AMAC Exclusive – By B.C. Brutus
Tuesday was an up and down night for Republicans at the ballot box, with several disappointing results in high-profile contests but a number of victories in lower-visibility races. While there are clearly lessons to be learned for Republicans and setbacks in some states remind conservatives to take nothing for granted, overall the evening gave Republicans some good reasons for cautious optimism heading into 2024.
Here’s a recap of the results that we have so far and what to make of them.
Virginia
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated results of the evening were in the battle for the Virginia legislature. Candidates raised more than $46 million in total, far exceeding previous cycles and elevating the contests to national relevance.
But Republicans ultimately came up short, with Democrats keeping control of the state Senate and flipping the House of Delegates. Although votes are still trickling in, the map suggests that suburban areas in densely populated Northern Virginia that went for Biden in 2020 but Youngkin in 2021 reverted back to leaning Democrat.
Given the trends in Virginia prior to Youngkin’s election two years ago (Youngkin became the first Republican elected statewide since 2009) this year’s results are more evidence that 2021 may have been a temporary red blip in a state that is otherwise trending blue. The massive growth in the state’s deep blue counties outside of Washington, D.C. may now be simply too much for Republicans to overcome except in the biggest of wave years.
Expect plenty of debate in the weeks and months ahead about the future of Republican early and mail-in voting operations after Youngkin made his “Secure Your Vote Virginia” initiative the main thrust of the Republican campaign for the legislature. Early voting skeptics will likely view the results as evidence that the GOP is wasting time and money on similar efforts like the RNC’s “Bank Your Vote” push.
One bright spot for Virginia Republicans came in Loudoun County, where Republican Bob Anderson appears to have defeated George Soros-backed District Attorney Buta Biberaj, although the race will likely end within the one-percent margin triggering an automatic recount. Biberaj gained national infamy after refusing to punish a trans-identifying male student who raped a girl in a Loudoun County high school bathroom and then later prosecuting the girl’s father for demanding accountability.
Kentucky
In the Bluegrass State, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who many view as a rising star in the Republican Party, lost to incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear in the contest for governor.
Although Beshear led by as many as 16 points in the polls with just a few weeks to go, Cameron seemed to have closed the gap by Election Day, leading to renewed hopes that he could flip the governor’s mansion. But even in deep red Kentucky, Beshear has been one of the country’s most popular governors, and will likely expand his razor-thin margin of victory from 2019 when all the votes are counted.
Beshear’s victory was, however, undercut by a Republican sweep of the rest of the statewide offices up for grabs in Kentucky, including attorney general, secretary of state, agriculture commissioner, auditor, and treasurer. These results suggest that Beshear’s victory was more a reflection of his strengths as an individual candidate rather than a success story for the Democrat Party brand – which Beshear steadfastly tried to distance himself from throughout the race.
Mississippi
The incumbent also had a good night in Mississippi’s gubernatorial election, where Republican Tate Reeves did as expected and cruised to victory over Democrat Brandon Presley. (For those wondering, yes, Presley is the second cousin of the great Elvis Presley.)
Republicans also easily won the races for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and several other statewide offices. The GOP will retain large majorities in both chambers of the state legislature as well.
Ohio
In Ohio, the pro-life movement was dealt another blow with the passage of Issue 1, a measure to add a virtually unlimited right to abortion to the state constitution. Ohio becomes just the latest red state to pass a pro-abortion ballot initiative, further outlining the challenge the pro-life movement has to change the national culture and conversation around protecting innocent life.
Buckeye State voters also passed a measure legalizing recreational marijuana use, making Ohio the 24th state to allow recreational use of the drug.
Pennsylvania
Democrat Daniel McCaffery defeated Republican Carolyn Carluccio in a partisan election for a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court already had a solid 4-2 Democrat majority that will now expand by one.
Tuesday’s defeat is another in a string of alarming results for Republicans in the Keystone State. The GOP also lost contests for governor and the retiring Pat Toomey’s Senate seat last year, while Democrats took control of the state House of Representatives earlier this year.
Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes will be vital for Republicans if they hope to secure the White House next year. The GOP will also be gunning to flip Democrat Bob Casey’s seat in their push to retake the U.S. Senate.
The close outcomes in recent races suggest that Pennsylvania is still in play for Republicans, but they have to make adjustments following their recent failures.
Other Races
There were a smattering of other positive results for Republicans on Tuesday that likely won’t make national headlines.
In Manchester, New Hampshire, Republican Jay Ruais defeated his Democrat opponent and flipped mayor’s office.
In New York, Edward Romaine also became the first Republican in two decades to secure the post of Suffolk County Executive, one of the largest counties in the nation.
***
The overall results for the GOP on Tuesday seemed largely disappointing to many Republicans, whose expectations were high given the unpopularity of the current administration. Those hopes were thwarted in some cases by a combination of tough demographics and unique factors at play in state and local races that will likely have less of an impact on federal races next year. That means that Republicans still have ample reason to hope for a big year in 2024.
B.C. Brutus is the pen name of a writer with previous experience in the legislative and executive branches.
We have a President with Dementia who is killing our economy ….. Democrats who want to teach your children all about sex and how they can have an operation and change their sex……kill a baby whenever it suits you instead of having protected sex….the list is endless …..and yet as we are circling the toilet there are some people so out of touch they STILL vote for the very people who are killing the economy AND the Country!
Sad to realize there are so many drug users and those who are willing to kill babies..
There you go the sheep are alive and well and just voted for the destruction of America. This trend will continue because ole Joe is in charge of this happening. That there is still one person in America that could give their vote to the dems in 2024 deserve what they get.
America being destroyed from within.
If the election was not with paper ballots – it can never be truthful or trusted.
A warning about 2024. Don’t get over optimistic like we did in 2020. It’s going to take grass roots hard work to beat “good ole lunch bucket Joe” or whomever the Dems decide to run in 2024.
MISSISSIPPI REMAINS RED!!! DID NOT HAVE ANY REASON TO VOTE BLUE!!!
Hallelujah!! God Bless Mississippi!!!
R’s need to concentrate on the economy, taxes and illegal entry to our country. Abortion is a losing discussion. You can have your personal views as I do, but you must keep the discussion focused on kitchen table issues…..period. I’ve always said the R’s could screw up a one car funeral procession.
They won’t, but Republicans better wise up, and do it quick, I am very Conservative Republican, and I do believe in the sanctity of life in most all cases, except in the case of Rape and Incest, no one can expect a woman who was raped to give birth to a child that she did not consent to the sexual relation act, and a husband no one can expect me to except the fact that my wife was assaulted by some scum-bag and be forced to go throw the trauma, of carrying a child she did not want, that’s the thinking of dim-wits, you think about it if it was your wife.
Incest it one of the worst things that can happen to a woman, a person she is supposed to trust assaults her, a father, a grandfather, an uncle or a brother, that’s insane to think she should carry a child for 9 months knowing the probable results at birth.
The health of a mother, If the advice of a doctor is she will not be able to carry a child to birth without health risks or death and she and her husband make the decision to abort the child, that should be between them and their God!
I believe that in 99-percent of the cases that life should be the first choice, I don’t believe abortion should be a form of birth control, if some woman in college gets all drugged up and has a fling, she needs to learn a lesson in life that choices have consequences.
My advice to all Republicans Candidates, those of you who take a hard line on this issue, in most cases you will lose the election,
So, a hard line on one issue results in not holding office and being able to support issues that also are important.
Be Smart!
Feel the RNC DC Estd blocks more wins
More fraud ahead, rerun 2020
ALL voting errors always Favor Dems WHY
Another lesson that we keep learning is that we keep thinking that a strict abortion limitation is a winning issue for us.
Well, it can be if we stop overreaching and losing support of Republican women in the process.
voter ID could change all of it.no ID no honest election
If they don’t stop the cheat, we will lose.
