{"id":179607,"date":"2017-12-19T19:57:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T00:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/12\/19\/maybe-they-can-expand-medicaid-now\/"},"modified":"2017-12-19T19:57:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T00:57:00","slug":"maybe-they-can-expand-medicaid-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2017\/12\/19\/maybe-they-can-expand-medicaid-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybe They Can Expand Medicaid Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
In Virginia, a recount of a House of Delegates race has has the Democrat winning the race by one vote, which creates a 50-50 tie in that body<\/a>:<\/div>\n

The balance of power in Virginia\u2019s legislature turned on a single vote in a recount Tuesday that flipped a seat in the House of Delegates from Republican to Democratic, leaving control of the lower chamber evenly split. <\/p>\n

The outcome, which reverberated across Virginia, ends 17 years of GOP control of the House and forces Republicans into a rare episode of power sharing with Democrats that will refashion the political landscape in Richmond. <\/p>\n

It was the culmination of last month\u2019s Democratic wave that had diminished Republican power in purple Virginia. <\/p>\n

Democrat Shelly Simonds emerged from the recount as the apparent winner in the 94th House District, seizing the seat from Republican David Yancey. A three-judge panel still must certify the results, an event scheduled for Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Of the 23,215 votes cast in the district on Election Day, Yancey held a lead of just 10 votes going into Tuesday\u2019s recount. <\/p>\n

But five hours later, after a painstaking counting overseen by local elections officials and the clerk of court, Yancey\u2019s lead narrowed \u2014 and then reversed. <\/p>\n

The final tally: 11,608 for Simonds to 11,607 for Yancey.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Power sharing in the House of Delegates is an awkward exercise; the last such arrangement was in 1998. Committee chairs have to be negotiated, as does the person who will serve as speaker. With the parties split 50-50, there is no mechanism to break ties, and any legislation short of 51 votes does not advance.<\/p>\n

Republicans hold a slight 21-to-19 edge in the state Senate, but with a Democratic lieutenant governor to break ties and a Democratic governor with veto power, Republicans may be forced to advance a more bipartisan agenda.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dramatic shift that caught even top Democrats by surprise. Republicans have controlled the 100-seat House since 2000; even outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a cheerleader for his party, had thought the Republican edge was insurmountable.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The final makeup of the legislature is not settled. Recounts in two additional races are taking place this week: on Wednesday in Richmond\u2019s District 68, where the Democrat leads by 336 votes, and on Thursday in Fredericksburg\u2019s District 28, where the Republican leads by 82 votes. Democrats are seeking a new election in the latter because more than 100 voters were mistakenly given ballots for the wrong legislative district.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My bad, it appears that Ralph Northam, the Governor elect, appears to be determined to kowtow to Republicans as a part of any implementation of Medicaid expansion<\/a>, despite his promises on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory since 1976: The mainstream Democratic Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Virginia, a recount of a House of Delegates race has has the Democrat winning the race by one vote, which creates a 50-50 tie in that body: The balance of power in Virginia\u2019s legislature turned on a single vote in a recount Tuesday that flipped a seat in the House of Delegates from Republican …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[585,375,463,578,374],"class_list":["post-179607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-cowardice","tag-elections","tag-healthcare","tag-incompetence","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}