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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2018)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Wednesday, November 7, 2018 Dems seize House control, but GOP retains Senate By STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press WASHINGTON — Democrats were poised to seize the House major- ity from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party on Tuesday in a suburban revolt that threatened what’s left of the president’s gov- erning agenda. But the GOP gained ground in the Sen- ate and preserved key gov- ernorships, beating back a “blue wave” that never fully materialized. The mixed verdict in the first nationwide election of Trump’s young presidency underscored the limits of his hardline immigration rhet- oric in America’s evolving political landscape, where college-educated voters in the nation’s suburbs rejected his warnings of a migrant “invasion” while blue-col- lar voters and rural America embraced them. Still, a new Democratic House majority would end the Republican Party’s dom- inance in Washington for the final two years of Trump’s first term with major ques- tions looming about health care, immigration and gov- ernment spending. The president’s party will main- tain control of the execu- tive and judicial branches of U.S. government, in addition to the Senate, but Democrats suddenly have a foothold that gives them subpoena power to probe deep into Trump’s personal and professional missteps — and his long-withheld tax returns. “Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who would be in line to become the next House speaker. There were signs of extraordinary turnout in several states, includ- ing Georgia, where voters waited hours in the rain to vote in some cases, and in Nevada, where the last vot- ers cast their ballots nearly three hours after polls were scheduled to close. The Democrats picked up the 23 seats they had to wrest from the GOP, but were still short of the 218 total for a House major- ity, with more races to be decided. Women were assured of 85 seats in the House, a record. The road to a House majority ran through two dozen suburban districts Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Democrats flipped seats in suburban districts outside of Washington, Philadel- phia, Miami, Chicago and Denver. The results were more mixed deeper into Trump country. In Kansas, Democrat Sharice Davids beat a GOP incumbent to become the first gay Native Ameri- can woman elected to the House. But in Kentucky, one of the top Democratic recruits, retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, lost her bid to oust to three- term Rep. Andy Barr. Trump sought to take credit for retaining the GOP’s Senate majority, even as the party’s foothold in the more competitive House battlefield appeared to be slipping. “Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!” Trump tweeted. History was working against the president in the Senate: 2002 was the only midterm election in the past three decades when the party holding the White House gained Senate seats. Democrats’ dreams of the Senate majority, which was always unlikely, were shat- tered after losses in many of the top Senate battle- grounds: Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, North Dakota and Texas. They also suf- fered a stinging loss in Flor- ida, where Trump-backed Republican Ron DeSantis ended Democrat Andrew Gillum’s bid to become the state’s first African-Ameri- can governor. “I want to encourage you to stick to the fight,” said Gillum, who was thought to be a rising star with national ambitions. Trump encouraged vot- ers to view the 2018 mid- terms as a referendum on his leadership, pointing proudly to the surging econ- omy at recent rallies. Nearly 40 percent of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, the national sur- vey of the electorate, while one-in-four said they voted to express support for Trump. Overall, 6 in 10 voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction, but roughly that same num- ber described the national economy as excellent or good. Twenty-five percent described health care and immigration as the most important issues in the election. Nearly two-thirds said Trump was a reason for their vote. The president bet big on a xenophobic closing mes- sage, warning of an immi- grant “invasion” that prom- ised to spread violent crime and drugs across the nation. Several television networks, including the president’s favorite Fox News Channel, yanked a Trump campaign advertisement off the air on the eve of the election, determining that its por- trayal of a murderous immi- grant went too far. One of Trump’s most vocal defenders on immi- gration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, lost his bid for governor. Kobach had built a national profile as an advo- cate of tough immigration policies and strict voter photo ID laws. He served as vice chairman of Trump’s now-defunct commission on voter fraud. The president found par- tial success despite his cur- rent job approval, set at 40 percent by Gallup, the low- est at this point of any first- term president in the modern era. Both Barack Obama’s and Bill Clinton’s numbers were 5 points higher, and both suffered major mid- term losses of 63 and 54 House seats respectively. Democrats, whose very relevance in the Trump era depended on winning at least one chamber of Con- gress, were laser-focused on health care as they poured hundreds of mil- lions of dollars onto surg- ing anti-Trump energy to break up