What A Day - Virginia Is For Voters

Episode Date: November 1, 2019

In today’s big impeachment update, the House votes to endorse the impeachment inquiry. Next up, public hearings. Uh… who needs Disney Plus?  The whole Virginia state legislature is up for re-election next Tuesday, and Democrats need to flip four seats to win control of state government. We tell you what’s at stake. HINT: it’s a lot!  And in headlines: Trump goes south, Popeyes wins a battle in the chicken wars, and Facebook bans horny fruit.

It's Friday, November 1st. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, the original Star Wars trilogy of daily news shows. Lisa, no Jar Jar Binks. On today's show, Republicans vote against the impeachment rules they've been asking for, the upcoming 2019 elections, and then some headlines. Okay. Impeachment. Gideon, go. Here we go. We're giving you two updates today. That is it.

The House voted to endorse the impeachment inquiry on Thursday, and we'll start the new public phase of this process going forward. All but two Democrats voted for it. That's what we expected. Plus one independent, Justin Amash. All Republicans voted against. Shocking. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presided, and here is what she had to say. It enables effective public hearings, setting out procedures for the questioning of witnesses and continuing the precedent of giving the minority the same rights in questioning witnesses as the majority, which has been true at every step of this inquiry, despite what you might hear fulminating there.

Some fulminating indeed. Republicans have been calling for transparency and complaining about closed-door testimonies, but even still, they were not happy. On Thursday, here's Republican Steve Scalise. This is unprecedented. It's not only unprecedented. This is Soviet style rules. Maybe in the Soviet Union, you do things like this, where only you make the rules, where you reject the ability for the person you're accusing to even be in the room. This is just so extra. It sounds like a little brother complaining that his controller is like lagging and that's why they're losing the game. The button is sticking. Yeah, exactly. That sort of thing. Gideon, what's the second update?

Update number two, Tim Morrison, the recently resigned top Russia expert for the National Security Council, testified that he saw signs of what had been described previously as a quid pro quo, corroborating important details of this entire impeachment inquiry. Though importantly, Morrison said that he did not view the president's actions as illegal or improper as others have in the past. He was also the second White House official to testify just this week. All right. We are going to provide these quick check-ins as the inquiry continues, along with some deeper dives. If the president gets impeached, we'll call you.

And now to our next story. All eyes have been pretty focused on the 2020 presidential election, but there are a bunch of important state elections this year, too, and some are happening next Tuesday. Today, we want to begin with the elections that are in Virginia. To start, let's catch up a little bit about the old Commonwealth. Yeah, okay, so I've got some fun facts about Virginia to get us started. Here's a list. It's the birthplace of George Washington and Jason Mraz. Okay, mixed bag, not bad. It's the state where one doctor discovered the healing power of laughter by becoming Patch Adams. My favorite of all clown doctors. And lots of people have a history of doing blackface there, which is obviously not good, and we're definitely going to get to that in a minute.

But most importantly, its entire state legislature is up for re-election next week. All 100 state House seats and 40 state Senate seats. Right now, Republicans have a majority, but it's pretty fucking slim. Democrats are trying to flip just four seats total to win control of the state's government. Right. And that's why it's drawn all these national Democrats who are running for president who have come to these districts to really help out and ensure that they win those elections. And the focus to it's important to note Democrats in the state have been trying to pass gun reform, raise the minimum wage, pass an equal rights amendment, all of which has sort of been stymied by Republicans in the state assembly, blocking it at different terms. So if they were to win and take those majorities next week, the idea is that they would be able to fast track all the bills and the governor would sign it. But just for a second here, I want to backtrack to the last time that Virginia voted on its state legislature in 2017. It was crazy, obviously, like good night for Democrats.

But one thing that happened after the fact was nuts. To break a tie for control of the House, lawmakers put the two tying candidate names into film canisters, then drew them from a bowl to pick the winner. I believe we have the clip to show you what I'm talking about. Madam Vice Chair, if you'll pull your canister. The bowl is empty. The winner of House District 94 is David Yancey. I guess they were worried he was going to pick like the wet piece of paper or cheat or something. So that's why they went with the femme canisters. Like, I don't know why they would choose that. It's just representative democracy at work. So Republicans won that drawing and they were able to keep control of the chamber, which they have to this day.

