It's morning in America and we've got votes to count. Credit: Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images

We need your help. The economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis is threatening our ability to keep producing the stories you’ve come to love. If you’re able, please consider making a monthly contribution to The Stranger.

Its morning in America and weve got votes to count.
It’s morning in America and we’ve got votes to count. Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images

Last night, as the GOP picked off the battleground states of Texas, Florida, and Iowa, many tired Americans fell for Trump’s election narrative: “The results tonight have been phenomenal,” Trump boasted to his maskless crowd of family members and GOP necromancers. It was just after 2:20 in the morning at the White House, and the Kool-Aid was strong. Trump’s results were phenomenal, so long as vote-watchers disregarded Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and Joe Biden’s lead in votes and the Electoral College—which is what Trump wanted them to do. “It’s clear that we have won in Georgia,” Trump said. It was not clear. “We will win this. And as far as I’m concerned, we already have won.” That was Trump’s message to voters: I’ve won. Trust me. The United States isn’t a democracy. **hot air and fart noises**

Without evidence, Trump topped off his crooked late-night presser by calling the election a “fraud”: “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” he said, wrongly, from the East Room of the White House. “This is a major fraud on our nation. We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court.” Nevermind that Trump and his campaign could not go directly to the Supreme Court, they’d need to go through lower courts first. “We want all voting to stop,” he continued. Even fucking Ben Shapiro thought the speech was off the rails.

In reality, things were sort of going as anticipated: By the middle of the night, Biden picked up leads in Wisconsin and Michigan. Pennsylvania was still in play for good old Scranton Joe. By morning, the Biden campaign was considering this timeline:

Just for a little contrast, here’s Joe Biden last night:


The front page of the New York Times site called the election a “nail-biter that may extend for days.” As Washington state voters know: Yes, that’s how elections often work.

Things were going even more as the Stranger Election Control Board anticipated over in Washington state, where many races shaped up faster than usual. Gov. Inslee won a third term as governor, with almost 60% of Tuesday’s results. Nearly all state executives were going to the Dems, who led in nine out of ten of Washington’s state executive races. Secretary of State Kim Wyman, Washington state’s favorite Republican, came in with 51.75% of Tuesday’s vote. To the SECB (and Rich Smith’s) delight, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal was beating out “German Marshall Scholar” Maia Espinoza 56.68% to 42.83%. And Referendum 90, which favored comprehensive and inclusive sex education in schools, was approved by WA voters.

We’ve got round-ups from last night in our liveblog: As usual, we’ll have more on local and state races later this morning and throughout the week. (Throw us a buck for coffee; we’re running on about ~three hours of sleep.)

Oh God, the Senate: It’s looking more and more like the Senate won’t get fucking flipped from Republican to Democrat control, though the final results are still pretty unclear. After Democratic Sen. Doug Jones’s loss to Tommy Tuberville in Alabama last night, the Dems needed four more seats to flip. John Hickenlooper and Mark Kelly managed to do the deed in Colorado and Arizona, respectively, unseating incumbent Republicans Sen. Cory Gardner and Sen. Martha McSally. But many of the other hotly contested races stayed red or look abysmal as of this morning.

Elephant Car Wash donates smaller elephant sign to Amazon: The smaller pink neon sign is now in Amazon’s possession, ironic considering the company priced out Denny Triangle businesses like the iconic car wash. For free, no less. “They asked for it, they wanted to have it,” owner Bob Haney told Katherine Khashimova Long at the Seattle Times. “So I gifted it to them.”

Things are not looking good on Greek Row at UW: 17 new coronavirus cases have been reported, bringing the total outbreak number to 346 as of Tuesday morning. The Daily says that 20 of the 45 Greek chapters have reported infections. Combined with an outbreak earlier in the summer, the total number of COVID cases connected to fraternities and sororities at the university is 500.

These queers want you to stop being so MEAN to Mayor Jenny Durkan: After the Seattle LGBTQ Commission called for Durkan to resign last month over her poor handling of police violence, homelessness, and budgeting, 195 LGBTQ community members and allies signed a letter disagreeing with that stance. They believe Durkan is “the right leader to guide our city through these tumultuous times.” L-O-Fucking-L. Read the letter in full here.

It’s going to stay rainy: The mood outside matches my mood inside.

Loren Culp refuses to do the math: The police chief of Republic, WA told a crowd of maskless supporters last night that despite Gov. Jay Inslee’s 19 point lead, he’s not conceding the election. “We are going to let everyone’s voice be heard and every vote counted.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland lives to see another four years in office: The embattled mayor of the city to the south fought off opponent Sarah Iannarone last night, winning 47% to her 41% with 90% of the votes counted. Iannarone has yet to concede.

Demonstrators took to the streets last night in Seattle: The call to action was less about the election and more about continuing to fight for racial justice and end police brutality, reports the Seattle Times. Two groups made their way through familiar haunts in downtown and Capitol Hill, merging in South Lake Union before heading back to the Hill. The Seattle Police Department issued a dispersal order around 10:20 pm, arresting eight people, while the Washington State Patrol closed and reopened I-5 as protesters marched near the highway. Read the Times and Crosscut for more coverage on last night’s protests and demonstrators’ demands.

America can’t agree on a president, but we can all agree that drugs rule: Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Montana all voted to legalize marijuana while Mississippi approved medical marijuana. Meanwhile, D.C. is on track to decriminalize “natural psychedelics” like mushrooms, mescaline, and ayahuasca. Oregon went a step further and legalized psilocybin—the psychedelic component in magic mushrooms. Oregon also decriminalized possession of “hard drugs” like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. 2020 is going to be the decade of psychedelics, believe you me. We’re going to need it.

After 126 years, Mississippi hangs up the Confederacy: The state voted to approve a new state flag design featuring a magnolia and the words “In God We Trust.” Mississippi was one of the last states to feature an image of the Confederate battle flag on their state flag, which was officially retired in June after the protests against racial injustice this summer.

California passed Proposition 22 which is terrible news for gig economy workers across the country: The ballot measure exempts companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates from classifying their drivers as employees, allowing them to deny workers labor benefits like health care, sick leave, and minimum wage. The companies poured more than $200 million into the campaign for the proposition, arguing that treating their workers as employees would be too expensive. This win is the blueprint for fights waged in other states and countries between the companies and their workers. A big fat disappointment.

On the bright side: California passed a ballot measure restoring the right to vote for felons on parole, giving the vote to approximately 50,000 people in the state.

And Florida finally gets with the program: Approving an amendment to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour (but by 2026).

Jas Keimig is a former staff writer at The Stranger, where they covered visual art, film, stickers, and culture.

Chase Burns is The Stranger's former editor. He's covered everything from gay luchadores to chemical weapons to Isabella Rossellini's favorite pets.