the GOP’s monop- oly in Washington and state governments. While Democratic losses were expected, particularly in the Senate, some hurt worse than others. In Texas, Sen Ted Cruz staved off a tough challenge from Democrat Beto O’Ro- urke, whose record-smash- ing fundraising and celeb- rity have set off buzz he could be a credible 2020 White House contender. Democrats’ fate in high-profile governorships in Georgia and Wisconsin were at risk as well. MURDOCK: Says he can focus on what’s best for county with no more campaigns Continued from 1A “Nine strong incumbents lost in the primaries,” he said. “Over half the com- missioners have changed in Oregon in the past two years.” But because Murdock has said this will be his last term, he feels this will also be his most productive. “One of the problems with elected officials is the fact that they have to be elected, and the idea of election is always some- what in the equation,” Mur- dock said. “Since I’ve made it clear I plan to serve just two full terms, I can simply focus on what is best for the people of Umatilla County during the next four years, without ever wondering about re-election.” He said before planning what will happen four years down the road, he will wait to see what comes out of the charter review process. Pullen held a gathering at Abby’s Legendary Pizza, with about 20 family mem- bers and friends supporting him. A former manager in the taxation and assessment department, he said he had been honored to campaign for the spot. “It’s not just about the needs of the county, but the people of the county,” he said. “It’s been a huge joy. We’ve made a lot of friends — some that will be lifelong friends.” He added that he would still continue to serve the county any way he could. “We’ll still continue doing our volunteer stuff,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot to offer the county. Whether it’s me in the seat or someone else, I think those ideas need to be paid attention to and dealt with.” He added that, as a life- long Umatilla County res- ident, he wasn’t going anywhere. “This is home,” he said. “We want it to be great.” Murdock has held the position since a special elec- tion in 2013 to replace Bill Hansell, who stepped down from the Board of Commis- sioners after being elected to the Oregon Senate. Mur- dock was elected to a full term the following May. He won more than 45 percent of the vote in the May 2018 primary, but Pul- len (31 percent) and Tom Bailor (24 percent) kept him from wrapping up a second term then. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Umatilla County Commisioner candidate Rick Pullen gets some encouragement from his wife, Faith, as he waits to learn election results during a gathering of sup- porters at Abby’s Pizza in Pendleton. WALDEN: Challenger says she was glad to give people a reason to vote for something Continued from 1A in our district.” McLeod-Skinner was at an election party in Bend. She said the night did not go her way, but it was good to see the campaign came closer to defeating Walden than previous attempts. She attributed that to push- ing a positive message that brought people together around values of family and community, finding com- mon ground and listening to the residents in the district. “They just want Con- gress to get back to basics,” she said, such as taking on health care and veteran issues. “That’s what people are interested in and want to see happen.” She said this is a time of populist politics, and while President Donald Trump uses that for nega- tive effect there is plenty of room for positive focus on local issues. McLeod-Skin- ner said she hoped the elec- tion results drive that home for Walden. The candidates ran races as opposite as their party platforms. McLeod-Skinner pur- sued a dogged ground game, piling up tens of thousands of miles trekking across the big district to attend parades and rallies and engage everyone who would listen. She said there was no cam- paign infrastructure when she began the effort, but the campaign created a net- work of energized volun- teers that stretched beyond the borders of the Demo- cratic Party to include the Working Class Party and other groups. She also said she would not run negative attacks on Walden, and that may have cost her some votes. “I wanted to give peo- ple a reason to vote for something,” McLeod-Skin- ner said. “I’m particularly proud of that.” Walden ran a less per- sonal campaign. He stopped holding town halls and pub- lic events, opting instead for closed-door meetings, tours of vital businesses and fundraising dinners. He also dumped money into TV advertisements and high- way billboards, moves he did not make in previous campaigns. The candidates held one televised debate on Oct. 5 in Bend. McLeod-Skinner refused to take money from corporate political action campaigns and still raised almost $1.1 mil- lion, according to the most recent financial data from the Federal Elections Com- mission. Individual contri- butions accounted for all but $26,143 of that. Her campaign also spent more than $971,000. Walden took in more than $5.1 million. That’s $1.8 million more than he raised for the 2016 election, which he won with 71.7 percent. Walden’s cam- paign spending topped $3.9 million, almost $600,000 more than two years ago. Walden serves as chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications, food and drug safety, pub- lic health and more. The shift from Republican con- trol in the House to Dem- ocrat means Walden’s time as chair is coming to an end, but he’ll likely remain a ranking member on the committee. BROWN: After loss, Buehler says ‘The status quo in this state is not tolerable.’ Continued from 1A Portland he was as disap- pointed as they were. “My voice will not be leading this state for the next four years and I cer- tainly accept that decision,” he said. “But let’s also be very clear: The status quo in this state is not tolerable.” Polls leading into November showed the two candidates virtually neck- and-neck. In her nearly 8-minute victory speech, Brown said her stances on education, affordable hous- ing and health care won over Oregonians. “This election shows that when Oregonians are given an opportunity to invest in our classrooms, to build affordable housing, to pro- tect health care, it’s not a toss-up. It’s not even a close call,” she said. But, afterward, Brown conceded she worried it could have been much closer. “I knew the race was going to be close, and thought it would be close all along, but to take this solid of a lead made me really happy,” she said. Victory secured Brown her second term as Ore- gon’s governor. She stepped into the job in 2015 after the resignation of former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Brown, 58, then won a special election in 2016. It also secured Brown a governance with a Demo- cratic supermajority, as the party seized at least three seats in the Oregon House by Tuesday night. “It’s just really cool to be able to pick up races in the state House and the Senate and really be able to make a huge difference over the next two years in Oregon, and keep Oregon moving forward,” Brown said. Brown’s victory was lauded by environmental groups and some unions. Doug Moore, execu- tive director of the Ore- gon League of Conserva- tion Voters, said Brown’s re-election kept the climate in good hands. “Climate change was on the ballot, and climate change won with Kate Brown,” he said. Joe Baessler, politi- cal director for Oregon’s American Federation of State, County and Munici- pal Employees, which rep- resents government work- ers, said Brown’s leadership is better for affordable hous- ing initiatives and public employees. “She didn’t get enough credit for it, but she had a litany of great accomplish- ments,” Baessler said, not- ing that he hoped to see strong progressive poli- cies in Brown’s next term. “We have agencies that are barely able to accomplish the tasks they’re mandated to because they don’t have the resources.” Work to do Brown appeared ready to get started on her next term during her victory speech. She said as much as she was flanked by two dozen schoolchildren and her husband. “Make no mistake. The fight isn’t over. We’ve still got lots of work to do,” she said. “We’ve never had someone so divisive in the White House or someone with such less respect for the truth or for the people impacted by his decisions.” In the weeks leading up to the election, Brown has outlined several directions she would take her second term — hoping to bolster education, combat climate change, reduce homeless- ness and more — and she may just have four years to do it. Brown, who started her career in 1991 and has run for office eight times, said she does not plan to run again in 2022. She said she wants to spend more time with her husband, Dan Lit- tle, and do things that make her happy. Governing will remain her focus until then. She aims to increase funding for initiatives to bring about more affordable housing and tamp homelessness. “Every Oregonian deserves access to a warm, safe, dry, affordable and accessible place to call home,” she said before elec- tion night. On climate change, Brown said Oregon needs to become a global leader to reduce carbon emissions. The issue has become more important as the Trump administration has cut back environmental regu- lations. She pointed to ris- ing drought conditions and wildfires. “Oregon has to step up — states have to step up — when you have a federal administration that is liter- ally ignoring this problem and ignoring science and ignoring realities of what’s happening on the ground,” she said. On health care, Brown said her goal is to get 99 percent of Oregon insured. And, after the perfor- mance of Oregon’s public schools became a hotspot late in the campaign, Brown said she hopes to reinforce education and career train- ing in the state. Brown said she has spent a lot of time with Colt Gill, director of the state Department of Edu- cation, and she plans to keep meeting with district superintendents through- out the state. She wants to understand and repli- cate successes in the state, like in Eagle Point, where she said schools lowered absenteeism and raised graduation rates. When asked about leg- acy policy, Brown pointed to Future Ready Oregon and other programs that offer jobs training and technical skills. “That means closing the skills gap between work- force that we have and the workforce that we need to fuel the economy of Ore- gon’s future,” she said. Brown plans to tackle these goals with a team that resembles the team now. She told the Oregon Capital Bureau in an interview that she does not plan to shuffle staff, although it is common for people to leave after an election cycle. Chief of Staff Nik Blosser, who came on in January 2017, will remain. On her upcoming budget, to be released in Decem- ber, Brown wouldn’t dis- close much. She said this budget will be easier to bal- ance than last, when the state faced a deficit creeping toward $2 billion. This time around, she said, it’s a man- ageable $800 million, fully due to funding the Oregon Health Plan.
