“With the pro-fascist wing of Senate Republicans threatening not to seat Mary Peltola if she's elected to the Senate, I wanted to give you a short primer of how all this works.”

Talking Points Memo · GOP threatens to block Peltola from Senate seat if elected in Alaska

“The senate is a 'continuing body'; so Republicans are in some position to refuse to seat Peltola. The House on the other hand reverts to what we might call a parliamentary state of nature every two years.”

Talking Points Memo · GOP threatens to block Peltola from Senate seat if elected in Alaska

“What I suspect Republicans want to do is a replay of the Al Franken situation in 2009… the real angle was to delay Democrats getting Franken's vote — which was their 60th senator — as long as possible.”

Talking Points Memo · GOP threatens to block Peltola from Senate seat if elected in Alaska

“If you have a 53-seat majority, Democrats will become the majority without Peltola. Once they're in the majority it will be up to them who gets seated, though the GOP could then filibuster. If it's a 51-seat majority with Peltola as the 51st, that's a different story.”

Talking Points Memo · GOP threatens to block Peltola from Senate seat if elected in Alaska

“All polls suggest that Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is a strong favorite to win the governorship on Tuesday. If so, he gets sworn in in December, after which it's no longer Dunleavy's call.”

Talking Points Memo · GOP threatens to block Peltola from Senate seat if elected in Alaska