The first two elections in Nevada, where Senator Catherine Masto is running for the Democratic seat of the House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate
Nevada has been a bellwether for national elections. The caricature of a casino on every block and a slot machine in every grocery store has given way to the reality of a diverse state with growing minority populations and a widening urban-rural divide that is a microcosm of America.
The pressure is high on Senator Catherine Masto. Across the country, from Georgia to Pennsylvania to Arizona, Senate races are neck and neck, and Nevada is no different; a very slight Democratic advantage has given way to pretty much a dead heat. The direction of the country on important public policy issues, including abortion and judges, could change if this seat is taken by the Republicans.
Biden flipped Pennsylvania back to the Democratic column in 2020. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016, but before that, the state had voted for Democrats in six consecutive presidential elections.
Who leads your state’s government shapes daily life in the United States. They make policy on guns, abortion, education and the environment.
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The party with the most seats in the US House of Representatives must hold 218 of them. Republicans are currently favored to win 216 seats, while Democrats are favored to win 199 seats. 20 seats are rated as toss-ups.
In 2020, Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Arizona since Bill Clinton won the state in 1996. Biden and Clinton are the only Democratic presidential nominees to win the state in more than 70 years.
Republican governors brushed off challengers, even in races that were thought to be close. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp defeated Democrat Stacy Abrams for the second time, and by a wider margin. In Florida, where Ron DeSantis narrowly defeated his opponent, he walloped his challenger, Charlie Crist, by a large margin. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott defeated Beto O’Rourke for a third term.
All eyes in Michigan will be on the state’s gubernatorial race as Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer faces conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, who’s hoping her Trump endorsement will help turn the state back towards Republicans. The right to abortion will also be on the ballot. Democrats hope the issue will help boost turnout among their base voters. Voting and elections will be important issues as Michigan voters decide on a ballot measure to increase access to the ballot and a new secretary of state is elected. Incumbent Democrat Jocelyn Benson faces Republican Kristina Karamo, who has backed Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. To keep Michigan blue, Democrats will have to do well in the Detroit-area counties, as well as run up the score in more Democratic-friendly parts of the state like Ann Arbor and Lansing. Republicans will likely do well in the western and northern parts of the state and will try to drum up more support in the historically conservative area around Grand Rapids, which has become more Democratic in recent years.
Wisconsin is one of the most closely divided states in the nation, and GOP Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers both face highly competitive reelection campaigns. Johnson, who has a history of making controversial statements, is being challenged by Barnes, a democrat who supports removing police funding. Evers faces Republican businessman Tim Michels, who won Trump’s support in the primary by aggressively amplifying the former president’s 2020 election lies. Democrats get the most support from Milwaukee and Madison. In the north and western suburbs of Milwaukee, and in less populated counties in central Wisconsin, the GOP base is found.
Republicans won big in New York. Their candidates for Congress fared far better than Mr. Trump had in 2020 — sometimes by as much as 20 points. Republicans won all but one of the state’s seven competitive congressional districts. Kathy Hochul, a democrat, held off her Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, to win the governor’s race.
The abortion issues were the most obvious differences between the states. Republicans in Pennsylvania nominated a candidate for governor who was a key player in the effort to overturn the results of the presidential election. The Democrats were concerned that a Mastriano victory could result in a constitutional crisis. It might have threatened another long-held right as well; Mr. Mastriano is a strident opponent of abortion, and Republicans controlled the state Legislature.
There are exceptions, like Democratic strength in Colorado and Republican resilience in Texas. The most impressive showings fit in well with each party.
In Florida, the Republican victory was never in doubt, despite the fact that the Stop-the-Steal movement never sought to overturn it. There are the Democratic successes in Kansas and Michigan, where abortion referendums were on the ballot at different points this year, and where Democrats swept the most competitive House districts.
The professor of politics at UC San Diego said that where you live now is more important than what the government does.
In the close races, Democratic governors were usually the ones on the defense. Biden’s low approval ratings and inflation woes stoked fears of a “red wave.”
Many Democrats won reelections. Gov. Janet Mills in Maine, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico.
Tony Evers, a democrat, survived a close race to win a second term. He will veto Republican-passed legislation even after he first vetoes more than 140 bills.
In Massachusetts and Maryland, the party gained control of both states due to the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans. In both, the Democratic candidate won an open governorship that a Republican had vacated. Democrats now completely control state government in both states. (When one single party controls the state house, state senate and governor’s office, it’s called a “trifecta.”) While state legislatures in both were already able to override vetoes from the outgoing Republicans, it will now be even easier to pass Democratic agenda items with a trifecta.
In Oregon, the Democrats got a huge win on Thursday night as Tina Kotek defeated Christine Drazan in a close race.
Republicans and Democrats had many state governor offices going into the election. Final results are pending in a few states, but that number will change.
The majority of Americans will be living in states that Democrats are in in 2023 because of their victories, according to Ben Williams of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
This cycle, two Democratically-aligned outside spending groups put $80 million into beginning to change that, on top of the around $50 million spent by the party itself. Part of the mission was to make sure state legislatures did not work to overturn the results of the next presidential election, as many GOP lawmakers did in 2020.
In Pennsylvania the Democrats claim to have flipped the state House of Representatives at a press conference. McClinton could be the first black woman to be speaker of the Pennsylvania House.
The Associated Press has not yet called all of these races, and the state Republican party has not conceded. The majority of Democrats are premature at this time, and the Pennsylvania House GOP has been keeping a close watch on the many races that are still being counted.
The GOP may still pull off an upset in Nevada, a state that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Gov. Steve Sisolak is lagging behind Las Vegas area sheriff Joe Lombardo in his reelection bid. The race has not been called by the Associated Press.
The race for Arizona’s governor is too close to call. There are two candidates in the race, and they are still in a close race as of Friday. Lake would not say if she would accept the result of her race if she lost.
Republicans gained seats in Florida, the Iowa Senate, and the South Carolina House. The party now holds veto-proof majorities in Florida and Ohio. Permitless gun carrying and restrictions on teaching about sexuality in schools have been enacted or proposed in some states.
But the GOP was unable to gain overwhelming majorities in some states with divided governments, which means Democratic governors will still be able to exercise their veto powers. Republicans gained a supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate, but not the Wisconsin House.
Divided governments like these are becoming rarer. In the last few elections, both red and blue states have become more similar, says Kousser, the political scientist.
CNN counted 12 GOP nominees for the state elections chief, who either rejected, questioned or tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. CNN has projected all of those candidates as winners, and eight as losers, including Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. This means that no state expected to be a presidential battleground state in 2024 will have a 2020 denier as its elections chief.
CNN counted 19 Republican nominees for the US Senate who refused to affirm the results of the 2020 election. The power of the Senate over elections is lower than that of the secretaries of state, but they still get a vote on certifying the Electoral College results. CNN thinks that 10 of the candidates will win and eight will lose. One is in a race too early to call.
Both Healey and Moore are succeeding moderate Republicans who had been popular with the public. In Vermont, moderate Republican Gov. Phil Scott — another one of the nation’s most popular governors — is projected to win reelection by an even wider margin than he did four years ago. As of Monday evening, Scott was leading by more than 45 points after winning by 15 points in 2018.
South Dakota Gov., Ohio Gov., and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded their margins by about 20 points to make their states more red.
In both Florida and South Dakota, the counties that voted for Democratic challengers have swung toward the Republicans.