2022-11-09 08:00:00
Republican Greg Abbott was elected Tuesday to a third term as Texas governor following defeating Democrat Beto O’Rourke in a race that tested the course of the huge Republican state following the massacre at a Uvalde elementary school and a ban. strict on abortion
The win underscored Abbott’s political resilience following record spending of more than $200 million in a state where Republicans have seen their wide margins of victory shrink in recent years.
But in a state of 29 million people that is getting younger and more diverse and has become a magnet for big business, Abbott remained a bulwark of the Republican Party in a fight once morest a recognized and difficult adversary. Abbott capitalized on jitters regarding crime and inflation once morest a charismatic rival who sought the vote of those dissatisfied with mass shootings, abortion restrictions and the state power grid failure in 2021 that had deadly consequences.
The result now puts the two leading Texas political figures, one already running for president and one weighing his own candidacy, on different trajectories.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, won re-election for a second term by beating Democrat Charlie Crist, confirming his rise as a top GOP figure with possible White House ambitions.
DeSantis’ win continues the shift to the right in what was once the nation’s largest no-party state following voters embraced a governor who reveled in culture wars and called his candidacy a battle once morest the “wokeite” agenda of the liberals.
Leading up to the election, DeSantis used the power of his position to rally the press, often on short notice, for conferences in which he spent a good deal of time criticizing President Joe Biden, liberal politics, and the press. conventional, usually generating standing ovations.
He garnered national attention at the start of the coronavirus pandemic by openly opposing continued lockdowns, vaccination and mask requirements, and eventually was eager to wade across any cultural divide, including issues of immigration, gender and education, among others. others.
Democrat Gavin Newsom easily won a second term as California governor, defeating a little-known Republican state senator whom he largely ignored during a campaign focused on the policies of Florida Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, two Republicans who at the time like Newsom they might run for president.
It was Newsom’s second landslide win at the state level in a year. In September 2021, he easily overcame a recall attempt that was fueled by discontent over his policies to combat the pandemic. The failed attempt entrenched Newsom’s political influence in California, freeing him to focus on the future, which many envision will include a run for the White House.
“I think he becomes one of the most recognizable Democrats in the country, considering that there will very likely be a divided government in Washington DC, and the Democrats will look to any ally to push their agenda,” said Matt Barreto, a science professor. politics at UCLA. “And Governor Newsom will have a huge platform in California to do it.”
It was an expected result in the nation’s most populous state, where registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2-1. The Republican candidate, State Senator Brian Dahle, was unable to raise enough funds for an effective campaign.
In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, was elected governor, becoming the first woman and the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to the position.
Healey defeated Republican Geoff Diehl, a former state representative who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Healey’s election returns the state’s governorship to the Democrats following eight years of Republican rule under Charlie Baker, who chose not to seek re-election.
Meanwhile, Democrat Wes Moore was elected as the first black governor in Maryland’s history.
Moore, a renowned writer in his first run for elected office, defeated Republican Dan Cox in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.
Moore’s victory adds to the Democrats a state that had been under Republican rule. Of the 36 state governorship races this year, Maryland and Massachusetts presented some of the best chances for Democrats to win back governorships at a time when the Republican Party governs 28 of the 50 states.
Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was elected governor of Arkansas, becoming the first woman to take the reins of state government and the highest-ranking Trump administration official to be elected.
Sanders defeated Democratic nominee Chris Jones in the gubernatorial race of a predominantly Republican state where Trump remains popular. Sanders was the clear favorite in the race, which also included Libertarian candidate Ricky Dale Harrington.
Sanders broke state fundraising records during his campaign, which focused on national issues. Sanders, the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, has regularly vowed to use her office to combat President Joe Biden and the “radical left.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee won re-election, retaining Republican control of a government that has not been in Democratic hands for more than a decade.
Lee defeated Democrat Jason Martin to secure a new four-year term.
Lee, a businessman and farmer, easily prevailed in the primary where he did not face a single Republican challenger, and then secured his victory over Martin without debate. Capitalizing on his big advantage in campaign funds in a red state, Lee ran television ads before the election in which he applauded the achievements of his government.
