Firstly I'd like to apologise for the long hiatus. I have had several deadlines this week at University which took up all my time. Now, onto the elections.
Several elections took place yesterday in the United States with unsurprising results.
New York City voted for a new mayor yesterday, and for the first time since the 1980's, they chose a Democrat. Not just any Democrat, a populist progressive Democrat. Bill de Blasio managed to tap into two key issues in New Yorkers' minds; rampant inequality and racial profiling. New York has grown increasingly unequal, especially under the mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg. de Blasio promised that he would work hard to defend the poorer neighbourhoods and reduce inequality. The second issue was racial profiling, NYC's policy of "stop and frisk" is extremely unpopular with certain sections of the city. What the policy means is that the police can stop anyone they like and frisk them, no warrant or reason required. One of the reasons this is so controversial (other than the obvious 4th amendment civil liberties violations) is the racial aspect. Black people make up 23.4% of NYC's population yet 53% of people stopped and frisked are black. Latinos make up 29.3% of NYC whilst they account for 33.7% of stop and frisk. White people on the other hand? They make up 47.3% of NYC but only 13.3% of the population. All this and only 10% are actually guilty of a crime. The policy has infuriated minorities and de Blasio's promise to end it helped him a lot.
In the general election de Blasio trounced Republican nominee Joe Lhota 73-24!
Moving one state south to New Jersey and you find another important race. Incumbent Republican, Chris Christie, was vying for a second term. Democratic nominee Barbara Buono tried to unseat him by bringing up political issues which New Jerseyans and Christie opposed each other. She tried to make hay out of Christie's opposition to gay marriage and his veto of a gun safety bill earlier in the year. Alas it was to no avail and Buono was defeated 61-38. Elections for New Jersey's Senate changed nothing and in the Assembly Republicans may gain two seats, but both are going to recounts.
Virginia was the real battle ground with the governorship and attorney general's office being heavily contested. It was close throughout the night but eventually Democrat Terry McAuliffe pulled ahead and beat the Republican Ken Cuccinelli 48-45. The Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, did quite well for a third party candidate, gaining 6.6% of the vote. The race for lieutenant governor was not well contested with Democrat Ralph Northam easily beating Republican E.W. Jackson 55-45. The really close race was the attorney general's race, so close that it still hasn't been called! Republican Mark Obenshain holds the narrowest of leads over Democrat Mark Herring, leading him by a mere 286 votes of 2,198,558 vast! Naturally there will be a recount.
The main issue of the campaign was social issues. Cuccinelli is a Tea Party guy with virulent anti-gay and anti-women views. The only reason he didn't do worse is that McAuliffe is also unpopular in Virginia. This goes a long way to explaining with Sarvis did so well, many moderates and independents were unhappy with both parties' candidates.
These were the most important races of the night, but a special shout out has to go to the 11 counties in northern Colorado who were voting on whether to secede from the state. The motion failed, not that success would have mattered as any new state needs the permission of Congress to join the Union, something that will not be happening any time soon.
Several elections took place yesterday in the United States with unsurprising results.
New York City voted for a new mayor yesterday, and for the first time since the 1980's, they chose a Democrat. Not just any Democrat, a populist progressive Democrat. Bill de Blasio managed to tap into two key issues in New Yorkers' minds; rampant inequality and racial profiling. New York has grown increasingly unequal, especially under the mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg. de Blasio promised that he would work hard to defend the poorer neighbourhoods and reduce inequality. The second issue was racial profiling, NYC's policy of "stop and frisk" is extremely unpopular with certain sections of the city. What the policy means is that the police can stop anyone they like and frisk them, no warrant or reason required. One of the reasons this is so controversial (other than the obvious 4th amendment civil liberties violations) is the racial aspect. Black people make up 23.4% of NYC's population yet 53% of people stopped and frisked are black. Latinos make up 29.3% of NYC whilst they account for 33.7% of stop and frisk. White people on the other hand? They make up 47.3% of NYC but only 13.3% of the population. All this and only 10% are actually guilty of a crime. The policy has infuriated minorities and de Blasio's promise to end it helped him a lot.
In the general election de Blasio trounced Republican nominee Joe Lhota 73-24!
Moving one state south to New Jersey and you find another important race. Incumbent Republican, Chris Christie, was vying for a second term. Democratic nominee Barbara Buono tried to unseat him by bringing up political issues which New Jerseyans and Christie opposed each other. She tried to make hay out of Christie's opposition to gay marriage and his veto of a gun safety bill earlier in the year. Alas it was to no avail and Buono was defeated 61-38. Elections for New Jersey's Senate changed nothing and in the Assembly Republicans may gain two seats, but both are going to recounts.
Virginia was the real battle ground with the governorship and attorney general's office being heavily contested. It was close throughout the night but eventually Democrat Terry McAuliffe pulled ahead and beat the Republican Ken Cuccinelli 48-45. The Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, did quite well for a third party candidate, gaining 6.6% of the vote. The race for lieutenant governor was not well contested with Democrat Ralph Northam easily beating Republican E.W. Jackson 55-45. The really close race was the attorney general's race, so close that it still hasn't been called! Republican Mark Obenshain holds the narrowest of leads over Democrat Mark Herring, leading him by a mere 286 votes of 2,198,558 vast! Naturally there will be a recount.
The main issue of the campaign was social issues. Cuccinelli is a Tea Party guy with virulent anti-gay and anti-women views. The only reason he didn't do worse is that McAuliffe is also unpopular in Virginia. This goes a long way to explaining with Sarvis did so well, many moderates and independents were unhappy with both parties' candidates.
These were the most important races of the night, but a special shout out has to go to the 11 counties in northern Colorado who were voting on whether to secede from the state. The motion failed, not that success would have mattered as any new state needs the permission of Congress to join the Union, something that will not be happening any time soon.
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