Ohio, Wisconsin & Kansas! Oh My!
Republicans were able to hold onto several hotly contested governorships, as in Wisconsin and Kansas. For weeks, many have thought Ohio would re-elect incumbent John Kasich and they did. He bested his opponent by just over 30 points, winning every county but two. He even won in Democrat strongholds like Youngstown and Cleveland. This coupled with his record of bringing jobs to Ohio will certainly place him high on the list of republican presidential contenders for a 2016 run. Perhaps, most surprisingly, the very blue states of Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois elected Republican governors. There are now 31 Republican governors and 16 Democrat governors; Alaska, Connecticut, and Vermont are still undecided.
In the weeks leading up to the 2014 election, pundits were debating what a wave election for the Republicans would look like and what it would look like the day after. As with other things in politics, no one could agree on the specifics, but there is no doubt that the American electorate produced a wave election.
Senator Mitch McConnell (KY)
For the U.S. House, Republicans picked up at least 14 seats. A handful of seats remain undecided, including eight seats in California currently held by Congress(wo)men Garamendi, Bera, McNerney, Costa, Honda, Brownley, Aguilar, and Peters.
Historically speaking, this will be the largest GOP majority in the House since 1928.
Of other interest: Congressman Bruce Braley not only lost his race for the U.S. Senate, but Democrats lost his House seat to the GOP; hailed as the last “Blue Dog” Democrat Congressman John Barrow (GA) was defeated by the GOP; and incumbent Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV) lost which means all three WV congressional seats are now held by Republicans.
In the U.S. Senate, Republicans picked up seven seats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. With Ed Gillespie down by 20 points a few weeks ago, no one expected the Virginia Senate race to be heading toward a recount, but it is; currently Gillespie trails by about 12,000 votes. In other surprises of election night: Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) was declared the winner moments after the polls closed, winning by nearly 16 points; Senator Pat Roberts (KS) who prognosticators expected to lose, won by nearly nine points; and in North Carolina Thom Tillis (R) provided the upset of the evening by beating incumbent Senator Hagan (D) by almost two points. Three races are still undecided in Alaska, Louisiana (run-off December 6th), and Virginia (re-count).
To Be Continued…
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