A Look At The States: Single-Payer’s Future In California; The Silver Lining In Mass. Nursing Measure’s Defeat; How Science And Medicine Professionals Fared In Midterms

KQED: High Expectations On The Left For Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom
Single-payer is where state government essentially replaces insurance companies in paying health care providers. Last year, nurses were furious when a bill to advance single-payer died in the state Assembly and Gov. Jerry Brown expressed doubt the state could afford it. Now, with Newsom set to replace Brown as governor, Stephanie Roberson, legislative advocate with the California Nurses Association, hopes to move the single-payer ball down the field. (Shafer, 11/7)

Boston Globe: In Defeat, Ballot Question 1 Raises Awareness Of Nurse Stress, Burnout
Question 1 forced a complicated health care issue into the spotlight, and though it was soundly defeated, supporters and opponents both said Wednesday that the publicity had raised awareness about the stressful and difficult job of nurses. Steve Walsh, president of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, said hospitals want to “turn the page” on the campaign season. (Dayal McCluskey, 11/8)

The Washington Post: How Science Fared In The Midterm Elections
This year, more candidates with degrees in science, medicine and engineering ran for Congress than ever before. Of the nearly two-dozen new candidates in this crop, at least seven won seats in the House of Representatives. The newcomers, mostly Democrats, include Chrissy Houlahan, who has a degree in industrial engineering and won in Pennsylvania. Sean Casten, who has worked as a biochemist, flipped a longtime Republican district in Chicago. Ocean engineer Joe Cunningham, who came out strongly against offshore drilling, won in South Carolina. Lauren Underwood, a registered nurse, won Illinois’s 14th District. In Virginia, Elaine Luria, who has a nuclear engineering background, defeated the Republican incumbent, Scott Taylor. Jeff Van Drew, who won a seat representing the 2nd Congressional District in New Jersey, is a dentist. (Guarino and Kaplan, 11/7)

WBUR: 'Rainbow Wave': How Did The Record Class Of LGBTQ Nominees Fare?
Democratic Rep. Jared Polis won his bid to become Colorado's next governor — and, in the process, became the first openly gay man in the U.S. to be elected governor. The congressman ran on a progressive agenda of implementing universal health care and increasing the state's dependence on renewable energy. (Dwyer, 11/7)

The New York Times: Marijuana Embraced In Michigan, Utah And Missouri, But Rejected In North Dakota
Marijuana initiatives appeared on ballots in four states in the midterm elections. In Michigan and North Dakota, initiatives gave voters the opportunity to legalize marijuana for recreational use. In Missouri and Utah, voters chose whether to allow people who are sick to use the drug for medical reasons. (Hauser, 11/7)

California Healthline: Measure To Cap Dialysis Profits Pummeled After Record Spending By Industry
Record-breaking spending by the dialysis industry helped doom a controversial California ballot measure to cap its profits. The industry, led by DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, spent nearly $111 million to defeat Proposition 8, which voters trounced, 62 to 38 percent, and appeared to approve in just two of 58 counties. The measure also faced strong opposition from medical organizations, including doctor and hospital associations, which argued it would limit access to dialysis treatment and thus endanger patients. (Ibarra and Gorman, 11/8)

KQED: Proposition 4: Voters Pass $1.5 Billion Children's Hospital Bond
California voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 4, which authorizes the state to sell $1.5 billion in bonds for children's hospitals to be used mainly on infrastructure projects. As of 8 am on Wednesday, the measure had 60 percent support. More than two-thirds of the bond money will go to eight nonprofit children’s hospitals. Smaller amounts will go to University of California children’s hospitals and hospitals not specifically designated for children, but with a children's program or a children's wing. (Klivans and Dembosky, 11/7)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Democrat Cindy Axne Celebrates Historic Win Over Incumbent David Young
Axne, a first-time candidate who launched her campaign more than a year ago, found a winning message in calling out Young’s health care record. She was particularly critical of the Republican’s 2017 vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a dominant issue in other tough GOP re-election bids around the country. ... Young, first elected in 2014, tried to push back on the health care narrative. He argued that an amendment he co-sponsored would have helped people with pre-existing conditions. (Rodriguez, Ta and Rood, 11/7)

