MyDD :: Downballot Roundup: Statewide Races

Downballot Roundup: Statewide Races

by johnny longtorso, Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 07:09:07 PM EST

Well, it was a landslide in Congress and in the Governor's mansions, but how did the 2006 elections affect downballot races? I've put together a rundown of the statewide races aside from Senator and Governor: Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Comptroller, Agriculture Commissioner, Superintendant of Education, Mine Inspector (seriously, Arizona elects this)...

Just a quick note, I'm only covering races in which the party control has changed. Also, I'm only covering Lt. Governor seats that are elected independently of the Governor. If I've missed anything, be sure to tell me.

Broken up into regions, it looks something like this...

Pacific

California - GAIN - State Sen. Debra Bowen defeated Arnold appointee Bruce McPherson to become the Secretary of State.

California - LOSS - Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's political career went up in flames after losing by 12 points to Republican Steve Poizner for the Insurance Commissioner job.

West

Colorado - GAIN - Cary Kennedy eked out an approximately-13,000 vote win to become State Treasurer.

Idaho - LOSS - The only statewide office Democrats held in Idaho, retiring School Superintendant Marilyn Howard will be succeeded by Republican Tom Luna.

Nevada - GAIN - Jim Gibbons sputtered to a win for Governor, but didn't provide any coattails. Democrats won four of the remaining five statewide contests: Ross Miller picked up Secretary of State, Catherine Cortez-Masto took the Attorney General job (with 59% of the vote -- more than anyone else running in Nevada), Kim Wallin became Controller, and Kate Marshall won Treasurer.

Midwest

Iowa - LOSS - Sadly, our one loss in Iowa was for Agriculture Secretary, where Denise O'Brien was defeated by factory farm favorite Bill Northey.

Kansas - GAIN - Republican-turned-Democrat Paul Morrison whalloped nutbag incumbent Attorney General Phill Kline by a 58 to 42 margin.

Minnesota - GAIN - Two Republican incumbents fell here: Mark Ritchie defeated Mary Kiffmeyer to become Minnesota's Secretary of State, and Rebecca Otto defeated Patricia Anderson to become Auditor.

Nebraska - LOSS - Republican-turned-Democrat Kate Witek was defeated in her bid for a third term as State Auditor.

Oklahoma - GAIN - Jari Askins picked up the Lieutenant Governor's office, left open by Republican Congresswoman-elect Mary Fallin, and Lloyd Fields toppled incumbent Labor Commissioner Brenda Runeau by about three-tenths of a percentage point.

South Dakota - GAIN - As far as I can tell from the SD SOS site, Steve Kolbeck won the election for Public Utility Commissioner.

South Dakota - LOSS - Also here, Republican Jarrod Johnson won the race for Public School Commissioner.

Great Lakes

Illinois - GAIN - Alexander Giannoulias won election to Treasurer, left open by Judy Baar Topinka.

Ohio - GAIN - Every statewide office in Ohio was open, and Democrats swept all but one (Auditor). Say hello to new Attorney General Marc Dann, Secretary of State (!) Jennifer Brunner, and Treasurer Richard Cordray.

Wisconsin - GAIN - Dawn Marie Sass defeated incumbent Treasurer Jack Voight.

Wisconsin - LOSS - For Attorney General, Republican J.B. Van Hollen defeated Kathleen Falk, who had defeated Peggy Lautenschlager in the Democratic primary.

Mid-Atlantic

Delaware - GAIN - Beau Biden (yeah, Joe's son) picked up the Attorney General's seat from a retiring Republican.

South

Alabama - LOSS - Nancy Worley lost her bid for re-election as Secretary of State.

Arkansas - GAIN - Democrat Bill Halter is the next Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (the previous one being the late Win Rockefeller), giving Democrats a monopoly on statewide offices in Arkansas.

Florida - GAIN - Alex Sink won the Chief Financial Officer post from retiring wingnut Tom Gallagher.

Georgia - LOSS - Republicans picked up Lt. Governor and Secretary of State spots left open by Mark Taylor and Cathy Cox. How'd those gubernatorial campaigns work out for you guys?

South Carolina - LOSS - Treasurer Grady Patterson lost re-election.

South Carolina - ? - Inez Tenenbaum is retiring from Secretary of Education, and Democrat Jim Rex has a 513 vote lead over Republican Karen Floyd. Not sure if this one has to go to a runoff, as he's under 50%, but otherwise there will assuredly be a recount.

