Interpreting the election results tonight is going to be a complicated endeavor. I’m still looking at numbers as they come in. From a progressive point of view, the biggest victory appears to be in the Boston mayoral contest, where Martin Walsh pulled out a narrow victory. It isn’t necessarily a bigger deal than our giant victory in New York City, but we already knew that Bill de Blasio was going to win. Progressives can also celebrate mayoral wins in Charlotte, North Carolina and Toledo, Ohio.
The biggest disappointment may be in the Virginia Attorney General race, where Democrat Mark Herring is down by 1,500 votes with 99% reporting. Narrow losses in the Virginia House of Delegates were also a theme tonight, where numerous candidates are losing with 49% of the vote.
Personally, I am happy that Terry McAuliffe barely won. It will prevent the Republicans from agreeing about what they’re doing wrong, which will keep them fighting each other and they will continue to alienate the electorate. It will also prevent the Democratic establishment from thinking that politicians like McAuliffe are attractive. I almost wanted McAuliffe to lose, so a narrow win is satisfying except in the sense that it cost us seats further on down the ballot.
Chris Christie had a big win and gave a pretty good speech. But the theme he took was about cooperation. The reality is that Christie won big because he wrapped his arms around the president and the Democrats rewarded him by standing down. What kind of message does that send to the rest of the Republican Party?
In any case, it was a pretty good night, but it could have been better. I’ll have more to say in the morning.
The journey to a progressive future will be won one step at a time. Therefore, I declare myself satisfied.
Too bad about the Virginia AG. How much influence does that office have over federal elections? Can’t imagine the Republican could pull too many 2014/2016 electoral shenanigans with Terry in the governor’s office, but you never know.
As a former New Yorker, excited to see what DeBlasio does. He seems like he may be the real deal.
Glad about the rest of the wins. We are moving forward.
Don’t be hanging crepe yet. He probably won. It will go into recount.
From what I’m reading, there’s a decent shot Herring is going to overtake Obenshain in VA-AG. If he goes ahead, I’m pretty confident the margin will stand, even under a recount.
It does sound like all the downballot races went poorly in VA, but it sounds like NJ Dems held firm in the state legislature, particularly in the Senate. That said, what a lot of those bosses did in giving a Christie a pass – or endorsing him outright – is unforgivable. I don’t care about the ramifications of 2016 (no one will care about tonight 2 years down the road, when he’ll have to try and out-crazy a bunch of wingers if he decides he wants to endure the physical duress of running for president), but the Democratic Party in NJ basically sacrificed their ideals and principals in this race and rewarded Christie for being not insane when it came to Sandy relief. Pathetic.
Other than that, at first blush, it seems to have gone decently overall, although we’re getting crushed in county executive races in Nassau and Westchester here in NY that we really should have had a better shot at. I think Cuomo and Co. are clearly to blame for the debacle in Nassau (the incumbent is a teabagger who nearly bankrupted the county when he took office because he thought handing out tax cuts in a recession was a smart idea). As for Westchester – I used to live there; it’s solidly Democratic at the state/federal level, but they will still vote for Republicans at the local level. I’m just pissed at Cuomo because he’s illustrated zero interest in helping build the state party infrastructure, starting first and foremost with the idiotic State Senate situation. The problem is that as long as he wants to be governor, liberals will grudgingly vote for him – and he’ll get reelected. But his DLCish behavior, particularly on fiscal policy, is complete garbage. He’s toast in a Democratic primary for president if he’s stupid enough to run, but he doesn’t realize it quite yet.
I got your email a couple of days after you sent it. I’ve been trying to set aside time to write you back but things have been hectic, especially with the loss of our second car. I’m basically a soccer mom at this point. Look for a response tomorrow, and I’m sorry for the delay.
Do you know of any organizations that are fielding candidates against said bosses in NJ by next primary season? This treachery has pissed me off almost more than the win.
I got a mail from “Barack Obama” via Democrats.org yesterday. It reminded me to vote but never once mentioned Barbara Buono. Shameful.
The Dems took back the VA Senate.
Medicaid Expansion seems plausible now with this and McAuliffe
400,000 working poor in Virginia can now see the bridge to healthcare access with the elections tonight…and that can’t be seen as anything other than a positive.
