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Since 2011
Gabe Fleisher, Editor-in-Chief
wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com

wakeuptopolitics.com @WakeUp2Politics

Election Central
Notable A look at some history made with the 2014 midterm elections:
2014 was the most expensive midterm election in U.S. history, with the
Center for Responsive Politics projecting nearly $4 billion to have been
spent in the cycle.
Tim Scott became the first African-American Senator elected from South
Carolina, and the first African-American popularly elected to the Senate
from the South since Reconstruction.
Shelley Moore Capito became West Virginias first female Senator.
Alma Adams special election win means the next time the 113th Congress
takes a roll call, 100 women will cast a vote in the U.S. House.
With Joni Ernsts election to the Senate, Iowa sent its first female member of
Congress and the first female combat veteran in the U.S. Senate.
After being first elected in 2010, winning a recall election in 2012, and voted
in for a second term Tuesday, Soctt Walker became the first person to win
three gubernatorial elections in four years the first-ever gubernatorial hat
trick over just for years!
Scott Browns loss in New Hampshire Tuesday, after a 2012 loss in
Massachusetts, makes him the first loser of two Senate races to women.
Elise Stefanik, 30, is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Mia Love became the first female African-American Republican and first
Haitian-American elected to the U.S. Congress.

 The Republican Party won its largest congressional majority since World
War II.
Tom Cotton is the first Iraq War veteran AND the first Afghanistan War
veteran elected to the Senate.
Greg Abbott, whose status as a paraplegic became controversial in the
campaign, is the first U.S. 21st century governor in a wheelchair.
The first openly gay state attorney general was elected Tuesday, Maura
Healey.
For the first time in U.S. history, no white Democrats represent the Deep
South in the U.S. House.
Elected to a sixth term Tuesday, Iowas Terry Branstad became the longestserving governor in American history, surpassing Founding Father George
Clinton of New York from the 1700s.
The first soda tax in the nation was passed as a ballot measure in Berkley,
California, a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages.
Carl DeMaio MAY become the first openly gay Republican member of the
U.S. House (race is too close to call).
Will Hurd is the first African-American Republican to win a federal election
in Texas since Reconstruction.
According to CBS, George P. Bush is the first member of the Bush family to
win their first election (Prescott and George H.W. lost Senate races, George
W. lost a House race, while Jeb lost his first run for governor).
Lauren Scott in Nevada MAY become the first openly transgender state
legislator in the nation (race is too close to call).
Lee Zeldin becomes the only Jewish Republican currently serving in
Congress, a position Eric Cantor usually occupies, but has been vacant since
Cantors primary loss and ensuing resignation.
And finallymy favorite: Saira Blair, elected to the West Virginia House of
Delegates Tuesday, at the age of 18. Blair, a West Virginia University
freshman, is the youngest state legislator in America.

White House Watch

Bourbon Summit and More from Obamas Post-Election Presser In a
press conference a day after his partys historic losses at the ballot box,
President Obama laid out his agenda for the next two years, and began by
floating some ways to engage with members of the other side of the aisle,
who are now in the majority.
Actually, I would enjoy having some Kentucky bourbon with Mitch
McConnell; I dont know what his preferred drink is, he said. McConnell,
the incoming Senate Majority Leader, is from Kentucky, which produces
95% of the worlds bourbon.
The President also named specific goals he had for the immediate future,
working with Congress to act on requests he has made, on ISIS and Ebola.
Although he still believes he has the authority himself, now that the election
is over, President Obama plans to formally request a resolution to use
military force to combat the Islamic State group.
In addition, the President has submitted a request to Congress for $6 billion
in Ebola aid. Obama also named the budget as an area he would like to work
with Congress on.
Finally, before 2014 ends, President Obama still plans to take executive
action on immigration, saying Wednesday, Before the end of the year,
were gonna take whatever lawful actions that I can take that I believe will
improve the functioning of our immigration system, that will allow us to
surge additional resources to the border where I think the vast majority of
Americans have the deepest concern.
The Presidents Schedule At 11:45 AM, in the Roosevelt Room, President
Obama will award the Medal of Honor to Army First Lieutenant Alonzo
Cushingwho died 150 years ago.
Cushing is receiving the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for actions at the
Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. Cushings long-overdue recognition
today is the result of a one-woman campaign waged by Margaret Zerwekh,
whose house was once owned by Lieutenant Cushings father.
At 7:15 in the South Lawn, the President and First Lady will host a In
Performance at the White House event for veterans, members of the

military, and their families, as part of the First Ladys Joining Forces
initiative. A number of music legends will perform from the South Lawn in
a salute to the troops.

Capitol Hill News

The Boehner-McConnell Agenda While President Obama held a press
conference Wednesday to lick his wounds after Tuesdays midterm elections
and plan for the years ahead, the presumed leaders of the largest Republican
congressional majority in 85 years laid out their agenda for the majority in
both chambers of Congress they hold for at least the next two years.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and incoming Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) co-wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion
piece that their priorities are to revive bills passed in the House but
not brought before the Senate, according to Bloomberg. These include
approving the Keystone L pipeline, changing the definition of full-time
employment set by the Affordable Care Act back to 40 hours, and renewing
our commitment to repeal ObamaCare, as the duo wrote.
Enacting such measures early in the new session will signal that the logjam
in Washington has been broken, and help to establish a foundation of
certainty and stability that both parties can build upon. Will these bills
single-handedly turn around the economy? No. But taking up bipartisan bills
aimed at helping the economy that have already passed the House is a
sensible and obvious first step, Boehner and McConnell said in the piece.
Ebola hearing Two days after the 2014 midterm elections, the Senate
Appropriations Committee will hold the first Ebola hearing Thursday in the
upper chamber since U.S. cases of the virus first emerged.
The hearing, chaired by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), will focus on the
U.S. government response to the Ebola outbreak.
This comes a day after President Obama wrote a letter to Congress formally
requesting $6.18 billion to implement a comprehensive strategy to contain
and end the Ebola outbreak at its source in Africa, enhance domestic
preparedness, speed the procurement and testing of vaccines and

therapeutics, and accelerate global capability to prevent the spread of future

infectious diseases.
The Presidents emergency appropriations request consists of $4.64 billion
for the immediate U.S. response, and $1.54 billion for a Contingency Fund
to ensure that there are resources available to meet the evolving nature of
the epidemic.