Here's a quick list of what offices we won where:



                                WIN               LOSS

Lt. Governor                    AR, OK            GA

Secretary of State              CA, MN, OH, NV    AL, GA

Attorney General                DE, KS, OH, NV    WI

Treasurer                       CO, IL, WI        SC

Auditor                         MN, NV            NE

Controller                      NV

Chief Financial Officer         FL

Insurance Commissioner                            CA

School Superintendant                             ID, SD

Agriculture Commissioner                          IA

Labor Commissioner              OK

Public Utility Commissioner     SD

So, what does this mean? Well, in three important swing states, we have Democratic Secretaries of State who will help ensure that the votes are counted accurately. In Florida, we finally have a statewide elected official whose name isn't Bill Nelson -- someone who might be able to run for Governor or Senator in 2010. It also deepens our bench in Ohio, where George Voinovich will also be up for re-election in 2010, and Nevada, a state where we previously had no statewide officeholders aside from Harry Reid. And there's always the schadenfreude of seeing a nut like Phill Kline get trounced.

Next time (that is, when I get around to it, and when all the seats are decided), I will do a rundown of the state legislatures.

Tags: lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, comptroller, controller (all tags)

Permalink :: 5 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: Downballot Roundup: Statewide Races (none / 0)

1.Heh, I posted on the state legislatures. There are still a handful or results outstanding.

2.The Democrat Folsom won for Lieutenant Governor in Alabama.

3.We not only won every other constitutional office in Minnesota, we also won near supermajorities in the state legislature. Makes you wonder how Tim Pawlenty got reelected.

4.On the flipside, we won every state wide constitutional office in Ohio, but we didn't do all that great in the legislative races. We gained only 1 Ohio seat in the U.S House, and the Republicans still have comfortable majorities in the state house and senate.

by Adam T on Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 08:18:19 PM EST

Re: Downballot Roundup: Statewide Races (none / 0)

Well, that saves me pulling that data together, anyway.

Folsom won, yes, but the incumbent is Lucy Baxley, a Democrat, so I didn't include it.

by johnny longtorso on Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 08:29:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Downballot Roundup: Statewide Races (none / 0)

and as far as Pawlenty's win, I'd say it probably has something to do with the gaffes by Hatch and his running mate in the last week or so of the campaign.

by johnny longtorso on Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 08:29:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Thanks for posting this (none / 0)

Agreed, Georgia is the frustrating unforced error. How Taylor and Cox thought Sonny Perdue was vulnerable in a state trending steadily red is beyond bizarre. I would have clutched any statewide seat in Georgia.

I followed the two Georgia House races all night since the theory we would gain in the northeast naturally led to the opposite conclusion, that seats in Georgia would be the most vulnerable no matter what pre-election polling indicated. They went back and forth several times but fortunately it appears our incumbents held on. Much more emphasis needed there in 2008.

Ross Miller in Nevada was a great pickup, one of my top priorities all night. Not only did that prevent Danny Tarkanian from instituting strict Voter ID laws, but Miller is a likely candidate for gov and/or senator down the road. It may be significantly down the road, since he's only 30.

Six of our major nominees in Nevada were women. All great candidates with three statewide winners, but this state is still somewhat backward and I'm skeptical about a woman being elected governor or senator. There have been articles in that regard in the local papers, that Titus was held back by bias against a woman running for governor, and also her Georgia accent. The GOP has three logical male candidates for higher office -- Jon Porter, Dean Heller and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki. We needed to put someone on the board and Miller is it. His father Bob was a two-term gov from '91 to '99.

Cortez-Masto's 59% is a bit misleading. She was always a favorite and Republicans whiffed the nominees they wanted. That was one office where the GOP grumbled, "is this the best we can do?" Cortez-Masto had an overwhelming monetary edge. i think it was 5 or 10 to 1. When the Republican was asked about a late poll with Cortez-Masto significantly ahead, he didn't try to deny the obvious in the Katherine Harris or Rick Santorum mode; "Money beats lack of money."

by Gary Kilbride on Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 11:27:27 PM EST

Clarification (none / 0)

I wasn't saying Harris or especially Santorum lacked money. On election eve they were dismissing the huge poll deficits, unlike the Nevada GOP nominee for attorney general.

by Gary Kilbride on Fri Nov 10, 2006 at 11:40:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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