Democrats are corrupt, Republicans are inept
The abortion issue is a major issue and a losing issue for republicans. The focus should not be on this issue but on the economy, the southern border, becoming energy independent again.
The wording of issue 1 was, to say the least, confusing. To just read it, most people thought it sounded ok. It was the wording used that should have alerted. All anyone had to do was a little research. Especially the groups backing it. We have the ability to research anything, yet most people are not willing to do it. Take everything at face value. Very, very sad.
As for the election of a Pennsylvania State Supreme Court justice – there was no difference in the candidates other than the D or R after the name. When the Republican candidate says that a highlight of her career was officiating a same sex marriage, and she has pretty much refused to share her opinion on abortion, saying that she will uphold the law, where is the difference in the candidates? For those of us who are seeking a return to a more sane, moral time, there was no difference. For those who are willing to give up the abortion fight because it is a lost cause, if this society doesn’t value the life of the “least of these”, it will not value your life either. All lives will become disposable given enough time; euthanasia is gaining ground
They cheated. They will continue to cheat until they’re caught red handed and undeniably. That’s what perps do when they get away with fraud; they keep doing it until they’re caught red handed and punished. What we’re seeing here is a prelude to the 2024 elections folks. You can’t have free and fair elections if we haven’t taken the steps to guarantee election integrity, and frankly we’ve done almost nothing on a national scale. Just a lot of bombastic hot air coming out of Republicans, while the slathering weasel Dems continue their vile, insidious dismantling of our electoral system and economy.
And to me, the elephant in the room is Ronna McDaniel, whose job it is to identify and grow support for these races. It’s always the enemy from within that will destroy any society.
Duluth Tom–you are so right. I always believed it was a states right issue, Marxist Dems always wanted it to be Federal issue.
Controversial alert: perhaps we have reached a point where we need to sit back and allow people to destroy themselves via abortion and allowing recreational use of drugs. We can’t save anyone, not speaking religiously here. We can continue to pray, but at this point in time, just allow them to self destruct.
I wish I could be as optimistic about the Republicans in 2024, but I can’t. Unless they change their tactics, increase voter registration, and tackle the abortion issue in a different way, the Democrats and the media sycophants behind them will continue to win. To fight a dirty bully like the Democrats, the Republicans will need to do the same as much as I despise saying that.
Don Choyce
As usual, the progressives are again hammering abortion as a top issue in elections. It would do the GOP good to stop hammering the rigid view of no abortions…ever. The women of this country have gotten use to abortions being legal and it is not ever going to change. I am pro-life but still think there are times (in health issues, rape or incest) an abortion is okay. We Conservatives are never going to win again as long as this is such a huge issue for the evil progressives! I, for one do not want to see our country become another Communist country!!
Conservatives need to realize preaching to the choir, in the form of virtue signalling , abortion laws, doesn’t work. The wise approach is similar to , render unto Caesar which is Caesars. When you preach to the congregation best to appeal to the masses. You can do very little without elected power. Dems, know this, why don’t we?
It was all about abortion. Wake up, Republicans.
Too many people were voting abortion. If the GOP doesn’t get it straight, it can hang it up. I may want to smack the next one I heard discussing making it totally illegal.
So many males celebrating this “win” on Twitter. No baby, no child support, no responsibility. Ashamed to be from Ohio.
Life Lesson Repeated: “You Win Some and You Lose Some!”
I think yesterday’s results showed that the abortion issue will decide the election. It makes a large swathe of voters turn away from the Republican ticket, no matter how much they want the America First agenda. They will never turn back the clock on women’s rights. It’s too scary for women to go back to coat hangers and botched abortions.
Republicans need an attractive compelling alternative to abortion. No one is addressing that essential part of the issue, at least, not realistically. It’s a no-win unachievable effort to take the one away before providing the other. There needs to be more than limited pregnancy resources only available in certain areas or situations with volunteers or non-profit organizations. It has to include taxpayer funds and incentives. It has to be attractive enough to convince women to continue their pregnancy. It has to have hope for a solvent experience … which IS currently a plus for abortion.
