One Response to “The Daily 202: From coast to coast, conservatives score huge victories”

1. Steve Wittlake
   November 4th, 2015 @ 10:04 am

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/11/04/the-daily-202-from-coast-to-coast-conservatives-score-huge-victories-in-off-year-elections/

   The Daily 202: From coast to coast, conservatives score huge victories in off-year elections

   THE BIG IDEA: Just like the midterms one year ago, it was another awful night for Democrats.
   •Republican Matt Bevin won a big upset in the Kentucky governor’s race. The guy who Mitch McConnell crushed by 25 points in a 2014 primary will now become just the second Republican to govern the Bluegrass State in four decades.
   •Democrats failed to pick up Virginia’s state Senate. It’s a huge blow to Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who went all-in to make it happen. Democrats could have won by capturing just one seat because of the tie-breaking authority of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D). But Republicans held every single seat.

   Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance, designed to protect the rights of gay citizens and others, failed by a wide margin.
   •Ohio rejected marijuana legalization by a two-to-one margin.
   •Even in San Francisco, the sheriff who steadfastly defended the city’s “sanctuary city” policy went down. Fox News: “Ross Mirkarimi and his office received heavy criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San Francisco’s waterfront July 1. Sanchez had been released from Mirkarimi’s jail in March even though federal immigration officials had requested that he be detained for possible deportation.” The city also rejected new regulations on Airbnb.

   The Kentucky surprise is the biggest story of the night. Here are eight takeaways from Bevin’s blowout in the Bluegrass State:

   –2015 really is the Year of the Outsider. Democratic Governors Association executive director Elisabeth Pearson chalked up Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway’s defeat to “Trump-mania” in a press release: “Jack Conway ran a strong campaign … Unfortunately, he ran into the unexpected headwinds of Trump-mania, losing to an outsider candidate in the Year of the Outsider.”

   –Focusing on social issues, including promises to defund Planned Parenthood and defend Kim Davis, helped drive the conservative base to turn out. I wrote here Monday about Bevin’s focus on energizing evangelicals in the final days, and it clearly paid off. Kim Davis called herself “ecstatic” about Bevin’s victory in a statement released by the nonprofit

   representing her: “He is such a genuine and caring person. I will be forever thankful that he came to visit me while I was in jail. At a clerks’ meeting he hugged me and said he was praying for me. I am looking forward to his leadership as our new Governor.”

   –The South is becoming even redder, and the realignment that began a half century ago is nearly complete. President Obama is toxic, even in non-federal elections. Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant easily won reelection, too, and the GOP increased its majority in that state’s House from 67 to 73 (of 122 members). That’s nearly a super majority. Republicans even toppled the House Minority Leader, per the Clarion Ledger.

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