Voters in several key states from Kentucky to Mississippi, Virginia to New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to Ohio vote Tuesday to determine the outcomes of many major races including two governor’s races, majorities in a bunch of state legislatures, and ballot initiatives and judicial races that could help steer the future of the country.
It is the last major national regularly scheduled election before the 2024 presidential election, when incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden will likely face off against former GOP President Donald Trump a year from now. Insiders from both political parties and media figures will be looking for clues from the results about the mood of the electorate and whether or not the recent spate of terrible polls for Biden rings true with actual voters.
The outcomes on Tuesday could also seriously impact several states on how they are governed, including with the possible election of new governors in Kentucky or Mississippi — or the reelection of their current governors — and with possible majority party shifts in state legislative chambers in Virginia or less likely New Jersey.
What’s more, the intensity of the issue of abortion in the reddening state of Ohio will be put to the ballot test as voters decide on Issue 1 — while the future of many major issues including how the 2024 election will be administered could be impacted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court race.
Polls begin closing in Kentucky at 6 p.m. local time — 6 p.m. Eastern for the eastern part of the state, and 7 p.m. Eastern for the western part of the state which is in the Central Time zone. At 7 p.m. Eastern, the polls also close in Virginia. The polls close in Ohio at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. The polls close in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Follow along here on Breitbart News for live results, breaking news, and analysis from across the country.
UPDATE 11:16 p.m. ET:
Democrats have won the State House of Delegates in Virginia, too. So again, the only change in things on Tuesday in America is the Democrats took a handful of state legislature seats in Virginia. Not the big win they’re publicly projecting right now. But they did flip a state legislative chamber, the Virginia House of Delegates, from GOP control to Democrat control.
UPDATE 11:00 p.m. ET:
The Democrat, Daniel McCaffery, won the the Pennsylvania Supreme Court election–another no-change outcome.
UPDATE 10:38 p.m. ET:
To sum up the most important races of the evening: The country voted for homeostasis on Tuesday, generally speaking. The left won its abortion ballot measure in Ohio–no surprise there. The Democrats held the governor’s mansion they were defending; the Republicans held the one they were defending. The Democrats held the state Senate in Virginia–and they look like they might be about to take the state House of Delegates. So one half of one state legislature in a bluer-and-bluer battleground state flipped hands.
In other words, even as the left gloats on national television, in press statements, and on X–the platform formerly known as Twitter–this was not really a big electoral victory for either side, a kind of a draw. Don’t tell the Democrats, though–let them think they won big, as it might lull them into a false sense of confidence heading into 2024 in much the same way the GOP’s Virginia wins in 2021 did for the Republicans.
UPDATE 10:34 p.m. ET:
It is looking really good for the Democrat candidate for Supreme Court in Pennsylvania–Democrat Daniel McCaffery currently leads by more than 5 percent with more than 80 percent reporting there.
UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET:
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has won reelection in Mississippi:
UPDATE 10:27 p.m. ET:
Yes, the Virginia House of Delegates is very close right now and it appears as though Democrats have eaten into the GOP control of it:
UPDATE 10:25 p.m. ET:
While the Virginia state House is too close to call right now, if the current leads hold across the board in the uncalled races per the Virginia Public Access Project, the Democrats would take a 52-48 majority there. With six vacancies, Republicans currently have a very slim majority there of 48 seats to 46 for the Democrats–so this would represent a flip for the Democrats, albeit a very slim one. But several races are very close and it’s not over yet there.
UPDATE 10:19 p.m. ET:
With 56 percent reporting in Mississippi, Reeves is hanging tough with 57 percent to Presley’s 41.3 percent. Reeves leads by about 74,000 votes right now. Things are looking good for him.
UPDATE 10:11 p.m. ET:
A transgendered Democrat won one of the Virginia state Senate races:
UPDATE 10:10 p.m. ET:
The Democrats are declaring victory in the Virginia state Senate majority fight, with Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee interim president Heather Williams saying in a statement that they won.
