Top 5 election results from around the nation

by mcardinal

Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News 

 

 

The day after the polls closed across the nation for off-year elections, Americans woke up with anticipation to see how the rest of the nation voted on the top issues of the day. Here are your headlines: 

Virginia:

In the race that the entire nation had their eyes on, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democratic incumbent Terry McCauliffe. This is seen as a huge win for Republicans as Virginia has recently been a firm Democratic stronghold, evidenced by Joe Biden winning the state by 10 points on his way to the presidency a year ago.  As Democrats poured their support into the state, with high profile Democrats like former President Barak Obama and President Biden stumping for the candidate, it was seen as a bellwether election looking forward to midterm elections. FISM has further coverage of this important decision here.

Minneapolis: 

Minneapolis voters took to the polls to say “no” to a ballot measure pushed by Rep. Ilhan Omar to do away with their police force and replace it with a new Department of Public Safety when they voted on Tuesday. Those in the city rocked by riots and protests after the murder of George Floyd rejected the idea to be progressive guinea pigs. 

“Those who campaigned to keep the police department intact said it was too risky to go for a wholesale change in policing in the city, which is facing a crime wave,” US News said in their assessment. KNPR reported that approximately 56% of voters rejected the ballot question, citing concerns over rising crime. 

New Jersey: Too Close to Call

Voters in the great state of New Jersey will have to wait to find out who will be the new governor of their state with NJ Spotlight News reporting that the governor’s race was too close to call and the ballots needed to be counted by hand.

Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy was challenged by Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who held a narrow lead going into the election, but both parties may be waiting as much as six days for mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday to be counted. Should those results still not define a clear winner, election officials will move on to provisional ballots.

New Jersey does not have an automatic recount system in place. Should one of the candidates believe the results were unfair they would have to request the recount. 

Major Mayoral Races – Boston:

Both New York and Boston have new Democrats in their mayoral seats as of Wednesday morning. 

Michelle Wu broke the glass ceiling and a racial threshold when she became the first woman and the first Asian American to become Boston’s mayor. The Boston Globe reported that the progressive candidate received ringing endorsements from both the governor and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Governor Charlie Baker issued congratulations for her win on Twitter, calling her win “historic.”

Major Mayoral Races – New York City:

Former Chief of Police Eric Adams will be the new mayor of New York City as he takes the honor of being only the second Black person to be the city’s mayor. According to PBS’s report on the election, Adams took a “nuanced stance on law enforcement issues,” during the national unrest over police policies. 

“His message on crime and his experience as a police officer largely insulated him from attacks from his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol,” the publication reported. The report went on to say that Adams experienced police violence as a teen and later, when became a law enforcement officer, he was vocally critical of the department he served in.

However, Adams did not run on a platform of defunding police or shifting its budget toward social programs.

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