Today, as results come in across the country, NPR reporters will be updating this breaking news blog in real time. The NPR Politics team, along with Member station reporters, will be providing live updates in the form of photo, video, commentary and analysis for both national and local contested races.
This includes NPR’s Tamara Keith who will be covering the Clinton/Kaine election night event and NPR’s Sarah McCammon, at the Trump/Pence event. NPR correspondents and Member station reporters will be following up with analysis on local, Congressional, Senate and gubernatorial races in New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and more.
As you scroll through the live blog, come back to the top of the blog to populate new stories that have been posted since you’ve visited the page. Get a more in-depth look at each one of these races by clicking the “View Results” link in the top right of the blog.
Follow @NPRPolitics on Twitter and Facebook and NPR on Snapchat (@NPR) for more reports and updates from the field.
As millions of Americans head to the polls Tuesday, just one week ago, children across the nation voted for the next presidential candidate in a mock election. The “Every Kid Votes!” event began with the 2004 presidential race, and every election year since, school children across the country have accurately voted for America’s next president. Will that trend continue this year?
Cody Cunningham teaches sixth grade social studies at Calhoun County Middle School. This year, his class is one of thousands across the nation participating in the Studies Weekly “Every Kid Votes!” Mock Presidential Election.
This is the first time Calhoun County Middle School students are participating.
“And I thought, well hey, this is a really cool idea, so let’s just do it,” Cunningham said, “Cause it’s an election year, it’s gonna make the kids are already excited, and you know, what’s a more perfect avenue than social studies to bring in research and reading and talking about an issue that they really enjoy.”
Cunningham has been preparing his students over the last four weeks for this year’s mock election — assigning them readings about the Electoral College, what it means to be a citizen, and even about the candidates themselves.
But there’s no question it’s been a controversial election year, with scandals and heated debates. Calhoun County Superintendent of Schools Tim Woodward says while some of the political attacks may not be appropriate for middle schoolers; he still believes they should be exposed to the political process.
Credit Ashton Marra / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A student at Calhoun County Middle School votes during the mock election.
“I think that the younger that we begin to talk to them about, you know, about how our government works, civic responsibility, understanding our system of basically having two parties; how that works, and you know beginning to be able to evaluate and think for yourself about, you know, what do I think, and which party best represents my way of thinking,” Woodward explained.
Studies Weekly CEO Ed Rickers agrees. He says that’s what the mock election was created for: to get students interested in the election process at a young age.
Since the national mock election began in 2004, students across the country have accurately selected the winning candidate. Rickers says that’s likely because the students ultimately are a reflection of what they’re exposed to at home.
He joined West Virginia Public Broadcasting via Skype.
“There’s a lot of adults saying this person’s bad, or this person’s less bad or worse, or you know, there’s so much, there’s scandal, there’s all these things, and it just adds so much complexity, that, I think at the end of the day, the kids just sort of go with whatever vibe they pick up from mom and dad.”
Back in Cunningham’s classroom, his students walk a few at a time to the nearby computer lab, or their “polling place.”
Another sixth grade teacher, Daniel Cosgrove, checks their voter registration cards and asks a couple of them who they’ll be voting for.
“I’m voting for Trump, because I think that he’ll make our country great again and he said that he was going to bring back all the coal mines that they had shut down and give everybody the work that they needed,” said 11 year-old Akeara Webb.
Webb is like many of her classmates who said they were voting for Trump for a variety of reasons — reasons we see reflected in the national conversation. He’s going to build a wall and stop illegal immigration, one student said. 12 year-old Kylie Murphy voted for Trump, too.
“I like what he stands for, because I don’t believe in like, abortion, and as a Republican, just as a Republican in general, that’s what a Republican stands for; they don’t stand for abortion,” Murphy said.
There were a few Hillary Clinton supporters in the Calhoun County Middle School sixth grade class. Like 11 year-old Jaylen Jett.
“I think that Hillary, she has done a lot of good things as, whenever she’s in, not in the White House, but as like senators, and I thought that she did a lot of good things, and I personally think that she’s more of a statesman than Donald Trump is, so I think that she would be a better person for the office,” said Jett.
