Republican Tidal Wave
I'm still digesting the numbers, but last night's election results, both locally and statewide, reflect a solid statement by Arkansas voters. It looks as though Republicans won all seven contested seats in the state senate and will make unprecedented gains in the Arkansas House. Republicans also look to take over three of the state's seven constitutional offices: Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and and Land Commissioner. Democrats previously held all seven seats.
Locally, incumbent Miller County Judge Roy John McNatt (D) was defeated by Larry Burgess, his Republican challenger, and across State Line Avenue, Republicans defeated long-time Democratic incumbents County Judge James Carlow (in office since 1987) and races for county clerk and county treasurer. Texas District 1 State Rep Stephen Frost (D) also lost to Republican George Lavender. Wayne Smith will be the next mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas. I'll post more later this morning.
We'll convene on Thursday morning in the senate chamber to determine committee assignments and to draw for seniority.
Also locally:
I note that Mike Ross, while the only Democrat on an Arkansas ballot to win federal office, lost here in Miller County (53-45) and in Columbia County (57-42), Rankin's home county.
Now, in the Arkansas House, Democrats hold as slim a majority since statehood. The count now stands at 55-44, and there will be a special election held in the Garland County seat (HD24) won by Keith Crass, who died unexpectedly last Wednesday.
Republicans now hold majorities in 51 state legislative chambers, compared to 38 held by Democrats.
Locally, incumbent Miller County Judge Roy John McNatt (D) was defeated by Larry Burgess, his Republican challenger, and across State Line Avenue, Republicans defeated long-time Democratic incumbents County Judge James Carlow (in office since 1987) and races for county clerk and county treasurer. Texas District 1 State Rep Stephen Frost (D) also lost to Republican George Lavender. Wayne Smith will be the next mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas. I'll post more later this morning.
We'll convene on Thursday morning in the senate chamber to determine committee assignments and to draw for seniority.
Also locally:
I note that Mike Ross, while the only Democrat on an Arkansas ballot to win federal office, lost here in Miller County (53-45) and in Columbia County (57-42), Rankin's home county.
Now, in the Arkansas House, Democrats hold as slim a majority since statehood. The count now stands at 55-44, and there will be a special election held in the Garland County seat (HD24) won by Keith Crass, who died unexpectedly last Wednesday.
Republicans now hold majorities in 51 state legislative chambers, compared to 38 held by Democrats.
posted by Steve Harrelson @ 11/03/2010 04:46:00 AM | Permalink |
7 Comments:
With results like these, I almost wish I had run. (R) rarely win state races around here.
I think Republicans might have finally organized in Arkansas. I don't think so just yet. I think this is a carry over from the national feeling. Arkansas having a two party system is good for the state as long as we don't have gridlocks like the national congress, and walk-outs like in the Texas state congress. While the Tea Party did help the Rs in the US House, they cost the Rs in the US Senate. I don't think party has much to do with people voting in Arkansas for retail politics is still important in here. But the Rs mustn't misjudge these numbers. The R's have only a mid 20% approval rating. The election wasn't a referendum on Obama but more so on the Democrats failure to deliver on jobs after spending 700 billion dollars. Even with near super-majorities in both House, the Ds failed to govern effectively; and more importantly, they had a failure to communicate with their constituents back home. That's what caused them to lose severely.
Seriously, you don't think this was a referendum on Obama? You're very much mistaken if you believe that.
No, I don't think it was a referendum on Obama. It was all about the economy. Look at states from PA to MN. That's where the Rs made most of their gains. Those gains were due to job loss. If the unemployment rate had fallen to about 8%, the Ds probably would have still lost some seats, but not the majority. As far as Rs making gains in Arkansas, it has nothing to do with Obama either. State officials have nothing to do with national officials, but I do think that they won due to the coat tail affect.
Let me tell ya, if the Democrat party truly believes that, you're screwed come 2012. The American public is furious the Health Care Reform Act was thrust down their throat and they sent a message.
I think that answering the health care question was good, but it was poorly articulated, too fuzzy, and too easy to attack. The CBO said that it would save the taxpayer billions. But this is why people who make sense don't win federal elective office. Because the moment someone tries to solve the problems that is facing our nation with real solutions, they lose elections. The problem of our government spending too much money are: too large of a military foot print around the world (why do we need 5 bases in the UK and several bases in Europe? They can defend themselves now), Medicare only takes care of problems through intervention (more expensive) rather than prevention (less expensive), and raising the Social Security age by 2070s. People should have the option to opt in or out of medicare and social security, and those earning a certain amount of money based on the area they live in shouldn't receive either. For a millionare, taking medicare and social security is a major step down (medicare) and only pennies in their pockets (social security).
Go look at the unemployment rates and look at the election results from 2006, 2008, and 2010. I bet you will find a correlation with unemployment rates and election results.
Today's electorate are far less partisan but today's federally elected officials are far more partisan. We say we want to elect people to solve problems, but do we really? If we want people to solve our problems we need more moderates from both parties to come up with good, solid, sensible ideas to solve our nation's problems and move our country forward.
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