Elsewhere, a measure about gay and transgender rights was driving voter turnout in Houston, and Joe Ganim, who spent seven years in federal prison for corruption, reclaimed the mayor’s office in Bridgeport, Conn. Opponents include a coalition of conservative pastors who contend it would infringe on their religious beliefs against homosexuality.
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The result was a potentially troubling sign for Democrats ahead of next year’s presidential election and represented a big win for the GOP as it continues to consolidate political power across the South. Democrats also were thumped in Virginia, where they made a big push to win a majority in one chamber of the state Legislature. Just 31 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls in a state with more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Party leaders are skeptical that outsiders’ rebellious appeal will be sufficiently deep and lasting to send such a candidate to the White House. In addition, in Kansas there is growing pressure from the hospital industry and a few legislative Republicans to get the state to expand eligibility. Beshear – who was term-limited – pushed through both the state exchange and the Medicaid exchange with executive orders.
Bevin also denied his involvement in a rally past year to legalize cockfighting in Kentucky – until a reporter confronted him with video evidence of the candidate expressing his support for the illegal sport as a state’s rights issue. Opponents are gathering signatures for a 2016 ballot measure that would overturn the law and require people to use facilities that correspond with their “biological sex”. Bevin is indeed a drastic change for Kentucky. He had argued that it demonstrated the failure of the healthcare reform law. The Kentucky Health Cooperative announced its impending closure earlier this month, forcing 51,000 to find new plans in 2016.
“The people who helped him get elected, many of them are from Northern Kentucky”, Kenton County Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann said Wednesday afternoon, November 4.
“We are blessed with an incredible set of values the vast majority of Kentuckians hold”, Bevin said in his victory speech. Apparently, the media isn’t telling the truth about what Americans want – but there is no denying that election results do tell the truth.
Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an adviser to Republicans nationally, said conservatives do have options. Facing widespread criticism, he backtracked, saying he would allow those who have gained coverage to stay in the program while capping enrollment.
Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have approved Medicaid expansion, while the remaining 20 states have blocked it or have it under consideration.
Bevin toned down his language on Medicaid throughout the campaign. “Campaign promises are different from the work of governing”, said Nicole Huberfeld, a law professor at the University of Kentucky.
But those 400,000 people were more than twice what state officials had originally projected.
But Greg Stumbo, the Democratic speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, told the Washington Post he was prepared for a tough fight to defend Kynect and the ACA coverage expansions. “Absolutely”, Bevin said. “No question about it. I would reverse that immediately”. “It’s gonna be a battle in this next session to see what happens with that program”.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is promising an orderly transition as Republican Gov.-elect Matt Bevin begins his preparations to take office. The Kentucky Hospital Association issued a similar statement. Nonetheless, while I can’t speak for the lists from other states, the list for Virginia is a fair representation of the best political bloggers in the state from both sides of the aisle.
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The governor’s race wasn’t the only setback for Kentucky Democrats. With 71 seats confirmed and another three still too close to call, Republicans are within striking distance of the 74 seats needed for a supermajority. Bevin has said he would dismantle the insurance marketplace, which would revert to federal operation.
