Well, this day after Election Day, the view from our porch looks a lot like it did in 2010. Reeps swept the field nationally, taking the Senate and holding on to a lot more Governor’s mansions than expected – even picking up an upset gubernatoial win in bright blue Maryland. Dems saw few bright spots, with the exception of Jeanne Shaheen’s Senate win over Scott Brown in New Hampshire (cue cackling from Granite Stater Steve Maviglio) and Mary Landrieu making it into the run-off in Louisiana. The word I keep hearing is “rout.”
If you want some insider looks at what happened – and why - here are a couple of great reads: Philip Rucker and Robert Costa in the Washington Post, and Edward-Isaac Devore, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan at Politico.
Of course, this being California, everything was reversed from the nationwide norm: Dems won every seat for Constitutional Officers and maintained overwhelming majorities in both houses – although the supermajorities of the past may be toast. From Aaron Kinney at the San Jose Mercury News.
“With Democrats attempting to regain their two-thirds advantage over Republicans in the Senate -- and hold on to it in the Assembly -- both parties had their eyes on a handful of races that could tip the scales of power in Sacramento.
“Republicans prevailed in two races, one in the Central Valley and the other in Orange County, that were viewed as crucial to preventing Democrats from regaining a python's grip on the Senate.”
And, keeping with the nationwide picture, the highest profile legislative races appear to have gone uniformly GOP: Janet Nguyen took a seat in Orange County; Andy Vidak held his Senate seat; and Young Kim is poised to replace Sharon Quirk Silva in AD 65.
KQED’s John Myers has five takeaways from what he’s referring to as the “Meh” election.
“It was, as one political observer called it, the ‘meh election’ in California — a mismatch in the state’s marquee race, a nasty and largely confusing fight over health care initiatives, and an electorate both a little gloomy about the future … but mostly unwilling to cast a vote for change.
“Still, there was history made on Tuesday night. Voters put Edmund G. Brown Jr. in the history books as the only person to ever be elected governor of California four times. The 76-year-old Brown handily beat his newcomer GOP challenger almost four decades to the day he first won the office in 1974. And Democrats, even in a year where Republicans were more energized, managed to largely dominate all the important contests.”
Locally, Sacramento’s “Strong Mayor” Measure L went down in flames, making us wonder if Mayor Kevin Johnson was serious about his pledge not to seek a third term if it failed. Here are the complete Sacramento County results – and take a look at the ‘Under’ votes in the Dickinson-Pan race. As Paul Mitchell pointed out on Twitter last night: not good for democracy.
The Bee has a nice batch of election night photos on their site, even some from inside the S Street Democratic HQ where press were held outside for most of the night, much to the annoyance of Dan Morain who tweeted from the parking lot.
And, congressional races were more in keeping with the national results as well, with several Democratic incumbents in races that are so far, too close to call. Ami Bera is down (but not out) in his race against GOP challenger, Doug Ose; Republican Jeff Gorrell and inclumbent Dem Julia Brownley are neck and neck in Ventura County; and Rep. Scott Peters is behind Carl DeMaio by 752 votes.
Minimum wage hikes won in San Francisco and Oakland but went down in Eureka.
Ballot props went about as expected, although support for Props 1 and 2 was stronger than polling had suggested. Props 45 and 46 – by far the most expensive campaigns on the ballot - both went under. Prop 47 passed handily; Prop 48, the bid ot expand Indian casino gambling, failed. (You haven’t heard the last on that, by the way). Melanie Mason and Paige St. John look at results in the Los Angeles Times.
And, whether you’re a Republican ready to celebrate your new Senate majority, or a Democrat saying to yourself, “this still isn’t as bad as 2004,” we’ve got something to brighten your day.
You probably didn’t expect the words “Kid Rock” and “Best Thing Ever” to be combined in one sentence, but we’re here to surprise you with the story of Dan McGurk. McGurk, a Detroit man born with Down syndrome, is a fanatical Kid Rock fan, so perhaps it’s no surprise that he invited the rock star to his 30th birthday pizza party.
What is surprising is that Kid Rock actually showed up. From Aux:
“See, the thing about Kid Rock is that while he’s widely known for being a Jim Beam swigging, stripper-loving badass, he’s also quietly gained a reputation behind the scenes as a loveable, stand-up dude.
“Case in point, he surprised superfan Dan McGurk at his 30th birthday the other day, dropping in unannounced after McGurk, who has down syndrome, invited him to the party earlier this summer.”
Watching the McGurk family’s video of the event is just about the Best Thing Ever. Just got some dust in our eyes, that’s all…