Recent election day results: an analysis and breakdown

Good afternoon, Bennies and Johnnies. My name is Cormac O’Connor, and here is my election analysis and breakdown. Below are the summaries of many of the major races throughout the United States on Tuesday:

**Kentucky**: Incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won re-election as governor of Kentucky on Tuesday by a comfortable five-point margin over his Republican challenger, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The GOP swept all the other statewide races in Kentucky on Tuesday, which came as no surprise due to the significant Republican lean of the state.

**Virginia**: All 140 legislative seats were up for election in both chambers of the Virginia state legislature — 40 in the state Senate, 100 in the house of delegates. Although Democrats lost one seat in the state Senate, they still hold control with a 21-19 margin. Democrats ended up flipping the state House by gaining at least three seats in the House of Delegates. The current margin has Democrats in front with 51 seats to the Republicans’ 47 seats, with one race remaining uncalled. The results are a huge blow to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who has put everything he had into these races since 2013 in the hopes of having Republicans gain full government control.. Youngkin had also made clear that if the GOP were to gain full control of the state government in Virginia, then he would move to pass a 15-week abortion ban in the state, along with other conservative priorities. Virginia is the only southern state to not have placed any new restrctions on abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer of 2022. The prospect of an abortion ban seemed to rally voters to reject Youngkin’s proposal, as the GOP in Virginia ended the night worse off than when the night began. Youngkin was rumored to announce a late entry into the GOP race for president if everything went well in Virginia, but after this electoral defeat, it is very likely that those plans will not come to fruition. Also notable in the Virginia elections on Tuesday was the election of Danica Roem to the state Senate. Roem will become the first openly transgender senator ever elected in state history.

**Ohio**: Ohioans voted on Tuesday via ballot measures to establish a state constitutional right to an abortion. This nullifies the current six-week ban that Ohio has in place, though that ban is currently tied up in the courts. The other ballot measure was to legalize the use of recreational marijuana in the state for those who are 21 and older. Both measures passed with roughly 57% of the votes. The passage of the ballot measure regarding abortion shows just how potent the issue of abortion still is in America and how the issue of abortion could play out going into 2024.

**Mississippi**: In the Mississippi governor’s race, Democrat Brandon Presley failed to unseat Republican incumbent Tate Reeves on Tuesday. Reeves garnered approximately 51.6% of the vote to Presley’s 47.0%, with independent Gwendolyn Gray garnering approximately 1.4% of the vote. (Gray previously announced she would withdraw from the race and endorse Presley but was unable to do so when she couldn’t legally remove her name from the ballot.) While the Democrats failed to win the governor’s mansion in Mississippi, a Democrat garnering 47% of the vote in a state as red as Mississippi is notable. After Tuesday’s performance, the Democratic party could possibly view the Mississippi governorship as a potential pickup opportunity, should Presley choose to seek the governorship again in the future.

**Pennsylvania**: The Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Dan McCaffery, won with 53.1% of the vote, defeating Republican Carolyn Carluccio, who garnered 46.9% of the vote. This race gives the Pennsylvania Supreme Court a 5-2 margin in favor of the Democrats. Philadelphia Democrats celebrated last night over Cherelle Parker, the first woman to ever be elected mayor. Democrats also gained control of the Pennsylvania Superior Court with twin Democratic victories in those two court races. In other news, Allegheny County elected Democrat Sara Innamorato as Chief Executive of Allegheny County. She defeated Republican Joe Rockey with 51% of the vote to Rockey’s 49%.

**Rhode Island**: Democrat Gabriel Amo won a special election for RI-01 and will become the first black congressperson from Rhode Island. The special election was triggered with the resignation of Democrat David Cicilline in June to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

**Texas**: Democratic U.S. House representative Sheila Jackson Lee and Democratic Texas state senator John Whitmire are headed to a runoff with a chance to become Houston’s next mayor. Whitmire garnered 42.5% of the vote to Jackson Lee’s 35.6% of the vote. Also notable is that former Uvalde mayor Cody Smith will become the first mayor of Uvalde since the deadly school shooting last year. Incumbent mayor Don McLaughlin announced his resignation to run for the Texas state house.

**New York**: A quick yet notable election is the election of Yusef Salaam to a seat on the New York City Council. Salaam is a member of the exonerated Central Park five — a group of five Latino and Black teenagers wrongly accused and convicted in 1989 of raping a jogger in Central Park. Salaam spent seven years behind bars before being released and exonerated after DNA tests proved his innocence. Also notable is that the Bronx will be represented by a Republican on the New York City Council for the first time in 40 years after Democratic incumbent Marjorie Velázquez was defeated by Republican challenger Kristy Marmorato.

**New Jersey**: New Jersey Democrats maintained control of the state government by holding their 25-15 margin in the Senate and expanding their majority in the state house by five seats, to now have a 51-29 margin in the state house.

While there were many other races around the country on Tuesday, these were the ones that I viewed as notable and worth talking about. Certainly every race was important, but due to time and space constraints, I was unable to talk about all of those. If you are curious about a race that is not on here, I encourage you to look on that state’s secretary of state’s website, or just look up the state election results and you should be able to find the races you’re looking for. Have a wonderful rest of the week, Bennies and Johnnies.