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Yesterday’s elections were a mixed bag for Democrats. There were positive results for liberals on three key ballot initiatives they cared most about. The big win of the night was in Ohio where the anti-union SB5 was overwhelmingly repealed by the voters by a margin of 61-39 percent. By a similarly impressive margin of 60-40 percent, the voters in Maine also rejected a new Republican law that would have ended same day registration. And in a surprising turnaround from only a few weeks ago the voters of Mississippi strongly rejected the radically anti-choice “personhood amendment,” though in a defeat for liberals the voters of Mississippi also approved a law requiring photo ID to vote.
While the night was generally good for progressive policies at the ballot box, it was not as good a night for Democrats running for office.
On net Democrats lost state legislative seats and may have lost control of two important state legislative chambers. That’s significant given that only four states (Mississippi, Virginia, New Jersey and Louisiana) held regular legislative elections this year.
In Virginia Democrats lost seats in the lower chamber. Depending on the results of a recount, Democrats may end up losing two Senate seats, putting the balance of power at 20 D – 20 R with the Republican Lt. Gov giving the GOP a working majority.
In Mississippi the results are still being counted, but it looks like the Republicans may have barely netted enough seats to take control of the House of Representatives for the first time since reconstruction.
In New Jersey Democrats did about as well as they did in 2009, gaining only a single state legislative seat.
Some national Democrats may be talking heart in how completely the anti-union law was defeated in Ohio, but they should be more worried about the fact that in the state legislative races Democrats did only as well as or worse than they did in the 2009 election, and 2009 was not a good year for Democrats.
32 Comments
It’s a Center-Left Country !™
Really? The NJ Democratic party is still basically a machine party. Especially in certain parts of the state. Look at the crap Chrisite has been able to pass. He needs Democrats to pass it, and plenty have complied, sadly. Mississippi? The Democratic candidate for Governor supported that Personhood Amendment travesty. What does that tell you? And the Democratic Party in VA has become a joke, sadly.
Yes, it is and I wonder if the Dems will even notice.
thanks for the insight in to Dem fortunes Jon Walker
btw, sadly assumed the Mississippi anti choice shite would go through, looking forward to hearing how it was defeated
WOW!
Excellent assessment and important points – assuming “democrats” represent “liberals” fully flies in the face of the realities we have seen since obama’s historic mandate in 2008.
Jon (hope first-name is appropriate here), Jane, & FDL were “out in front” on this.
I fear that we will not see the nation/global economy “recover” until we actually have a party that represents liberal/progressive points of view.
That party does not exist now – perhaps not even in WI where the party has a tradition of being fairly progressive/liberal.
Thanks for not jumping on the bandwagon that somehow last night indicates “problem solved”, all is good, and we should all go back to shopping and watching reality tee-vee shows.
They have to take the “blinders” off first. MY description of the currrent democratic party…”useless and clueless” (TM).
But we are (really) taking to the streets, and every Middlesex village and farm to spread the alarm. We’re made as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore. I have but one life to give for my country. Death to the tyrants. We WILL make a mountain out of a molehill and restore government of the people, by the people, and for the people, to this earth.
“A Good Night For Liberals, Not So Great for Democrats.”
This is a good thing.
The headline says it all. Liberal and Democrat are not synonymous. Last night was a great night, end of story, and if the Democratic party suffered wounds, that’s nobody’s concern but theirs. They can run to the left to catch up or not, but I don’t care if they choose to ignore this and languish. Saw Clinton on Daily Show last night, he talked about how he lowered cap gains to 20% (smoothing the way for the Bush tax cuts), raised the taxes on everybody else, never mentioned repeal of Glass-Steagall or passing NAFTA and other trade deals that let corporations evade the 35% rate he talked about. It’s not just Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln, it’s the whole Democratic establishment who have turned their backs on liberals, and this liberal has turned his back on them.
A few weeks ago clinton gave a speech saying that he wants more credit for reforming (gutting) welfare. Unbelievable!! He just won’t go away.
One of the best headlines ever on FDL. And true, too!
Liberals and liberal policies won last night, which makes Obama and his Dems “uncomfortable”. That’s a good thing.
more wow, just now reading Clergy in MS publicly opposed this (those with opposable thumbs anyway)
language of the proposal must have been biggest flaming semantic turd evah !!
