Early Election Results Show Dem Victories in Kentucky, Virginia

[Timothy D Easley/AP]

Pundits and politicians waited for results Tuesday as off-year races were held across the United States.  While the majority of elections held were for administrative and municipal concerns, there were several state government seats in Kentucky, Virginia, and Mississippi that were watched for portents of what 2020 could hold.

In Virginia, Democrats took full control of the state government for the first time since 1993, gaining seats in the Senate and House of Delegates to add to their existing control of the Governor’s Office.  Delegate Danica Roem of Virginia’s 13th district was reelected by a slightly higher margin than her 2017 win, making her the first transgender person re‑elected to a state legislature.  Socialist Lee Carter was also re-elected in the 50th district after a get out the vote rally on Monday during which he was endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders.  And in a particularly pleasing turn, Juli Briskman, the “she-ro” cyclist who famously flipped off Trump’s motorcade in 2017, won her first ever public seat on the Loudoun County Virginia Board of Supervisors, defeating the eight-year Republican incumbent.

In Kentucky the main race being watched was the governorship and, as of Tuesday night, Democratic challenger Andy Beshear was leading Republican incumbent Matt Bevin by about 5,000 votes.  While Beshear has claimed victory, Bevin has so far refused to concede, despite his numbers deficit.  The Kentucky race was notable because of its tight polling ahead of Tuesday, and because of the involvement of President Trump, who on Monday implored crowds in Kentucky to vote for Bevin.  “It’s so important,” Trump said during his speech.  “You got to get your friends.  You’ve got to vote because if you lose, it sends a really bad message, just sends a bad …. Here’s the story, if you win they’re, going to make it like ho-hum, and if you lose, they’re going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world.”

Reader, don’t forget that everything is terrible!  There’s too much wrong in this world to even begin to think our luck is turning.  But tonight’s results, and today’s news, are a welcome respite from the unrelenting shit storm.

7 Comments

  1. +1 Great as always, Here’s to hoping we can keep the moment rolling into next year.

    • *momentum… god dammit I wish i could proofread.

    • I like this moment though, let’s also keep it going.

    • Thanks! I think these results are awesome. It’ll be interesting to see, though, how the repubs react. In Wisconsin they basically neutered the governor’s office in response to losing it, and they keep pulling real dirty shit in NC.

      • It’s the same shit Bevs is trying to pull by not conceding. He is leaving it up to “the process” which could end up with the R majority legislature deciding and I don’t doubt that he will indeed drag it out. I expect the same reaction if T loses in 2020. And when Beshear does get seated, the rest of the ballot was R as well as the aforementioned legislature.

        If they can all just stick to hemp/agro-tech-economy, it could be something. Turnout was a vast improvement too.

        • It would be nice if the dems could get together and present a united front on anything the way the repubs can. They even stick together on criminality, it’s insane.

        • CNN has an article up this morning saying that Bevin has requested a recanvassing, so hopefully the polling stations bring the receipts.

Leave a Reply