Credit Ashton Marra / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Sixth grade social studies teacher Daniel Cosgrove checks in a student who will vote in the mock election.
Teachers Cunningham and Cosgrove view real-time results on a computer as their classes’ votes come in. As they expected, Donald Trump is the clear winner.
An interactive map on the Studies Weekly website shows Trump handedly took West Virginia, but for the rest of the nation, Hillary Clinton comes out the clear winner in the mock election with 376 electoral votes versus Trump’s 159.
Tonight we’ll learn if students across America truly are mimicking what they hear at home and accurately chose the next president of the United States. Polls in West Virginia close at 7:30 this evening.
When you think of the term “family values,” chances are you think of the Republican Party, circa 1994. But recently, a labor-backed organization called “West Virginia Family Values” is funding attack ads against exclusively Republican targets.
On this week’s Front Porch podcast, Laurie Lin suggests this is an attempt to muddy the waters and co-opt conservative messages.
Rick Wilson contests that the Republican Party neither holds a monopoly on family values, nor is it even particularly conservative.
Before that, though, they have to wade through the presidential race, with talk of “bad hombres” and “nasty women.”
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The Front Porch is underwritten by The Charleston Gazette Mail, providing both sides of the story on its two editorial pages. Check it out: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/
In his gubernatorial campaign, Senate President Bill Cole has emphasized shrinking the size of state government and cutting down on regulation in West Virginia. Cole has drawn support from like-minded national Republican figures, such as Wisconsin’s controversial governor, Scott Walker.
It’s that kind of support that has generated some of Cole’s strongest opposition among voters in the Mountain State.
Boos greeted Cole and Walker as they arrived for a campaign rally in Charleston last week.
“We’re here to protest the fact that Bill Cole is bringing a guy named Scott Walker to town,” said Josh Sword, secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO union. “And Scott Walker is the governor of Wisconsin whose claim to fame is lowering wages, taking away benefits and making work places less safe in Wisconsin. And I guess Bill Cole thinks that’s going to help his candidacy.”
Walker joined Cole on a tour of West Virginia – making stops in Bluefield, Charleston and Morgantown.
Cole voiced his admiration for what Walker has done in Wisconsin during their joint campaign stop in Morgantown. He said Walker came into office with more than 9 percent unemployment and a $3.6 billion deficit.
“And in the six years he’s been in office, unemployment is down to 4.1, I think he said, and they have a $300 million surplus — budget surplus — this year,” Cole said.
Walker ran into a lot of union opposition when he passed some of the same legislation in Wisconsin that Cole shepherded through West Virginia’s Legislature this past session.
Right to Work
One of those bills made West Virginia the 26th right-to-work state.
The law makes it illegal to fire a worker for refusing to join a union or pay union dues or fees, but it’s being challenged in a state court, with union leaders leading the charge against it.
“Right- to-work is not an anti-union vote,” Cole said. “Now the union bosses are going to say that it is because the union bosses are all of a sudden going to have to get up and deliver for their membership.”
Cole said unions will now have to prove that those dues will help workers. Opponents of the law say those fees help unions negotiate fair wages for all workers.
The backlash against right-to-work and other GOP-backed legislation Cole advanced during this past session has spurred opposition candidates to run in West Virginia, even Republicans. West Virginia’s race for governor has also attracted money from national political action committees that want to make sure those laws stay in place.
Back at the protest in Charleston, Ginny Moles with the Alliance for Retired Americans, said she doesn’t agree with Cole’s leadership during his time in the Legislature.
“You don’t cut jobs. You don’t pass right-to-work when only 8 percent of the workforce is union and tell us that’s anything but union-busting,” she said. “If you want to build the state, you don’t do those two things. You create jobs.”
Credit Jesse Wright / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Campaign signs at Bill Cole’s stop at Jameson’s Bar & Grill in Morgantown.
Job creation is featured prominently in Cole’s campaign. He often cites wanting to change West Virginia’s low workforce participation rate as one of his primary goals. So has his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, billionaire Jim Justice.