“Democrats’ message of protecting fundamental freedoms resonated with voters tonight and allowed us to protect this chamber against an onslaught of spending and disinformation from Gov. Youngkin and his allies,” Williams said. “With this victory, Gov. Youngkin has been denied a governing trifecta and our newly elected majority stands ready to defend Virginia from Republican extremism.”
Major news organizations have not called it yet, but it does appear likely that the Democrats will retain their majority in the state Senate in Virginia.
UPDATE 9:55 p.m. ET:
Things are beginning to look really strong for Reeves:
UPDATE 9:45 p.m. ET:
Things are looking mostly good for Reeves so far in Mississippi:
UPDATE 9:10 p.m. ET:
Some are saying the Democrats will hold their state Senate majority in Virginia:
UPDATE 9:09 p.m. ET:
With 8 percent now in in Mississippi, Reeves now has an approximately 13,000 vote lead–and is up on Presley 58.5 percent to 40 percent.
UPDATE 9:04 p.m. ET:
This is probably one of the biggest takeaways from tonight so far–that Democrats are more organized on such things like off-year elections than Republicans are:
UPDATE 9:02 p.m. ET:
In Virginia, the statehouse majority could literally come down to whether the Democrat who live-streamed her sex videos wins or not:
UPDATE 8:59 p.m. ET:
And here come the flood of calls for Beshear:
AP is the gold standard on these, and CNN has also called it.
UPDATE 8:58 p.m. ET:
While NBC has called it, and Wasserman, it’s worth noting other news organizations are still being cautious in Kentucky:
UPDATE 8:56 p.m. ET:
While Republicans are having a rough night in other places, in New Hampshire the GOP candidate for mayor Manchester won:
UPDATE 8:48 p.m. ET:
With 3 percent reporting now in Mississippi–it’s still very early there–Republican Tate Reeves has moved in front of Democrat Brandon Presley in the governor race.
UPDATE 8:46 p.m. ET:
Things are looking good, tentatively, for Democrats in Virginia:
If they hold the state Senate majority, that’s a massive win for them–and a setback for Republicans.
UPDATE 8:43 p.m. ET:
Now, NBC News has joined the calls for Beshear victory. Democrat Andy Beshear has won another term as governor of Kentucky.
UPDATE 8:38 p.m. ET:
In Kentucky, still no major news organizations have joined the calls saying Beshear won which is interesting. Now, 71 percent of the vote is in, with Beshear still leading by about 55,000 votes–52.7 percent to 47.3 percent for Cameron.
UPDATE 8:35 p.m. ET:
Virginia legislative race results are pouring in and it’s tight there all the way around. You can follow along for results on Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) at VPAP.org–their website crashed given the national interest in these results earlier tonight but it seems to be back up:
UPDATE 8:29 p.m. ET:
Ohio voters sided with the left on abortion:
UPDATE 8:27 p.m. ET:
Less than a thousand votes are in now in Mississippi, and Democrat Brandon Presley has an early lead. It’s very early there.
UPDATE 8:12 p.m. ET:
In Rhode Island, Democrat Gabriel Amo won the special election represent the state’s first congressional district:
UPDATE 8:05 p.m. ET:
While it’s early still there, it’s looking like both the pro-abortion and the pro-marijuana legalization ballot measures will succeed in Ohio as expected.
UPDATE 8:00 p.m. ET:
The polls are now closed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi.
UPDATE 7:51 p.m. ET:
Decision Desk HQ, another usually reliable source, has called the race for Beshear too. It seems very uphill for Cameron now.
UPDATE 7:46 p.m. ET:
It’s worth noting if Cameron does end up losing this in the end as some expect he will that the Republican Governors Association (RGA) chairwoman Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa–whose literal job it is to elect GOP governors–did not spend the last day before the election trying to get GOP voters to turn out in Kentucky. She instead was palling around with the failing 2024 presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa, where she endorsed him, while former President Donald Trump–who spent all day Monday in court–actually did do his best to help Cameron win by holding a tele-rally for him the night before the election after his court proceedings ended earlier.
