Independent voters who helped President Obama in a historic 2008 victory may have made a big break for Republicans Tuesday as the GOP took control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey.
Republican Bob McDonnell’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, and Republican Chris Christie’s victory over New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.
The Democratic Party came out on top locally, as the mayors of the Twin Cities won re-election. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak won a third four-year term, despite being open about a probable run for governor in 2010. St. Paul’s mayor, Chris Coleman, also recently ruled out a run for governor.
The Democratic Party saw some other victories around the country. In the U.S. House race, Democrat Bill Owens captured a vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York.
California Lt. Governor John Garamendi defeated his Republican opponent, attorney David Harmer, in a special election for a Northern California congressional seat.
Michael Bloomberg, Independent, won a third term as New York mayor in a closer-than-expected race against a Democratic challenger who raised voter resentment over the way Bloomberg changed the city’s term-limits law so he could stay in office.
Also, gay marriage has now lost in every state – 31 in all – in which it has been put to a popular vote. With 89 percent of the precincts reporting, Maine voters revoked a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bloomberg wins… I guess that’s what happens when you have $50 million out of your own pocket for your campaign.
Wish you guys had twitter updates as the results came in!
Just an update for the article you might want to look into: 100% of the precincts are now reporting, and Maine voters repealed the state law.
I think the Hoffman, the conservative candidate, had a pretty good run against Owens with 45% of the vote, considering he was unknown 30 days ago.
I stayed up pretty late watching the results for Maine. I didn’t know 31 states have had the issue on a ballot. Interesting stuff.
The 23rd district race in NY showed that the republican party as a whole still needs to find some common ground before the 2010 elections.
NY-23 was a terrific race to watch. The Republican wing of the Republican party (the one that believes in life, liberty, property, &c.) overthrew its corrupt, cronyistic local infrastructure, launched a race entirely on their own in the middle of a battleground district carried by Obama last year, and managed to reduce the corrupt, so-called “moderate” wing of the Republican party to a tiny third-party fringe. The only thing that would have made it a more inspiring story would have been a Republican — excuse me, I mean *Conservative* — victory. Ah, well. They came close, and if Ms. Scozzafava hadn’t shown her true colors at last and thrown in with the opposition party, we might be telling a different story.
I have a feeling NY-23’s sojourn in blue will be short-lived. Onward to 2010!
Also, good story, but I have to make a bit of fun of the headline. Could it *be* any more tautological? Maybe, “World Series Results Important for Yankees, Phillies”? :P No offense, TommieMedia guys — you do good work. I just had to chuckle.
James I agree, the NY-23 was very exciting. The fact that Hoffman was unknown an month ago, and able to pull off 45% of the vote is truly saying something. Sure, he was backed by Pawlenty and Palin, but I believe the voices of those who attend the tea parties were heard loud and clear- and they are not happy with the way things are being run.
Owens is already up for re-election in 2010 and those on the right are going to come out full force. We’re going to see another close and exciting race next November.
Another tip for TommieMedia- Daniel was right on, it would have been nice to see some updates on Twitter or Facebook throughout the night. Just something to keep in mind.
The only thing that hasn’t been discussed here yet- Were these elections a referendum to President Obama? He won both Virginia and New Jersey a year ago, and heavily campaigned for these candidates and yet they have become red states? Will this momentum carry over to next years elections?