But overall, in the past, Virginia has been trending blue. No Republican has won statewide since 2009. And Trump's election has only accelerated that trend. Virginia is one of the places where there was some of the biggest and most active Democratic activity by voters both in 2017 and in 2018 for the midterm elections. Because Trump's approval is so low in the state, as low as 27 percent, he's actually staying away from this 2019 race. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. No one wants that stink on him. But Virginia Democrats were in the news earlier this year for a

number of scandals. Right, of course. A blackface photo was on the governor's medical school yearbook page, which first he admitted to, then later denied. And then there was an investigation about it that was inconclusive, truly a mess. A sexual assault allegation was leveled against the lieutenant governor, and the third person in line copped to being in a different blackface picture. None of them ended up stepping down, though. I've been looking into this, and people were obviously upset for good reason. It's racist. The governor went on an apology tour, and what was sort of surprising is that his approval rating has turned around. So it's not like everyone forgave him, but seems like, you know, pretty OK.

He signed the Medicaid expansion in the state before the scandal erupted. And that was really popular. It remains popular. It could be a reason why people are like, you know, sort of just going to take the L on this one and keep it moving. So even with this scandal, which again, super offensive, horrible, really like, I just, I think it's abhorrent. It's not really a reason to sit out the election if you were thinking of doing so. In terms of the elections next week, none of those

dudes are on the ballot. We actually talked to one of the people who is running to become a House delegate. It's Sheila Bynum Coleman. She's a Black woman. And we asked her if these scandals are affecting her election. Here's what she had to say. The Republicans would like to make the conversation about that. But the reality is people can't afford their insulin or their other prescription drugs, their light bills and their rent. That's what is important to the people of Virginia. And that is what matters. And that's what's driving this election. People are afraid to go out at night because they're afraid of being shot. That's what's happening right now. Yes. Let's talk about some of those issues. A big one is obviously gun violence, which Coleman just mentioned. I mean, it's a big priority for voters in Virginia. In a recent poll of voters, gun violence was the number one issue there. Mass shootings have hit the state

hard, obviously. Just this May, there was that mass shooting on Virginia Beach. The Virginia Beach Strong Center just opened this week. It's a community place to heal and sort of process the tragedy. So these issues are incredibly relevant to the voters there now. And there seems to be some sort of commonality among voters polled as to what they actually want to see happen here. I mean, overwhelming majorities are saying that they favor the expansion of background checks and red flag laws in Virginia. There's a lot of money from gun control groups that have really fueled these races. And Democrats have said that they want to pass those universal background checks and limit hand

gun purchases to one a month. Last thing before we go forward here, one other thing that's super important to touch on on these elections is the issue of gerrymandering. And I think the main thing that kind of draws this out for me is that Democrats won the statewide vote for the assembly by nine points in 2017. And as we said, still did not get the majority. Yeah. I mean, it's not good when you win a majority of the votes, but not a majority of the seats. But ain't that America? Yeah. And it's everywhere, even outside of Virginia, obviously. And whoever wins these elections in Virginia, though, gets to redraw the voting districts and congressional map in the next redistricting cycle in 2021. Akilah, can you explain how that works a little bit? Yeah. Okay, so once every decade following

the census, every state redraws the district lines for its members of Congress and state legislators. Virginia, like most other states, leaves the drawing up to the elected officials. Right. So gerrymandering, it's not good, but Republicans in Virginia are good at doing it. Yeah. I mean, historically disenfranchising black people has been pretty easy. It's a relic of the Jim Crow era that conservative lawmakers have tried desperately to hold on to. But the good news is that the Supreme Court upheld Virginia's ruling that the maps were gerrymandered before and needed to be fixed. This is the first election with those new maps, which means a bunch of districts that have been safer Republicans are going to be a lot

harder for them to win outright. And of course, this happens everywhere. So let's pause here and just sort of walk through a little bit about how gerrymandering actually works. Okay, so there are two major ways to do it, cracking and packing. I'm sure they named them that way because they rhyme and it's easier to remember. All right, if you lump all of the areas with black people into a single district, then they only have the opportunity to vote for a single representative in the state. That's packing. If you draw the district lines so that there are less of a certain party or voting block

and they're just sort of sprinkled everywhere but just a little bit, that's considered cracking. So the maps have been redrawn, but whichever party gets control gets to draw the map strategically after the next census coming up in the spring, which is why it's important to fill out the census. One of the districts that's been redrawn is the one that Sheila Bynum Coleman is running for.

