Post by mcnutt on Feb 2, 2017 19:26:24 GMT
On December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the case of Bush vs Gore. The high court stopped the Florida recount, while Bush was ahead. Bush Cheney won Florida and with it the election with a narrow 271 to 267 margin over Gore Lieberman in the Electoral College, although he lost the popular vote by 48;4 % to 47.9 %. Republicans also had retained control of the House by a 221 to 215 margin. ( The House had been increased to 436 when the District of Columbia won a voting seat in 1969.) Democrats had the consolation prize of winning the Senate by a 53 to 49 margin. ( That is OTL plus 2 from the District of Columbia and 1 from Pennsylvania. The Senate grew to 102 members when the District of Columbia won representation in 1969.)
The Democratic control of the Senate had it roots in events that happened years earlier. In 1963, Martin Luther King mentioned the District of Columbia’s lack of voting representation in Congress in the I have a Dream Speech. It became a leading cause in the civil rights agenda. In 1966, liberal members of Congress made up for the lack of action on a Open Housing Bill by working on a constitutional amendment giving the DC voting members in both houses of Congress. It passed with the support of Southern representatives and senators, who knew that it would be popular with their newly enfranchised Black voters. There ratification struggle was helped by the grass root support of civil rights activists and from phone calls from President Johnson. On May 26, 1967, the 26th Amendment was ratified. In 1968, the District of Columbia elected its first voting member of the House and its first Senators. The 2001 Democratic majority in the Senate also owed its existence to a statement made by Republican Senator Arlen Specter in 1992. He said that President Bush should name pro choice judges to the federal courts. This inspired a social conservative primary challenge. While he won the nomination, many Republican voters declined to vote for him in the general election and he lost. Senator Lynn Yaekel won reelection in 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2016.
In 2001, the Democratic majority in the Senate grew to 54 as Republican Senator Jim Jeffords, turned off by the right word direction of the Bush administration declared himself an Independent and began caucusing with the Democrats. Bush was later able to win enough bipartisan support to pass his tax cut. Bush would benefit from public support after the September 11th attacks. He was able to get a bipartisan majority to support his Iraq War Resolution in 2002.
The 2002 election campaign was interrupted by the tragic death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash, Wellstone was replaced as the Democratic nominee by former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mondale’s victory owed its existence to events from four years earlier. During the 1998 campaign for Minnesota Governor, Reform Party Candidate Jesse Ventura rose in the polls at the expense of Democrat Skip Humphrey. Ventura began talking about conspiracy theories and lost his support. Humphrey won. The partisan crowd at Wellstone’s televised memorial service warmly greeted Governor Humphrey. Governor Ventura would have probably encountered hostility, this unfriendly display would have alienated voters.
The national results favored both parties Republicans increased their margin in house to 230 to 211. ( The House of Representatives was increased to 241 with the addition of 5 seats for the new state of Puerto Rico. ) With the two senators from the new state of Puerto Rico and the defeat of Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig, who was arrested having homosexual sex in the Boise airport, Democrats were expand their control of the Senate to 56 to 48. ( With the new Puerto Rican senators the senate grew to 104. The Democratic majority included OTL plus 2 each from Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Idaho.)
In the next year President Bush would launch his war in Iraq. Much of the public turned against the war, This inspired Senator Joe Biden Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Sander Levin Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold a series of hearings on the Bush Iraq policy. The hearings won wide publicity as did the anti war speeches by Democratic Senators.
The war in Iraq was an important issue in the 2004 presidential election. The two major party candidates were decided early. In the campaign leading up to the Iowa caucus, Senator John Kerry launched a negative campaign against former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. He managed to turn voters away from both himself and Dean. Senator John Edwards won an upset victory in Iowa and went on to the nomination. Edwards who was not in the senate when the NAFTA Treaty was approved, was able to campaign against NAFTA, unlike Kerry who voted for NAFTA. Edwards, who like all major party candidate in 2004 opposed gay marriage was not in the senate when the Defense of Marriage Act was passed. Kerry had opposed it. With the Edwards Gephardt ticket benefiting from the Iraq War and Bush Cheney benefiting from the terrorism issue, the election was close. Bush was declared the winner close to midnight after narrowly winning Ohio. Bush’s win was close. He was once again a minority president. The popular vote went for Bush 49.7 % to 49.3%. The Electoral College win was likewise narrow, Bush 274 Edwards 271. ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico, Iowa and New Mexico.) The Republicans increased their margin in the house to 232 to 209. Despite winning new seats in Illinois and Colorado, Democrats lost in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They retained control of the vacant seat in Louisiana when Republican candidate David Vitter was arrested in a raid on a New Orleans brothel. The also benefited when a recount showed Majority Leader Tom Daschle the winner in the South Dakota race. The Democratic majority shrank to 54 to 48. ( That is OTL plus 2 each from Puerto Rico and District of Columbia and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, South Dakota, Idaho and Louisiana. )
The first year of Bush’s second term saw the public tiring of the Iraq War. In August the Administration earned heavy criticism for it response to Hurricane Katrina.