Lee highlighted the economic growth in the state during his publicity guidelines, in which he said that “it would be an honor to serve once more.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey easily wins a second term in office by beating Democrat Yolanda Flowers, who was the first black woman to be nominated by one of the two major parties for state governor. Ivey prevailed following overcoming a health problem and several Republican contenders in the primaries.
With a huge smile and dressed in a red jacket, Ivey took the stage in front of a large American flag and waved to supporters during her celebration at a Montgomery restaurant.
“We did it!” he exclaimed.
Governor JB Pritzker easily won re-election for Illinois by beating Republican Darren Bailey in a race characterized by acrimony and excessive spending.
Pritzker, a Democrat who had not held a single elected office before his 2018 election victory, won a second term fueled by a campaign built on fiscal stability and tax breaks. He peppered his speeches with claims that Bailey, a state senator and farmer from southern Illinois as well as a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was “too extreme” for a clearly Democratic state.
The 57-year-old billionaire businessman and philanthropist’s win should further boost his image at the national level, which he promoted this year with a trip to New Hampshire, a state that hosts early primaries, and raised millions of dollars for Democrats across the country. .
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, defeated Republican nominee Ashley Kalus for his first full term in office.
McKee is a former lieutenant governor who took the reins of the state in March 2021, when two-time Governor Gina Raimondo was appointed as Secretary of Commerce. McKee was the overwhelming favorite in the liberal state for both being a Democrat and the sitting governor, and he received the support of a number of major unions. Kalus is a businesswoman and political debutant who moved to the state just last year.
Republican Mark Gordon won a second term as governor of Wyoming.
Gordon defeated Democrat Theresa Livingston, a retired teacher and employee of the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. Neither of them ran a huge campaign.
Gordon emphasized his efforts to diversify Wyoming’s economy away from fossil fuels, citing ongoing efforts to develop new uses for coal and an unconventional nuclear reactor.
It was imposed despite criticism from other Republicans for closing businesses and public spaces during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. His response to the pandemic led to calls for another Republican candidate to challenge him for office.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, won a historic re-election by running for the last time in a four-decade political career, and voters gave him the chance to be the longest-serving governor in the history of the state.
McMaster, 75, defeated Democrat Joe Cunningham, who repeatedly mentioned the 35-year gap to his rival.
Upon completing his second term, McMaster will have served as governor for 10 years, more than any other head of government in the entity’s history.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine won a second term in office Tuesday by beating Democratic candidate Nan Whaley, who had hoped to regain a seat that was last held by her party 16 years ago.
DeWine won a surprisingly close three-way primary in May as conservatives angry with his efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus tried to remove him from office. Whaley clearly edged out former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley in the Democratic primary.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, won a second full term in office following campaigning on unprecedented tax cuts and conservative handling of the state’s economy to defeat Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear.
Reynolds was appointed governor in 2017 and barely won her first full term a year later, but her re-election never seemed in doubt following raising nearly $7.5 million and boasting on the campaign trail of creating a $2 billion surplus. dollars despite pushing for tax cuts.
Voters in Vermont, a traditionally Democratic state, voted for Republican Phil Scott for his fourth two-year term as governor.
Scott, 64, defeated Democrat Brenda Siegel and three other independent candidates.
Since becoming governor in 2017, Scott has focused on minimizing the tax burden, securing help for vulnerable populations, and boosting the economy. He has said that his work is not finished.
Despite being a Republican, Scott was a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump and voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Scott guided Vermont through the COVID-19 pandemic, being praised for helping the state avoid some of the worst impacts felt elsewhere.
Democrat Jared Polis won a second term as Colorado governor, beating out fierce competition from a businessman seeking to become the first Republican to lead the state since 2007.
Polis, a tech entrepreneur and former federal legislator, touted how quickly Colorado emerged from coronavirus pandemic lockdowns during his tenure and is poised to post robust economic growth.
He defended the successes of his first term in office in expanding health affordability, fully funding kindergarten and preschool, and insisting that he would continue to push for a green energy policy aimed at making Colorado solely dependent on renewable sources by the year 2040.
Republican Kevin Stitt won a tougher-than-expected race for re-election as Oklahoma governor, beating Democrat Joy Hofmeister, who spent millions of dollars on ads to attack her opponent.
