoral college fate than even the elder Bush's 1988 opponent Michael Dukakis, ending up with only 110 of the 118 electoral votes she won on Election Night. While she did manage to win every electoral vote in her home state of California, she suffered defections in three states and the District of Columbia, losing a total of eight electoral votes. Among the votes lost were three in New York, with two faithless electors from upstate New York casting their votes for her vice presidential running mate, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, and a third faithless elector from New York City casting her vote for Andrew Yang, who mounted an aggressive third party bid under the banner of his Forward movement.

Two faithless electors for Massachusetts cast their votes for deceased Democrats - one well-known to many Americans and another largely known only to longtime residents of the Boston area (or more specifically, Cape Cod), with a faithless elector from the Boston suburbs casting his vote for John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States who served in the House and Senate before serving as President until his assassination in 1963, and an openly gay faithless elector from the LGBT hotbed of Provincetown voting for Gerry Studds (who died in 2006), a former Congressman who represented many of Boston's South Shore suburbs and Cape Cod (including Provincetown) from 1973 to 1997 and was the first openly gay member of Congress (a fact revealed in his infamous revelation of a sexual relationship with an underage male congressional page in 1983). Other faithless votes included one in Vermont for the state's retiring Senator and two-time presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, another in Rhode Island for longtime Sen. Jack Reed, and one in the District of Columbia for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the noted civil rights activist who ran for President in 1984 and 1988.

While the faithless electors expressed no ill will towards Harris, their votes were seen in their eyes as "legitimate protests" against (in the words of one of the delegates) "a Democratic Party that has abandoned American workers and the common good in favor of faceless corporate cronies and pearl clutchers - like Kamala Harris - who will never be satisfied". Despite the faithless electors, Harris continued to express no regrets regarding her ill-fated presidential bid, while also noting that "Of course tensions do remain high within our party, but it's important to note that we have been down like this before, and we are going to bounce back in 2026 and 2028. When voters see who the true Ron DeSantis is, they will regret having even voted for him".

Overall, after the complete tally of the nationwide vote, the DeSantis-Haley ticket won a total of 87.4 million votes totaling 51.2 percent of the vote, to 68.2 million votes or around 40.3 percent for the Harris-Peters ticket. Yang and his running mate, former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, won over 10.8 million votes or 6.4 percent. The remaining 2.1 percent included over 1.3 million votes (approximately 0.77 percent) for the Constitution Party ticket of businessman Mike Lindell of Minnesota and attorney Jenna Ellis of Colorado (with the most votes coming from Lindell's home state, mostly concentrated in rural areas), just under 900,000 votes (over 0.5 percent) for the Libertarian Party ticket of comedian Dave Smith of New York and former White House economist and police officer Mike ter Maat of Florida, and under 500,000 votes (approximately 0.29 percent) for the Green Party ticket of journalist and media watchdog Norman Solomon of California and computer scientist Katie Roedersheimer of Texas.

December 17, 2024
DeSANTIS NAMES TREASURY SECRETARY; WRAY TO LEAVE FBI SOMETIME AFTER DeSANTIS INAUGURATION
On Tuesday, President-elect Ron DeSantis was in Pittsburgh to make his latest additions known to his incoming Cabinet, with the marquee pick of the day coming from just around the corner. That pick would be his new Treasury Secretary, financier and two-time U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who days earlier conceded defeat in his bid against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. after weeks of aggressive recounts that largely fell flat as many counties certified their results across Pennsylvania. In his acceptance speech as DeSantis's nominee for the Treasury, McCormick stressed the importance of "a sound financial footing for our country" and vowed to do "whatever it takes to restore the integrity of our monetary system, restore the nation's trust in our financial institutions, and build up policies that will get our spending our control and our government on a badly-needed diet after years of torturous abuse".