Tampa Bay Times: Ron DeSantis Gives Legislature An Ally In Governor’s Mansion
At the top of [Jose] Oliva's early legislative agenda are changes to the state's healthcare system, which the South Florida Republican has long criticized as a "hospital-industrial complex" that enables hospitals he regards as government-subsidized, self-regulated monopolies. On his slate of considered proposals: another attempt to remove the state's certificate-of-need process for approving hospitals, and expanding free-market competition among the state's healthcare providers by enabling options like surgical centers and telemedicine. (Koh and Mower, 11/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Elections: Kaul Declares Victory And Promises DOJ Changes
Former federal prosecutor Josh Kaul declared victory Wednesday over Attorney General Brad Schimel in a hard-fought race that came down to less than a percentage point. Kaul laid out plans for the Department of Justice to supporters Wednesday on the steps of the Dane County Courthouse, including withdrawing from a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act — a key issue in all three major statewide races this fall. (Beck, 11/7)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Democrats Retake Both Chambers Of New Hampshire Legislature
With the new majority, Manchester’s Donna Soucy is expected to become Senate President. Soucy says health care, education and job training will be Democratic priorities, and that the party will work with Sununu when it can. ...The Democrats will also hold a roughly 60 seat majority in the 400-seat New Hampshire House, the first time the party has had control in the lower chamber since the 2012 election. (Bookman, 11/7)

Boston Globe: Fresh Off A Massive Victory, Governor Charlie Baker Is Awash In Political Capital. So How Does He Use It?
Baker, in his final debate and again Wednesday, has pointed to addressing climate change as a major priority. That — like the opioid crisis, education funding, and health care financing — is also high up on House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo’s to-do list, which could help foster the same kind of collaborative work Baker touted on the campaign trail. (Stout, 11/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Six Takeaways From Tammy Baldwin's Victory In Wisconsin U.S. Senate Race
Baldwin signaled very early that she was going to make health care a main theme of the race when she signed up for independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Medicare-for-all:" proposal. She also stood as a defender of the Affordable Care Act, constantly repeating that she didn't go to Washington, D.C., to take away people's health care. (Glauber, 11/7)

California Healthline: California’s Top Lawyer Sees Election Win As Mandate To Sustain Trump Resistance
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has cemented his role as one of the nation’s top defenders of the Affordable Care Act, filing multiple lawsuits in the past two years to uphold key protections of the law and often clashing with the Trump administration. Voters this week gave Becerra a clear mandate to continue that work, he said. (Young, 11/8)

NH Times Union: NH Senate Flips, Democrats To Pursue New Agenda
Progressive topics like paid family and medical leave, a minimum wage hike and legalizing recreational marijuana will get a new lease on life with Democrats taking control of the state Senate for the first time in a decade. This election marked another historic milestone, with Brookline Democrat Melanie Levesque, a former House member, becoming the first African-American to win a Senate seat in the state. (Landrigan, 11/7)

Iowa Public Radio: Scholten Tells Supporters They 'Haven't Seen The Last' Of Him; Unsure Of Next Steps
Scholten is a fifth-generation Iowan raised in Sioux City. He waged a people-supported grassroots movement against King that gained momentum as he campaigned across the district for better health care, an economy that keeps college graduates in-state and fighting for the Iowa farmer. (Peikes, 11/7)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: For First Time, Kuster Will Serve In Democratic Majority In Congress 
[Annie] Kuster pointed to health care, prescription drug prices, shoring up Social Security and Medicare as issues where the two parties on Capitol Hill, and President Donald Trump, may find common ground. She even suggested lawmakers and the president may reach a compromise on the divisive issue of illegal immigration. ...[Chris] Pappas pointed to transportation and infrastructure and veterans’ health care as two issues where he could work with the president. (Steinhauser, 11/7)

MPR: Minnesota Poised To Get Two New Major Pot Parties
The Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party and the Legal Marijuana Now Party both managed to garner at least 5 percent of the vote in the statewide attorney general and state auditor race, respectively, crossing the threshold needed to earn major party status in the state. The secretary of state’s office said preliminary results show both parties had the votes needed to earn major party status, but the office was still canvasing results of the election to make sure they also earned at least one vote in each of Minnesota’s 87 counties. (Bierschbach, 11/7)