Huge. The win is worth it just for that.
CORALVILLE, Iowa — No election may be too small for the independent political groups vying for influence in the United States.
That’s the impression some people in Coralville, Iowa, have gotten since Americans for Prosperity jumped into their municipal election and turned it into a referendum on government spending. Residents in the community of 19,000 say they’ve never seen such an outside effort in a local vote. AFP has targeted residents with home visits, phone calls and mailings calling the city’s $280 million debt a crisis. One flier hitting mailboxes this week says Coralville is on its way to becoming bankrupt like Detroit.
Despite their best efforts and Americans for Prosperity proved once again they can not be trusted to handle their donors money. All of the candidates backed by AFP have been soundly defeated. The good guys won every precinct at both the mayoral and city council level. Congrats to my fellow wise residents
He accepted disaster relief from DC after Hurricane Sandy; just as GOP governors did in “red” states after tornadoes. Oh, and he also accepted Obama invitations to big WH shindigs.
Have Republicans ever stood aside for a Democrat in a “red” state?
The New Jersey Democratic Party is the most despicable state Democratic Party in the country. They don’t deserve to win. The only reason to vote for them is because their opponents are worse.
Guess that explains why NJ more often has a GOP governor. Or a despicable one-term Democratic wonder like Corzine. They should have stuck with McGreevey.
For the win.
Worse than Illinois?
Smarty Pants @Smartypants60
Let this one sink in for a moment…Cooch beat TMac by 16 points with white women.
10:48 PM – 5 Nov 2013
Lauren Rankin @laurenarankin
FYI, it wasn’t white women who defeated Cuccinelli in Virginia. It was black men and women. #VAGov http://www.nytimes.com/projects/elections/2013/general/virginia/exit-polls.html …
9:23 PM – 5 Nov 2013
Pnthrgrlgail @Mama4Obama1
Black women and black men made the difference in the VA Governors race. Otherwise known as President Obama’s base!
10:27 PM – 5 Nov 2013
Thanks.
Cooch won among those w/o college degrees and mid-level income (above the median +50M & <100M). But lost big time among those in the 30-44 age bracket. Also lost the 18-29 year old but only by 5% with a whopping 15% going to the Lib guy.
iirc, Obama also lost among white women but not as badly as he lost among white men.
These will provide some perspective on the white vote for Obama. It was a lot better than we’re led to believe.
http://themonkeycage.org/2012/10/28/does-obama-have-white-voter-problem/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021784304
I read that backwards at first. Those VA women must love those vaginal probes.
Also, big mayoral takeovers in Greensboro, North Carolina and St. Petersburg, Florida.
Are those cities minority white? Or are white voters coming into the 20th (sic) century?
Still a few votes left to count in the NYC mayoral race, but so far this is the lowest turnout in the last four mayoral elections.
2001 — 1,545,000 votes counted
Bloomberg won 745,000
2005 — 1,253,000
Bloomberg won 753,000
2009 — 1,020,000
Bloomberg won 585,000
2013 — 990,000
de Blasio 747,000
Sort of upsets the notion that high turnout favors the Democratic candidate.
Now up to 1,000,000
de Blasio at 752,000
de Blasio should finish with more votes than Bloomberg ever received and that with much fewer total votes.
Sad and scary
NJ – Governor total votes 1,924,000
Barbara Buono (D) 785,000
VA – Lt. Governor 2,189,000
e w Jackson (R) 975,000
From out west – Washington’s election-night results are less reliable because they’re only one-third of the count – all-mail ballots increase turnout but it takes days for them all to come in.
That said: First, the good news. Kshama Sawant trails by only 6,000 votes in a city-wide Seattle city council race against a 16-year incumbent. Sawant is an open socialist, and as such has raised more money and won more votes than anyone running against the Democratic establishment in decades, if not generations. Her history in the primary and a legislative run last year is that she picks up a lot of late voters and 2-4% as ballots are counted after election night, so at this point it’s too close to call. Which in and of itself is pretty amazing.
The bad: I-522, a statewide GMO labeling initiative that was up in the polls, looks to be going down after Monsanto et al spent $22 million (or about $5.50 per registered voter) to defeat it. Of that total for the anti-522 campaign, $550 came from in-state. No, not $550,000. Literally: $550.00. The rest from a who’s who of big global agribusiness, chemical, and “food” companies.