In addition to McCormick, who along with his wife and incoming National Security Advisor Dina Powell will form one of the most prominent power couples in the upcoming administration, DeSantis also announced other key members of his White House staff, nominating Florida State Sen. and state Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters (a former campaign manager for Sarasota-based Rep. and current House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Vern Buchanan) as his Counselor and lead White House advisor, Florida GOP strategist Brad Herold as a Senior Advisor on Strategy, and former Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (whose state house district covered much of Pinellas County including DeSantis's childhood hometown of Dunedin) as White House Counsel. Two former deputy secretaries in different departments were also unveiled as Special Advisors whose work will be related to DeSantis's fiscal aims, with former Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich returning as Special Advisor on Debt Control and Entitlements and former Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist, the brother of Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist, as Special Advisor on Defense Spending Reform.

While DeSantis was making several of his picks at the Treasury Department and elsewhere known, a major shakeup occurred during the day as FBI Director Christopher Wray announced his retirement upon the appointment of a successor sometime after the inauguration of DeSantis next month. In a statement, Wray expressed a desire to spend more time with his family (who resides in Atlanta) as well as a desire to "unplug from the complex and frazzling realities of the justice system that can be very exhausting after a long while". While his appointment under former President Donald Trump was initially heralded as a refreshing change from the controversial tenure of his predecessor, James Comey, Wray eventually fell out of favor in Trumpworld following the events of the 2021 attack on the Capitol, and especially after the controversial raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As Wray intends to stay onboard until DeSantis names a replacement - a decision Wray has encouraged DeSantis to make at his own convenience, an acting Director is not expected to be named in the interim.

Outside of the Cabinet selection process, DeSantis's campaign has used a sizable portion of its remaining campaign fundraising receipts to acquire millions of dollars worth of TV air time on almost every major broadcast and cable network, featuring a Christmas advertisement of DeSantis and his family, as he and his wife Casey wished everyone a "Merry Christmas from our hearts to yours, and a joyful New Year full of great promise". The ad was produced by an advertising firm with links to Hallmark Channel and has gone viral on YouTube with over 300 million views as of Tuesday evening.

Next: More Cabinet reveals, and the exit polls tell the tale just before Christmas...

[2016]

POPULAR VOTE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (as provided by @SaintStan86)

Ronald Dion "Ron" DeSanstis/Nikki R. Haley (Republican) 87,400,000 = 51,2 %
Kamala D. Harris/Gary C. Peters (Democrat) 68,200,000 = 40.3 %
Andrew Yang/Adam D. Kinzinger (Forward Party) 10,800,000 = 6.4 %
Mike Lindell/Jenna Ellis (Constitution Party) 1,318,000 = 0,77 %
Dave Smith/Mike ter Maat (Libertarian Party) 897,000 = 0,51 %
Norman Solomon/Katie Roedersheimer (Green Party) 598,000 = 0,29 %

TOTAL VOTES CAST: 169,113,000 Votes

So, despite the 2024 Election being a NON-Pandemic one it shattered all previous Records. Approximately 10 Million more Votes were cast in 2024 compared to 2020.


With Florida Republican State Party Chairman Joe Gruters taking a Job in the White House West Wing his obvious Replacement would be Christian Ziegler, who is currently the Vice Chair in FL (his Wife Bridget Ziegler serves on the Sarasota School Board). However many Republicans in the Sunshine State attributing the Parties Success, particularly when they faced a Voter Registration Deficit in 2018 & 2020 to Zieglers Data Mining Turnout Operation so I would not be surprised if he gets Encouragement to run for RNC Chair.

As for the Treasury Department it was the worst kept secret that David McCormick would be picked.

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

I can imagine that Christian Ziegler will become RNC chairman, so he can nationalize his data mining operations, I can't imagine that DeSantis won't give him the RNC chair gig, at least for two years and then likely Ziegler will be tapped to run DeSantis's reelection effort in advance of the 2028 campaign.

[SaintStan86]

December 19, 2024
TALE OF THE TAPE: DeSANTIS BENEFITED FROM UNIFIED TRUMP RURAL AND ROMNEY SUBURBAN VOTES, YANG SPLIT FROM HARRIS
A probing analysis of the 2024 electorate, which saw the most votes ever cast in American history at over 169 million votes, revealed some trends that reveal more information about an increasingly diverse electorate that became less focused on the racial and cultural politics that defined much of the last 30 years and more interested in dealing with concerns relating to the economy and other domestic concerns such as crime, as well as a reckoning over the nation's unprecedented national debt of over $33 trillion.