Stitt, 49, was helped by a shot of guidelines from the Republican Governors Association in the home stretch of his campaign. The ads linked Hofmeister to President Joe Biden, who lost in every one of the state’s 77 counties in the presidential election and remains an unpopular figure in the state.
The ads also criticized Hofmeister, the public schools superintendent for the entity that switched parties to run once morest Stitt, for supporting a series of tax increases in 2018 that helped fund teacher pay increases.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem won re-election following defeating a Democratic state lawmaker, largely due to her handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Republican governor surpassed state Rep. Jamie Smith following raising more than $15 million through a national network. Noem has said she will serve out her full four-year term if re-elected, but has raised speculation that she has higher political ambitions by becoming a figure in the conservative press and making appearances in key states in 2024. The amount of funding raised by Noem was historic for a South Dakota gubernatorial candidate.
Republican Brad Little, 68, easily won his re-election as Idaho governor on Tuesday.
Little, who led the state during the coronavirus pandemic, handily prevailed over Democratic challenger Stephen Heidt and independent candidate and anti-government activist Ammon Bundy in a deeply conservative region.
“For me, the results of today’s elections translate into a mandate to keep our state on the path of incredible and unprecedented success,” said the president following confirming his victory, at an act of the Idaho Republican Party. “To continue to show Washington DC and the rest of the country how things are done right.”
Democrat Tim Walz was re-elected to a second term in Minnesota following beating Republican Scott Jensen, a family doctor who made headlines across the country for his skepticism regarding vaccines.
Walz was the governor of Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic — which included lockdowns and school and business closures — and during the riots that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. He supported the right abortion a key piece of his campaign.
Jensen had criticized Walz for rising crime, failing to control protests following Floyd’s death and what he called harmful lockdowns during the pandemic.
“Well Minnesota, democracy is alive and well in this state. Well done,” Walz said, his voice hoarse, to a cheering crowd of supporters. Voters “have made a conscious choice tonight. To choose a positive future, to choose one in which our best days are yet to come. To choose one that rejects negative and divisive politics and chooses the full path for each of us to be the best we can be.”
Republican Jim Pillen was elected governor of Nebraska by defeating Democratic state Sen. Carol Blood, continuing his party’s 24-year dominance of the conservative state.
Nebraska hasn’t elected a Democrat for governor since 1994, and Pillen was the clear favorite following winning a contentious eight-way primary in the spring. Pillen is a fence farm owner and a veterinarian in Columbus, as well as serving on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Pillen will replace Governor Pete Ricketts, who was barred from re-election due to term limitations.
Lieutenant Governor Josh Green, a Democrat, has surpassed former Republican Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona to become the next governor of Hawaii.
Green has been Gov. David Ige’s right-hand man for the past four years. Prior to that, she held seats in the state Senate and House of Representatives. Before entering politics, he was a physician in rural areas of the Big Island, a profession he has continued to practice part-time ever since.
Green gained a large following during the COVID-19 pandemic for his explanations of infection rates and trends and the capacity of hospital care. He was the clear favorite to defeat Aiona, who had previously unsuccessfully run for office in 2010 and 2014.
Both candidates focused their campaigns on the high cost of housing in Hawaii.
Democrat Josh Shapiro won the gubernatorial election of Pennsylvania, a state where the future of abortion rights is at stake and where electoral management will be key in the 2024 presidential election.
A two-time elected state attorney general, Shapiro took a centrist stance on several key issues and smashed the state’s vote-funding record with a powerful campaign that swept Republican Doug Mastriano with a barrage of television ads.
He was always the favorite in the polls once morest Mastriano and his victory made him the first governor chosen to succeed a member of his party since 1966.
“Tonight, voters from Generation Z to our elders, voters from all walks of life, have given me the honor of a lifetime by giving me the opportunity to serve as the next Governor of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said before hundreds of people. at his home in Montgomery County, in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp overcame a second election challenge from challenger Stacey Abrams to maintain conservative control of the most politically contested southern state while handing another defeat to the national Democratic star.
