Today on the Lean to the Left podcast we’re talking politics with a focus on the past election and what’s still ahead, and with me are my pals, Arthur Hill, from North Carolina, and Robert Thompson, from Georgia.

Arthur is communications chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina, Democratic party. He and I both worked in PR and as freelance writers in Washington, DC. And, on Capitol Hill before that.

Robert Thompson is based in Atlanta and founded Peach News Now and its opinion podcast, Got Damn Liberals. You gotta take a listen.

Nationally, Democrats did surprisingly well, holding onto the Senate – even though the Georgia race is headed to a runoff – and minimizing losses in the House, where the Republicans will take over in January with a much thinner margin than they expected.

Trump says he’s running in 2024, a development that has been met with underwhelming approval of top Republican leaders who blame him for what they feel is pretty much an election debacle.

Whether his announcement matters much will depend on the outcome of the many investigations into his activities and whether he faces criminal charges. After all, election day 2024 is still two years away.

In South Carolina
Here in my neck of the woods in South Carolina, election night was a clean sweep -- for Republicans, who overwhelmingly reelected Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Tim Scott, sent a MAGA Republican to Congress, elected someone who didn’t actually meet educational requirements to be Secretary of Education, and swept three local state legislative races.

The only positive news is that the winners of the 2022 Rescue Brew “Spokesdog” and “Spokescat” contest have been chosen, with almost $82,000 raised for the Charleston Animal Society’s No Kill South Carolina initiative.

Beaux, a 10-month-old Maine Coon from Kiawah Island was picked as the “Spokescat” and Wally, a seven-year-old West Highland terrier-mix rescued during Hurricane Matthew was elected as “Spokesdog.”

So that just shows that progressives really can get things done in South Carolina, despite the odds. We just can’t elect humans to office.

In Georgia
Now in Georgia, we have that runoff going on between Sen. Warnock and Herschel Walker. So, Robert, let’s get right to it...

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