While America is certainly more multicultural than before, with the share of the non-Hispanic White electorate having dropped to just 62 percent of the vote, the Democratic argument of "demographics is destiny" is now most certainly broken with Hispanic voters - long a key cornerstone of the Democratic coalition - now having broken 51 percent for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, surpassing the 44 percent garnered by George W. Bush in 2004 and dominating the Cuban American vote with a whopping 73 percent. This vote has been crucial in flipping much of traditionally Democratic South Texas towards the GOP, along with Florida's Miami-Dade County, which went Republican for the first time since George H.W. Bush in 1988. California, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico also saw sizable movement towards the GOP in middle-class Hispanic communities, despite efforts by Democrats to target them on such issues as immigration. Overall, Hispanics (who now make 18.7 percent of the population) constituted 14 percent of the vote.

While opposition to communism has long been a factor behind the shift of the Hispanic vote to the right, other matters including social issues (where Hispanics, particularly Catholics and Evangelicals, are particularly sympathetic to anti-abortion and pro-family values appeals) as well as DeSantis's appeals to working-class Hispanics also played a factor. Puerto Ricans favored Harris, but only with a bare plurality as Mexican Americans swung rightward (particularly in more rural and suburban areas) along with various South American groups such as Venezuelans (who have been particularly harsh towards the Maduro regime) and Brazilians (some of whom are devotees of Jair Bolsonaro). Vice President Kamala Harris won only 42 percent, with Forward nominee Andrew Yang receiving four percent; in effect, these numbers closely mirror the national result that saw DeSantis win over 51 percent to just over 40 percent for Harris and six percent for Yang, effectively making the Hispanic vote a crucial swing constituency in national elections.

As expected, Harris dominated among African-Americans (who constituted 14 percent of the electorate), but her share of them was underwhelming compared to past elections with DeSantis winning 21 percent of the Black vote, particularly among younger and more affluent Americans and particularly those living in more racially diverse areas. Harris's 74 percent share of the Black vote was mostly concentrated in more urban and majority Black neighborhoods, as well as among older Americans for whom Harris maintained strong political cohesion and goodwill. Many of these same voters also voted for Black Senators such as Georgia's Herschel Walker in past elections, and also were more likely to identify as evangelical Christians compared to mainline Black denominations, with congregations from historically Black denominations such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the National Baptist Convention voting overwhelmingly Democratic, along with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church USA.

Across all races, the Evangelical vote went well over 80 percent for DeSantis, with Harris's 13 percent share amongst them the smallest in decades for a Democrat. Harris performed best amongst unaffiliated voters (61-30-7) and non-Christian faiths including 58 percent of the Jewish vote to DeSantis's 33 percent, though amongst Muslims DeSantis won 31 percent to 60 percent for Harris - the highest since 2000 when around 60 percent of Muslims voted for George W. Bush before the aftermath of September 11th and the War on Terror, on top of ensuing anti-Arab rhetoric by conservative commentators, drove Muslims out of the GOP en masse (Black Muslims, though, did vote overwhelmingly for Harris much like their Protestant counterparts). Mainline Protestants backed DeSantis with 59 percent, with DeSantis winning a majority of votes from such denominations as the United Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. DeSantis won 58 percent of the Catholic vote (which fellow Catholic Biden narrowly lost by one point in 2020) versus 35 percent for Harris and five percent for Yang, an unsurprising fact given DeSantis himself is Catholic and despite his criticism of Pope Francis. Mormons gave nearly 70 percent of the vote to DeSantis, who also is believed to have won nearly 60 percent of the Scientology vote.

The most intriguing vote is that of the Asian American vote, which constituted six percent of the vote but proved crucial in many urban areas not just to DeSantis's hopes but also significantly undercut Harris in areas where Yang's candidacy proved to be a spoiler. In fact, Yang won 17 percent of the Asian vote, and created situations where many predominantly Asian neighborhoods across Oriental (Japanese, Chinese, Korean), Desi (Indian, Pakistani) and Arab (Iranian, Saudi Arabian) communities gave Harris some of the worst showings for a Democrat in years, including amongst traditionally more conservative groups such as Vietnamese and Filipino populations who went heavily for DeSantis. Those who trace their diaspora to Hong Kong and Singapore were especially hostile to Harris, as DeSantis endeared himself to these groups over concerns with authoritarian regimes such as the CCP and issues like trade and free speech, with many of the non-DeSantis votes migrating to Yang. While the half-Indian Harris still won this demographic - her share at 45 percent (compared to 35 percent for DeSantis) is the worst showing for a Democrat since the 1990s.

