More Post-Election Day

While my esteemed colleague posted and postulated about the Virginia and New Jersey governors races… I will be focusing on the plethora of ballot initiatives that appeared on the California ballot, and on a few other races of note.

Complete results can be found here, all results are with 100% of Precincts Reporting.

Prop 73 – will require that all physicians notify the parent(s) of a pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing an abortion. Results: YES: 47.4% - NO: 52.6%.

Prop 74 – 74 extends the probationary period for new teachers from 2 years to 5 years, and makes it easier to dismiss teachers with unsatisfactory performance evaluations. Results: YES: 44.9% - NO: 55.1%.

Prop 75 – prohibits public employee unions from using union dues for political purposes without the written consent of union members. Results: YES: 46.5% - NO: 53.5%.

Prop 76 – limits growth in state spending so that it does not exceed recent growth in state revenues. The Governor would be granted new authority to reduce state spending, [including school funding,] during certain fiscal situations. Results: YES: 37.9% - NO: 62.1%. A fairly large (and embarrassing) margin of defeat

Prop 77 – changes the way California draws boundaries for Congressional and legislative districts. District boundaries would be drawn by a panel of retired judges and approved by voters in a statewide election. Results: YES: 40.5% - NO: 59.5%

Prop 78 – discounts on prescription drugs that would establish a discount prescription drug program to be overseen by California Department of Health Services. Results: YES: 41.5% - NO: 58.5%

Prop 79 – prescription drug discounts that would provide drug discounts to Californians who qualify based on income-related standards. Results: YES: 38.9% – NO: 61.1%

Prop 80 – electric service providers regulation that would subject electric service providers, as defined, to control and regulation by California Public Utilities commission. The larger consumer impact would be that it would impose restrictions on electricity customers’ ability to switch from private utilities to other electric providers. Results: YES: 34.3% - NO: 65.7%

(Yes - you are reading that correctly; all, every single one, of Governor Schwarzenegger’s ballot initiatives failed to pass. Creating embarrassment to his administration and also dealing what could be a fatal body blow to his re-election next year. Do you hear any Republicans speaking about repealing the 22nd amendment anymore? I sure as hell don’t)

Another interesting race was the Mayoral race in New York City between Republican incumbent (and millionaire) Michael Bloomberg and Democratic challenger and former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, supported Mayor Bloomberg and stated in an interview that Ferrer is “not ready for prime time.”
Who won this race? Well, many pundits have been stating that this race was actually closer than the result, but in the end the vote went Bloomberg’s way as he won with 58% of the votes versus 39% for the challenger. (Bloomberg is a long-time Democrat, having switched parties in 2001 to run in the less-crowded Republican field. His views have stayed along more liberal lines since winning office, which is seen as an asset in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans five to one)

Results from other cities in the U.S. didn’t have as much national exposure but many metropolitan areas had Mayoral elections that may have some omen as to next year’s midterms, though I think it is still too early to really get an accurate reading on what will happen in 2006.

MAYORAL RACES

Boston. Democratic incumbent Mayor Thomas M. Menino was looking to set a record for the longest serving mayor in city history while Republican challenger Maura Hennigan wanted to become Boston's first elected female mayor. Menino got his wish. Results: Menino won re-election with % of the vote.

Detroit. Democratic incumbent Kwame Kilpatrick was seeking another Mayoral term (and taking his earring out of his ear) while fending off allegations of misspending and fiscal problems that Kilpatrick blames Republican predecessor, Dennis Archer, for whom Republican challenger Freman Hendrix worked. In addition to the misspending allegations, there are also allegations of ballot improprieties that have surfaced. Kilpatrick pulled off a bit of a squeaker and won re-election for a second term with 53% of the vote to Hendrix’ 47%.

San Diego. Donna Frye, a surf-shop owner and Democrat, was staging an uphill battle against Republican (and former Police Chief) Jerry Sanders, who enjoys strong backing from the city's business establishment. Results: Sanders won, easily defeating Frye who, besides being a surf-shop operator was also a one time city councilwoman. This is San Diego’s fourth mayor in 4 years amid waves of political turmoil.

Atlanta: The city's first female mayor, Shirley Franklin, trounced two little-known challengers to win a second term.

Chicopee, Mass.: Attorney Michael Bissonnette easily defeated Mayor Richard Goyette, who was charged with extorting campaign contributions from two businessmen. Goyette dropped out of the race a week ago. .

Cincinnati: State Rep. Mark Mallory, a member of a prominent political family, beat City Councilman David Peppers. Mallory becomes the cities first African-American Mayor, four years after race riots tore the city apart.

Cleveland: Popular City Council President Frank Jackson, whose hard-luck life growing up in the nation's 12th-poorest city endeared him to voters, edged out incumbent Jane Campbell, the first woman to lead Cleveland.

Houston: Mayor Bill White was re-elected with an astounding 91 percent of the vote. White saw his popularity soar after the city took people from Hurricane Katrina while also taking strong measures to protect residents from Hurricane Rita.

Minneapolis: Democratic Mayor R.T. Rybak won a second term despite a challenge from fellow Democrat Peter McLaughlin, a county commissioner and union favorite who accused Rybak of failing to protect the city's poorer neighborhoods. The accusations didn’t work.

Pittsburgh: Former City Councilman Bob O'Connor, a Democrat, defeated GOP lawyer Joe Weinroth in a city that has not elected a Republican mayor since the Depression era.

Seattle: Mayor Greg Nickels easily won a second term. Nickels has his critics that accused him of being heavy-handed in his leadership while disregarding neighborhood concerns in favor of property developers. His critics were unable to recruit a high-profile challenger, finally settling on former professor Al Runte.

St. Paul, Minn.: Randy Kelly was voted out after one term in this heavily Democratic city. Why? Largely because he endorsed President Bush last year. Challenger Chris Coleman, a former City Council member, had led 2-to-1 in polls with most voters saying they wanted to punish Kelly for backing Bush. A sign of things to come in one of the twin cities? Only time will tell.

More interesting election results from yesterday; in Dover, Pennsylvania, voters ousted eight (you read that right: 8) GOP school board members who backed a controversial plan to introduce high school students to "intelligent design," and replaced them with a slate of Democratic candidates opposed to the requirement. (Awe-inspiring, isn’t it? Kicking out 8 people in one election; that’s unheard of)

For information on a few other election results, click on constitutional amendments for information on the Ohio results. For information on the defeat of the repeal of the Maine Gay Rights Amendment, click here. And to find out how a similar measure fared in Texas (though I am sure most of you could probably figure it out), click here.

As I stated in this entry already, it is still WAY to early to use yesterday’s results as a barometer of how the midterms will end next year. It’s a year away, and many, many things can happen in 12 months time.

As I’ve said on this site quite a few times before; only time will tell.