Widow of teacher killed in Florida high school shooting wins election to school board

Celine Castronuovo 

The widow of a teacher killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting was elected Tuesday to serve on a Florida county's school board.

© Getty Images Widow of teacher killed in Florida high school shooting wins election to school board

The Associated Press reported that Debra Hixon, widow of the high school's athletic director Chris Hixon, easily won election to the nine-member Broward County school board.

Hixon joins Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa also died in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. Alhadeff was elected to the school board in November 2018.

According to the AP, Hixon runs a maritime technology and marine science program at a suburban Fort Lauderdale high school.

Hixon's husband was one of three staff members killed in the massacre that also left fourteen students dead. Chris Hixon died attempting to confront the shooter, a former Stoneman Douglas student.

Hixon's victory Tuesday comes after she and her son, Corey, appeared in a campaign ad supporting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in September.

The video includes 2018 footage of Biden comforting Corey, who has a developmental disability. Biden tells Corey, "you'll be OK," before he kisses Corey on his forehead and continues to hug him.

"I don't have it in me a lot of times to give him that comfort, so it meant a lot for somebody else to give him, to take that time and to care enough about him," Hixon says in the ad. "My older son calls him Uncle Joe. He can be that person that can comfort our nation and bring us together."

The AP called the presidential race in Florida for President Trump at 12:35 a.m. EST Wednesday. With 96 percent of estimated votes reported, Trump led the Sunshine State with roughly 51 percent of the vote to Biden's 48 percent.

The president's 3-point lead in the state is a marked improvement from four years ago, when he beat then-Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton in Florida by 1 point, or just 113,000 votes.

In the lead-up to Election Day, public polling predicted a tight race in Florida, the third largest state in the country and home to some 14 million registered voters.

The state's 29 electoral votes helped Trump secure a significant boost in his path to reelection. As of Wednesday early afternoon, the AP had projected that Trump holds 213 electoral votes, with Biden at 238 out of 270 needed to win.

Portland votes to create community-run police oversight board

Sarah Polus 


Portland, Ore., voters have approved the creation of a police oversight board, aimed at increasing accountability and transparency, The Oregonian reported.

© Getty Images Portland votes to create community-run police oversight board

The citizen-driven board, presented as ballot measure 26-217, was approved by more than 80 percent of city voters Tuesday, according to the Oregon secretary of State's website.


The new oversight panel is intended to replace the existing Independent Police Review, a city agency.

It will be able to take stricter measures against police, including the ability to investigate complaints made against the Portland Police Bureau and officers' use of deadly force, among other things. To assist with its investigations, the board can subpoena documents and witnesses and access police records. In the event that wrongdoing by police is shown, the board can impose disciplinary actions, including the firing of officers.

Portland has become an epicenter for protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, with many demonstrators calling for increased accountability among police.

City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty told The Oregonian she's expecting a legal challenge from the Portland police union to the measure, which she supported.

"I expect them to file a lawsuit, so it won't be a surprise," Hardesty said. "But because the voters passed this by over 80 percent margin, I think the city attorneys will have much confidence that they can rigorously defend the people's will in court."

Portland's Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler, who President Trump called a "fool" and accused of poorly handling the protests, was also reelected on Election Day.

LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey Voted Out After 3 Years of BLM Protests (Report)

Lindsey Ellefson 

© TheWrap jackie lacey george gascon 
Photo credit: LA County Clerk

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has lost her re-election bid to George Gascón, according to NBC.

Lacey was voted out with about 46% of the votes as of Wednesday morning, after three years of weekly Black Lives Matter protests against her outside the L.A. County Hall of Justice. Activists said Lacey could have done much more to persecute cops involved in officer-related shootings.

In March, BLM took their protests to Lacey's home. Lacey's husband pulled a gun on the protestors and told them to leave. The incident drew widespread attention, with Lacey telling CNN protestors "crossed the line."

Gascón is a reformer and former LAPD assistant chief of police. He also once served as Mesa, Arizona's chief of police and San Francisco district attorney.

