Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where we are still analyzing statistics and trying to get videos up.
Key Westmoreland County Improved Democratic Performance
While other areas of Pennsylvania saw dramatically lower turnout and lower Democratic performance, Harris improved in Pittsburgh and some of the surrounding counties.
Congressman Chris Deluzio, running in a tight race, also improved on his Democratic performance and many areas in his district in Beaver County saw improved Democratic performances.
Likewise in heavily Republican Westmoreland County, south of Pittsburgh, Democrats increased their vote performance from 2020.
“Accepting these results and moving forward is difficult and painful, but we need to keep the faith. While there was a backslide in too many counties, Westmoreland should be proud. We did our part delivering 2,259 more votes for Kamala Harris in ‘24 (than) delivered for Biden in 20,” wrote the Westmoreland County Democratic Party online.
Bezos Cancels “Work from Home” for Washington Post
Last month, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos created dissension in his newsroom when he blocked the publication from endorsing Kamala Harris. In response, many staffers leaked details and published stories criticizing Bezos.
Over 250,000 readers canceled their subscriptions to protest Bezos’s interference.
Now, the Washington Post is canceling its “work from home” policy and demanding that people work 5 days a week in the newsroom. The Washington Post’s union the NewsGuild protested the move.
"Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work rather than to improve our productivity or collaboration,” said the union in a statement.
Democrats Struggle to Understand Immigration Missteps
Finally, POLITICO has an indepth look at how the Democratic Party is struggling to understand the problem it has with Latino voters:
Strategists on both sides of the aisle point to Harris’ abysmal performance with young Latinos — with Harris falling 20 points behind Biden’s 2020 numbers — as an existential threat to the Democratic Party, particularly as more young Latinos become old enough to vote. In 2024, 36.2 million Latinos were eligible to vote, double the number of eligible Latino voters in 2000.
Mike Madrid, co-founder of the Lincoln Project and an anti-Trump Republican, argues what’s happening isn’t a realignment. Rather, he says it’s a byproduct of Latinos under the age of 30, who represent 40 percent of all Latinos and who have “no vote history to realign,” choosing not to identify with the Democratic Party.
“The Latino vote has forever changed,” Madrid said. “And the Democrats need to hurry up and figure it out or they’re going to be irrelevant.”
Alright folks, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, story ideas, and comments to melk@paydayreport.com
