Yes, California Really Did Kick Ass in the November Election

On November 7 I reported that voter turnout in California had been lousy this year. On November 9 I reported that I had screwed up: voter turnout had actually been pretty great. Using estimates from David Dayen, I figured that total turnout would turn out to be about 12.7 million, or 50.4 percent of eligible voters. Today the Sacramento Bee provided us with nearly final numbers:

More than 25 million Californians were eligible to vote in the election, and nearly 19.7 million of them were registered — both record-highs. About 12.7 million Californians are expected to have voted in the November elections — the highest number in a general election midterm cycle in state history.

That was a pretty good estimate from David! Let this be a lesson to everyone: it takes a long time to count votes in California, so don’t jump to conclusions unless you really know what you’re talking about.

ALSO: We flipped seven seats from Republican to Democratic, 18 percent of the national total. That’s kicking ass.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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