He had significant support from Black Lives Matter and celebrities like Olivia Wilde, who tweeted, "We need a DA who'll hold cops accountable and stand up for our communities. Change has been a long time coming. The time is now. #jackielaceymustgo."

The Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter tweeted in celebration Wednesday and listed the names of Black people killed by police in whose name they protested against Lacey for years. Instead of the hashtag Lacey's opposition had been using leading up to the election, #jackielaceymustgo, the chapter wrote, #jackielacieWILLgo.

Activist Shaun King celebrated, as well, tweeting, "I said to our staff and my family and friends that for me, this was single most important election of 2020 – even more than the White House – as far as justice goes."

One Twitter user added, "I hope @GeorgeGascon realizes that @BLMLA got him this win…and if he messes around, he'll have to go too! This is OUR city."

Lawrence Yee contributed to this report.

Record number of Native American women elected to Congress

The 117th Congress will have a record number of Native American women after voters elected three to the House of Representatives.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph:Alastair Pike/AFP/Getty Images 

Sharice Davids (left) and Deb Haaland, pictured in September 2019.

Democrats Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo member representing New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a Ho-Chunk Nation member representing Kansas, were both retained their seats after becoming the first Native American women elected to Congress in 2018.

They are joined by Yvette Herrell, who is Cherokee. Herrell, a Republican, beat the Democratic incumbent Xochitl Torres Small for her New Mexico congressional seat.

The wins for Herrell and Haaland mean that New Mexico will be the first state to have two indigenous women as congressional delegates. The state also became the first to elect women of color as all three of its delegates in the US House of Representatives.

According to a Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) report, 18 indigenous women were running for congressional seats this year – a record in a single year. Native American women made up 2.6% of all women running for Congress this year, the highest percentage since CAWP started collecting data in 2004.

There have been four Native Americans in the US Senate and a handful of indigenous US representatives. All were men until Haaland and Davids were elected in 2018.

In Kansas, Stephanie Byers, who is Chickasaw and a retired teacher, became the state’s first transgender lawmaker when she won her race for a seat in its House of Representatives.

“We’ve made history here,” Byers said on Tuesday. “We’ve done something in Kansas most people thought would never happen, and we did it with really no push-back, by just focusing on the issues.”

Also in Kansas, Christina Haswood, a Navajo Nation member, became the youngest person in the state legislature at 26. A third member of the Kansas House , Ponka-We Victors, a Tohono O’odham and Ponca member, won her re-election campaign.

The US House of Representatives will have its highest number of indigenous representatives after Tuesday’s election, according to the independent Native American newspaper Indian Country Today.

Six candidates, including Haaland, Davids and Herrell, won their elections. Two Oklahoma representatives, Tom Cole, who is Chickasaw, and Markwayne Mullin, who is Cherokee, won their re-elections, and Kaiali’i “Kai” Kahele, who is Native Hawaiian, won an open seat for Hawaii. There were previously four indigenous members of Congress, all in the House of Representatives.

Cuban American Voters Bought Into GOP Socialism Propaganda, Al Sharpton Says After Poor Biden Showing

David Brennan

Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton has blamed Republican propaganda for the lower than expected Democratic Latino vote in Florida's Miami Dade county, which was a major part of why former Vice President Joe Biden lost the pivotal state to President Donald Trump.

© EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Supporters of President Donald Trump rally in front of Cuban restaurant Versailles in Miami, Florida on November 3, 2020.

The Quote

"We don't have the same dynamics that we have in Florida where you have like in Miami-Dade. I think it was George pointed out a large Cuban influence in terms of Cuban voters who look more to the propaganda that we're dealing with socialism and all. That offset a large black turnout."

Why it Matters

Democrats are looking for answers after Biden's underperformance with Latino voters, especially men, who turned out in larger-than-expected numbers for Trump. Observers and voices within the Democratic Party—including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—had warned that Biden's was lacking appeal among Latinos.

In southern Florida in particular, the lower Democratic Latino turnout meant the president carried the state by a decent margin. Alarm bells were ringing early in the evening for the Democrats in Miami Dade, traditionally a big vote winner for the party, where Biden's lead over Trump was significantly smaller than Hillary Clinton managed in 2016.

The area is home to a large number of Latino voters, including Cuban, Venezuela, Colombian, Puerto Rican and Mexican communities, whether foreign born or descended from earlier immigrants.

Cuban and Venezuelan exile communities are influential in the state's politics. Both fled left-wing governments in their home countries, making them a fertile ground for GOP warnings about the Democrats' alleged socialist tendencies.

Sharpton made his remarks while discussing the outstanding vote in Georgia and North Carolina. Trump is leading slightly in both states, which could prove pivotal in the race for 270 electoral college votes.

Sharpton suggested that the outstanding votes would boost the Democrats once included, as the areas yet to report their full tallies include large Black communities that he said were less susceptible to GOP "propaganda" about socialism.
Counterpoint

It is not yet clear why Biden underperformed with Latino voters, nor how much concerns about socialism drove Trump's unexpected performance with this demographic.

But Biden struggled to attract the Latino vote during the Democratic presidential primaries—an early warning sign that Democrats might struggle with the demographic in the national race if Biden was the candidate.

The Trump campaign actively courted these groups that observers warned were being largely ignored by the Democrats. The tactic has paid off, and might yet be an important twist in the tale of the 2020 election.

Biden's lack of popularity among Latino voters was an existing problem, even outside of largely inaccurate socialism smears from the GOP on his platform.

Cuban Americans in particular were already trending towards Trump—Equis said ahead of the election that this group was breaking for the president by some 20 points. According to Mark Lopez—the director of Hispanic research at Pew Research Center—though, this is partially explained by Trump's anti-socialist rhetoric.

"Trump is clearly doing even better among Cuban Americans than some previous Republicans," Lopez told The Atlantic. "Biden's weakness in Florida has something to do with the president's anti-socialist rhetoric."

AOC criticized Democrats for not trying hard enough with Latino voters, hours after Biden lost Florida

© Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attending a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. 

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Tuesday night that she had been "sounding the alarm" about Democratic vulnerabilities with Latino voters. 

It came after Joe Biden lost Florida, and polling suggested that many Latino voters had given their support to President Donald Trump.

"The necessary effort simply hasn't been put in," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. 

President Donald Trump won the state in a tight race, with 51.21% of the vote, in a result declared late Tuesday.


Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that her party made too little effort to secure Latino votes, in a swift rebuke after Joe Biden lost in Florida on election night.

President Donald Trump's tight victory in the state, with 51.21% of the vote, was declared Tuesday evening.

A few hours later, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video clip of a commentator noting how the issue of Democratic outreach with Latino voters is "one of the big stories in Florida."

Speaking on a webcast of Yahoo Finance's election coverage prior to the Florida result, journalist Hunter Walker had said: "Progressive allies of Biden were raising alarms about this over the summer. The Biden campaign did do a little bit more Latino outreach, but he has really struggled on that front."

It is unclear whether he had been directly referring to warnings from Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democratic representative. But in her tweeted commentary alongside the video, she wrote that she had been "sounding the alarm" about the situation.

The New York representative wrote: "I won't comment much on tonight's results as they are evolving and ongoing, but I will say we've been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities w/ Latinos for a long, long time.

"There is a strategy and a path, but the necessary effort simply hasn't been put in."

Florida is a crucial state in the presidential election, with 29 electoral college votes and a recent history of tight races.

Barack Obama's 2012 narrow victory there was ensured by just 0.9% of the vote, while President Donald Trump won it in 2016 with a winning margin of 1.2%.

Such signals were a long time coming. Insider polling during the Democratic primaries in December 2019 noted that Biden's support among Latino voters fell markedly short of that with Black and white voters, as Eliza Relman and Walt Hickey reported.

As the presidential election campaign entered its final stages in September 2020, further polls showed that Biden was still underperforming with likely Latino voters statewide.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Joe Biden's campaign has scaled back in-person and door-to-door campaigning.

In a statement to ABC News on November 1, Jennifer Molina, Latino media director for the Biden campaign defended the party's efforts with Latino voters nationwide, saying they had been "aggressively" increasing visibility and voter contact.

"This includes tabeling in Latino supermarkets, like Cardenas, canvassing, phone banks, text banks, chiva buses, mobile billboards, taco trucks and banda performances near election day sites," she wrote. "We're confident our historic investments of tens of millions of dollars will mobilize the community."

Christian Ulver, a Florida-based Biden senior adviser, also told ABC that the party had hosted 45 Hispanic Get Out The Vote events across the state.

The Joe Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

 Read the original article on Business Insider

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@AOC

US House candidate, NY-14

I won’t comment much on tonight’s results as they are evolving and ongoing, but I will say we’ve been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities w/ Latinos for a long, long time. There is a strategy and a path, but the necessary effort simply hasn’t been put in

Yahoo Finance

@YahooFinance

Highlight: "One of the big stories in Florida has been Joe Biden's underperformance with Latino voters," @YahooNews White House Correspondent @HunterW says. "Progressive allies of Biden were raising alarms about this over the summer... He has really struggled on that front."

9:29 PM · Nov 3, 2020

88.2K

9.7K people are Tweeting about this

AOC Calls Trump's Victory Statement 'Illegitimate, Dangerous, and Authoritarian'

David Brennan 10 hrs ago

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez branded President Donald Trump's false election victory claim "illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian" as counting continues in the key swing state that will decide the next president.

© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images/Getty A waitress watches a speech by President Donald Trump on a television during an election watching event at a bar on November 4, 2020 in Beijing, China.

Trump gave a speech early Wednesday prematurely claiming to have won the election, despite millions of uncounted ballots outstanding in key states.

The president also claimed without evidence that there was electoral fraud and threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Ocasio-Cortez—a figurehead of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and a prominent critic of Trump—wrote on Twitter: "Donald Trump's premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian. Count the votes. Respect the results.

Trump Says He's 'Already Won' The Election, Taking Case To Supreme Court

Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign, meanwhile, said Trump's remarks were "outrageous."

Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said Trump's remarks were "unprecedented because never before in our history has a president of the United States sought to strip Americans of their voice in a national election."

Ritchie Torres And Mondaire Jones Make History As The First Openly Gay Black Members Of Congress

"It is a lot of responsibility. I'm happy to be providing that kind of representation for so many young people and older people,” Jones said this summer.

Addy Baird BuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From Washington, DC
Posted on November 3, 2020

Richard Drew / AP Ritchie Torres

WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps.-elect Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones made history Tuesday night, becoming the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress.

Both New Yorkers will enter the House in January. In June, Jones won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Nita Lowey in New York’s 17th District, and Torres won the primary to replace retiring Rep. José Serrano in the 15th District. Decision Desk HQ declared that both men will win those races Tuesday night.

Torres became the first openly gay elected official from the Bronx when he was elected to the New York City Council seven years ago at age 25. In June’s congressional primary, he defeated Rubén Diaz Sr., a fellow member of the New York City Council who had a long history of anti-LGBTQ remarks. Within months of Diaz’s arrival to the city council in 2019, there were calls for his resignation after he said his colleagues treated him like an outcast because the council was “controlled by the homosexual community.” (The speaker of the city council, Corey Johnson, is gay.) In 2011, Díaz held a rally opposing marriage equality in the Bronx, while his granddaughter protested him across the street.

After beating Díaz, Torres told CBS, "Look, the triumph of an openly LGBTQ congressional candidate over a leading homophobic in state politics — that to me represents long-overdue poetic justice. What better way to celebrate Pride Month than to defeat the politics of homophobia?"


Kevin Hagen / AP Mondaire Jones

Jones also spoke to CBS about the possibility of being one of the first two openly gay Black men elected to Congress after winning his primary.

"It is a lot of responsibility," he said. "I'm happy to be providing that kind of representation for so many young people and older people all throughout my district and all throughout this country who have reached out to me and said, 'I'm so inspired by what you're doing. You give me hope and I can be my authentic self in a world filled with so much injustice,' and it's really an honor to be able to do that."

Torres is also the rare politician who has spoken openly about his mental health issues, an experience he compared to coming out in a recent interview with BuzzFeed News.

“I think my own acknowledgment of struggling with depression flows naturally from the experience of coming out,” he said. “The process of coming out, the integrity that it demands from you … has taught me how to be more open and honest about my struggle with depression. It teaches you an ethic of radical authenticity.”

There are currently nine openly LGBTQ members of Congress, including Rep. Mark Takano, who became the first openly gay person of color in Congress when he was elected in 2012, and Rep. Sharice Davids, elected in 2018, who is the first openly gay woman of color in Congress.

Cori Bush, Black Lives Matter activist, becomes Missouri's first Black congresswoman

Cori Bush, a progressive community leader and veteran Black Lives Matter activist, won a House seat in Missouri, becoming the state's first Black woman to represent the state in Congress, according to CNN projections.

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN 

© Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images US Rep.-elect Cori Bush dances with supporters during her election night watch party in St. Louis, Missouri.

Bush defeated newcomer Republican Anthony Rogers by a 79% to 19% margin in the race to represent Missouri's 1st congressional district, which covers St. Louis and parts of St. Louis County. She was expected to win the general election after her upset in the Democratic primary over incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay -- a Black lawmaker who, along with his father former Rep. William Clay Sr., had represented the district for 50 years.

"This is definitely a night to remember," Bush said in a speech on Tuesday.

Bush, a nurse and a pastor, became an organizer and protest leader after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. She ran on a progressive platform, championing policies including Medicare-For-All and the Green New Deal.

"As the first Black woman and also the first nurse and single mother to have the honor to represent Missouri in the United States Congress, let me say this: To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers, this is our moment," she said.

Her win is a victory for the progressive left, coming as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley -- known as the Squad -- won reelection. She also joins fellow progressive Jamaal Bowman in New York, who won his House race, according to CNN projections.

This was Bush's third run for Congress. She ran for US Senate and lost in 2016, and unsuccessfully challenged Clay for his House seat in 2018.

This time, she raised more money and benefited from heightened visibility, securing the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the youth-led Sunrise Movement and other leftist and progressive leaders. The primary race also took place during a national uprising against racial injustice after the killing of George Floyd and the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected people of color.

"To all the counted outs, the forgotten abouts, the marginalized, and the pushed asides. This is our moment," Bush wrote on Twitter. "We came together to end a 52-year family dynasty. That's how we build the political revolution."

Mark Kelly becomes 4th astronaut elected to Congress


By Robert Z. Pearlman - collectSPACE.com Editor


Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, seen addressing supporters on Tuesday night (Nov. 3) in Tucson, has been elected by the state of Arizona to the U.S. Senate. Kelly is the fourth astronaut to secure a seat in Congress.
(Image: © Mark Kelly)


Mark Kelly has won a seat in the U.S. Senate, making him only the fourth NASA astronaut to be elected to Congress.

Kelly, who launched four times into space before pursuing a career in politics, was successful in his bid to represent the state of Arizona in the U.S. Senate. Kelly, a Democrat, ran against incumbent Martha McSally, a Republican and former U.S. Air Force combat pilot. The special election was held to complete the six-year term of Senator John McCain, who died in 2018 (McSally was temporarily appointed by Arizona's governor after McCain's death).

"When we launched this campaign from this very spot, right here, 619 days ago, I could have never anticipated just how many Arizonians would be part of this mission," said Kelly, addressing supporters at the Hotel Congress in Tucson on Tuesday night (Nov. 3). "This mission does not end when the last vote is counted. It is only the beginning."

Kelly won the election by a margin of 52.63 percent, according to the Secretary of State for the state of Arizona.

Related: What the 2020 presidential election mean for space exploration

"When I was at NASA, we would train for two years for a space shuttle mission. From being in the space shuttle simulator and flying and training, two years of focusing on the details. Two years before we were on the launchpad ready to go. And then the work started," he said. "Now the work starts."

Kelly, who is married to former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, moved to Tucson in 2012 after he retired from NASA and Giffords survived an assassination attempt the year earlier. Together, the couple co-founded "Giffords" to advocate for reduced gun violence and to help make communities safer.

Kelly could possibly take office as soon as the end of the month, pending the state certifying the results of the election. When he is sworn in, Kelly will become the only active member of Congress who has flown in space. He is preceded in the legislative branch of the U.S. government by three former NASA astronauts and two members of Congress who flew on the space shuttle as payload specialists.

How astronauts vote from space: The only American in orbit now explain

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly on the flight deck of the space shuttle Discovery during the STS-124 mission in June 2008. (Image credit: Mark Kelly)

Kelly, a former captain in the U.S. Navy, a naval aviator and test pilot who flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, was selected for NASA's 1996 class of astronaut candidates — the same group that included his twin brother, Scott.

Kelly logged more than 54 days in space on four shuttle missions. He served as the pilot on his first flight, STS-108, launching on the space shuttle Endeavour to deliver supplies to the International Space Station in 2001. Five years later, Kelly flew as pilot of the shuttle Discovery on STS-121, NASA's second return-to-flight mission after the loss of the orbiter Columbia and its crew in 2003.

Kelly commanded Discovery's STS-124 crew in 2008, which installed Japan's Kibo laboratory on the space station. His fourth and final mission, STS-134, marked the last flight of Endeavour and delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a cosmic ray detector, to be mounted to the station's backbone truss.

After leaving NASA, Kelly volunteered for one more "mission," allowing the agency's scientists to collect his physiological and medical data while his brother provided the same during a year aboard the space station. The landmark "twins study" helped further reveal the effects that long-duration space travel has on the human body.

Related: Presidential Visions for Space: From Ike to Trump

Science + data + facts

Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate campaign buttons. (Image credit: Mark Kelly)

The first astronaut to trade his spacecraft couch for a seat in Congress was John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn served as a U.S. Senator representing the state of Ohio as a Democrat for four terms, from 1974 to 1999. After leaving office, Glenn, then 77, flew into orbit again, launching on space shuttle Discovery as a payload specialist.

Apollo 13 command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Colorado's 6th district as a Republican in 1982, but tragically died of cancer before he could take office.

Apollo 17 lunar module pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt followed up being one of the two last people to walk on the moon in 1972 by serving the state of New Mexico in the Senate as a Republican for six years, from 1977 to 1983.

Following the opposite path, Senator Jake Garn (R-UT) and Representative Bill Nelson (D-FL) were chosen to fly on the space shuttle as congressional observers and payload specialists at a time when NASA was working towards opening up spaceflight to "citizen" passengers. Garn joined the STS-51D crew on Discovery for a week-long mission to deploy two communications satellites in 1985.

Nelson, who later was elected to the Senate, flew on Columbia with the STS-61C crew. The six-day mission, which was the last to fly before the shuttle Challenger tragedy, deployed a satellite and conducted science in 1986.

In addition to those five space explorers and Kelly, four other U.S. astronauts ran for Congress, but were unsuccessful in their bids.

Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden campaigned for but lost the Republican primary for Florida's 12th district seat in the House of Representatives in 1982. Skylab and space shuttle crew member Jack Lousma won the Republican primary, but lost the election to be a senator from Michigan in 1984.

Jay Buckey, who flew as an STS-90 payload specialist on Columbia, withdrew his bid for a New Hampshire Senate seat prior to the Democratic primary in 2008. Two years later, STS-128 mission specialist José Hernández won the Democratic nomination but lost the election for California's 10th district seat in the House of Representatives.