Election Updates for November 8, 2021
Last week brought the 2021 elections, and with them a lot of breaking news. Meanwhile, 2022 election news continues to develop. Below are the latest updates.
State
In Arizona, the head of the State Senate, who oversaw the controversial audit, is retiring.
In New Jersey, incumbent Democrat Governor Phil Murphy was re-elected in a race that was far closer than most expected. On election day, the voting faced some turbulence. Due to these issues, some left-leaning groups tried to get a Judge to leave voting open for an extra half hour, but the Judge refused.
In Georgia, there were some local elections, that were the first elections administered since the controversial election law passed. Meanwhile, the head of elections in Fulton County has resigned. Some see it as due to the scrutiny he has faced over the last year, that included death threats. The Secretary of State in Georgia is continuing to speak out against former President Donald Trump’s involvement in the aftermath of 2020.
In Washington, Progressives lost several races in Seattle. One of those races was for City Attorney, where a Republican defeated a police abolitionist.
In New York, Republicans performed well in several races. Republicans made gains by winning the District Attorney races for Nassau and Suffolk County. Republicans also won four New York City council races. Also in New York City, several election reform ballot initiatives lost. As most predicted, Eric Adams was elected Mayor. In Buffalo, the incumbent Mayor, who was ousted by a Democratic Socialist in the primary, won as a write-in candidate.
In Texas, voters approved eight constitutional amendments that had been passed by the state legislature. Republicans won a traditionally Democrat state house seat in San Antonio. State Attorney General Ken Paxton is forming an election integrity unit.
In Minnesota, a ballot initiative over whether to abolish the city police force lost, despite many Progressives supporting it. The incumbent Mayor, Jacob Frey, who had gained the ire of many Progressives, won re-election.
In Colorado, voters declined to approve two ballot initiatives that would increase taxes.
In Michigan, voters in Detroit approved an initiative that would aim to create reparations for slavery. Looking ahead to the next election, the State GOP Chair is helping fund a ballot initiative for election security.
In Maine, voters approved a ballot initiative that gives state residents the right to produce food.
In Virginia, the GOP swept in the races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and control of VA’s House of Delegates. A Democrat was caught tampering with Republican election signs.
In Utah, the state independent redistricting commission has put forward its map to the state legislature.
Culture
Most analysts are saying last week’s elections show that President Joe Biden is flailing and that Democrats will face poor election results in 2022 if things don’t drastically change. While Democrats lost throughout the nation, Progressives particularly lost in all sorts of races.
Given that last week’s election was the first somewhat national election since 2020, analysts found that it faced few irregularities.
Throughout the country, candidates of color won, including in Virginia and Massachusetts. Virginia saw the first African American woman and Latino elected statewide, and Boston elected its first Mayor of color.
US Senate Republicans filibustered the Democrats’ latest voting rights bill. This time the bill managed to get Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski’s vote, but that was not enough to break the filibuster. Activists who protested for voting rights outside the White House were arrested last week.
Alyssa Milano revealed that she would vote for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson if he ran for President. The father from the reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, is running for State Senate in Arkansas.
Corporate
The voting technology company Smartmatic is suing the far right One American News Networks over 2020 allegations that the news network raised.
The Federal Election Commission ruled that foreign corporations can donate in state ballot initiative elections. A ballot initiative in Maine concerning the construction of a cross corridor attracted a lot of foreign corporate money.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio is continuing to attack big business and calling on Republicans to no longer support woke companies. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis also criticized “woke” businesses.
Time has a piece taking a look at why corporate America opposed Trump.
Market Watch has a piece that argues since voters recently opposed ballot initiatives to raise taxes, that it may be harder for Biden’s administration to enact policies that tax businesses.
Adams’s election victory party had several CEOs and celebrities.
Todd Carney is a writer based in Washington, DC. The views in this piece are his alone and do not reflect the views of his employer.
