Reposted from the DNC.
November 7, 2018
With a few more races decided last night and into today, we wanted to send you an updated roundup of races and trends from last night. Want to thank you again for all of your partnership and work driving towards the historic and incredible victories from last night! This is just the beginning and paved the way for long-term Democratic wins.
Before we do the run-down, we want to say THANK YOU again. We just can’t say it enough! We are celebrating today because of all of your organizing, your leadership, and your partnership. We’re proud to be fighting the good fight alongside all of you.
Here’s the Cheat Sheet:
- Flipped the house with at least 28 House seats flipped (and still counting with a handful of races too close to call)
- 7 governor seats flipped (more gov seats flipped by any party since 1994)
- 6 legislative chambers flipped, and 7 this cycle
- 4 Republican supermajorities in state legislatures broken
- 4 Attorney General seats flipped
- 3 state Supreme Court seats flipped
- 2 Secretary of State seats flipped (and more to be counted)
- 1 Senate seat flipped
- And we flipped more than 350 (!) state legislative seats this cycle
Key Narratives from the night:
- Democrats expanded the map
- Diversity wins
- Year of the woman
- Healthcare is a #1 issue
- Gains for redistricting
- New reality for Trump
Democrats flipped the House: Thanks to incredible candidates running across the country, we flipped 28 seats — and we’re still counting! We have a lot of races that are too close to call but may expand our lead throughout today like Lucy McBath’s race in GA-06, Gina Ortiz Jones’ race in TX-23, Kim Schrier’s race in WA-08, and Ben McAdams in UT-04, Xochitl Torres Small’s race in NM-02, Jared Golden’s race in ME-02, Katie Hill in CA-25, Harley Rouda in CA-48, and Anthony Brindisi in NY-22.
Confirmed flips are:
- Virginia’s 2nd: Democrat Elaine Luria beat out incumbent Republican Scott Taylor.
- Virginia’s 7th: Democrat Abigail Spanberger beat incumbent Republican Dave Brat.
- Virginia’s 10th: Democrat Jennifer Wexton unseated incumbent Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock.
- Florida’s 26th: Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell unseated Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo defeated.
- Florida’s 27th: Donna Shalala, a former Clinton administration official, defeated Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, a TV journalist.
- New Jersey’s 11th: Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the race for the open seat against Republican Jay Webber.
- New Jersey’s 7th: Democrat Tom Malinowski ousted incumbent Republican Leonard Lance.
- New Jersey’s 2nd: Democrat Jeff Van Drew defeated Republican Seth Grossman.
- New York’s 11th: Max Rose defeated Republican Dan Donovan, the only Republican House member in New York City.
- New York’s 19th: Democrat Antonio Delgado edges out incumbent Republican Rep. John Faso.
- Pennsylvania’s 5th: Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon won against Republican Pearl Kim in the district which was reformed after the state’s gerrymandered map was redrawn.
- Pennsylvania’s 6th: Democrat Chrissy Houlahan beat out Republican Greg McCauley for the open seat.
- Pennsylvania’s 7th: Democrat Susan Wild defeated Republican Marty Nothstein for the open seat.
- Michigan 8th: Democrat Elissa Slotkin unseated Mike Bishop.
- Michigan 11th: Democrat Haley Stevens beat Republican Lena Epstein.
- Minnesota’s 2nd: Democrat Angie Craig unseated Republican incumbent Jason Lewis
- Minnesota’s 3rd: Dean Phillips defeated incumbent Republican Erik Paulsen.
- Kansas’ 3rd: Democrat Sharice Davids defeated Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder.
- Colorado’s 6th: Democrat Jason Crow unseated incumbent Republican Mike Coffman.
- Texas’ 32nd: Democratic ex-NFL player Colin Allred beat incumbent Republican Pete Sessions.
- Oklahoma’s 5th: Democrat Kendra Horn defeated Republican Steve Russell.
- Arizona’s 2nd: Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick topped Republican Lea Marquez Peterson.
- Iowa’s 1st: Democrat Abby Finkenauer unseated Republican incumbent Rod Blum.
- Iowa’s 3rd: Democrat Cindy Axne defeated incumbent Republican David Young.
- Illinois’ 14th: Democrat Lauren Underwood unseated incumbent Republican Randy Hultgren.
- Illinois’ 6th: Democrat Sean Casten defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Peter Roskam.
- California’s 49th: Democrat Mike Levin defeated incumbent Republican Diane Harley.
- South Carolina 1st: Democrat Joe Cunningham defeated Katie Arrington.
Recounts and too close to call:
- NY-22: Anthony Brindisi has the lead and is headed to a recount
- GA-06: Lucy McBath is in a very close race against Karen Handel
- NJ – 03: Andy Kim is leading by only a few thousand votes and headed to a recount — **UPDATE – Andy Kim defeated Tom MacArthur
Democrats flipped 7 governors’ seats, and we’re still counting! As mentioned above, this is more governor seats then have been flipped by any party since 1994! These races, along with control of state legislatures, are crucial for the redistricting battles ahead. And with these victories last night, we’ve expanded the number of female Democratic governors from two to at least six!