Overall, DeSantis won 56 percent of male votes, while Harris won a shockingly low 33 percent and Yang 8 percent, and became the first Republican since George H.W. Bush to win a majority - albeit a plural majority - of women at 48 percent versus 45 percent for Harris and 5 percent for Yang. While not much is known about the Native American vote, which traditionally favors Democrats, Harris's numbers were also underwhelming with most predominantly indigenous precincts voting around 50-60 percent in Arizona's Navajo Nation, while those in other places like Oklahoma broke strongly for DeSantis. As expected, working-class voters performed strongly for DeSantis, breaking 67-26-4 in his direction, with those described as "affluent working class" (non-college degree holders with high five- to six-figure occupations such as electricians, plumbers, mechanics and truck drivers) breaking well over 70 percent for DeSantis, with even union households in such occupations leaning towards him. White college-educated women favored DeSantis by a 53-42-4 margin, with White non-college women giving two-thirds of their votes to DeSantis.

Also true to form, postgraduates favored Harris, but her numbers were particularly underwhelming even with a majority at 51 percent, versus 41 percent for DeSantis (the highest in many years) and seven percent for Yang. College graduates who swung heavily against Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 swung to a plurality for DeSantis at 49 percent, versus Harris's 40 percent and Yang's 8 percent, with business and STEM degree holders tending to perform more strongly for DeSantis while liberal arts degree holders favored Harris. Professional degree holders generally favored Harris, who particularly did well amongst academics at well over 70 percent. DeSantis won majorities amongst those with some college experience (51-39-8) and a high school diploma or less (54-33-9), with younger and less educated voters drawn to third party candidates in sizable numbers - not only Yang but also other candidates such as Libertarian nominee Dave Smith (who had particular appeal to fans of podcaster Joe Rogan who endorsed Smith) and Mike Lindell (who made particular appeals to tradesmen in numerous campaign appeals on issues such as "worker autonomy"). While Black degree and non-degree voters voted similarly, working-class Hispanics gave a majority to DeSantis (54-40-6) while degreed Hispanics narrowly favored Harris (51-45-4).

Amongst generational voters, Zoomers (aged under 30) favored Harris with 48 percent of the vote to DeSantis's 38 percent and 10 percent for Yang, with Smith and Green Party nominee Norman Solomon getting their strongest numerical support from this demographic, while Baby Boomers (at least 60 years of age) and Silents (80 years+) clearly favored DeSantis with 55 percent to Harris's 40 percent and Yang's 4 percent. DeSantis notably became the first Republican to win a majority of Millennials (ages 30-44) at 50 percent, and in many cases constituting the first time some Millennials voted for a Republican as Harris fell to just 41 percent and Yang won 7 percent. Generation X voters (aged 45-60, including the top three presidential candidates) who voted narrowly for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden broke for DeSantis with 53 percent, compared to 41 percent for Harris and five percent for Yang.

Along the lines of the urban-rural divide, suburban voters who swung to Democrats in the Trump era swung to DeSantis, giving the Republican 52 percent of the vote to 40 percent for Harris and six percent for Yang - virtually mirroring the national result, with wealthier suburban households favoring DeSantis even more proportionately regardless of educational status. Harris's gap over DeSantis amongst urban voters - a paltry 13 percent - proved to be much worse than even Biden's 33 percent in 2020 as Yang took a sizable number of urban votes, with the Vice President winning just 51 percent to 38 percent for DeSantis and nine percent for Yang (whose share when combined with Harris's amounts to a 22 percent urban gap for DeSantis). To no great surprise, DeSantis dominated in rural areas, winning 68 percent to just 26 percent for Harris and 3 percent for Yang.

