Breakfast links: Democrats win big in Virginia
Governor-elect Ralph Northam gives a victory speech. Image by Image by the Ralph Northam campaign.
Ralph Northam will be governor
Ralph Northam beat Ed Gillespie to become Virginia's next governor (thanks in part, no doubt, to GGWash's endorsement). Fellow Democrats Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring took the other two statewide races. (Amanda Iacone / WTOP)
New Democrats enter Virginia’s House of Delegates, including Danica Roem
Danica Roem made history as America's first openly transgender state legislator. She joins 13 other new Democrats who unseated incumbents in the Virginia's House of Delegates, all men, with a group including 10 women and the state's first two Latina delegates. (Fenit Nirappil / Post)
Erik Gutshall elected to the Arlington County Board
Erik Gutshall won a seat on the Arlington County Board, beating Audrey Clement and Charles McCullogh. He will succeed outgoing member Jay Fisette and give the board new planning and transportation expertise. (Chris Teale / ARLnow)
Robocalls offered fake voting information to some Virginia residents
Some Virginia voters, including some in Fairfax County and the Prince William area, reported receiving phone calls saying that their polling places had changed. The calls were fake, designed to suppress voter turnout. (Martin Austermuhle / WAMU)
Elsewhere in the nation…
Westchester County, NY executive Rob Astorino, who fought federal efforts to say the county's zoning was too exclusionary and exacerbated segregation, also lost his seat. Melvin Carter, a supporter of a controversial plan to add new housing, was elected mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. (NY Post, TwinCities, Ben Ross / Twitter)
DC could hand out bans to bad-actor landlords
Councilmember Elissa Silverman has proposed allowing the city to deny business licenses and building permits to landlords who have accumulated five serious “Class 1 infractions” at their buildings in a given year. (Andrew Giambrone / WCP)
DC proposes a tax to provide Metro funding
The DC Council is debating a tax hike of 0.75 percent to provide dedicated funding for Metro, but it won't go into effect unless Maryland and Virginia also agree to an identical tax. Neither of those two jurisdictions support the proposal. (Faiz Siddiqui / Post)
Douglass Bridge gets design criticism from the federal fine arts commission
The Commission of Fine Arts wasn't impressed with DC's plans for the Frederick Douglass memorial bridge over the Anacostia river, saying the design “lacks grace”. Navigating further approvals from the CFA could lengthen the project. (Michael Neibauer / WBJ)
Montgomery County Council approves a $15 minimum wage
The council unanimously approved a proposal to gradually raise the minimum wage, giving small businesses more time to phase in it. By 2024 the whole county will pay a $15 minimum wage, which will be tied to inflation for the future. (Andrew Metcalf / Bethesda Beat)
United Medical Center will have to find new management again
The DC Council ended a contract with Veritas, the group that has been running the city's only public hospital in Southeast DC. Veritas' contract will end November 30 after the council questioned the care provided and their financial ties to the mayor. (Peter Jamison / Post)
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