- Maine: Janet Mills
- Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer
- Illinois: JB Pritzker
- Wisconsin: Tony Evers
- Kansas: Laura Kelly
- New Mexico: Michelle Lujan-Grisham
- Nevada: Steve Sisolak
The Senate was tough, but we persevered. Despite a very difficult Senate map, Jacky Rosen flipped the Nevada Senate seat and John Tester kept his seat in Montana! Mike Espy is headed for a runoff in Mississippi. Unfortunately, we lost some incredible Democratic senators last night with Claire McCaskill, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Donnelly.
We’re building back power in the state legislatures! So far this cycle, thanks to the hard work of the DLCC, Democrats have regained majorities in seven chambers and flipped over 350 seats from red to blue nationwide!
- We flipped 7 State Chambers: Colorado State Senate, Connecticut State Senate, Maine State Senate, the Minnesota State House, New Hampshire State House and New Hampshire State Senate, and the New York State Senate and Washington State Senate last year.
- We busted at least 4 Republican supermajorities in the Michigan State Senate, Pennsylvania State Senate, the North Carolina State House, and the North Carolina State Senate!
- Democrats gained supermajorities in the following 7 chambers:
- California Senate
- Delaware House
- Illinois House
- Nevada Assembly
- Oregon House
- Oregon Senate
- Vermont House
Historic, diverse candidates won! Democrats elected the most diverse group of candidates in our party’s history. Here are just a few highlights …
- We’re sending our first Native women to Congress with Deb Haaland (NM-01) and Sharice Davids (KS-03). Davids also is the first openly LGBT member of Kansas’ delegation.
- In Colorado, Jared Polis was victorious, becoming the nation’s first openly gay man to be elected governor.
- Texas is sending not one but two Latinas to Congress for the first time ever with Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Sylvia Garcia (TX-29)!
- We have our first Muslim women in Congress with Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13)!
- New England is sending its first African-American women to Congress with Jahana Hayes (CT-05) and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)!
- Lauren Underwood flipped IL-14 and became the first African-American woman to ever represent the district!
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at 29 years old!
- These women ended the PA congressional all-male monopoly: Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlahan, Susan Wild!
- New Democratic mayors were elected in cities across the country, including Kim Norton, who will be the first woman mayor in Rochester, MN, and Jeff Hall, who will be Alexandria, LA’s first African American mayor. William Tong’s victory made him CT’s first AAPI Attorney General, and the second nationally.
Candidates flipped more seats up and down the ballot! Here are just a few…
- State Supreme Court Flips!
- In North Carolina, civil rights lawyer Anita Earls flipped the State Supreme Court seat in NC. Earls’ victory means Democrats now hold five of the seven seats on the state’s highest court. In 2016, Republicans held a 4-3 advantage.
- In Ohio, Melody Stewart and Michael Donnelly flipped two Ohio state Supreme Court seats!
- Attorney General Flips!
- WI: Josh Kaul
- MI: Dana Nessel
- NV: Aaron Ford
- CO: Phil Weiser
- Secretary of State Flips!
- CO: Jena Griswold ← she is the first Democratic secretary of state in Colorado in six decades
- MI: Jocelyn Benson
- In Harris County, TX Lina Hidalgo defeated a 10-year incumbent to become the County’s new judge!
- In South Carolina, Democrats flipped a state Senate seat and and gained a congressional seat in SC-01.
Voters passed progressive ballot initiatives! These ballot measures are a bright spot of last night too – with voters voting to expand access to our democracy, remove politics from redistricting, dismantle the Jim-Crow era criminal justice system, protect the rights of transgender and immigrant communities, raise wages, and expand healthcare. ICYMI these toplines, here are some highlights:
- Voting Rights: Amendment 4 passed in Florida, which is poised to restore the voting rights of more than 1 million Floridians. Michigan and Nevada passed a plan for automatic voter registration, and Maryland passed same-day registration.
- Redistricting: Voters passed measures to take the politics out of redistricting won in Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri. Results are too close to call in Utah.
- Healthcare: Medicaid expansion won big! Idaho and Nebraska passed ballots to expand Medicaid. And we expect Utah will be called soon too! (And 2 states – Maine and Kansas – elected governors likely to expand it too)
- Criminal Justice: In Louisiana, voters said juries in felony trials must be unanimous in their verdicts, overturning a Jim Crow-era law that allowed 10 of 12 jurors to decide cases in Louisiana. Colorado residents voted to remove allowing slavery as a form of punishment from the state Constitution. And Washington voters supported a measure that provides police officers with greater violence de-escalation and mental health crisis training.
- Minimum Wage: Arkansas and Missouri raised their minimum wages. Missouri’s wage rose to $11 an hour from $8.50, and Arkansas’s increased to $12 from $7.85.
- Marijuana: Utah and Missouri voters legalized medical marijuana. And Michigan approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana
- And more in Oregon! Efforts to repeal Oregon’s sanctuary law that protects immigrants was defeated. They also voted no on a measure that would have made it much harder for women to access abortion services.
We continue to track the results and to fight for more democratic victories. From Andy Kim to Gina Ortiz Jones, several inspiring candidates remain locked in tight races that are still too close to call. And in Georgia, we stand fully behind Stacey Abrams as she continues to fight for victory in the face of unprecedented voter suppression efforts by Brian Kemp and Georgia Republicans.
In Solidarity,
Team DNC