(Editor's note: DeSantis's exceedingly high urban performance - on top of Trump's improvement from 2020 - is also partly a reflection of both the strong trends exhibited towards the GOP among urban Hispanic voters (though not to the extent of the Hispanic shift in more suburban and rural areas) and voters of all stripes in gentrified areas which, while admittedly more favorable to White liberals, has also attracted a number of conservatives in search of upgraded and remodeled inner-city houses in close proximity to commercial work opportunities. This also may have to do with certain industries such as crypto for which either DeSantis has endeared his campaign to or where Yang had a particular niche base of support, with Miami in particular being one such example of an urban area where Kamala Harris absolutely got trashed in this TL, even underperforming in Broward, narrowly losing Palm Beach, and failing to crack 40 percent in Monroe County - 99.9 percent of whom live on the Keys. Wouldn't shock me if the only counties DeSantis lost in Florida were Broward, Orange, Leon, Alachua and tiny Gadsden County, while winning pluralities in Osceola and Palm Beach, winning narrowly in Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Pinellas, taking back Seminole by a sizable margin and winning favorably in - dare I say - DUUUUVAAAAL!)

December 20, 2024
118TH CONGRESS ADJOURNS SINE DIE BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK
On twas the last Friday night before Christmas, the 118th Congress adjourned sine die after a series of marathon storylines involving departing members of the House including Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a last-minute tying of loose ends on various Biden administration initiatives ranging from funding packages for Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics and foreign aid resolutions involving independent nations once tied to the Soviet Union including Ukraine, to the filling of several open judgeships in many states and last-minute technology appropriations for the 2025 fiscal year, as well as acknowledging the role of foreign election observers in the United Kingdom (whose general election is next month) and Canada (whose election takes place next fall).

The departing Congress, which had already been one of the most Republican in history, will stand to become even more so in the next Congress with 270 Republicans plus 1 from the Constitution Party set to serve as the majority with the other 164 seats being held by Democrats, who lost a net of 10 seats in last November's election, though still not as stern as the damage done last November where Democrats lost a net of 13 seats including much of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic that had been up for election. Despite these challenges, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was upbeat, pointing out that "Voters are going to see very quickly how unfettered Republican rule - from President DeSantis and the Republican Congress down to the Supreme Court and a majority of the states - will prove to be downright destructive to millions of American families, workers and children". Incoming Speaker Steve Scalise, meanwhile, thanked outgoing Speaker and Sen.-elect Kevin McCarthy for "laying the groundwork for what will be one of the greatest times ever to be an American", and even hinted the possibility of possible amendments such as a Balanced Budget Amendment being ratified in the next Congress with a sizable enough majority to "make the magic happen".

December 21, 2024
"OUR SAFETY AND OUR STANDING MATTERS" AS DeSANTIS REVEALS KEY HOMELAND SECURITY, AMBASSADOR APPOINTMENTS
On Saturday, as Americans headed to the airport, the open road and vice versa for their holiday travels with Christmas and Hanukkah approaching, President-elect Ron DeSantis named key members of his Homeland Security team along with a number of key ambassadorships that show, in DeSantis's words, that "our safety and our standing matters", making this announcement on the 36th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing in which terrorists set off a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103, killing all 259 of mostly American and other passengers onboard along with 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland. While acknowledging a desire to "more than ever, keep Americans safe" and highlighting his successes during his time as a Navy Judge Advocate General (including stints at Guantanamo Bay during the War on Terror), DeSantis also acknowledged how "many Americans miss the days when they could wish their loved ones well at the gate...We may not be ready to cross that bridge, but I promise you with the work we're going to do to strike a perfect balance between safety and freedom, maybe we'll get there."

At the meeting at the Westin Denver International Airport Hotel northeast of downtown Denver, DeSantis announced his nomination of Rep. Carlos Giménez of Florida's 28th District (which includes much of Miami-Dade County south of Miami as well as the Florida Keys) to become his Homeland Security Secretary. A native of Havana, Cuba who moved with his family to Miami as a young boy, Giménez is a retired Miami firefighter who at one time served as Fire Chief and eventually became Miami City Manager and Miami-Dade County Mayor before his election to Congress. He serves on the House Homeland Security Committee (as well as the Transportation and Infrastructure & Science, Space and Technology committees) and is generally regarded as a moderate Republican. "More than ever, defending Americans against terrorism, preparing them to protect their families in a natural disaster, securing our border - these are all things we should not be taking for granted. As your DHS Secretary, I will take the lessons learned in decades of service as a firefighter and as an administrator to protect our country from all threats foreign and domestic. I know our next President does - because I dealt with him quite a lot!", quipped Giménez during his speech following his introduction by DeSantis.

