Politics Daily

The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Down for the Recount

The Florida Senate and governor’s races are headed to recounts after returns from Broward County tightened Republican leads in both contests.

By Olivia Paschal, Madeleine Carlisle, and Elaine Godfrey
Wilfredo Lee / AP

Written by Madeleine Carlisle (@maddiecarlisle2), Olivia Paschal (@oliviacpaschal), and Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey)

Today in 5 Lines

  • A gunman killed 12 people at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, Wednesday night. Authorities identified the shooter, who was also found dead at the scene, possibly from a self-inflicted wound, as 28-year-old Ian David Long.

  • The Florida Senate and governor’s races are headed to recounts after returns from Broward County tightened Republican leads in both contests.

  • The Trump administration introduced new measures that would prohibit immigrants entering the country illegally from claiming asylum. Experts are expecting legal challenges to the restrictions.

  • President Donald Trump is reportedly considering former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, both longtime supporters of his, to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Sessions resigned on Wednesday at Trump’s request.

  • Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after falling in her office and breaking three ribs.

Today on The Atlantic

  • ‘Put Down the Mic’: These were the 10 most dumbfounding moments from Trump’s post-election press conference on Wednesday. (Maddie Carlisle and Olivia Paschal)

  • The Shame Game: Celebrities like Oprah often invoke “the specter of ancestral trauma” to get black Americans to the polls, writes Hannah Giorgis. But that ignores the continuing reality of voter suppression.

  • The South Moves Left: Even though many progressive darlings, including Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum, lost their races, progressive policy issues won the Deep South in a big way. (Vann R. Newkirk II)

  • The Times, They Are a-Changin’: Democrats and Republicans were both losers in the Texas Senate race. Here’s why. (Elaina Plott)

  • ‘Their Best Choice Is Nancy’: Nancy Pelosi knows how to whip votes in Congress, but more importantly, she knows how to fundraise, argues Steve Israel.

Snapshot

People cry as a law-enforcement motorcade escorts the body of Ventura County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Ron Helus from the Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California, after a gunman opened fire Wednesday evening inside a country music bar, killing multiple people including Helus. (Mark J. Terrill / AP)

What We’re Reading

Buckle Up: Both Republicans and Democrats saw major political victories on Tuesday—which means Americans should prepare for an even more divided country. (Molly Ball, Time)

Wanted: Senate Leadership: Now that Trump has ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Republicans in the Senate must take concrete steps to ensure that Trump’s efforts to “hobble” the Mueller investigation don’t succeed, argues John Cassidy. (The New Yorker)

How Trump Could Win Again: While Republicans lost ground in the American suburbs on Tuesday night, these are four signs that suggest Trump could still win reelection in 2020. (W. James Antle III, Washington Examiner)

Master of Silence: Mattathias Schwartz talked to the people closest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller to figure out what might come next in the Russia investigation—and what it would mean for the president. (GQ)

More Than a Hobby: Follow the NRA’s evolution from apolitical sporting group to pro-gun political powerhouse. (Sahil Chinoy, Nicholas Kristof, and Jessia Ma, The New York Times)

Visualized

How Big Was the Blue Wave?: The New York Times lays out which districts flipped, and which stayed red.

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