Nonetheless, it’s not over yet, as Cameron has made up significant ground since Wasserman called it. But depending on what’s still out, and what will be coming in, that call will probably hold as others are noting similar things.
UPDATE 7:30 p.m. ET:
The polls are now closed in Ohio, where voters are deciding on abortion and marijuana legalization ballot initiatives.
UPDATE 7:25 p.m. ET:
Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report is calling it for Beshear in Kentucky:
No major news organizations are calling it yet, but not a good sign for Cameron at all. Wasserman is basically never wrong on these things.
UPDATE 7:22 p.m. ET:
Some initial results are beginning to trickle in in Virginia–though it’s far too early to make sense of these very early returns per the New York Times.
UPDATE 7:20 p.m. ET:
Even so, there are some positive signs for Cameron elsewhere:
UPDATE 7:19 p.m. ET:
Beshear is running ahead of where he did in 2019 in several places–which is not good for Cameron:
Cameron is going to need to make up serious ground in other places to make up these differences.
UPDATE 7:12 p.m. ET:
The Times has 23 percent reporting now in Kentucky, and Beshear is up 59 percent to 41 percent over Cameron.
UPDATE 7:02 p.m. ET:
There are some mixed signs in the early Kentucky results–some good news for Beshear:
But also some good news for Cameron:
UPDATE 7:00 p.m. ET:
The polls are now closed in all of Kentucky and in Virginia.
UPDATE 6:55 p.m. ET:
Now 10 percent is in in Kentucky per the Times, and Beshear leads 62 percent to 38 percent. Again, most of this is the cities and early vote–the “blue mirage” we’ve been warning of–and the Democrat lead will shrink considerably.
UPDATE 6:46 p.m. ET:
Some of the cities just came in, and now with 7 percent reporting in Kentucky, Beshear has taken a big lead–61.3 percent to 38.7 percent. This will shrink significantly.
UPDATE 6:44 p.m. ET:
Things are looking good in some places for Cameron:
UPDATE 6:42 p.m. ET:
This is interesting and perhaps worth watching if this race is close — a gas leak at a polling place in Kentucky reportedly led to a judge keeping the hours open an extra half hour:
UPDATE 6:38 p.m. ET:
Two percent in now in Kentucky, per the Times, and Cameron leads by about 3,300 votes–56.8 percent to 43.2 percent.
UPDATE 6:36 p.m. ET:
More here about the “blue mirage” warnings in Kentucky:
UPDATE 6:33 p.m. ET:
While the early vote totals are favoring Beshear in Kentucky–Cameron is running behind other Republicans–some are warning to beware of a “blue mirage” there tonight:
So things could easily swing Cameron’s way. It’s way too early to tell.
UPDATE 6:31 p.m. ET:
broader breakdownHere is a of races nationwide this evening from Semafor’s Dave Weigel–there are many interesting school board races mentioned throughout–that is worth reading as the nation awaits more results.
UPDATE 6:28 p.m. ET:
It’s still very early in Kentucky, but a story to watch is that other Republicans in statewide races are running far ahead of Cameron–not a good sign for the GOP nominee:
He has work to do in the election day vote if he’s going to make up the lower numbers in the early vote totals.
UPDATE 6:25 p.m. ET:
reportedThe Associated Press earlier on Tuesday there were major problems in Pennsylvania with voting machines–depending on how close this race is it could be something worth watching.
UPDATE 6:20 p.m. ET:
according toThe polls have closed in much of Kentucky and the first results are coming in. Daniel Cameron, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, is up with an early lead over incumbent Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear. With 1 percent in the New York Times, Cameron is up 58 percent to 42 percent–and has an approximately 1,300 vote lead.
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