Victoria Sullivan arrived to her ‘Victory Party’ after a tough loss to incumbent Mayor Joyce Craig to a standing ovation and hugs from her closest friends and supporters, exclaiming “I’m crying because I love you guys so much.”
“I wish that everyone could feel the love I feel right now,” she said to the crowd that included Steve Negron and Eddie Edwards, Republican nominees for CD-2 and CD-1 respectively in 2018. “The work that we’ve started in this city isn’t done,” she added, “it’s just begun.” And, Victoria Sullivan “is not done in this city,” she said to another round of loud applause and whistles.
Not all is bad in the Queen City, though. Republicans won 6 seats on the Board of Mayor and Alderman out of 14. That means that the big spenders can not ‘bust’ the tax cap, a vote that would take a 2/3rds majority. Joyce Craig enters her second term with that handicap. She still has a majority on the board, but the tax cap, tied to CPI, remains in effect.
Nine of the 15 members on the Board of School Committee will be newly minted, according to the Union Leader. Incumbent and former State Representative Lisa Freeman lost by a mere 14 votes, and will likely seek a recount.
The School Charter Commission appears to have a majority that will vote to change the charter to allow the School Committee to be their own taxing authority, a measure that will have to be approved by voters. That is, of course, depending on the outcome of the Warden v. Manchester case which is still pending in Hillsborough County Superior Court. The whole commission may be scrapped if Warden wins that case, and a new election may be ordered.
Kentucky Governor Loses Office
Governor Matt Bevin, the incumbent Republican, has lost his race for re-election. Despite the President’s rally there this week, Bevin has lost by approximately 5,300 votes (0.3 percentage points) but is refusing to concede.
The Associated Press said it could not declare a winner, owing to the tight margin. Although Bevin has not outlined his next steps, Kentucky law provides for three levels of post-election procedures: a recanvass, a recount, and an election contest.
Fox News
Bevin would have been the first Republican to ever win re-election in Kentucky Gubernatorial history.
Republicans Washed out in Virginia
Woof. Democrats seized control of the State Senate and Assembly tonight in a bruising victory over Republicans. Democrats now control both Houses of the legislature and the Governor’s office (Ralph Northam, heh.) Measures previously defeated, like Assault Weapons Bans, are now a predictable outcome.
These victories, according to the Twitter-sphere, likely mean Virginia will be the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, officially adding it to the United States Constitution.
Nick Freitas, a pro-liberty Republican State Delegate who failed to file his paperwork in time, won re-election in a write-in campaign over a gun-grabbing Democrat though, notching another victory for YAL’s Win At The Door PAC. WATD notched several victories tonight.
Keene, Portsmouth Go Red
Manchester wasn’t the only NH City to have municipal elections tonight, and two Democrat strongholds went Republican for their corner office.
George Hansel beat out Mitchell Greenwald by 6 percentage points in Keene. Rick Becksted, top vote receiver in the City Council races, will command the Portsmouth Council. Josh Denton, flaming progressive councilor, failed to win re-election. Sad. 5 incumbent councilors lost their races in Portsmouth, largely due to the McIntyre project, per sources.
Sports Betting in New Hampshire
Sports Betting got mixed results in tonights elections. It got the upvote in Somersworth, down in Rochester, and a near tie in Nashua (a loss by 65 votes out of 9,395.)
Manchester approved the measure, as did Laconia and Claremont. Concord and Dover shot it down. Other cities today did not vote on the measure.
For more….
Stay tuned. More posts will follow in the next few days with more in depth analysis of the 2019 elections and possible implications for 2020.
One thing is imminently clear though. It’s going to take a concerted, unified effort to win in 2020. Yes, you. And your friends, and your family. Get your skin in the game, because your rights literally depend on it. You can’t afford to sit on the sidelines.