2006 began with the US Attorneygate scandal. President Bush took advantage of a provision of the Patriot Act that allowed him to appoint US Attorneys without Senate confirmation. Throughout the nation new US Attorneys began prosecuting Democrats for voter fraud. These investigations resulted in no guilty verdicts and a shocking number of grand juries that did not grant an indictment. House Speaker Dennis Hastert resigned after being indicted for violating banking laws. It was revealed that the money was going to pay off people he had molested when he was a teacher three decades earlier. The Democrats benefiting from the Iraq War and US Attorneygate and the Hastert scandals. They scored a landslide victory in that year’s election. They were also benefited from the revelation that Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign had gotten a job for the husband of the women with whom he had an affair. Democrats would win a 243 to 198 majority in the house and with victories in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee. Missouri, Montana and Nevada won a filibuster proof 62 to 42 majority in the Senate. ( 62 is the number of votes to stop a filibuster in a 104 member senate.)
During the spring of 2007, Ted Kennedy negotiated a health care bill dubbed the Affordable Care Bill. It required all Americans buy health insurance or face a penalty. It provided subsidies to low income people to enable them to buy insurance. It also provided funds to the states to expand Medicaid. It banned discrimination on pre existing conditions and allowed children to stay on their parent’s plans until the age of 26. Kennedy disappointed liberals by not including a government health insurance program or a public option. Democrats did not have the votes to override President Bush’s veto of the Affordable Care Bill, but it all Democratic Candidates for President running for the 2008 nomination supported i t.
Barack Obama would win that nomination. His choice of running mate was effected by a 1977 POD. In the fall of that year, Barack Obama’s mother would get a job teaching at the same college where my mother taught. The two of them became friends and introduced their sons to each other. Ann Dunham returned to Indonesia at the end of that academic year. Barry choose to stay and finish his senior year at our high school. He stayed with us. During 1979-1979 academic year he and I lived together and both participated on our school’s speech and debate team. We stayed in touch and I got to know Michelle. Through an email exchange I was able to change her mind about Hillary as her husband’s running mate. I told her that she and her husband would be good sources of advice. Advice Barack could ignore because he would be President and he defeated her in the primaries. After Michelle withdrew her objections, Hillary was offered and accepted the chance to run for vice president.
The economic collapse helped seal Obama victory against John McCain. The other dramatic event was the vice presidential debate. Both contenders faced tough questions. Hillary Clinton handled it well when she was asked about Vince Foster’s death, the Whitewater Scandal, her healthcare plan and her husband’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Sarah Palin did not have the same success. When she was asked about her relationship with the Alaska Independence Party, she won ridicule by calling them a group of patriotic Americans. She became emotional when she was asked why when she went into labor while attending a Republican conference, she did not go to the hospital and instead endangered her baby by giving her speech and then flying to Anchorage and then driving to Wassilla.
On election day, the Obama Clinton ticket won 54 % of the vote to McCain Palin’s 45%. In the Electoral College, Obama beat McCain 383 to 162 . ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico and Missouri.) There was a very friendly Congress, While they lost in Idaho, victories in New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Alaska meant Democrats won a 69 to 35 majority in the Senate. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in Puerto Rico and District of Columbia, and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, South Dakota, Nevada and Louisiana.) They also increased the house majority to 267 to 174.
Shortly after taking office, President Obama convinced Vice President Clinton to use a White House email for official business. He also signed into law the Stimulus Package and the Affordable Care Act. In 2010, Obama signed the Dream Act and legislation that made homosexuality legal for those serving in the military.
