Pending a recount, Republicans have taken control of Virginia’s state Senate by the skin of their teeth. Obamacare remains incredibly unpopular in Ohio. Mississippians elected another Republican governor.
Recommended Stories
But that’s really the best news for Republicans coming out of last night’s election, and it probably isn’t good enough.
The Virginia race was a real GOP disappointment. Several of the contests they had hoped would provide them a more workable majority simply never broke the Republicans’ way. The deciding win in District 17, which would give them a 20-20 tie and control (with the tie-breaking vote of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling), remains in doubt until the votes are recounted. The margin is 86 votes.
Republicans did gain several seats in the state House — it’s still unclear just how many as I write. They already control the chamber decisively, but it provides a psychological boost that they ousted the Democratic leader. But in his race, as in the results in both chambers, the Virginia election probably just demonstrated the power of redistricting.
In Ohio, voters overwhelmingly cast a symbolic vote against Obamacare. But they also repealed public-sector union reforms designed to save the state from a California-style fiscal disaster. Voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly rejected a state constitutional amendment conferring personhood on the unborn — a controversial measure opposed by some pro-lifers.
In Kentucky, voters rejected the hapless GOP candidate for governor by a wide margin. In New Jersey, popular Republican Gov. Chris Christie tried but failed to move the needle in the state legislature.
Not an overwhelming performance for conservative ideas or candidates — although not quite a disaster either.
The November 2011 election was a mixed bag that leans, on the whole, toward the Democrats. It reinforces the remaining power of public-sector labor unions to spend and shape key debates in swing states like Ohio. But it also serves as a reminder that voters really hate Obamacare more than they love either political party.