Leave abortion a choice; do not compel compliance. God gave us free will to keep his laws or break them; government should not override that. Government should not put the onus on pregnant women alone, in the midst of a hard choice. Women have come a long punishing road to a measure of freedom; they will not give it up no matter how extensive the shaming.
Republicans need to fix this divisive issue and improve the lives of pregnant women in order to keep their babies. The Democrats never will; they have what they want.
What does it say about a nation that believes killing unborn, innocent life for the purpose of birth control? As a person born and raised in Ohio, I can safely say I am ashamed of my home state. Glad I no longer live there.
This is not about abortion that Republicans lost. This is about counting of the votes if machines are still being used. 2024 elections should only be paper ballots and needing to show an ID for voting. Otherwise, say goodbye to this country.
Plain and simple, we get the governance that we deserve.
Republicans better get off the abortion issue! It is not a Republican or Democrat issue! Abortion is between a woman, her doctor, husband if she has one, and her GOD!
Abortion is all they have! Republicans use the same patience Dems had for gay marriage and stop trying to change the world over night. WIN ELECTIONS FIRST!
Good grief! Are there that many people who are so ignorant of what these democrats are doing to our country? Has all intelligence been cast out to become blind followers and accept what their told to accept? May God have mercy on America.
A few things about this. The Ohio abortion thing said viability which is like 26 weeks. That’s like killing a full grown baby. As much as I think God would want all babies born regardless of hell, the woman got pregnant. I agree that rape and insect should be an exception.
What really bothers me though is how we have literally no morals in this country anymore. How do voters change their votes when they know what they’re voting for? Is a lie. If the Democrats say it, it’s a lie. There is not a democrat in the country that tells the truth of about anything. So who are these voters. They are obviously some of the most uninformed Pravda USA news listening morons.
As Dan bongino says, Republicans aren’t the answer to all of our problems, but Democrats are the cause of all our problems. How do you vote for a Democrat just because of abortion?so think about it. It’s a completely self-centered or narcissistic electorate.
Basically like our country is going down the toilet. Oh I have a pain. Give me drugs, oh I’m depressed. Give me drugs, oh I’m fat. Give me drugs or do surgery. I can’t be forced to cut back what I eat and exercise. The list goes on and on about the self-centeredness of our society. And now everybody wants everything easy. If you don’t want to get pregnant, don’t have sex.
Though there were some Republican victories, they were largely outspent & had no help from the spineless RINOs. We need to vote out the RINOs completely!
This article is totally WRONG in what it says about Kentucky. Beshear is NOT popular with the citizens of Kentucky. Beshear won in 2019 due to a vote swapping algorithm used in the counting process, mostly in Jefferson county (Louisville). He, obviously, won again in 2023 by the same fraudulent methods. I know of absolutely no one in KY who likes or wants Beshear in the governor’s office. In his first term he was sued at least twice for violating the U. S. and KY Constitutions and the civil rights of KY citizens. He lost both cases. Then, there are the laws passed by the KY Legislature that he vetoed, but the legislature was able to overturn his vetoes so We the People got what we wanted. Until the fraud is totally removed from the election process, we will not get a true and fair election. I am a native of KY as my ancestors settled in what is now Kentucky following the American Revolution. Beshear is very strongly disliked by most of KY.
I live in Kentucky and am disappointed that Daniel Cameron did not win the governor’s office, but I’m not too worried about it. Our state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican enough to negate any vetoes by Gov. Beshear. In addition, all of the other state offices were won by Republicans.
I am dismayed by the Ohio vote in favor of Issue 1. I believe that will open a whole new can of worms and will cause many more preborn babies to lose their lives to abortion, including some from Kentucky.
Our Republican party needs to put forth a clear policy on abortion with everyone on the same page before the 2024 elections. And we people who claim to be conservative Republicans need to put our money where our values are and support our candidates better. The Democrats seem to be able to outraise our candidates every time. Until we start funding our candidates better, many more good candidates like Daniel Cameron will continue to lose races because of the lies told in the many Democrats TV ads.