And now you know who owns our democracy.
One of my grandsons lives in Washington. He and his partner are ramping up efforts to grow all their own food.
Now that’s close.
Even closer than when my state senator Ed Houck lost (332 votes or some crap).
I pulled my lever so hopefully it’ll count.
More important, what kind of message does that send to the DEMOCRATIC PARTY! Abominable, letting the N.J. candidate twist in the wind. Does anyone have any idea what the thinking was, assuming someone was thinking? What’s up with Obama, flirting with the likes of Christie? Twice over Christ.
It was partly a resourcing thing. Ads in New Jersey are incredibly expensive. No one wanted to run against Christie because the polls showed that he was very popular. And the administration finds him very useful and his victory as a welcome object lesson on the benefits of compromise.
C’mon. Wise up. The PermaGov fix is continuing to go in for Christie, one way or another. That’s “what’s up.” He is now a nationally important politician. If he is to be run as a presidential candidate…eventual loser or eventual winner…he has to stay that way. Ergo, he has to be re-(
s)elected as NJ governor.WTFU.
Everything that you have been led to believe by the PermaGov media regarding DemRats vs. RatPubs is false.
Everything.
The real deal?
Bet on it.
AG
Evidently Christie Christ then belongs to the PermaGov (or is becoming an honorary member) but Buono does not qualify in the eyes of the BIG O in the O Room. So what’s up? If we’re reduced to commenting on the PermaGov (like the pictures of the Politboro reviewing the Revolotiion Day parade from atop the Kremlin), then so be it. Maybe Edward Snowden can tell us more about all this. I don’t bump much into him around these parts.
Maybe he can.
In fact, maybe he has. The NSA is part of the PermaGov Secret Police, but they’re not so “secret” anymore, are they? Identify the pols who either who support the NSA in this business and/or “agrees” with Snowden in a half-hearted, “Let’s get back to the business of economic imperialism with a new secrecy paradigm in place” kind of way and you will have identified who is in a good place w/ the Permanent Government.
Christie is earning his Big Gov/potential prez candidate stripes by…among other things… blasting any and all non-PermaGov friendly RatPubs.
Can’t have a fix if one of the canbdidates is a non-fixer, can we now?
Nope.
Christie is doing his part of the job.
Bet on it.
He will get rewarded.
And if he doesn’t get his rewards?
If he doesn’t he’s even more dangerous to the PemaGov than the people he is attacking because:
1-He’s already been built up as “serious” rather than a flake. Harder to tear down.
and
2-He’s got more image chops than do the people he is attacking. More political talent on every level.
Once the PermaGov takes him in, they are pretty well stuck with him.
As are we, I am afraid.
So it goes here in Omertica.
So it goes.
Christie’s not just a soldier anymore.
He’s a made man.
Bet on it.
A boss?
Not yet.
But he’s working on it.
Bet on that as well.
Later…
AG
It is scary Gilroy, I have to admit it. Only NJ could produce such filth.
Only NJ could produce such filth?
Naaaahhh…
AG
I’m astounded I wrote that comment! Now I evidently come here only to communicate with myself. Thanks for correcting me and bringing me back to some sense of reality. You see, I grew up in N.J. and hold its esoteric social rites in great esteem—like Twice Christ, who is, no matter how you twist or turn, an especially N.J. product.
Keep in the mind that Christie went to great lengths to keep the most popular democrat up for election this year off the November ballots.
While Booker would not have changed the outcome of the Governor’s race, increased outcome for Booker could have put a dent in Christie’s lead and given more votes to Buono.
Michael McDonald @ElectProject
Herring takes small lead overnight in VA AG. There’s still outstanding vote so we’re now waiting for certification then possible recount
6:36 AM – 6 Nov 2013
Sister Outsider @FeministGriote
The VA women voter stats exemplifies a bigger problem among white women, their inability to divest from white supremacy & see WOC as peers.
10:29 PM – 5 Nov 2013
So I guess Chris Christie got elected president last night. Does he move into the White House right away to be president in waiting or something?
Potential candidate-in-waiting, that’s for sure.
AG