“Well, it seems the reports of my political death have been greatly exaggerated,” Kemp told supporters in his sometimes defiant victory speech Tuesday night following two years of troubles that had threatened his re-election chances. .
In his speech, Kemp said his campaign, during which he used the power of his office to cut taxes and offer money to voters while attacking Abrams for not sufficiently supporting the police, was a recipe for Republican success in the state. . The Democrats believed that an ever-increasing percentage of non-white voters would put them on the path to victory.
Abrams told his followers that their efforts had not been in vain as their fight had allowed them to imagine a different state. “I may no longer run for governor, but I will never stop doing everything in my power to make sure the people of Georgia have a voice,” she said.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was elected to a second term following beating Republican Mark Ronchetti with a campaign that focused on protecting access to abortion and maintaining welfare programs.
Lujan Grisham presented her support for abortion as a cornerstone of women’s rights, as well as flaunting her legislative achievements, which range from tax cuts to gun control and salary increases for teachers.
“Tonight, New Mexico has said ‘no’ to a political crusade that wants to turn women into second-class citizens,” the governor said in her victory speech to supporters in Albuquerque.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills outvoted bombastic former Republican Gov. Paul LePage and was re-elected to a second term in Maine.
Mills, the state’s first woman to hold office, displayed pragmatic leadership during the pandemic, including executive orders that her rival had called a “reign of terror.” LePage also criticized the leader for her spending during the health crisis in her bid for a third term that would have made her the longest-serving governor in the region’s history.
“Tonight, they have sent a clear message, a message that we will continue to move forward and not go backwards. We will continue to fight the issues and not each other,” Mills told an election night crowd in downtown Portland.
LePage did not admit defeat but acknowledged that the accounts were not coming out.
Democrat Kathy Hochul became the first woman to be elected governor of New York on Tuesday and revalidated a position she reached in 2021 following the resignation of her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul left behind Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, an ally of former President Donald Trump whose campaign focused on fear of crime.
“I am not here to make history, I am here to make a difference,” Hochul told supporters. “I have felt a weight on my shoulders to make sure that every girl and woman in the state will not have to run up once morest glass ceilings everywhere, so that they know that a woman can be elected in her own right and successfully govern a state. as hard and difficult as New York”.
Democrat Ned Lamont won reelection as Connecticut governor once morest Republican businessman Bob Stefanowski for the second time in four years following a campaign focused on abortion access, crime and the cost of living.
The president dodged Stefanowski’s accusations that he was unaware of the financial impact of inflation and taxes on the population. In his place, Lamont presented his voters with a rosy picture in a state that has successfully weathered the pandemic, cut taxes, paid off pension debt and has solid reserves.
“Connecticut knows. We have had good elections, fair elections. Now we come together and work together as one. Because that’s what Connecticut always does,” Lamont said in a speech in Hartford.
Gov. Tony Evers defeated Republican Tim Michels and the battleground state of Wisconsin will be led by a Democrat ahead of the 2024 presidential election. In his victory speech Wednesday, he said his win showed voters wanted to protect democracy.
Evers had argued that democracy was at stake with Michels, who had the endorsement of former President Trump and had cast doubt on Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election two years ago in Wisconsin. Michels favored disbanding the state’s bipartisan election commission and had promised to sign bills vetoed by Evers that would have made absentee voting more difficult.
The governor called his victory a victory for reproductive rights, public schools, clean energy and continued investment in state infrastructure.
Democrat Katie Hobbs was ahead of Republican Kari Lake in the Arizona gubernatorial race, but the battle for control of the crucial state was not yet decided.
Lake, a former television news anchor, said she would not have certified the state’s 2020 presidential election result. Her television behavior, confrontations with journalists and her combative message toward Democrats made her, despite it being her first candidacy, a rising star on the right whose future in national politics it is already discussed.
Hobbs, who serves as Arizona’s secretary of state, rose to fame defending the integrity of Biden’s victory in Arizona, where he had the smallest margin of any state he won two years ago.
The results of this election will give a clue to the sentiments of the Arizona electorate, which for many years was a Republican stronghold until it turned to the Democrats during the Trump presidency. It will tell if Biden’s success here was a flash in the pan or the start of a long-term trend.
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