U.S. Presidential Race
Another thing they both agree on is who they’d like to see as the next U.S. president.
“We in this room all better pray it’s a Donald Trump Whitehouse,” Cole said to a group of energy industry executives at a meeting in Wheeling last week.
He told the group Hillary Clinton is bent on regulating the coal and gas industries to death and that’s something West Virginia can’t afford. At that meeting, Cole also referenced leaked footage of Trump making vulgar remarks about sexually assaulting women, defending his party’s candidate.
“I’m sure we’ve all said and done things that we’d love to take back or take off the table or wouldn’t be so proud of in a different setting than when they were said,” he said.
Auto Dealerships
Justice campaign ads have taken shots at Cole over several lawsuits stemming from his auto dealership in Ashland, Kentucky. They include allegations of sexual harassment — not at the hands of Cole himself, but other employees.
Cole describes them as nuisance lawsuits that most businesses deal with on a regular basis.
“They’ve all been discharged. Not a one of them went anywhere,” he said.
Cole making a living as an auto dealer has generated criticism of another kind, though.
Under his watch as Senate president, West Virginia lawmakers passed S.B. 453, in 2015. The bill banned direct sales of Tesla electric vehicles, which critics say cuts competition for Cole’s dealerships.
The law also set a minimum reimbursement rate for warranty work done on cars. Democrats say this is especially hypocritical considering Cole pushed through the repeal of West Virginia’s prevailing wage this year. Prevailing wage laws set the minimum amount contractors can be paid on state construction jobs.
Cole said repealing the prevailing wage and other legislation he has championed as Senate president will move the state forward.
Back at the rally at a bar on High Street in Morgantown, Cole also referenced the fact Justice says he’ll continue to coach high school basketball if he’s governor, potentially splitting his attention during the Legislative session.
“So if we have full-time problems, they require full-time solutions and I’m going to tell you, we need a full-time governor,” he said. “That governor is Bill Cole.”
The latest MetroNews West Virginia poll shows Justice leading Cole by 11 points. That’s down slightly from the previous month’s 14 points. The margin of error still puts Justice’s lead in double digits.
Energy and health care. They’re the two issues in the presidential race that could have the greatest impact on West Virginians.
On this week’s Viewpoint, we look at where the Democrat Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stand on the two issues with a report from The Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier and an interview with Kara Lofton, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Appalachia Health New Coordinator.
We also delve this week into the races for statewide office with a look at the campaigns for Treasurer and Secretary of State.
Democrat John Perdue is up for re-election this year. The long-time Treasurer has held the office for 20 years. He’s running against political newcomer Republican Ann Urling who brings 30 years of community banking to the table.
Democratic incumbent Natalie Tennant is locked in a three-way battle to maintain her post as Secretary of State. A look at the race between Tennant, Republican Mac Warner and Libertarian John Buckley.
And a lawsuit alleges the Cabell County Clerk is violating the rights of her constituents. Anne Li has that story.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go head-to-head in the third presidential debate Wednesday, October 19 at 9 p.m. This debate will follow the same format as the first presidential debate. It will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by Fox’s Chris Wallace, the moderator.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) will provide extensive coverage of the debates our statewide TV and Radio networks, and online and wvpublic.org. Coverage begins at 9 p.m. EDT.
SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE VIDEO AND ANNOTATIONS
On TV – WVPB will air PBS NewsHour’s special debate coverage; Join Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff for the full debate, plus analysis from Mark Sheilds, David Brooks, and Amy Walter. You can also watch via Youtube in this post.
On Radio – All Things Considered’s Robert Siegel will host Special Coverage of the events as well as post-debate analysis and fact-checking. You can also listen via our online radio stream.
Online – NPR’s politics team will be live annotating the debate, with help from reporters and editors who cover national security, immigration, business, foreign policy and more. Portions of the debate with added analysis are highlighted, followed by context and fact check from NPR reporters and editors.
The live annotations will be available below; visit wvpublic.org for additional coverage of the debate.