2010 would not be a good year for Obama and the Democrats. In January, Republican Scott Brown would win the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat that had belonged to the late Ted Kennedy. Brown’s victory would only lower the Democratic majority to 68 to 46, Democrats would lose more seats in that fall’s general election. With defeats in Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas and North Dakota. The Democratic Senate majority shrank to 62. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in the Puerto Rico, and District of Columbia and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee) Democrats kept their filibuster proof majority thanks to the upset win of Representative Tammy Duckworth in Illinois. ( OTL Duckworth ran for Congress and narrowly lost in 2006. ITTL she wins.) and because Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul appeared on the Alex Jones radio show. Jones while interviewing Paul went on a tirade blaming George W Bush for the 9/11 attacks. Paul said nothing and complemented Jones before leaving the show. Paul lost his bid for the senate.
2012 would be a better year for Barack Obama and the Democrats. Although the rollout problems of the Affordable Care Act gave the Republicans hope, they would go down to defeat. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney divided the Republican establishment vote and the nomination would go to Rick Santorium. In the first Obama Santorium debate the President’s lackluster performance was overshadowed by discussion of Santorium’s opposition to birth control and the fact that he compared pro choice people to the Nazis. On election day, the Obama Clinton ticket would win 56 % of the vote and 418 electoral votes. ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana,Mississippi, Missouri, the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska and Arizona.) The Rick Santorium Paul Ryan ticket won 38% of the vote and 127 electoral votes. The Libertarian ticket of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson won 5% of the vote. Despite their loss in Tennessee, victories in Maine,Massachusetts, Indiana and Arizona would help the Democrats win a 65 seat majority in the senate, ( The would be 2 each in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky Tennessee, Nevada and Arizona.) Democrats also won a 226 to 215 majority in the house.
Beginning in 2013, President Obama and his Democratic Congress enacted progressive legislation. They passed an immigration package that allowed illegal aliens a path to citizenship. There was a gun control bill that banned the sale of military style weapons. Sexual orientation and gender identity were added to civil rights laws.
Democratic control of Congress ended after the 2014 election. Republicans won a 241 to 200 majority in the house, but Democrats retained a 58 to 46 margin in the senate.( That is 2 each from Puerto Rico and District of Columba and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Illinois,Kentucky, Colorado, Alaska, Nevada and Arizona.) Democrats learned from their 2010 defeat and ran a keep Congress Democratic registration and get out the vote drive, It saved the six most narrow house seats and the there closest senate seats: North Carolina, Colorado and Alaska.
In 2015, Senate Democrats for the first time since before the 2006 election did not have a filibuster proof majority. They resorted to the so called nuclear option, a new rule that banned filibuster during confirmation proceedings, An exception was made for Supreme Court Justices.
In 2016, Senate Democrats would stop the Republican filibuster for Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court and he won confirmation. Garland arrived on the court in time to cast the tie breaking vote in cases related to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act and a ruling that non union members are required to pay fees to the union that handled the collective bargaining agreement..( Because of the Dream Act, President Obama does not make his executive agreement protecting Dreamers. So there is no Supreme Court case on this issue.)
2016 would also go on to see the Big Democratic landslide due to the weakness of the Republican candidate. Donald Trump and his running mate Newt Gingrich ( OLT Mike Pence won narrowly in 2012. ITTL he loses and is out of office, so he would not have been considered as Donald Trump’s running mate.) attacked Bill Clinton’s affairs but the two known cheaters had no credibility. Trump was embarrassed by his remarks in the 2005 Access Hollywood tape but he was caught later actually acting out his threat. Trump was caught accosting a 14 year old girl, stroking her breasts and grabbing her vagina. The cell phone video went viral on the internet and on network tv. A nearly police officer arrested Trump and he was indicted for sexual assault.
Local Tallahassee prosecutors discovered a email exchange between Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in which they arranged the cancellation of her investigation of Trump University in exchange for his donation and his fund raiser. Trump was indicted for bribery. The FBI and CIA found evidence that Russian intelligence was leaking emails fem the Democrats with the intent to help Trump. They also discovered the videos of Trump using prostitutes, that Russians were using to blackmail Trump. On election day the Clinton Kaine ticket would win 58 % of the vote, Trump Gingrich got 28 %. The Johnson Weld Libertarian ticket would win 9 %. Evan McMillan received 3 %. Jill Stein won 1 %. In the Electoral College Trump won West Virginia, Oklahoma, the 3rd Congressional District of Nebraska and Wyoming for 16 electoral votes. Clinton won everywhere else for 522 electoral votes.
