Election Day is past, but the election itself is still going, and so is WTOP’s election update.
Local elections | Nick Iannelli
Dan Cox concedes, blames Hogan
Democrat Wes Moore, a political newcomer, won a lopsided victory as expected on Tuesday in Maryland’s race for governor. His Republican opponent, Dan Cox, has conceded.
“I wish Governor-elect Wes Moore and Lt. Gov.-elect Aruna Miller and their families every blessing and success,” Cox said.
Despite polling that showed Moore far ahead, Cox claimed that “the outcome was a complete surprise.”
“Our internal data demonstrated a massive shift of swing voters our way and a huge turnout of Republicans — neither of which is reported to have occurred,” Cox said.
Cox put some of the blame on Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who refused to endorse Cox in the race.
“Gov. Hogan’s disrespect of the people of Maryland in his own party will go down in history as disqualifying him from any future office as a Republican,” Cox said.
Legal marijuana coming to Maryland
Maryland also voted Tuesday to legalize recreational marijuana use, meaning adults 21 and older can possess, smoke and grow marijuana starting July 1, 2023.
Smoking marijuana in public will still be prohibited.
It seems likely that, under the new law, Marylanders will eventually be able to walk into a store and buy marijuana — similar to the current situation in other more liberal states around the country — but Maryland lawmakers have not yet established a framework for retail marijuana sales.
That will likely be discussed during the next General Assembly session in January.
Recreational marijuana use has already been legalized in D.C. and Virginia.
Virginia’s 2nd District flips
Republicans flipped a U.S. House seat in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District in the Virginia Beach area, with Republican Jen Kiggans defeating Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria.
Kiggans called the outcome “a new day for our Commonwealth and our country.”
“We’re here to celebrate a renewed commitment to restore American strength,” Kiggans added.
It was among the most closely watched races across the country, with Luria being a very public figure on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
Republicans were unable to flip any of the other competitive Virginia seats, with Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton defeating Republican challengers Yesli Vega and Hung Cao in the 7th and 10th districts, respectively.
Republicans will now hold five of Virginia’s seats in the U.S. House, with Democrats controlling six.
DC Council shake-ups
Say hello to the newest members of the D.C. Council.
Democrat Matthew Frumin was elected to represent Ward 3, and Democrat Zachary Parker to represent Ward 5.
For 16 years, D.C.’s Ward 3 seat has been held by Democrat Mary Cheh, who decided to step down, citing a “reevaluation” of her life.
Ward 5 was represented by Kenyan McDuffie, who left the seat to run unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for D.C. attorney general.
McDuffie will still be on the D.C. Council, however, because he decided to run for an at-large council seat as an independent.
That paid off for McDuffie in a big way, as voters in the at-large race selected McDuffie and the incumbent at-large council member Anita Bonds as the two winning candidates.
That’s bad news for incumbent at-large council member Elissa Silverman. She now loses her job, effectively being replaced by McDuffie.
From Capitol Hill | Mitchell Miller
Election Day becomes Election Week(s)
The final breakdown of the balance of power in the U.S. House and Senate is not likely to be known this weekend, though the trend lines may be clearer.
Dozens of House races must still be decided, including several contests in California that could take weeks.
Republican hopes of a “red wave” are long gone, but a more modest political tide is still expected to allow the GOP to regain power in the House.
The Republican margin over Democrats is likely to only be in the single digits, which will make it much more difficult for the House’s top Republican Kevin McCarthy to lead his conference. He hopes to become the next Speaker of the House, a post he’s aspired to his entire congressional career.
But if he only has a few votes to spare, he’ll have to work hard to manage the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Some members of the caucus are not big McCarthy fans, including Virginia Rep. Bob Good, and have made it clear they’ll try to use whatever political leverage they have to advance their priorities.
McCarthy will also no doubt be looking over his shoulder, trying to stay in good graces with the man who calls him “My Kevin” — former President Donald Trump. The former president this week said he would support McCarthy to lead the GOP.
House Republicans are scheduled to vote on their leadership team on Nov. 15. Democrats will hold leadership elections Nov. 30.
The election of House Speaker will be held on Jan. 3, the first day of the new Congress.
Senate — and then there were three
Control of the Senate will depend on the continuing vote counts in Arizona and Nevada, and possibly a runoff election in Georgia next month.
In Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt has held a slight lead over Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. But that could change, depending on votes that come in from Clark and Washoe counties, the two largest counties in the state.
Clark County includes Las Vegas and is a Democratic stronghold. The counting in Nevada is expected to extend into next week.
In Arizona, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly has a fairly solid lead over Republican Blake Masters, but there are still plenty of votes to be counted there as well.
If Kelly were to win and Cortez Masto were to lose, Senate control would all come down to the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff race between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
While Warnock finished with more votes, he didn’t get more than the required 50%. So the candidates will face off again.
“We have no control over how many campaign ads our voters are going to see over the next 30 days,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, alluding to fatigue over the dizzying number of ads. “But we’ll make sure we have honest and fair elections.”
What happened to GOP candidates boosted by Democrats?
Democrats came under a lot of scrutiny for spending money to “boost” the primary prospects of Republican election deniers backed by former President Donald Trump,
The idea was to give Democrats a better shot in the general election at beating a GOP candidate considered more extreme than a more conventional Republican candidate.
Many Democrats opposed the strategy, but in at least six major races where Democrats employed it, the Democratic candidate won.
That includes in Maryland, where the Democratic Governors Association spent close to $1 million on ads that highlighted Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox’s positions, including efforts to “end abortion in Maryland.”
Cox, who attended Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 and called former Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor,” lost handily to Democrat Wes Moore.
Among the other states where the strategy was employed was Pennsylvania. Democrat Josh Shapiro, who ran for governor, spent more than $850,000 on ads for Doug Mastriano during the GOP primary.
Mastriano said the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, and helped pay for chartered buses to come to D.C. for the Jan. 6 rally.
Shapiro went on to defeat Mastriano in the governor’s race.
Closest House race
The tightest U.S. House race in the country is in Colorado, where Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is in a hard-fought battle with Democrat Adam Frisch, a former Aspen City Council member.
The razor-thin margin is a surprise, given that Boebert represents a traditionally Republican district, and she’s maintained a high profile in Congress as a vocal supporter of former president Trump.
As of Thursday, Boebert led by just 433 votes out of more than 315,000 cast.
The gun rights activist, who formerly owned a restaurant in Rifle, Colorado, received widespread attention last year after refusing to let U.S. Capitol Police search her bag when she set off a metal detector outside the House chamber.
Worth your time
From Nick Iannelli
- Wes Moore talks about his priorities for Maryland.
- D.C. approves a measure phasing out the tipped minimum wage.
- Va. Gov. Youngkin apologizes for his comments after the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
From Mitchell Miller
- A look inside the GOP Senate struggle.
- Election’s big winner is Florida’s governor.
- The Wall Street Journal points the political finger at Trump.
