This post was ported from an old Blogspot site I had up.
It’s a bit after midnight here on the West Coast, and as such most of the results of the 2007 off-year elections are in. Let’s see what happened:
- Kentucky – Democrats won big in Kentucky, with their Beshear/Mongiardo ticket beating incumbent ticket Fletcher/Rudolph 58.7%-41.3%. Democrats also retained all other statewide Kentucky offices that they already held.
- Mississippi – Republican governor Haley Barbour was re-elected with 58% of the vote, and Republicans also won big in the other statewide contested races. However, Democrats took over the state Senate, giving them control of the state legislature.
- Virginia – Democrats gained 4 seats in the state Senate, taking control with 21 of 40 seats and probably giving them a say in the all-important redistricting process. Democrats also gained 4 seats in the state House, leaving the Republicans with a 53-45-2 majority.
- New Jersey – Democrats picked up one seat in the state Senate (for a 23-17 majority) and Republicans picked up two seats in the state House (for a 48-32 majority). A ballot measure providing bonds for stem cell research failed, probably due to voter concern about the state’s budget woes.
- Indiana – In an upset, Republicans recaptured the office of Indianapolis mayor, with challenger Greg Ballard defeating incumbent Bart Peterson by about five thousand votes.
- Ohio – Democrats win mayor races across the state, most notably Canton by about a thousand votes. As a result, the mayors of the ten most populous cities in Ohio are all Democrats. At this hour, the Republican primary for the OH-05 special election is too close to call, with Steven Latta leading Club for Growth-backed Steve Buehrer by 1,496 votes.
- Pennsylvania – Democrats pick up two seats on the state Supreme Court, giving them control (yup, PA has a politicized judiciary). Democrat Luke Ravenstahl was also re-elected as mayor of Pittsburgh with at least 63% of the vote.
- Utah – Voters overwhelmingly rejected what would have been the largest school voucher program in the country. Also, Democrat Ralph Becker was elected Salt Lake City mayor 64%-36%, retaining the seat for the Democrats.
- Oregon – An 85-cent per pack cigarette tax was rejected by about 60%. However, a property-rights rollback was approved with 61% of the vote.
Here in California, there wasn’t anything major going on – my only vote was for local school board, and my vote (shortly before 17:00) was only the 60th in the precinct. I’m expecting that to change the next time I go to the polls in February.