DeSantis also announced the nomination of Rep.-elect and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to serve as the new director of the CIA. While his experience in matters related to intelligence has been disputed, leading many to argue that his appointment to the role under Trump was merely a "political power play", Ratcliffe's appointment is viewed as a "direct affront to the intelligence establishment" that has been widely panned by conservatives in recent years. Indeed, Ratcliffe, who had just been elected to return to Congress from the 5th District in Texas, having served in the nearby 4th District prior to his appointment as DNI in 2020, stated that "As your new Director of the CIA, I am committed to restoring the trust of the American people when it comes to our intelligence community, focusing the department on its stated mission of gaining information on terrorists and other foreign enemies who seek to undermine our freedoms and our security", vowing to get aggressive on matters involving China and Russia (among other "frenemy states") and most certainly directing away from what Ratcliffe called "a blatant politicization of the CIA at the expense of the integrity of our foreign intelligence".

Other appointments announced by the incoming President included his new Homeland Security Advisor, former Virginia Attorney General and Trump DHS alum Ken Cuccinelli; Pete Peterson, Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy but perhaps best known for his close 2014 bid for California Secretary of State against now-U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Microsoft Deputy General Counsel C.J. Mahoney, who oversaw the passage of the USMCA free trade agreement in Congress under former President Donald Trump, as U.S. Trade Representative; and former federal prosecutor and Trump administration alum Kash Patel as Director of National Drug Control Policy - the so-called "Drug Czar". Similar to the situation with Ratcliffe, Patel is particularly controversial due to his reputation as a "Trump loyalist" that was well-documented in the last days of the Trump presidency as well as his subsequent appearances on Fox News since the end of the Trump presidency, though DeSantis defended Patel's work as a public defender both in Miami-Dade County as well as at the federal level.

DeSantis also took the opportunity to announce a quartet of U.S. Ambassadorships in advance, leading off with perhaps the most important such assignment - that of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom (or more specifically, the Court of St. James's) - going to former Rep. George Holding of North Carolina (whose wife is an English native). Other appointments included Oracle CEO Safra Catz as U.S. Ambassador to Israel (itself also considered critical due to the U.S.'s longstanding support for the Jewish state); real estate developer Christian Anschutz (son of prominent Republican financier Philip Anschutz) as U.S. Ambassador to Germany; and Rafael Díaz-Balart, a Miami investment banker whose brother is Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (and is arguably the least well-known of four brothers between himself, Mario, former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart and NBC/Telemundo journalist José Díaz-Balart), as U.S. Ambassador to Cuba. "These are just the first four, but these will be excellent representatives of American interests to the world, part of our commitment to promoting 'peace through strength' around the world, free of unnecessary conflict, but otherwise committed to a strong national defense that exudes confidence from our allies and sends a stern message to our enemies that we will not bow to their hatred for our freedoms," DeSantis added in his remarks.

Next: A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Kwanzaa and Happy New Year!...

[PRESIDENT STANTON]

SaintStan86, I was wondering if a national County Map has been constructed! Your background on data, is excellent, and describes in a nutshell what occurred on Election Day. I am trying to construct a County Map, and while I am using the MapChart USA software, is the code compatible with Atlas Forum? However I'm not certain with DeSantis performance in some states compared to Trump or Romney or even G.W. Bush. I have posed similar questions on previous occasions on this subject, but no answer to the County Map question.
Have completed 2024 County Map, but the code written exceeds the the text of 2200 allowed! Is there a way in which to upload map in another format? Would be grateful for any tips on same. Apparently inserting image is not easy.

[2016]

@PRESIDENT STANTON,
Given President-elect DeSantis Margin in the Suburbs of the Country (52-40 Nationally) + the 48-45 Plurality Win among Hispanics he MUST have flipped some very big suburban Counties. I am digging to some Data on my own here and it doesn't look very pretty for Vice President Harris and the Democrats.

