I live in Arlington County, in Northern Virginia. We are heavily Democratic, very well organized, and had a fairly heavy in person absentee voting percentage.
My wife arrived at our polling place, which opened at 6 AM, at 8:30. It is at least a 30 minute wait. Our precinct should be over 70% for Clinton.
Reports around the county are of similar lines.
Similar reports out of Fairfax County and Alexandria City.
In general, very heavy turnout on a nice day across NoVa.
There was no doubt that Clinton would carry the state, especially with Tim Kaine as her running mate.
It is a state Trump struggled to carry in the primary, and where Rubio clobbered him in NoVa.
Redistricting should add one House seat to our total, with State Senator Don McEachin expected to join Bobby Scott, Don Beyer, and Gerry Connolly in the delegation.
The turnout seems to indicate that LuAnn Bennett is likely to knock off Republican Barbara Comstock, although Comstock for some strange reason was endorsed by the Washington Post.
There are several other races further away from DC that might also be in play.
If around the country turnout continues to be as heavy as we have been seeing around the East Coast, then the polls are likely even at Clinton +6 to be significantly low, perhaps by as much as 3-4%, in which case several things are worth considering
- the number of electoral votes that Clinton will win are likely to expand
- We will take the Senate, and by more than 50-50. Last night a senior Republican Senate strategist told John Harwood they’d be lucky to hold it to 51-49 Dems. I think internal campaign data which is more up to date than public polling was showing clear movement to Democrats across the country.
- and then there is the House. We need 30 seats. According to John Ralston we should be picking up 2 just in NV. CA will be so lopsided, particularly with added boost of a referendum on legalizing marijuana, that we could in theory flip up to 10 seats.
Things to watch for — how quickly do PA and FL get called. If quickly, we are seeing a national trend, Clinton’s national margin is well over poll averages and even the House is in play.
Me? I am for now still housebound, but early afternoon I will take a cab into the National Democratic Club, park myself at the bar with my computer, and dig for what info I can get. I will stay until the Presidential is called, although realistically once Florida is given to Clinton, it is over.
Am using one of images already in library for long voting lines, since I do not have one of Arlington. If I find one on Facebook or Twitter, will paste below.
UPDATE offering some tweets courtesy of @BenchmarkPol who is retweeting others. You may want to click on links in tweets I share, first from Virginia:
And now from some Dem strongholds elsewhere:
UPDATE 2 09:57 EST two more tweets:
And now I will take a break, grab a nap and cuddle one or both of the cats.