Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As you’ve probably heard, NBC News has projected that Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy has narrowly won a second term in New Jersey. He’s the first Democratic governor to win re-election in the Garden State since 1977.
* More surprising in New Jersey is the fact that Steve Sweeney, the most powerful Democrat in the state’s legislature, appears likely to lose to Republican Edward Durr, a truck driver who spent $153 on his longshot candidacy.
* That said, GOP gains in New Jersey were not uniform across the state: In the central part of the state, Democrat Andrew Zwicker appears to have flipped a state Senate seat from red to blue, despite the fact that Republicans have held the seat since 1905.
* And speaking of state legislatures, it appears that Republicans’ successes in Virginia were not limited to the top of the ticket: The commonwealth’s House of Delegates will now reportedly be under GOP control.
* In south Florida’s congressional special election, it might be a while before we know who won the Democratic primary between home healthcare business owner Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness. The race is filling the vacancy left by the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died in April. The general election is Jan. 11. [Update: This item has been corrected.] * In Buffalo’s mayoral race, India Walton conceded yesterday that she’s likely to fall short against Mayor Byron Brown’s write-in candidacy, despite Walton defeating the incumbent in Democratic primary earlier this year. * Following George Floyd’s murder and the resulting unrest, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faced an uncertain political future, but this week, he appears to have to won a second term. * And in Wisconsin, the latest Marquette Law School poll showed that none of the state’s top officials are especially popular, though incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson is struggling more than most: Only 38 percent of Wisconsin voters want to give the Republican a third term.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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