Election Day 2014
By Tom Toth
Update: 12:39 p.m.
Big stories of the night:
GOP takes the Senate and wins big gubernatorial elections in FL, IL, MD, MS, ME, & KS.
Update: 11:48 p.m.
Wow – heavily Democrat Illinois, Massachusetts, and quite possibly Maryland will have Republican governors.
Officially a “wave election” for limited government candidates, if there was any question.
Update: 11:29 p.m.
North Carolina’s next Senator will be Republican Thom Tillis.
The Republican majority grows.
VA NOTE: 11:25 p.m.
Mark Warner has overtaken Ed Gillespie by a fraction of a percent with just under 99% of precincts reporting.
HOWEVER, Virginia law allows a candidate who loses by less than 1% to request a recount – likely outcome. We probably won’t have a Virginia answer tonight.
Update: 11:20 p.m.
The new governor of Illinois, traditionally deep Democrat and Barack Obama’s adopted home state, will be a Republican.
Update: 11:00 p.m.
Game over.
Looks like Republicans will take control of the Senate and hold control of both houses in the next Congress now that Joni Ernst will be the Senator from Iowa.
The only remaining question is by how big the majority will be.
Update: 10:41 p.m.
Michigan will have a Republican governor, marking another significant blow to Democrats in the formerly deep blue state.
Update: 10:22 p.m.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will win his race for reelection.
Walker came to national fame by winning big battles against Big Labor in Wisconsin (a key former stronghold for unions) and was the first sitting governor to win a recall election.
He’s now won three gubernatorial elections in Wisconsin and is a legitimate presidential candidate if he wants to be.
Update: 9:53 p.m.
Slow patch right now. Lots of votes still to count.
It does appear the Rick Scott will beat Charlie Crist to win a second term as Florida’s Governor.
The surprise of the evening is that Virgina’s Ed Gillespie still holds a (increasingly narrow) lead in Virginia with just under 90% of precincts reporting.
Update: 9:18 p.m.
Conservative, limited government Republican Ben Sasse will be the next Senator from Nebraska.
Update: 9:14 p.m.
According to ABC News, moderate Republican Scott Brown will probably not win his Senate race in New Hampshire.
Update: 9:01 p.m.
Appears the Republicans will pick up a third seat in South Dakota.
Need three more for a Senate majority.
No surprises tonight other than better-than-expected results for VA Senate candidate Ed Gillespie.
Update 8:37 p.m.
Former Florida Republican, now Democrat, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist loses an “emergency” bid to keep polls open later than they were supposed to.
Update 8:31 p.m.
Republican Tom Cotton has won Arkansas’ the Senate seat formerly held by incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor.
That is pickup #2 of the 6 the Republicans need for a Senate majority.
Cotton is a proven, limited government conservative.
Both Bill and Hillary Clinton campaigned hard for Pryor over the last several week — to no clear advantage to the Arkansas Democrat. Raises question: How far is the Clintons’ political reach anymore?
Update 8:25 p.m.
Dave Brat, who beat Eric Cantor in this year’s primaries, wins the House seat held by the former House minority leader.
Update: 8:17 p.m.
If a candidate in Louisiana and Georgia fails to acquire 50% of the votes, the elections will continue into a runoff to be voted on the first Tuesday in January.
Update: 8:00 p.m.
16 more states’ polls have just closed.
Incumbent Republicans in Okahoma, Maine, and Alabama will probably cruise to an easy victory.
Update 7:53 p.m.
National exit polling:
Only 1 in 5 people trust the government “to do what’s right” all or most of the time.
Hardly surprising – what have they done “right” recently?
Update: 7:51 p.m.
Virginia independents from exit polling:
Gillespie: 47%
Warner: 48%
Six years ago, Warner picked up over 2/3 of the independent vote – his campaign has openly targeted independent votes.
Update: 7:36 p.m.
Candidate favorability ratings from exit polling this evening:
Ed Gillespie favorability: 55% positive.
Sen. Mark Warner favorability: 48% positive.
Update: 7:34 p.m.
West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito has won the Senate seat – the first seat pickup for the Republicans in the Senate.
This is the first of six pickups the GOP needs to take a majority in the Senate.
Shameless Plug: 7:27 p.m.
I, your host this evening, am on Twitter and will be co-opting tonight’s blog with pithy comments there.
Follow me and let me know your thoughts! (@TomToth3)
Update: 7:20 p.m.
It looks like the Senate race in Virginia between Ed Gillespie is going to be extremely close – far closer than many expected.
Ed Gillespie and Senator Mark Warner face off in a race that is far closer than any
Update: 7:15 p.m.
One election is already over:
It appears that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from KY has won another six years in the Senate. And it won’t be close.
As a footnote to his win – if Republicans win a majority in the Senate, McConnell will likely be the next Senate majority leader, given his place in the Republican Senate leadership.
Good evening and thank you for following NetRight Daily’s live coverage of tonight’s midterm elections!
It’s almost needless to say at this point that Republicans across the country will likely enjoy a favorable evening. Most analysis safely predicts an increased GOP majority in the House of Representatives as well as winning new majority in the Senate. Securing both houses would be a big win for the party and would be considered by many to be the true beginning of President Obama’s “lame duck” session.
The first polls close at 7:00 p.m. EST in several locations across the east coast – I will keep you posted periodically as results flow in and interesting information becomes available.
NOTE – As you follow the live blog throughout the evening, periodically refresh the page to make sure you follow the latest commentary.
