Governors
Eleven governorships (8 held by Democrats and 3 by Republicans) were on the ballot Tuesday. Coming into the election, Democrats held 20 seats, Republicans 29, and Independents 1 (Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island).
Republicans gained one governor as Pat McCrory picked up the North Carolina seat vacated by Democrat Beverly Perdue. (Washington State has not yet been called; Democrat Jay Inslee is currently leading 51.1% to 48.9% in Washington state with 74.9% reporting.)
Though nearly three times as many Democratically-held seats were up for grabs this week compared to Republican held ones, it’s worth noting that despite the large national advantage for Democrats (and despite the heavily-invested but failed national effort to recall Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin earlier this year) Republicans haven’t enjoyed a similar lead among governors since 2000.
State Houses
State-level legislative results are still coming in, but we can already say the 11 legislative chambers in 8 states flipped party control, with Democrats picking up 8 chambers and Republicans picking up 3.
Flipped Democratic:
- Minnesota House (54%) and Senate (58% majority)
- Maine House (58%) and Senate (54%)
- Oregon House (from tied to 57%)
- New Hampshire House (56%)
- Colorado House (54%)
- New York Senate (51%)
Flipped Republican:
- Alaska Senate (from tied to 65% majority)
- Arkansas House (51%) and Senate (63%)
Large gains in state chambers (defined as partisan gains of 10% or more) were about evenly split.
Ballot Initiatives
Despite this being a relatively light year for ballot initiatives, there were several important initiatives addressing life, family, and religious liberty. (Click here to see how life issues, religious liberty, drugs, gambling, Obamacare, etc. did at the polls.)
The big news from Tuesday is that marriage lost in four states. In three states—Washington, Maryland, and Maine—same-sex “marriage” was approved by the electorate for the first time. (Minnesota’s marriage protection amendment, defining marriage as between one man and one woman, is technically the second defeat for an MPA; Arizona’s MPA failed in 2006 before passing in 2008.)
Despite the 3- and 4-to-1 money advantage enjoyed by same-sex “marriage” proponents this year, these were hard-fought campaigns and the defeats were all the more stinging for being so narrow: The largest margin of defeat was a mere 5.4% of the vote.
Despite the fact that marriage was on the ballot in some of the most partisanly liberal states this year, my colleague Peter Sprigg points out that in each case marriage outperformed the Republican presidential ticket.
A local bright spot
Tuesday brought the latest round of victories in what looks like an emerging pattern, as national homosexual activist groups increasingly target local cities and municipalities for special rights based on sexual orientation and/or sexual preferences in public accommodations (bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.), housing, and/or hiring. Over 150 localities have passed such special rights ordinances, with serious implications for religious liberty and public safety. FRC has tracked more than two-dozen attempts to pass a special-rights ordinance since May—including notable victories in turning back special rights ordinances in Anchorage (by a 59%-41% vote of city residents) and Jacksonville, Florida (where an ordinance before the city council failed by a single vote).
Tuesday victories came in Kansas, where Robert Noland of the Kansas Family Policy Council mounted two successful campaigns earlier this year to give voters in Hutchinson and Salina the chance to weigh in on expanding their cities’ anti-discrimination codes to include sexual orientation. (His efforts had also stymied attempts to quietly pass similar ordinances in Wichita and Pittsburg.) Both grassroots efforts succeeded by 8%-10% margins, and in the process demonstrated the power of local residents when they band together to stand for truth.
We are proud to partner with the Kansas Family Policy Council and nearly forty other state family policy councils across the country—independent public policy organizations that work to defend faith, family, and freedom in their states. Click here to find the family policy council in your state.