Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and, if you can pull yourself away from refreshing election results websites, today looks like a pretty nice day to spend outside. Expect sunshine, highs in the 70s, and the beginnings of a pleasant stretch of weather running right through the weekend.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,157↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 11↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 103↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 46, Henrico: 36, and Richmond: 21). Since this pandemic began, 438 people have died in the Richmond region. I decided to add a combined seven-day average line to my chart of the seven-day averages of new reported cases in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. I got tired of trying to add the numbers together in my head and then think about how that’d look over time. Anyway, as you can see, as a region we’re definitely experiencing a third peak of new reported cases. We’re probably doing more tests, which is good, but our percent positivity is slowly creeping up to that 5% threshold: Chesterfield, 5.8%; Henrico. 4.8%; and Richmond 3.4%. I said it early this week, but keep your eyes on the Mayor and the Governor for potential public-health policy changes as cases continue to rise and now that the (local) elections have wrapped up.
Speaking of! We've had some progress on the results of our local elections. Mayor Levar Stoney has declared victory—here's a concession-ish statement from Councilmember Gray that says "It has been the honor of my life to serve on city council for four years and the school board for eight years. I deeply appreciate the sacrifices of my family and my supporters during my mayoral campaign. All of us remain committed as citizens to making Richmond the fair, honest and inclusive city it needs to be." and, as of yesterday, a statement from Alexsis Rodgers says "Waiting is hard, but our democracy is worth it. Richmonders deserve the confidence that every vote is counted in the mayor’s race. We have many outstanding votes and will await for the official results to be announced. While votes are still being counted, one thing is clear - Richmond is hungry for change." All of that said, for all intents and purposes it sounds like we've got four more years with Mayor Stoney. With Gray's defeat, this will be the first time in a long time that she doesn't hold some sort of elected position in Richmond. As for the tight Council races—the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th—still too close to call. Kenya Hunter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has updates on the school board results, with 2nd District rep Scott Barlow losing to Mariah White and the 6th District race too close to call. OK! I feel like we're making progress on figuring out the political landscape for the next four years.
I assume you're all refreshing the same live blogs and Twitter accounts that I am, but, as of right now, the presidential election is also still too close to call. If I've got my electoral math right, Biden needs to hold Arizona and win one of: Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, or Pennsylvania. The margin in Arizona continue to tighten, and a magamob gathered outside and chanted as election officials worked to count mail-in ballots—not as bad as the "stop the count" chants heard in Michigan yesterday. Georgia, with ballots outstanding in areas that lean towards democrats (but do they lean hard enough??), is a statistical tie. Nevada, where Biden leads by the tiniest amount, is sloooooowly counting their remaining ballots. And while Trump leads in Pennsylvania, the outstanding ballots have been massively in favor of Biden. We can all shift our anxiety over to the next thing if: Biden holds Arizona and wins any other state, or if he wins Pennsylvania. Counting should resume in some of these spots around 9:00 AM.
After a bunch of years Bell's Brewery will once again distribute their beer—including Bell's Two Hearted Ale—in the Richmond region. Alcohol distribution in Virginia is a whole weird thing, and Bell's had beef with their previous distributor, Loveland. Moving forward, they'll use Specialty Beverage as their distributor, so I guess they got their legal issues sorted, which is great for beer-drinkers like me.
Richard Hayes at RVAHub has a set of charming photos from Maymont Glow (which only runs through November 8th, so you're running out of time if its been on your todo list).
This morning, the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a free COVID-19 testing event at the RRHA Senior Building (1611 4th Avenue) from 9:00–11:00 AM. Rain or shine, but, today, you should be fine!
This morning's longread
How to Fix the Supreme Court
Honestly, probably a longread for another morning, but, still, this answered a lot of my questions about reforming the Supreme Court.
Even now, Republican dominance over the court is itself counter-majoritarian. Including Amy Barrett, the party has picked six of the last 10 justices although it has lost the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections, and during this period represented a majority of Americans in the Senate only between 1997 and 1998 (if you count half of each state’s population for each senator). That’s a dangerous proposition for our constitutional order. The court can hold its conservative impulses in check with an eye to the future. Or it can ramp up a power struggle with the other branches that in the end — Marbury or no Marbury — it is destined to lose.
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