She's the voice you just heard. She's running against Kurt Cox, the Republican majority leader who's been blocking gun reform. Cox has held his seat for 29 years and was very unhappy when the maps were redrawn. Yeah, I mean, he even said that the Supreme Court wouldn't allow the map to stand. And of course, it ultimately did. All right. Well, here's a clip of what Coleman had to say about the upcoming elections. Virginia is going to show the nation what fair elections look like and how important it is to not gerrymander districts and to not pack people into districts

and dilute their voice. We are looking at fair constitutional maps that are not gerrymandered and that are going to allow people to pick their legislators as opposed to legislators picking their voters. So go vote if you live in Virginia. Your vote really does count. Don't let film canisters decide if you get things like health care.

Find out more about Virginia and other elections happening next week at votesaveamerica.com. And now for some ads. According to studies, just over 10% of break-ins are planned beforehand. The rest are spur of the moment. Yikes. Crimes of opportunity, in other words, random. Did you know that only one in five homes has a home security system? Probably because most companies really don't make it that easy. That's right.

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so they know our show sent you. That's simplisafe.com slash whataday. And now, back to the show. And now let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. California Representative Katie Hill stepped down on Thursday. Here's an excerpt from her last speech from the House floor. I'm leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures,

capitalized on my sexuality, and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching. Hill's estranged husband allegedly coordinated with GOP operatives to release those photos, and the articles where the photos first appeared were written by former campaign advisors to Steve Knight, the Republican congressman who Hill ousted one year ago. Now Knight says he's

considering a run to win back his seat. He should consider getting bent. Thanks. The Chicago teacher strike ended this Thursday after 11 days and 300,000 public school students have to go back to school today. Sorry, kids, but one day you'll learn that reading is actually pretty sick. The strike got big results for teachers, with the city agreeing to spend millions reducing class sizes, upping salary for social workers, nurses, and librarians, and approving a 16% salary increase over the next five years. So go teachers! Yes.

A massive week in emoji news. Apple started rolling out their latest iOS update, which includes a gender-neutral option for most human emojis, along with lots of other additions that focus on inclusivity. Here's the bad emoji news. option for most human emojis, along with lots of other additions that focus on inclusivity, here's the bad emoji news. Facebook has added a line to their community standards agreement that said that users cannot include any, quote, contextually specific and commonly used sexual emojis, i.e. peaches and eggplants, alongside any sexual statements, i.e. do you like this peach and or eggplant? This happened in September but was only discovered recently. So to review, Facebook is reading every wall post to make sure

fruit picks aren't being used for horniness, but they won't review campaign ads where Donald Trump claims Hunter Biden ate 1,000 bars of gold in Ukraine. Hashtag free the horny fruit picks. The Popeye's chicken sandwich that sold out in days when it came out two months ago will be available again on November 3rd. That's a Sunday and yes, it does seem like

the day was chosen specifically to hit back at a certain popular God-fearing chicken restaurant that's closed on Sundays. Shout out to Popeye's for killing this release and making us all go insane

for a food that is, and I mean this with the utmost respect, extremely normal. Why would you say that? Is that even, can we clear that with a sponsor? I just don't think it's right. Did you even have the sandwich? I haven't with the utmost respect, extremely normal. Why would you say that? Is that even, can we clear that with a sponsor? I just don't think it's right. Did you even have the sandwich?

I haven't had the sandwich. It's a chicken sandwich. How good can it be? All right. Well, President Trump announced that he'll be moving his permanent residence to Palm Beach, Florida, instead of his longtime home of New York City. The exact reasons for Trump's move are unclear, but it could be because the Manhattan D.A. is making him turn over his tax returns,

most of the people in his neighborhood don't like him, or that he found out that the big M&Ms in the M&M store really aren't alive and now New York holds no mysteries for him anymore. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. We're new, so if you like the show, make sure you subscribe, give us a rating, send our writer John Milstein a happy birthday message on Cameo from Anthony Scaramucci, leave a review, and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just the WikiHow article for how to protect your Halloween candy from wild pests like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash newsletters. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's a spicy peach emoji. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long.

Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka.