Data for Talking Points

You will use these in conversations. Liven up your next Zoom!

Some interesting data points to share:

Financial Times’ COVID graphs for U.S. states and countries HERE.

Slovenia. Who knew?

Elon Musk has moved from California to Texas and is taking his emissions credits with him. WSJ front page article here.

Just kidding, those credits would stay with him in Cali.

Two states witnessed negative net migration from 2010 to 2018. One is California, the other is Virginia. Click here for article from Virginia Realtors on why folks leave, especially the 25-34 year olds. Spoiler alert - housing is cheaper elsewhere for new college grads looking to set down roots while paying off college debt.

Basically, Virginia taxpayers are funding their competitor states. #Smart

How much has Virginia changed politically since 2004?

Consider the changes in Virginia's political peer states - defined by where we finished relative to other states in national elections for the winning party:  

2004                                           2020

Tennessee                                  Washington

Arizona                                      Oregon

Arkansas                                    Colorado

Virginia                                      Virginia 

Missouri                                     New Mexico

Florida                                        Maine

Ohio                                           New Hampshire

Nevada Michigan

Here are our economic competitors which I gleaned from three State Rankings of Best States for Business - Forbes, CNBC, and Chief Executive Magazine.

All of these states appear in the top rankings in each of the three:

Texas

Florida

North Carolina

Utah

Tennessee

Georgia

Virginia is top 10 in Forbes and CNBC but ranks #16 in Chief Executive for 2020 down 3 places from 2019.

Talk about The Intersection between Business and Politics, check out Milken Institute ranking that shows this State Leadership Index is Highly Predictive of Political Leanings. Virginia is #8. Utah #6, NC #15, Texas #16, Georgia #22, Tennessee #40.

Virginia’s political peers above are #2, #5, #7, #10, #18, #19 and #43 in that KEY Index.

The last two presidential elections went 306 to 232 for Trump and 306 to 232 for Biden.

Add them together and divide by 2?

269-269. Deeply divided country. Close elections. Losing party contests validity of election. Investigations. Lawsuits.

To be elected Speaker of the House, one must have an absolute majority of the full membership of the House. In other words, and more to the point, Nancy Pelosi needs 218 votes. Two years ago, Pelosi had 15 defections while managing only 220 votes.

This time she starts with 222 or 223 potential Democratic votes.

No one wins money betting against Pelosi, but now would be a good time to get your money back.

One can’t help but wonder if the Problem Solver Caucus will come up with their own compromise candidate for Speaker. #SocialMediaMeltdown

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