In 2017, President Clinton enjoyed a friendly Congress. With the Democratic victories in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Arizona, Democrats enjoyed a 65 to 49 majority in the Senate. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, District of Columbia and Arizona and 1 each in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado,Alaska and Nevada.) There was also a 245 to 196 Democratic majority in the house.
2017 was also the year Donald Trump was convicted of sexual assault and bribery and began his prison sentences.
The Democratic control of the Senate had it roots in events that happened years earlier. In 1963, Martin Luther King mentioned the District of Columbia’s lack of voting representation in Congress in the I have a Dream Speech. It became a leading cause in the civil rights agenda. In 1966, liberal members of Congress made up for the lack of action on a Open Housing Bill by working on a constitutional amendment giving the DC voting members in both houses of Congress. It passed with the support of Southern representatives and senators, who knew that it would be popular with their newly enfranchised Black voters. There ratification struggle was helped by the grass root support of civil rights activists and from phone calls from President Johnson. On May 26, 1967, the 26th Amendment was ratified. In 1968, the District of Columbia elected its first voting member of the House and its first Senators. The 2001 Democratic majority in the Senate also owed its existence to a statement made by Republican Senator Arlen Specter in 1992. He said that President Bush should name pro choice judges to the federal courts. This inspired a social conservative primary challenge. While he won the nomination, many Republican voters declined to vote for him in the general election and he lost. Senator Lynn Yaekel won reelection in 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2016.
In 2001, the Democratic majority in the Senate grew to 54 as Republican Senator Jim Jeffords, turned off by the right word direction of the Bush administration declared himself an Independent and began caucusing with the Democrats. Bush was later able to win enough bipartisan support to pass his tax cut. Bush would benefit from public support after the September 11th attacks. He was able to get a bipartisan majority to support his Iraq War Resolution in 2002.
The 2002 election campaign was interrupted by the tragic death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash, Wellstone was replaced as the Democratic nominee by former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mondale’s victory owed its existence to events from four years earlier. During the 1998 campaign for Minnesota Governor, Reform Party Candidate Jesse Ventura rose in the polls at the expense of Democrat Skip Humphrey. Ventura began talking about conspiracy theories and lost his support. Humphrey won. The partisan crowd at Wellstone’s televised memorial service warmly greeted Governor Humphrey. Governor Ventura would have probably encountered hostility, this unfriendly display would have alienated voters.
The national results favored both parties Republicans increased their margin in house to 230 to 211. ( The House of Representatives was increased to 241 with the addition of 5 seats for the new state of Puerto Rico. ) With the two senators from the new state of Puerto Rico and the defeat of Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig, who was arrested having homosexual sex in the Boise airport, Democrats were expand their control of the Senate to 56 to 48. ( With the new Puerto Rican senators the senate grew to 104. The Democratic majority included OTL plus 2 each from Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Idaho.)
In the next year President Bush would launch his war in Iraq. Much of the public turned against the war, This inspired Senator Joe Biden Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Sander Levin Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold a series of hearings on the Bush Iraq policy. The hearings won wide publicity as did the anti war speeches by Democratic Senators.
The war in Iraq was an important issue in the 2004 presidential election. The two major party candidates were decided early. In the campaign leading up to the Iowa caucus, Senator John Kerry launched a negative campaign against former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. He managed to turn voters away from both himself and Dean. Senator John Edwards won an upset victory in Iowa and went on to the nomination. Edwards who was not in the senate when the NAFTA Treaty was approved, was able to campaign against NAFTA, unlike Kerry who voted for NAFTA. Edwards, who like all major party candidate in 2004 opposed gay marriage was not in the senate when the Defense of Marriage Act was passed. Kerry had opposed it. With the Edwards Gephardt ticket benefiting from the Iraq War and Bush Cheney benefiting from the terrorism issue, the election was close. Bush was declared the winner close to midnight after narrowly winning Ohio. Bush’s win was close. He was once again a minority president. The popular vote went for Bush 49.7 % to 49.3%. The Electoral College win was likewise narrow, Bush 274 Edwards 271. ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico, Iowa and New Mexico.) The Republicans increased their margin in the house to 232 to 209. Despite winning new seats in Illinois and Colorado, Democrats lost in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They retained control of the vacant seat in Louisiana when Republican candidate David Vitter was arrested in a raid on a New Orleans brothel. The also benefited when a recount showed Majority Leader Tom Daschle the winner in the South Dakota race. The Democratic majority shrank to 54 to 48. ( That is OTL plus 2 each from Puerto Rico and District of Columbia and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, South Dakota, Idaho and Louisiana. )
The first year of Bush’s second term saw the public tiring of the Iraq War. In August the Administration earned heavy criticism for it response to Hurricane Katrina.
