Supermajority watch: Thursday’s ballot drop confirmed that Washington state Democrats are on the verge of unseating seven House Republicans. That would give them a supermajority in the House. Reps. Kevin Waters and David Stuebe of the 17th legislative district are among the down-and-out Republican incumbents. Waters conceded to and congratulated his opponent Democrat Ben Christly, who was beating him 55.5 percent to 44.3 percent. He also congratulated Stuebe’s opponent, Diana Perez, who was winning by a similar margin. Stuebe, who had not formally conceded, did not like this. “You don’t do that for me,” he said, according to the Washington State Standard. More Democratic pickups are possible as votes keep getting counted.
Trans sports bans approved in four states: Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska all approved measures restricting trans athletes from participating in sports. The measures vary in severity and scope. Nebraska’s amends the state constitution to ban male students from participating in female sports. Arizona’s adds an athletic institution bathroom ban and extends a trans sports ban to private schools. Colorado’s requires teams from elementary school through college to designate whether they are for male, female, or co-ed participation and require athletes compete based on biological sex. Washington’s, as we know, is the worst. That makes it legally vulnerable.
Likely court challenge for Washington’s trans sports ban: Legal groups and trans advocacy groups are getting ready to wage legal war on the trans sports ban. It may violate the state constitution, specifically around a violation of privacy rights. A 2008 Washington State Supreme Court ruling found schools requiring “suspicionless” drug tests was unconstitutional. Gender Justice League executive director Danni Askini said the trans ban would go far beyond this and “set a really chilling and disturbing precedent,” reports KUOW.
At least we have soccer: Last Sunday, during a pivotal game for Seattle Reign FC, anti-trans rabble rousers led by Pierce County’s MAGA Sheriff Keith Swank attempted to pull off a hateful stunt at Lumen Field. They planned to wear transphobic XX-XY shirts in the supporter section like they did at a Portland Thorns game last month. That didn’t work out. The Reign’s supporters, the Royal Guard, shrouded the group in trans pride flags when they tried to reveal their shirts.
Bremerton Civil War reenactor lost, then found: Tom Goodwin, 54, was portraying a Confederate soldier in a Civil War reenactment hosted by a farmer in Yelm—a part of the country that saw no Civil War battles—when he suffered a stroke. He had a headache, was disoriented, and confused. Goodwin didn’t make it back to his camp and got lost in the woods for six days. When state troopers found him, he told them, “I only want a cigarette and a Coke.”
Oregon’s boy mayors: After this election, three Oregon towns—Oregon City, Milwaukie, and West Linn—will all have mayors who were all born in the year 1999 or later. The West Linn mayor, Rory Bialostosky, first became mayor when he was 23 back in 2023. He had already served on the city council for three years.
The weather: Wet today 🙂
A bad stock market day: In the eddies of the blue wave, investors must have seen a grim portent for the future of AI. Most voters oppose data center construction and voted against them. This caused a big ol’ sell off resulting in Wall Street’s worst day in two years. Things are rebounding slightly Friday.
The labor market is healthy: October saw employers add 165,000 new jobs to the job market and unemployment dropped to 4.1 percent.
Rest in hell: Tesla is halting production of its ugly ass Cybertruck. If you want to feel even better about this, remember that Elon Musk spent $447 million supporting Republican candidates this election and they all lost.
Nithya Raman is the mayor: Los Angeles City Councilwoman and Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman beat incumbent Karen Bass to become mayor of the US’s second-biggest city. Raman’s big goals are to “reduce the number of people living in tents and encampments by at least 50 percent before the 2028 Olympics, triple annual housing construction, and staff a film office in the mayor’s office to win back Hollywood jobs,” reports LAist. One bit of drama: none of her colleagues on the city council endorsed her for mayor.
All hail the ancient herb: Researchers have discovered the oldest evidence of cannabis use in humans. They found 1,000 cannabis seeds dating back to the early eighth century B.C.E.—around 2,800 years ago—while excavating a burial mound in Serbia. Human hair recovered from the site contained cannibol, a byproduct of THC. The ancients were toking and they were smoking.
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