From The Guardian, How Republican Michael Grimm turned a federal indictment into a ticket back to Congress*
The year had not been kind to him: in January, he threatened to throw a reporter from local TV station NY1 off the balcony of the Capitol rotunda and break him in half “like a boy” after the reporter asked about a federal investigation into fundraising for his 2010 congressional campaign; in April he was indicted on 20 federal charges including fraud, perjury and employing undocumented immigrants
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And yet on Tuesday night, Grimm stormed to a 55-42 victory over his opponent, Brooklyn Democrat Domenic Recchia.
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In freaking New York City! A federal indictment for Chris Christie might just be his ticket to the White House. (Probably won’t work as well for Andrew Cuomo – acting like a Republican isn’t good enough, Andy, gotta have that (R) behind your name.)
South Carolina and Utah want the world to know that they aren’t racists.
Lindsay Graham was easily re-elected. Receiving 670,993 votes out of 1,235,851. Senator Tim Scott (R), African-American and appointed after DeMint’s resignation, was also easily elected to the remainder of DeMint’s term. Receiving 754,938 votes out of 1,234,777. How about that – Scott is more popular in SC than Graham.
Three woman have served in the US House of Representatives from Utah. All from the 2nd District and elected for a total of eight years. (Reva Beck Bosone (D), Karen Shepherd (D), and Enid Greene. Utah is now sending its fourth woman ever (first non-white?) to Congress:
USA Today, Mia Love First Black Republican Woman in Congress. From Utah!
What makes Love’s election even more interesting and the second reason she makes the IOKIYAR Chronicles was reported three years ago in Mother Jones
Though a child of immigrants, Love has embraced much of her party’s tough stance on immigration. She has implied that she would back deporting the US-born children of illegal immigrants so as not to reward “bad behavior.”
In January 2011, Love told the Deseret News that her parents, Jean Maxime and Marie Bourdeau, came to New York in the 1970s, fleeing poverty and looking for a better life. Love said that her parents immigrated legally, but were forced to leave their two young children behind in Haiti because their visa didn’t allow them to bring the kids.
There was an immigration law in place, however, that would grant the entire family citizenship if Jean Maxine and Mary had a baby in America. Deseret News:
But there was a deadline.
The law was set to expire on Jan. 1, 1976.
On Dec. 6, 1975, with 25 days to spare, Mia was born in a Brooklyn hospital.
In no time, her older brother and sister were sent for in Haiti and the family was re-united.
Says Mia: “My parents have always told me I was a miracle and our family’s ticket to America.”
How many Latino, Republican men and women were elected or re-elected to governorships and Congress this year? Democrats counting on demographic changes to save them might want to have a re-think.
*In fairness, it should be noted that Jesse Jackson, Jr. was re-elected when it was known that he was under federal investigation and had been on medical leave for several months. However, he did resign within days of being re-elected and months before being indicted.