2006 began with the US Attorneygate scandal. President Bush took advantage of a provision of the Patriot Act that allowed him to appoint US Attorneys without Senate confirmation. Throughout the nation new US Attorneys began prosecuting Democrats for voter fraud. These investigations resulted in no guilty verdicts and a shocking number of grand juries that did not grant an indictment. House Speaker Dennis Hastert resigned after being indicted for violating banking laws. It was revealed that the money was going to pay off people he had molested when he was a teacher three decades earlier. The Democrats benefiting from the Iraq War and US Attorneygate and the Hastert scandals. They scored a landslide victory in that year’s election. They were also benefited from the revelation that Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign had gotten a job for the husband of the women with whom he had an affair. Democrats would win a 243 to 198 majority in the house and with victories in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee. Missouri, Montana and Nevada won a filibuster proof 62 to 42 majority in the Senate. ( 62 is the number of votes to stop a filibuster in a 104 member senate.)
During the spring of 2007, Ted Kennedy negotiated a health care bill dubbed the Affordable Care Bill. It required all Americans buy health insurance or face a penalty. It provided subsidies to low income people to enable them to buy insurance. It also provided funds to the states to expand Medicaid. It banned discrimination on pre existing conditions and allowed children to stay on their parent’s plans until the age of 26. Kennedy disappointed liberals by not including a government health insurance program or a public option. Democrats did not have the votes to override President Bush’s veto of the Affordable Care Bill, but it all Democratic Candidates for President running for the 2008 nomination supported i t.
Barack Obama would win that nomination. His choice of running mate was effected by a 1977 POD. In the fall of that year, Barack Obama’s mother would get a job teaching at the same college where my mother taught. The two of them became friends and introduced their sons to each other. Ann Dunham returned to Indonesia at the end of that academic year. Barry choose to stay and finish his senior year at our high school. He stayed with us. During 1979-1979 academic year he and I lived together and both participated on our school’s speech and debate team. We stayed in touch and I got to know Michelle. Through an email exchange I was able to change her mind about Hillary as her husband’s running mate. I told her that she and her husband would be good sources of advice. Advice Barack could ignore because he would be President and he defeated her in the primaries. After Michelle withdrew her objections, Hillary was offered and accepted the chance to run for vice president.
The economic collapse helped seal Obama victory against John McCain. The other dramatic event was the vice presidential debate. Both contenders faced tough questions. Hillary Clinton handled it well when she was asked about Vince Foster’s death, the Whitewater Scandal, her healthcare plan and her husband’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Sarah Palin did not have the same success. When she was asked about her relationship with the Alaska Independence Party, she won ridicule by calling them a group of patriotic Americans. She became emotional when she was asked why when she went into labor while attending a Republican conference, she did not go to the hospital and instead endangered her baby by giving her speech and then flying to Anchorage and then driving to Wassilla.
On election day, the Obama Clinton ticket won 54 % of the vote to McCain Palin’s 45%. In the Electoral College, Obama beat McCain 383 to 162 . ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico and Missouri.) There was a very friendly Congress, While they lost in Idaho, victories in New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Alaska meant Democrats won a 69 to 35 majority in the Senate. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in Puerto Rico and District of Columbia, and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, South Dakota, Nevada and Louisiana.) They also increased the house majority to 267 to 174.
Shortly after taking office, President Obama convinced Vice President Clinton to use a White House email for official business. He also signed into law the Stimulus Package and the Affordable Care Act. In 2010, Obama signed the Dream Act and legislation that made homosexuality legal for those serving in the military.
2010 would not be a good year for Obama and the Democrats. In January, Republican Scott Brown would win the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat that had belonged to the late Ted Kennedy. Brown’s victory would only lower the Democratic majority to 68 to 46, Democrats would lose more seats in that fall’s general election. With defeats in Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas and North Dakota. The Democratic Senate majority shrank to 62. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in the Puerto Rico, and District of Columbia and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee) Democrats kept their filibuster proof majority thanks to the upset win of Representative Tammy Duckworth in Illinois. ( OTL Duckworth ran for Congress and narrowly lost in 2006. ITTL she wins.) and because Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul appeared on the Alex Jones radio show. Jones while interviewing Paul went on a tirade blaming George W Bush for the 9/11 attacks. Paul said nothing and complemented Jones before leaving the show. Paul lost his bid for the senate.
