(AP Photo/The Wilmington Star-News, Jason A. Frizzelle)
In the Durham Bubble, N.C. Progressives Caught Off-Guard By Hagan's Defeat
Tar Heel progressives may not have loved their senator, but they worked hard to re-elect her-and thought they would.
Just before 10 p.m. on election night, Debby Dowlin climbed onto the long wooden table at 106 Main, a cocktail bar in Durham, North Carolina. An organizer with Credo SuperPAC-which ran field operations to defeat five Republican candidates for U.S. Senate-Dowlin had been working to prevent Thom Tillis, the state House Speaker, from unseating Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan.
"We're really hoping to clinch that," she told the bar's patrons. "We may have different feelings about Kay Hagan"-whose lackluster first Senate term and middle-of-the-road campaign failed to electrify voters. "But it's good to know we all have a person we absolutely agree cannot be in the Senate. We cannot let the extreme right take over North Carolina."
It was the last moment of optimism for Bull City liberals.
Marijuana Legalization Activists Celebrate in D.C.
For many, this is the first midterm election they've voted in. And Initiative 71, which went on to pass with nearly 70 percent of the vote, is the reason.
It's hard to accurately define the crowd (besides, maybe, "overjoyed"). By appearances alone, it's certainly diverse, if not unexpected. Middle-aged bike shop regulars, tattooed hipsters, 20-something men in suits, and dread-locked hippies with serene smiles bump elbows with scores of people wearing "Legalize It" T-shirts.
"I'm getting claustrophobic," says a young man in a suit holding a pint of beer, although he doesn't seem too upset. No one seems too upset, really. The server navigating trays of mac 'n' cheese and hamburgers through the shoulder-to-shoulder throng of people might be having a hard night, but the mood is one of celebration.
"We are really blown away by the turnout," says Caroline Phillips, event producer for the Metropolitan Wellness Center, the medical marijuana dispensary that put on the event with the DC Cannabis Campaign. "It's really great to see how excited people are about this issue."
Poets and Pols Gather For Some Pointed Words
In which Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton mingles with constituents and the verse is a bit searing.
A portion of the bar area was reserved for Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, and her campaign staff. Norton described Busboys & Poets as "my favorite D.C. spot."
"Going to the Mayflower is just not me," Norton added, referring to the swank hotel where D.C. pooh-bahs power-breakfast, and at which J Edgar Hoover and his longtime aide Clyde Tolson famously lunched every day.
Norton said she considered it "very likely" that the House will move to interfere with D.C. voters' approval of a marijuana legalization initiative, but she noted that Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said this week that he was opposed to the federal government overriding the wishes of the district's voters.
High Schoolers From Across the Country Want Change Now
For one thing, they're more concerned with voting rights than the behind-the-scenes details of national politics.
A student who identifies himself as Colin from Dallas asks whether, despite what Republicans have said to the contrary, the new voter restriction laws are disenfranchising people.
"When you look at the way things are actually done in America, almost every transaction, I can't think of one that doesn't involve some form of ID," says Robbins, citing Attorney General Eric Holder's town hall meetings in Ferguson, which required photo ID for entry. "I'll let you chew on that."
But they don't let up that easily. After a comment from Robbins about Louisiana's corrupt politics, another Dallas student yells out: "Speaking of corruption, how you do feel about Rick Perry in Texas?"
Undaunted By Grim Outcomes, Pro-Choicers Plot the Future
They had hoped for a better night, but they're already thinking ahead to 2016.
I spoke with Jaclyn, an attendee from New York briefly in town, on her expectations for the evening's results.
"I don't expect much," she said, laughing. "All I've learned is that we're going to lose."
Don't get it wrong. These women were passionate, but most were very aware of the results they were likely to see and had accepted the fact that 2014 was going to be the year the Republicans took back the Senate. If anything, they were hoping that a few tight elections went in the Democrats' favor. Toby, one of the few men at the event, echoed a similar sentiment.
"We're hoping that within the margin of error of what Nate Silver says can happen. Basically, were hoping for the statistically improbable."
At Howard University, Mentors Challenge Young Activists' Ideas of Victory
For the African-American community, given all the obstacles, an uptick in turnout can be a victory in and of itself.
Together we created something organizers called the "Black List," which consisted of black men and women who ran for a position in Congress. Although we may not all agree on their different platforms, it's heartwarming to see someone who looks like me and is standing for something in the political realm, and with president Obama leaving office soon, who knows when we'll see ourselves so reflected again?
Then Allyson Carpenter, the youngest elected official in the history of the District of Columbia, entered the room. Though only a sophomore, Carpenter ran for office to become an advisory neighborhood commissioner, and won. More inspiration.
