Hyde-Smith’s Win in Mississippi Will Help the Senate Easily Confirm Trump Judicial Nominees
There are 112 court vacancies.
The GOP kept another seat in the Senate as Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith easily defeated her Democrat challenger Michael Espy in the special election on Tuesday.
The victory gives the GOP a three-seat advantage in the Senate, which will help them easily confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees.
From The Washington Examiner:
With Democrats now in control of the House of Representatives, Trump won’t be able to pass any sort of major legislation, meaning that the Republican Senate will be primarily spending the next two years pushing through as many judicial nominations as possible.
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The added cushion not only means that it will be easier for McConnell to get nominees confirmed, it also means that Trump and his team can have more leeway to nominate more conservative judges given that there is now less pressure to placate centrists.
Currently, there are 112 district court vacancies and 11 appellate vacancies on the federal bench. Going into this election, the Senate had confirmed 84 Trump judges.
If Trump fills all of the current vacancies, nearly one in four federal judges will have been appointed by Trump. This does not take into account any additional vacancies that could come up over the next two years. This could have a transformative effect on the judicial branch, and will likely figure heavily in the 2020 election as Trump will tout judges as a leading example of how he delivered for conservatives.
The GOP picked up seats in North Dakota, Florida, and Indiana. The Democrats won in Nevada and Arizona and held onto Montana.
Trump attended two rallies on Monday night in a last minute attempt to push Hyde-Smith over the finish line even though polls had her over Espy by double digits.
Controversy after controversy swallowed Hyde-Smith since Election Day, which I covered in a previous post, didn’t stop people from voting for her.
99% of the precincts have reported, giving Hyde-Smith 474,471 votes to Espy’s 405,486. She has a 53.9% lead.
From Fox News:
With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Hyde-Smith had 446,927 votes to Espy’s 374,880 — a commanding margin of 54.4 percent to 45.6 percent, according to state election officials. The race marks the final midterm contest of 2018.
“I want everybody to know, no matter who you voted for today, I’m gonna always represent every Mississippian,” Hyde-Smith said at her victory party late Monday night. “Being on that MAGA-wagon, the Make American Great Again bus, we have bonded, we have persevered, we have gotten through things, we were successful today.”
Hyde-Smith’s win gives Republicans more leeway to ensure the confirmation of Trump’s federal judicial and Cabinet nominees that require Senate approval and strengthens the party’s chances of holding the majority in 2020.
“She has my prayers as she goes to Washington to unite a very divided Mississippi,” Espy said in his concession speech.
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Comments
This makes Ben Sasse and old Mitt so much less powerful, sorry guys – they probably were sneaking donations to Espy. Guess I can’t hide my RINO disgust.
Its exactly this! Sissy Sass and the Democrat from Utah are no longer a factor!
What makes you think Hyde-Smith is conservative? Do you know here background? She was a Dem at the state level. The chances are greater she will be more like Susan Collins and side with your list of RINOs than, say, well whoever your favorites are.
Not being from Mississippi it’s hard to tell about her. She definitely has said some strange things. Agree that the signs are she might join with the Sasse and Romney wing a lot.
beyond the margin of fraud, thankfully.
A lesson that must be learned often over the past decades. Just look a Florida and all that transpired there to try and finagle the margins when the vote count differences are smaller. No binders of women – but certainly trunkloads of ballots…..
Don’t count on Romney, Murkowski or Collins to help. Looks like Trump will still need to send Pence to every Senate vote.
Trump on Mike Espy: How does he fit in with Mississippi? I could go over this. But how does he fit in?
Espy’s ancestors were from Mississippi, he was born in Mississippi, practiced law in Mississippi, and was elected as Mississippi’s first black Congressional representative since Reconstruction.
Whoopity doo.
None of which answers the question. It’s one thing to represent an urban leftist district, but representing a very conservative state is another thing altogether – which, of course, you know and choose to ignore.
He’s a grievance mongering leftist, which negates your demographic points.
He may fit YOUR definition of a Mississippian but not THE definition. As more major cities concentrate blue power (bolstered by freebies paid for by less and less workers), the greater disconnect with the rest of the country. Will need to revise the New Yorker cover to denote small flecks of blue where only Chicago and LA were even noticed although not respected.
The people of Mississippi (i.e., those who live in Mississippi and vote for those to go to DC as a fellow Mississippian to best represent them as citizens of, what was that state again? Oh yeah – Mississippi) sided with Trump.
Using your airtight logic, birthplace and job location qualify anyone for Congress. Gee, you could apply your rigorous standard to Cindy Hyde-Smith. Ever think of that, Socrates Jr?
Rhetorical question.
Colonel Travis: The people of Mississippi (i.e., those who live in Mississippi and vote for those to go to DC as a fellow Mississippian to best represent them as citizens of, what was that state again? Oh yeah – Mississippi) sided with Trump.
Sure, but Trump indicated that Espy doesn’t “fit in with Mississippi”, when he is just as much a Mississippian as any in the state.
As Barack Obama proved, you can be born within the geographical boundaries of somewhere , such as America, and still not share the values that define “America”.
As Barack Obama proved, you can be born within the geographical boundaries of somewhere , such as America
He was?
tom_swift: He was?
Most Republicans still believe Obama was not born in the U.S.
SDN: As Barack Obama proved, you can be born within the geographical boundaries of somewhere , such as America, and still not share the values that define “America”.
We see what you mean. Espy received the support of nearly all black Mississippians.
I like how you didn’t understand a single thing I wrote.
Keep up the great work, moron.
Colonel Travis: I like how you didn’t understand a single thing I wrote.
Actually, it’s clear by our answer that we understood your point.
Colonel Travis: Using your airtight logic, birthplace and job location qualify anyone for Congress.
We didn’t discuss qualifications or who would make the best representative.
Colonel Travis: The people of Mississippi (i.e., those who live in Mississippi and vote for those to go to DC as a fellow Mississippian to best represent them as citizens of, what was that state again?
Nearly all of Hyde-Smith’s votes came from whites, while nearly all of Espy’s votes came from blacks. Only if you think blacks don’t count does your claim stand. While blacks constitute a minority, they are still Mississipians.
Ugh. Look who’s back.
The victory gives the GOP a three-seat advantage in the Senate, which will help them easily confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees.
Don’t count your Republican votes before they hatch. There are far too many treacherous squishes among the Rs to make anything easy.
notice how Graham is behaving with McCain no longer in play?
Perhaps every cloud does have a silver lining.
It also makes it harder for the Mueller witch hunt to actually produce the result they want.
And his next (attack dog) AG.
“The GOP picked up seats in North Dakota, Florida, and Indiana.”
Missouri too.
Mary, I envy your optimism.
I think all the extra seats will do is provide a few extra RINOs cover to play their reindeer games.
As for the rino rat point of view:
Meghan McCain: Hyde-Smith Is ‘Disgusting and Embarrassing’:
https://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/11/27/meghan-mccain-hyde-smith-is-disgusting-and-embarrassing/