2012 would be a better year for Barack Obama and the Democrats. Although the rollout problems of the Affordable Care Act gave the Republicans hope, they would go down to defeat. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney divided the Republican establishment vote and the nomination would go to Rick Santorium. In the first Obama Santorium debate the President’s lackluster performance was overshadowed by discussion of Santorium’s opposition to birth control and the fact that he compared pro choice people to the Nazis. On election day, the Obama Clinton ticket would win 56 % of the vote and 418 electoral votes. ( That is OTL plus Puerto Rico, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana,Mississippi, Missouri, the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska and Arizona.) The Rick Santorium Paul Ryan ticket won 38% of the vote and 127 electoral votes. The Libertarian ticket of Ron Paul and Gary Johnson won 5% of the vote. Despite their loss in Tennessee, victories in Maine,Massachusetts, Indiana and Arizona would help the Democrats win a 65 seat majority in the senate, ( The would be 2 each in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and 1 each in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky Tennessee, Nevada and Arizona.) Democrats also won a 226 to 215 majority in the house.
Beginning in 2013, President Obama and his Democratic Congress enacted progressive legislation. They passed an immigration package that allowed illegal aliens a path to citizenship. There was a gun control bill that banned the sale of military style weapons. Sexual orientation and gender identity were added to civil rights laws.
Democratic control of Congress ended after the 2014 election. Republicans won a 241 to 200 majority in the house, but Democrats retained a 58 to 46 margin in the senate.( That is 2 each from Puerto Rico and District of Columba and 1 each from Pennsylvania, Illinois,Kentucky, Colorado, Alaska, Nevada and Arizona.) Democrats learned from their 2010 defeat and ran a keep Congress Democratic registration and get out the vote drive, It saved the six most narrow house seats and the there closest senate seats: North Carolina, Colorado and Alaska.
In 2015, Senate Democrats for the first time since before the 2006 election did not have a filibuster proof majority. They resorted to the so called nuclear option, a new rule that banned filibuster during confirmation proceedings, An exception was made for Supreme Court Justices.
In 2016, Senate Democrats would stop the Republican filibuster for Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court and he won confirmation. Garland arrived on the court in time to cast the tie breaking vote in cases related to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act and a ruling that non union members are required to pay fees to the union that handled the collective bargaining agreement..( Because of the Dream Act, President Obama does not make his executive agreement protecting Dreamers. So there is no Supreme Court case on this issue.)
2016 would also go on to see the Big Democratic landslide due to the weakness of the Republican candidate. Donald Trump and his running mate Newt Gingrich ( OLT Mike Pence won narrowly in 2012. ITTL he loses and is out of office, so he would not have been considered as Donald Trump’s running mate.) attacked Bill Clinton’s affairs but the two known cheaters had no credibility. Trump was embarrassed by his remarks in the 2005 Access Hollywood tape but he was caught later actually acting out his threat. Trump was caught accosting a 14 year old girl, stroking her breasts and grabbing her vagina. The cell phone video went viral on the internet and on network tv. A nearly police officer arrested Trump and he was indicted for sexual assault.
Local Tallahassee prosecutors discovered a email exchange between Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in which they arranged the cancellation of her investigation of Trump University in exchange for his donation and his fund raiser. Trump was indicted for bribery. The FBI and CIA found evidence that Russian intelligence was leaking emails fem the Democrats with the intent to help Trump. They also discovered the videos of Trump using prostitutes, that Russians were using to blackmail Trump. On election day the Clinton Kaine ticket would win 58 % of the vote, Trump Gingrich got 28 %. The Johnson Weld Libertarian ticket would win 9 %. Evan McMillan received 3 %. Jill Stein won 1 %. In the Electoral College Trump won West Virginia, Oklahoma, the 3rd Congressional District of Nebraska and Wyoming for 16 electoral votes. Clinton won everywhere else for 522 electoral votes.
In 2017, President Clinton enjoyed a friendly Congress. With the Democratic victories in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Arizona, Democrats enjoyed a 65 to 49 majority in the Senate. ( That is OTL plus 2 each in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, District of Columbia and Arizona and 1 each in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado,Alaska and Nevada.) There was also a 245 to 196 Democratic majority in the house.
2017 was also the year Donald Trump was convicted of sexual assault and bribery and began his prison sentences.
