WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014 | NEWs | The Diamondback
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GOP clinches control of U.S. House, Senate after key victories Handful of states upset 7-year Democratic Senate supremacy By Laura Blasey and Ellie Silverman @lblasey, @esilverman11 Senior staff writers Come January, the Republican party will control both the House and Senate, after party candidates secured victories in seven key midterm Senate races yesterday. The outcome validates preelection models that predicted Republicans would unseat at least four Democrats to take the Senate majority. Democrats needed to retain at least five seats to keep their
dominant status. Though 36 seats were up for election, the Senate’s 2015 makeup fell on a handful of the country’s most competitive races. Seven previously blue states — Montana, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, West Virginia and North Carolina — elected Republicans and Louisiana went to a run-off. These latest numbers give the GOP control of 52 Senate seats as 1:30 a.m., up from 45, and thus the majority. R epubl ic a n s cont i nue to control the House of Representat ives, wh ich t hey
have dominated since 2011. Democrats have controlled the Senate since 2007. M idter m elect ion s ca n provide a window into public satisfaction with the incumbent party, said marketing professor Hank Boyd. “It’s a referendum on how well you’ve done to date,” Boyd said. “If people don’t like what’s happening, they can lean to the other party.” P resident Oba ma’s approval ratings dipped to 40 percent nationally in September, according to Gallup, a casualty of national disappointment in the Democratic party’s handling of the economy and foreign affairs. But low favorability in a presi-
dent’s senior years isn’t unheard of, and the resulting mismatched government branches isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either, said public policy professor Christopher Foreman. “We’ve seen this situation before in the last two years of many presidencies,” Foreman said. “It’s possible that you can get some legislative productivity in the last two years where the president and the Congressional leadership are of different parties.” Foreman said one party dominating both bodies of Congress could relieve some of the gridlock, assuming they’re willing to share credit with Obama for legislative milestones. In 1996, then-President Bill
University senior comes up short in Howard County race for House Jimmy Williams, other GOP candidates defeated by Dem incumbents, newcomer By Joe Antoshak @Mantoshak Senior staff writer Despite lengthy campaigning that included “several thousand” door-to-door visits in Howard County this year, the youngest candidate for this state’s General Assembly, who is also a student at this university, was not elected in yesterday’s midterms. Republican Jimmy Williams, a 21-year-old senior finance and journalism major at this university, failed to get the nod from voters to represent District 13 in the state’s House of Delegates. Instead, Democratic incumbents Sha ne Penderg rass and Frank Turner, as well as Democrat Vanessa Atterbeary, emerged as victors. “We definitely stuck to a positive, issue-based campaign, and unfortunately the numbers just weren’t there for us,” Williams said. “I do intend
to run again in four years.” Williams received 13,612 votes, or 12.7 percent of the county’s tota l, compared with Pendergrass, Turner and Atterbeary, who each accrued about 20 percent as of 12:53 a.m. He finished last out of the six candidates in total number of votes. T he results came at the end of a c a nd id acy W i lliams announced in January. Throughout it, he argued for the benefits of having a new voice in the General Assembly and clung to the line, “I do not answer to the leadership in Annapolis; I answer to you.” A nd for t he most pa r t, Williams said, that message has resonated with county voters he spoke with during the campaign. S o m e , h o w e v e r, h a v e questioned his life experience. Williams said he has found himself at the receiving end of jabs from other ca nd idates cla i m i ng that
ele cte d of f ici a l s ne e d to know what it’s like to ride the Metro or find a preschool for their children. “My opponents were playing petty politics, instead of focusing on the i s s u e s ,” W i l l i a m s s a i d , adding that his campaign did not respond publicly to that type of criticism. Williams’ platform zeroed in on what he considers to be financial complacency on the part of the state. In a video posted on YouTube in July, he said that, if elected, he would push the state “to address the hundreds of millions of dollars of audit recommendations that are just sitting on the governor’s desk.” Jody Venkatesan, the District 13 Republican candidate for state senator, worked closely with Williams during the campaign and praised his intellect and intentions. Venkatesan lost in a landsl ide race to D emo crat ic c a nd id ate G uy G u zz one, who previously served in the House of Delegates. “Jimmy’s a future leader;
