Notable Results from Election Day 2023

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

While not as flashy as the Presidential, Congressional, and State-Level elections on Election Day 2024, last week still had no shortage of interesting races. This article will highlight five high-profile results and provide a glance at a handful of less well-covered takeaways from the biggest election night of the year.

Kentucky

Beshear delivers remarks on election night accompanied by his wife, Britainy, and children, Lila and Will (not pictured). Photo by Timothy D. Easley at the Associated Press

In Kentucky, incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won reelection against Republican Daniel Cameron.

Despite Kentucky’s heavy Republican lean, Beshear has managed to remain one of the nation’s most popular Governors, with roughly 60% of voters approving of his performance. As a result, he beat Cameron by a relatively comfortable 5-point margin.

Additionally, recent storms in rural Kentucky may have aided his reelection efforts. For example, Beshear significantly outperformed his 2019 margin in Knott and Perry counties following his recent trip to them following a September flood.

Beshear comforts a Wayland, KY woman in the aftermath of a 2022 flood. Photo by Brynn Anderson at The Associated Press

Mississippi

Reeves during a May 2023 campaign event. Photo by Rogelio V. Solis at the Associated Press

In May 2020, eight state officials were implicated in a bribery scandal in which nearly $94 million of state welfare funds were instead given to high-profile individuals. While Incumbent Republican Governor Tate Reeves was not directly involved, his position as Governor and previously as Attorney General overseeing the scandal, soured his image to many voters. He has supported both moderate and more Pro-Trump policies.

Democrats ran Brandon Presley, a second cousin of Elvis Presley and native of Tupelo. Presley was previously the only Democratic member of the state’s Public Service Commission, successfully winning reelection numerous times in the Commission’s ruby-red northern district. Presley’s idiosyncratic campaign supported abortion restrictions and tax cuts, but also advocated for Medicaid expansion and increases in public school funding.

Presley meets with voters in Grenada, Mississippi. Photo by Rogelio V. Solis

Reeve’s reelection effort was closer than one might expect for a Republican in Mississippi. Ultimately, however, Reeves was able to win reelection with 51.6 percent of the vote.

Virginia

A prediction of the results in each House of Delegates district by Chaz Nuttycombe on CNalysis, who managed to correctly predict the outcome of every single district in both the House of Delegates and the Senate.

In Virginia, Democrats were able to win a narrow majority in both chambers, winning 21 out of 40 seats in the State Senate and 51 out of 100 seats in the State Assembly.

Republicans had been hoping to gain complete control of the State Government. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, whose legislative priorities had been limited by the Democrat-controlled Senate, had been hoping to gain a Republican trifecta and pass a 15-week abortion ban, tax reform, and other Conservative measures. Instead, he not only failed to flip the Senate, but also lost control of the House of Delegates. While any Legislation will still have to be approved by Youngkin, control of both chambers gives Democrats additional leverage in negotiating the upcoming state budget, forcing him to either veto necessary legislation or allow items like free school lunch and universal preschool.

Danica Roem, who made history as the first openly transgender individual elected to office when she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, became the nation’s second openly-transgender State Senator and the first in the South.

Roem addresses supporters on election night. Photo by Michael Key on the Washington Blade

Following his party’s disappointing results in the Virginia Legislative elections, Glenn Youngkin formally declined the widely speculated possibility of launching a campaign for President in 2024, but he hasn’t yet ruled out the possibility of running in 2028.

Ohio

A gathering of protesters outside an early voting location in Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo by Carolyn Kaster

Despite Ohio’s increasingly red lean, voters legalized recreational marijuana and protected the right to abortion in the State Constitution.

While abortion is currently legal up to 22 weeks in the state, a six-week ban was temporarily blocked and may have gone back into effect were the abortion ballot measure to fail. Now that the measure has passed, Ohio Republicans have vowed to undo the results and reinstate an abortion ban in the state. It is unclear how successful these measures will be.

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (left), who vowed to strip Ohio courts of the ability to enforce the recent abortion law changes, speaking to State Representative Jim Hoops (right) in an August Press Conference. Photo by Paul Vernon for the Associated Press

For more information on the laws surrounding abortion in Ohio and other states, check out our previous article here.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (left) at a campaign rally with McCaffery on Election Day. Photo by Tom Gralish of the Philadelphia Inquirer

The only election occurring in a true swing state at the Presidential level last week was Pennsylvania, where voters elected Daniel McCaffery, a Democrat, to replace deceased fellow Democrat Max Baer on the State Supreme Court. (In Pennsylvania, Supreme Court Justices are elected in partisan elections.)

While the results of the election would not have impacted the overall balance of the court given that Democrats already held four of the seven seats, the results of this election expanded their majority on the State Supreme Court, meaning that the court will be more sympathetic to cases surrounding abortion rights, challenges on voter suppression, and environmental concerns.

Some less notable, but still interesting results

• In Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, voters elected Gabe Amo to replace fellow Democrat David Cicilline, who resigned from Congress in June to become president of the Rhode Island Foundation. Amo will be the first African-American to represent Rhode Island in Congress.
• In Bridgeport, Connecticut, incumbent mayor Joe Ganim narrowly won reelection in the wake of a voter fraud scandal in which videos of Ganim supporters illegally harvesting ballots in his name during the primary election were discovered. Now that he has won the general election, it is unclear whether or not a judge will require a new primary. It is important to note that this example in no way implies a greater problem with voter fraud in the United States, but rather proves the efficacy of our legal systems that the rare instances of voter fraud are noticed and able to be corrected.

Surveillance footage of an individual dropping off multiple ballots, illegal under Connecticut law.

• In Houston, Texas, the mayoral election is headed to a December 9 runoff between State Senator John Whitmire and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. While both are Democrats, Whitmire has touted a more moderate voting record and Jackson Lee has allied herself with the party’s more progressive wing. Interestingly, the runoff is only two days before the December 11 filing deadline, so the losing candidate will have to make a very quick decision on whether or not to run for reelection for their current seat.
• In New Jersey, Democrats held their majority in both the State Senate and General Assembly. While some Republicans had hoped for the outside chance of gaining control of one or both of the chambers, Democrats were able to successfully maintain their 25–15 majority in the Senate and expanded their majority in the General Assembly from 46–34 to 51–29.
• In Colorado, Maine, and Texas, voters decided on numerous ballot measures deciding tax legislation, public works reform, and agricultural rights.

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