I’ve written quite a bit about Tuesday’s election results, and will use my weekly newspaper column this Friday to develop some broad themes about the outcome. Tonight, let me jot down a few reflections that have occurred to me throughout the day that don’t merit full-length treatment:
* A major theme throughout the country was change. Voters were smarting from economic downturns and angry about fiscal mismanagement and tax increases at the state level. They throw out most of the governors running for reelection. Because there were more Republicans than Democrats defending their gubernatorial seats this year, it was the Dems who scored a net gain. But other than in Pennsylvania and Michigan, where I do think the Democratic pickups reflected a reaction to sizable GOP gains over the past 10 years, I don’t think this was a partisan shift. It was a great big protest vote.
* The Republicans recovered some of their lost ground in the South this year, reclaiming governor seats in South Carolina and Alabama and taking Georgia for the first time since the 1870s. Tennessee went the other way, from R to D, but that was mostly about a Republican governor who tried to create an income tax in a state without one. The new Democratic governor has promised not to go there. Hard to see this as a disaster for the taxpayer.
* Republicans had amazing success in the Northeast. Believe it or not, only New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maine have Democratic governors. Republicans govern in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, and Maryland. Wasn’t the GOP becoming too Southern – oh, say, about six months ago?
* Democrats made their best day in the Midwest and Plains states, traditional bastions of GOP strength. They picked up the top spot in Illinois for the first time in more than a generation, and added a Democratic House in Illinois to the mix. Other gubernatorial pickups included Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma. But a Republican reclaimed the gubernatorial slot in Minnesota.
* The anti-incumbency mood played out pretty solidly in North Carolina. Several sheriffs were defeated either in the primary or the general election. As noted in my feature story nearby, dozens of county commissioners were defeated, giving the GOP a net gain (by my early count) of 11 counties. That gives the Republicans a 50-50 split with the Democrats in North Carolina counties. Unheard of in our state. And then there’s the little matter of nearly a dozen incumbent Democrats and Republicans beaten either in the primary or general election for the state legislature.
Obviously, I was precipitous yesterday in saying that the Republicans had gained only one seat in the N.C. House, leaving the Democrats with a slight edge. Early reports out of Caldwell County about the fate of Rep. Edgar Starnes were in error, as news organizations began to figure out and correct by midday Wednesday. The veteran Republican member did not get upset by Democratic Sheriff Ray Warren of Alexander County. Starnes won. So we have a 60-60 tie in the House (pending two recounts). North Carolina is in for an interesting spectacle – and various candidates for Speaker of the House are in for a rough-and-tumble few weeks.