ARIZONA
DeSantis has definitly flipped Maricopa County (Phoenix) back to the GOP Column. Shockingly though he has likely also flipped Apache & Coconino Counties. These are predominantly Democratic Counties in the State. He may have also flipped Santa Cruz County and the only County Harris carried in Arizona is Pima (Tucson) but by the narrowest of margin, less than 20,000 is my guess which is unheard of in AZ Politics.

NEVADA
DeSantis has probably carried every County in the State except for Clark County where there is probably a tie between DeSantis and Harris.

COLORADO
DeSantis has definitly flipped Adams, Araphaoe, Larimer and Jefferson Counties. The only two Counties Harris has carried are Denver & Boulder Counties but by very narrow, reduced margins.

NEW MEXICO
DeSantis has carried every Country except Santa Fe and Dona Ana. He may have even flipped Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) from Blue to Red given the Cities Suburbs.

That's just 4 States with high Hispanic Population.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

DeSantis winning a majority of millennials lol

[NewYorkExpress]

I'm mildly surprised DeSantis is even bothering with an Ambassador to Cuba. I would think severing relations with Cuba would be something he does on day one, as that's in the standard Republican platform.

[PRESIDENT STANTON II]

Wow! looking at the Colorado and New Mexico maps, that's the wipe-out! But what about Texas? I've to assume that all of the counties along the border flipped to DeSantis, I can only identify Dallas, El Paso, Travis and Presidio that may have gone for Harris, thus considering this, I could imagine that DeSantis had a margin of over 3 million votes in the state; he'd have, considering his national majority of 19.2 million. I have extrapolated the best of Reagan (1984), Bush, 41 (1988), Bush, 43 (2004), Romney and Trump (2012, 2016 and 2020) and the map I'm putting together should roughly reflect the picture you painted for the final result of the 2024 election. However the question remains, did Yang carry anything? I have assigned purple (blue/red=purple) to Yang.

[SaintStan86]

Based on the results seen so far, this is what the map pretty much looks like with the kind of result that has happened:



And for those who may be wondering "This would never happen!", it shall be noted that such socioeconomically divergent counties as Fairfield County, Connecticut, Monongalia County, West Virginia, Marshall County, Mississippi, Snohomish County, Washington, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Mahoning County, Ohio - along with San Diego County, California, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Jefferson County/Louisville, Kentucky, Hidalgo County, Texas, York County, Maine, Clark County, Nevada, and Loudoun County, Virginia - all gave pluralities to DeSantis in the range of 45-50 percent that highlight just how much of a spoiler Andrew Yang proved to be in this race, as well as the end product of what an amalgamation of Trump-style numbers in rural and working-class areas, a Glenn Youngkin-style suburban shift in all 50 states, and unprecedented support among Hispanic and Black voters for a Republican presidential candidate can produce for the GOP. When the aforementioned Jefferson County/Louisville as well as Fayette County (home to Lexington) are giving pluralities to DeSantis who wins every other county in Kentucky, it's hard to imagine how Democrats cannot plot their future without some attempt to a) reach out to the voters the Democrats bled away over the past two decades; b) how the triangulation of yore has worn thin over time; and c) at least having enough decency to reach out to Andrew Yang if not at least his supporters.

In other words, Democrats have plenty of explaining to do as to what direction they will need to take going forward. With that in mind, I'm going to go on a limb and say that if Jaime Harrison does not return as DNC Chairman, Tim Ryan - who at one time considered challenging Nancy Pelosi for control of the Democratic caucus - could be a likely pick to head the Democrats in the DeSantis era, sensing that the party has "lost its way" with the working class, and it's fair to say that if Donald Trump had the sort of demeanor that DeSantis has thus far shown as Governor of Florida (a "strategic bulldog" playing chess and not moaning like a toddler who doesn't get his way), he most likely would not have suffered a good chunk of the suburban slump that Trump got in 2016 and 2020, and the whole discussion about 2020 - coronavirus notwithstanding - would have focused on how badly the Democrats have fallen in the post-Obama era.