Cross-Examination

• Alaska got Murkowskied: Thanks to Alaska’s adoption of the dubious ranked choice voting system, long-time incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was able to hold on to her seat over conservative Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka, despite the fact that Tshibaka won the most first choice votes. Murkowski is not a conservative, as demonstrated by her record of voting with Democrats over 60% of the time. Ranked choice voting is being pushed by leftist outfits like FairVote, which bills itself as “nonpartisan” but in reality is a progressive group, and such activists seek to undermine America’s historical electoral system in favor of a system that has proven time and again to favor Democrats. Ranked choice is billed as a system that will prevent “extremist” candidates from winning elections, but in reality it is a system that thwarts challenges to establishment candidates. In Alaska’s down-ballot races, a solidly red state turned a definite shade of purple, as Democrats came away with gains that would not have been possible in the past but for ranked choice voting.

• Another strategic blunder by Herschel Walker: With the December 6 Senate runoff election looming in Georgia between Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, political blunders need to be avoided. Unfortunately, Walker just made a big blunder, similar to that of Republican candidate Mehmet Oz in his failed Pennsylvania race. It’s the “carpet bagger” label, which Oz was never able to escape. It turns out that Walker is receiving a primary resident tax break on his home in Dallas, Texas. Back in 2021, Walker registered to vote in Georgia not long before launching his Senate bid in the Peach State. For decades prior, Walker lived in Texas, and records indicate that he took the “principle residence” tax break for his Texas home on his 2021 and 2022 tax returns, despite the fact that he had already launched his Senate bid in Georgia. While it appears that legally speaking, Walker’s Senate bid in Georgia is within bounds of the law, politically speaking this is another flaw that Warnock is sure to use to paint Walker as an outsider, despite Walker’s storied history as Georgia’s most famous running back.

• Home ownership is increasingly out of reach: “Affordability challenges are a major reason why home sales have slowed so dramatically over the last few months,” stated the real estate brokerage company Redfin in a recently released report. Thanks to sustained high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s repeated interest rate hikes over this year, fewer Americans are be able to afford purchasing a house. The median annual household income requirement to afford doing so has risen to $107,281, up from $73,668 just last year — an increase of almost 50%. However, despite the fact that home affordability has decreased, housing prices have remained relatively steady thanks to decreasing volume. Investment property sales have also slowed, down 30% from last year.

Headlines

• DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says he’s not going anywhere (Townhall)

• Kari Lake sues Maricopa County over Election Day issues (Daily Wire)

• Georgia Supreme Court sides with Raphael Warnock, Democrats in early voting fight (Daily Wire)

• Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban (Washington Examiner)

• Noncitizen bill makes aliens and diplomats DC voters (Wall Street Journal)

• Newsom says he won’t challenge Biden (Politico)

• Fed officials see smaller rate hikes coming “soon,” minutes show (CNBC)

• Vaccinated Americans a majority of COVID deaths for first time in August (Fox News)

• A rail strike looms and impact on US economy could be broad (CBS News)

• Houston issues boil water notice following power outages to water treatment plants (Fox News)

• Humor: Tied England-U.S. match to be decided by whichever country last beat the other in a war (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.