USA governor election recap

The 2021 local and governor elections had unexpected results and showed concerning predictions for democrats in future elections. Consisting of historic wins and upsets, the results leave an uncertainty for the future of national politics. 

Republican Glenn Youngkin, a private equity executive and relatively new to politics, won the Virginia governor race. Biden won Virginia by 10 percentage points last year during the presidential election and Virginia suburbs had consistently voted Democratic until this year’s election. A poll by the Washington Post-Schar School  revealed that Virginian disapproval of Biden’s job performance decreased from an already low 53% to 47%, and this newfound dissent may have contributed to the Democratic Party’s decreasing favoritism. Political strategists believe the election results may indicate the political environment has shifted towards the right.

The Democratic nominee for Virgina governor (and Youngkin’s opponent) Terry McAuliffe’s campaign included anti-trump rehtoric. McAuliffe referred to Youngkin as a “Trump in Khakis” and highlighted Youngkin’s support for Trump’s policies. In an attempt to understand where the campaign went wrong, Democratic strategists questioned whether this approach was the most effective. “You can’t scare people into the polls. You have to give people something to vote for,” Senior advisor for progressive advocacy group Battle Born Collective, Tré Easton said.

Democratic New Jersey governor Phil Murphy won reelection by close margins in an unexpectedly close race. These results concern Democrats who had expected Murphy to win in a double digit landslide. Throughout his first term Murphy had consistently championed progressive causes, successfully legalizing marijuna, increasing minimum wage and increasing the wealth tax. Despite the reforms, recent election results have raised questions from Democrats of whether Murphy will need to adopt a more moderate agenda. During his victory speech Murphy said “I renew my promise to you — whether you voted for me or not — to work every single day of the next four years to keep moving us forward. Forward with renewed optimism to ensure greater opportunities for all nine-point-three million who call this great state home”.

City councilor Michelle Wu won Boston’s mayoral race in a historic win. Wu will become the first woman and first person of color elected as mayor in Boston. Wu ran on a progressive platform including bringing universal child care and pre-K, free subway fares and rent control. “What we deserve is a Boston where all of us are seen, heard, treasured, and valued—a Boston for everyone,” Wu said during her victory speech. 

Democrat Eric Adams won in the New York city mayoral election. Adam’s is a former police officer, current Brooklyn borough president and moderate democrat. During Adam’s campaign he emphasized the importance of execution and said he would be a mayor “getting stuff done”. Adam’s will have no shortage of things to get done, since the pandemic New York city has had a rise in crime, homelessness, increasing small business closure and a hurting tourism industry.

Nearly 18 months since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, voters got to have a say on a proposal to begin overhauling police. Minneapolis voters rejected a ballot measure to overhaul policing that would have led to the creation of a “Department of Public Safety” and removed the requirement to employ a minimum number of officers. Any police officers still employed would have been under the Department of Public Safety. The rejection of this ballot comes as a disappointment to activists who have been working both citywide and nationally to reduce the presence or eliminate police in the U.S. “We have just seen a clear backlash to progress in our city,” Minneapolis City Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham said.

Article by Elizabeth Mehler of Thomas S. Wootton High School

Photo courtesy of Glen Carrie from Unsplash