turnout
he’s a rising star as far as I’m concerned: somebody of his age and intellect doing what he’s done to stand tall,” said Venkatesan, 44. “He’s got a lot to give.” During his campaigning, Williams said he and h i s m o t h e r w a l k e d “a hundred miles or more, e a s i l y,” t h r o u g h t h e neighborhoods of District 13, and came across only a handful of people who refused to talk to them. His campaign lacked the funds necessary for television and newspaper ads, so he created a website and promoted himself via Facebook and Twitter. “He’s very well-spoken; he knows his stuff,” said Phyllis Williams, his mother. “And to hear other people say that makes me feel good as a parent.” Williams said he plans to find a job as a legislative aide or on a committee in Annapolis for the upcoming session. jantoshakdbk@gmail.com
marijuana
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Coalition, and Luke Pinton for heading up TerpsVote,” Student Government Association President Patrick Ronk said. “To see that enough students cared about the election to make sure they came out to have their voices heard is incredible.” A chief justice working for the precinct said no notable problems arose during the day, and the number of student voters — especially those voting provisionally — was much higher than expected. “About half of our total voters voted provisionally, and that’s mainly because a lot of students who could not get home to vote, they came here because they didn’t have time to get home, or didn’t have time to get an absentee ballot,” the chief justice said. “But the day went exceedingly well, we had a good turnout.” Students who came out to vote for the election, such as senior government and politics and history major Emily Richardson, said they believe voting is not only a civic duty, but an integral part of ensuring the voices of students are heard on a larger platform. “If I don’t vote, then I’m not taking advantage of a major avenue that’s been given to me,” Richardson said. “We have a massive body of political participants here, and we should definitely have our voices heard as the younger members of the political body.” Rye McKenzie, a sophomore economics major, said he came out to vote simply
After the decriminalization law for the substance went into effect in July, possession of less tha n a n ou nce of m a r iju a n a resulted in a $25 fine and confiscation instead of criminal consequences. Now, possession of the drug results in no fine or consequences if adult use is restricted to one’s home in the city’s legal limits. T he in itiative, which does not permit the sale of marijuana, will move before the D.C. Council this month. The council w i l l re g u l ate t he s u bstance, including setting its taxation and sale conditions. The bill will then pass on to Congress, wh ich ca n opt to ag ree with the voters’ decision or overturn it. Barring opposition from Congress, the bill is slated to take effect as early as April 2015, Burnett said. Burnett, who is also the policy manager of the Drug Policy Alliance, said he has been “seeing a relatively strong” support for the initiative leading up to the election, which continued through Tuesday evening. “With the District of Columbia legalizing marijuana, it will definitely put the issue of marijuana policy right squarely i n f ront of Con g re ss,” B u r n e t t s a id . “ I f t h e y want to take it seriously and think about rework-
students line up in Stamp Student Union’s Atrium Room yesterday to check in and vote. This midterm saw a higher turnout than in years prior, with 817. james levin/the diamondback because he could. “Not everybody gets to vote,” McKenzie said. “I think as a country, we’re lucky that we get to vote, so I do.” The considerable student turnout is likely due in part to pre-election efforts of the TerpsVote Coalition, which is comprised of the SGA, MaryPIRG, the College Democrats, College Republicans and HeadCount — a nonpartisan, national voter registration group. According to an SGA news release, the group successfully registered 1,271 students from September to mid-October, mainly through tabling efforts at locations around the campus such as in the dining halls, McKeldin Library and Stamp. That total hovered close to the 1,400 paper registrations for the 2012 presidential election, which MaryPIRG member and junior environmental science and policy major Grace Davis said is a good sign. “[Registration turnout] was honestly good, because it