America is screwed. I am old. Please let death take me sooner than later. CHRIS
Leadership in the RNC needs to change! These worthless Presidential Debates have to stop! The RNC should focus on supporting its true leader, President Trump, and stop sending money to FOX News and NBC! If these Republican candidates really cared about our country they should drop out and support the one candidate that has proven he can do what needs to be done!!! And if the RNC really wants to do something to save this country it should be calling out Biden and mainstream media with the money they will save from these sham debates and counter all the lies, and defend Trump, as what a true anti Democrat party should! This is a war for our nation, no more Mr. Nice guy! RNC NEEDS NEW LEADERSHIP!
some of this I don’t find surprising. As for abortion, after 50 years you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Restricting it might work, but wholesale banning won’t float on election day. We have t learn the liberal #1 rule; take what you can get closest to what you want.
The media is, as usual, doing us a great disservice. One of the most important data that we should be seeing is registered voter participation (more accurately, lack of participation). Our local version of the NYT published an editorial opinion titled “What’s behind Houston’s low voter turnout.” that had more information than did the two front page articles on the election results this morning. Mind you, there was a uncharacteristic lack of numbers for a staunchly liberal source. Not surprising we will have a run-off between a local Old White Man and a national establishment representative, who will most likely garner the votes from the majority of the remaining five candidates.
thank JFK and LBJ for the Great Society 1964, that brought in the Libtards, most ever since 1938. Yep, have as many children as you want, and the taxpayers will pay for them. Generational Welfare for All and LOOK What We Have Now. People care more about some Stupid Pet they have. but they will Abort Full term babies/children. By the way there is no such thing as single mothers or fathers, They are Divorced mothers/fathers. I only heard/read of One Single Mother Ever.
We have to get out of the nine dots and fight like we have a country to save! I don’t think we should be optimistic, but prepare for some nasty scenarios. We need to put the gloves on, get out of the house, and FIGHT like hell!!! We’ll all have to think differently, do something out of our old norms to win this election. Staying at home, watching the news, and wringing our hands is not enough. Let’s get creative and without any ugliness, unite to win. We can’t believe that the normal channels are going to work, because they simply are not. Get involved. Do something locally to stir the pot and get people talking, engaged, busy working for a candidate or an issue. We need ideas and community cohesion, the sooner the better. That 2024 election will be here before we know it. If we don’t win, this world won’t be fit to live in anymore. America is the last hope. We don’t have any more choices.
WE will not have a fair election until the electronic machines are removed.
Lindellplan.com
Pennsylvania was stolen again live stream of Supreme Court race Carluccio had votes disappearing..
Wake up and demand paper ballots.
It is remarkably eye opening when you watch the childish antics that seemingly occur everyday in the Capitol! Congressional members arguing about the speech and actions of an elected member, who should NEVER have been allowed in our Capitol to begin with! I am speaking of the Palestinian official that screams and cries about the Palestinians being killed by the Israelis! Our promise to Israel was formed long ago when Jews were allowed back to their homeland!
Yet, our voting system, allowed a person who vehemently despises all Israelis to become a member of Congress! HOW is this possible? How did she get elected? How was she able to be allowed to “Serve Americans” in the first place? There is something very wrong in America as most of you realize!
In no way, should this person EVER have been welcomed into the highest office that any American can Serve for Americans! Regardless of Democrat or Republican or Independent choices….. how is it that Americans have become so ignorant, blind and uncaring about the people that serve in our Capitol??? I am ashamed…
Mitt Romney’s niece Ronna needs to leave the RNC.
Local politics are not the same as national in how people see things. They don’t always make the connection.
The party of abortion…marijuana …and pornography had a great night….yaiiii….
Our leader Trump has the winning view on abortion! People who want all abortions illegal only shoot themselves in the foot! Better to ban some than to ban none. If I were the dictator, I’d ban all but life of the m other but there just isn’t popular support for that. The Marxist billionaires flood these referenda with millions of dollars and outspend the pro-lifers by three or four times!