The Executive Summary: Republicans outperform Democrats in 2012 down ballot elections
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November 15, 2012
Edited by Geoff Pallay
MADISON, Wisconsin: It has been two weeks since the last Executive Summary, and much has happened since then. What happened exactly? Oh, right. The election! In this edition, we'll bring an update of what transpired on November 6, 2012 from perspective of 22 state executive branches.
Elections
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This year, 22 states held regularly-scheduled state executive official elections. In those elections, a total of 37 state executive seats and 57 down ballot seats were up for election. Wisconsin also held two special recall elections for Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov Rebecca Kleefisch on June 5, 2012. Of the 94 seats that were up for election, the partisan breakdown was:
- 51
Democratic seats - 38
Republican Republican seats - 4 Independent/nonpartisan/ seats
- 1 Vacant seat
After election night, there are now:
- 49 Democratic seats
- 42 Republican seats
- 1
Nonpartisan seats - 2 races that are too close to call
In the top ballot races, both parties could point to victories, such as the Attorney General race in Pennsylvania for Democrats and West Virginia for Republicans. However, down ballot, Republicans had the more successful evening, particularly by defeating two incumbent commissioners each in Arizona and Montana (two).
In general, most seats were retained by the party previously in control. A total of 16 seats had partisan change.
- 7 seats changed to Democratic
- 9 seats changed to Republican
The two races that remain undecided are:
- Montana Superintendent: This race between incumbent Denise Juneau (D) and Sandy Welch (R) is likely heading to a recount. The two candidates are separated by less than 3,000 votes with Juneau currently leading.
- North Carolina lieutenant governor: Dan Forest (R) leads Linda Coleman (D) by less than 11,000 votes out of more than 4.3 million cast. There are still ballots being counted, and if the threshold gets to 10,000 votes, then an automatic recount will ensue.
Notable results
- North Carolina Governor
- Switched from Democratic to Republican. Pat McCrory defeated Walter Dalton
- Indiana Superintendent
- Switched from Republican to Democratic. Glenda Ritz defeated incumbent Tony Bennett
- West Virginia Attorney General from Democratic to Republican
- Switched from Democratic to Republican. Patrick Morrisey defeated incumbent Darrell McGraw
- Alabama Public Service Commissioner from Democratic to Republican
- Switched from Democratic to Republican. Twinkle Cavanaugh defeated incumbent Lucy Baxley. The entire state executive branch in Alabama will now be Republican.
- New Hampshire Governor
- Seat remains Democratic. Maggie Hassan defeated Ovide Lamontagne -- Hassan is now the only female Democratic Governor
- Attorney General of Pennsylvania
- Switched from Republican to Democratic. Kathleen Kane defeated David Freed for Gov. Tom Corbett's former seat -- Kane is the first female, Democrat to be elected attorney general in the state's history.
Election analysis
| 2012 State Executive Election Partisan Breakdown | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before 2012 Election | After 2012 Election | Net Change | ||||||||
| Democratic | 51 | 50 | -1 | ||||||||
| Republican | 38 | 43 | +5 | ||||||||
| Independent (Nonpartisan) | 4 | 1 | -3 | ||||||||
| TOTALS | 931 vacant | 94 | |||||||||
| 2012 State Executive Election Analysis | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Open Seat Winners | Defeated Incumbents | New State Executives | ||||||||
| Democratic | 13 | 6 | 15 | ||||||||
| Republican | 11 | 1 | 18 | ||||||||
| Independent (Nonpartisan) | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| TOTALS | 25 | 7 | 34 | ||||||||
Footnotes