is a midterm election, and it doesn’t have much press, and it’s not as popular as presidential elections,” Davis said. “The fact that we got pretty close to the amount of registrations for the presidential election is great.” Luke Pinton, SGA’s director of governmental affairs, said he is pleased with the effort TerpsVote made this semester, but he noted the number would have likely been higher if this university’s online voter registration system was still running. The SGA expected 2,000 registered voters before the online system was cut, Ronk said. “Because of the data breach last year, where the social security information was taken, because of that, they can’t have [the online voter registration site] up, because it’s a security threat,” Pinton said. “It serves as a large detriment, especially because everyone’s so media and online oriented.” tswaakdbk@gmail.com
Clinton, a Democrat, and a Republican Congress passed comprehensive wel fa re r e fo r m l e g i s l a t i o n . T h e Americans with Disabilities Act was also the result of collaboration between Republican President George H.W. Bush and a Democratic Congress in 1990. “The House has been more interested in position taking — they know what they want won’t pass the Senate. They have no incentive to legislate seriously,” he said. “That may change once you have the Republicans in charge of all of Capitol Hill.” A Republican-dominated Congress m ight also give b ot h pa r t ies a ch a nce to
reevaluate their identities going into the 2016 presidential elections, Boyd said. This could serve as an incentive for legislators to make progress on divisive topics such as immigration reform. “Suddenly the ones too far right need to get toward the center,” Boyd said. “You’re worried about a party that only speaks to wealthy white individuals in society, and that’s not going to work.” Of course theories are just theories, and how the politics actually play out remains to be seen, Foreman said. “It could go one way or the other,” Foreman said. newsumdbk@gmail.com
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY BALLOT QUESTIONS
QUESTION I Proposed charter amendment to include disability and sexual orientation as additional bases of prohibited discrimination in the County personnel system.
FOR CHARTER REFERENDUM
82%
AGAINST CHARTER REFERENDUM 18%
QUESTION J Proposed charter amendment to increase the number of consecutive terms that a person may serve on the County Council or as County Executive from two terms to three.
FOR CHARTER REFERENDUM
AGAINST CHARTER REFERENDUM
ing the policy, they’ll have the opportunity right now.” T he initiative’s success provides relief for district residents who h ave been f i n e d o r a r re s t e d u n d e r the current law, said Zack Pesavento, a D.C. Cannabis Campaign spokesman. Pesavento said one D.C. v o t e r a p p ro a c h e d t h o s e ca mpa ig n i ng for the i n itiative yesterday, and said this ballot question was “the only reason he was even out there today.” “The campaign may actually be helping to drive voter turnout that’ll have an effect on other races,” Pesavento said. But the substance is still i l lega l u nder federa l l aw and within this state, which could be influenced by this initiative in Washington, Pasavento said. Even though the initiative hasn’t passed in this state, students can still feel the effects a few Metro stops away, said sophomore Olivia O’Keefe,president of this university’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Ray Wight, a junior finance major, said that although he’s a student in this state, he supports Washington’s legalization of marijuana and anticipates it will translate to more states as time goes on. “I feel like the marijuana culture at Maryland won’t differ from something like this,” he said. “If I were to be able to vote in D.C., I would.” T h i s approva l mea n s a lot for Wa sh i ng ton, sa id O’Keefe, a community health
49%
51%
major. This is a “step in the right direction” for all communities nearby, she said. According to a 2010 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, black people were reportedly eight times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Washington, despite the roughly equal use of marijuana across all races, Burnett said. And although the council decriminalized the substa nce, he sa id 77 percent of tickets written for marijuana offenses since then have been within communities of color. “ We’l l see t h at bi a s be e l i m i n ate d , b e c au s e t h e p ol ic e c a n not u s e m a r ij u a n a a s a to ol to a r re s t people of color in the district,” Burnett said. “It only makes sense that the District of Columbia put an end to colorization of marijuana in this fashion.” Some people feel that marijuana is bad for the society in general, and in turn, is not worth being legalized, O’Keefe said. But the issue is becoming more bipartisan. More work needs to be done to make this bill perfect in her eyes, but O’Keefe said it can reach out to anyone in the area. “Just the fact that we’re so close to it, proximity-wise, students will directly feel the effects of this bill passing,” O’Keefe said. “Ideally, this will be a model for Maryland to see how it works in a smaller community that’s still close by.” eserpicodbk@gmail.com