There were some troubling signs from my local area. I live in one of the counties on the Virginia side of DC – county of about 350K folks. Yesterday all nine of our newly elected Supervisors are Republicans – following a county Board where there were 7 dems and 2 reps. Every state senate and delegate seat in our county was also republican. It was a complete sweep in an area of Virginia that had been moving a little more blue.
What this tells me is that Virginia will be really be in play next fall.
It should read that liberals have finally turned their backs on the Dems. A lot of liberal minded people (including this poster) were still voting Democratic for years, despite the Dems’ contempt for them. Now they’re not. That’s a good thing.
I think everything’s in play next fall. Obama probably thought he was going to cruise to re-election in 2012.
Yes, I played the “lesser of two evils” game for too long myself. And what do you know, the situation hasn’t become any better.
I will know when Liberals have banded togeather when their version of Christine O’donnell beat’s a main line democrat in a primary. If lberals can get the Rent is to Damn high guy to win a primary, liberals will be able to get their policies through congress. Until then the elected democrats have nothing to fear.
I’d suggest that the Ohio results kind of show how voters think. Issue 2 the anti worker bill was defeated handily. Issue 3 the anti Obama health care bill passed handily.
Do you think anybody in the national democratic party will take this to heart or they will just decide that all in all: we’re numbe 1, we’re number 1?
Another scary thing for democrats. The Ohio constitutional ammendment passed with about the same majority as the antiunion repeal bill passed. So the union people who came out to vote did not like the health care mandate any better than the tea party people.
It was about the same in our little town. No shift in power for either party. Ho hum.
Last night we all agreed that we set the mandates, not they.
Great headline, Jon. I am so proud of the American people (whom as an adult in possession of all my faculties, I chose to join)! Obamacare is bad, bad, bad and unions need protection because they originated the people’s protests – they are our historic and recent forefathers, now doing great work with the people’s need for homes intact. So many creative areas to occupy; this is a wonderful time to be alive.
There will be no meaningful political dialogue unless and until the new parties form and challenge the duopoly whenever that becomes possible. Increasingly, it is possible! How sweet that is!
Thank you voters all, whether you voted or whether you abstained. All the blatherers in the media are ‘doing their damndest’ to spin but this diary is where it is at, and I for one among many am rejoicing. A liberal artist I am; proud of my heritage.
See Rome and die, they once said; I say, see Occupy and die!
Next fall will be a problem for voters looking to make this a better place. There will be no good choices, all bad. Both sides now believe we need to cut spending on our way to prosperity and both will see Iran as a serious threat. Heavens knows what will happen in Eurodope in the next year but it’s not looking good. And we now see that what happens there,usually happens here.
And so, holding our noses and voting for bad choices has brought us to this morass. It’s clear then, that that strategy has failed. I’m keeping an eye out for emergent or rejuvenated parties and candidates on the left. Lacking those, I’ll vote issues.
What kind of voting machines do you have in VA?
Tells me, PhilPerspective @ 2 that the Democratic Party is one big tent. A big tent full of bullshit.
True. My reaction to the headline was, “What Democrats?” Getting real hard to tell the difference.
I agree totally with your sentiments
Virginia’s McDonnell is a graduate of Robertson’s Regent University, but he never mentions that. Those who need to know do know. Virginia joins the red states with as many evangelicals and wing-nuts as the rest. Northern Virginia does not seem to either understand or care. Government workers and the military tend to be anti-union Republicans. Now they will quickly get voter suppression, anti-abortion legislation, private schools on tax-payer money and forget separation of church and state.
Virginia never left the south. Good night for Cantor.
paper – optically read
Writing from Georgia where it’s Diebold no paper trail (and something new and even scarier, they scanned my driver’s license at the poll yesterday), then the Republican Red turnover may be real, which is surprising and, well, just weird. I gave up being a Democrat and trusting the nomenclature, but I’d still never actually vote for a self-identified Republican. Alas, who the hell knows what all we desperate people will do?
Ehh, I think you’re being a kill-joy Jon :) The minor defeat in Virginia is worrisome, but holding the Iowa Senate is just as important. I don’t see how control of the Mississippi legislature matters very much, since it’s obviously not a battleground state and unless I’m mistaken there was never any chance of Dems gaining congressional seats out of MS.
Really I think the important dark cloud is Virginia, where Obama won considerably in 2008 and now looks solid Red. But VA isn’t critical if Kasich’s administration implodes in Ohio.
What I took away from this was that voters APPROVED Democratic POLICIES ["real" Dem policies] but DISAPPROVE of the phony Dem CANDIDATES who cave to Repubs on every issue.