2019 State Elections: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I know, I know, that is a very corny headline to use, but I’d say it’s rather an accurate description of what has recently occurred. Last Tuesday was election day for many states, in what the media had hoped would be a sort of preview for the 2020 presidential election (at least wherever Democrats would have won).
 
For the GOP, I find three notable news: the good, the bad and the ugly.
 
Let’s begin with the outright ugly first, just to get it out of the way: the GOP has completely lost Virginia.
 
Perhaps the writing was on the wall in this state, as this was the only Southern state that Trump lost in the 2016 election and considering Ralph “Coonman” Northam and Lt. Gov. Justin “Rapes-a-lot” Fairfax were extremely embattled and yet still won their own races for re-election (mostly because the timid GOP in the state refused to run on those things).
 
What’s more, Virginia Senate Democrats won 21 out of 40 total seats, and Virginia House Delegates now have 53 out of a total 100 seats, flipping both chambers and wrestling away control of the legislature from the GOP for the first time in decades (though with 30 Democrats running unopposed, such results are to be expected). Much as I hate to say it, Virginia is now a blue state, at least as it currently stands. Unless the Virginia GOP gets its act together, that state will most likely once again vote for the Democrat candidate in the next election and might even become another California (yes, the Democrats have a narrow advantage in the legislature, but still).
 
So that’s the downright ugly and basically the only thing that Democrats can realistically cling to and have an actual argument against Republicans and Trump.
 
The bad: the Kentucky Governor’s race went Democrat.
 
There is good reason this is under the category of simply “bad”. While it is a notable pickup for Democrats, it’s being overhyped. The media pretends as though this particular race ought to scare Trump and Republicans moving forward, but there are a lot of asterisks surrounding this win for the Democrats.
 
First of all, it was extremely close. The Democrat candidate won the race by just a little more than 5,000 votes. According to Georgia gubernatorial rules, the losing candidate can pretend they won and moan and whine around to the media for the next two years. A joke, of course, but this ought to tell you just how narrow of a win this was for the Democrats. The Georgia race back in 2018 was won by the Republican by less than 55,000 and the Democrats pretended like they won that one, with Stacey Abrams outright proclaiming on media show after media show that she was the real winner. It’s extremely ironic that a race that came down to a little more than only 5,000 votes is considered such a massive win for the Democrats.
 
Second of all, it shouldn’t have been this close. According to media polls (for however much they might be worth), Gov. Matt Bevin (R) was down around 17 to 20 points before Trump held a rally for the guy. What’s more, Bevin’s approval rating had been hovering around 30% for months prior to this race, so his loss was unsurprising. The guy was not popular at all and was actually the least popular governor in the U.S. back in the summer. The fact that he lost by only a little more than 5,000 votes should be a warning sign for Democrats: Trump’s extremely popular.
 
The governor was very embattled and it was an uphill battle during this election, falling just short of the goal. His loss was not only unsurprising, but would’ve been far more embarrassing had Trump not rallied and supported him. And let’s not beat around the bush: if the Democrat candidate had lost by the same exact margin that he actually won by, the Democrats and the media would’ve been singing the exact same tune. They still would’ve reported that Trump was in “deep danger” because of a narrow GOP win had that been the case. Instead, they report that Trump is in “deep danger” because of a narrow Democrat win. To these people, reality is what they want it to be, not what it is.
 
Third of all, while this particular race was, at the end of the day, a loss for Republicans, the rest of the races were all wins. Which brings me to:
 
The good.
 
Let’s take a look at all the other races in Kentucky alone, at least for now:

• The race for Secretary of State went as follows: Michael Adams (R) defeated Heather French Henry (D) 52-48%, a 4-point victory.

 

• The race for Attorney General: Daniel Cameron (R) obliterated Gregory Stumbo (D) 58-42%, a 16-point victory.

 

• The race for State Auditor: Mike Harmon (R) trounced Sheri Donahue (D) 56-41%, a 15-point victory.

 

• The race for State Treasurer: Allison Ball (R) slaughtered Michael Bowman (D) 61-39%, a 22-point victory.

 

• The race for Agriculture Commissioner: Ryan Quarles (R) destroyed Robert Haley Conway (D) 58-39%, a 19-point victory.

 

• House District 18: Samara Heavrin (R) embarrassed Becky Miller (D) 60-40%, a 20-point victory.

 

• House District 63: Kimberly Bantra (R) crushed Josh Blair (D) 63-37%, a 26-point victory and the biggest margin of the elections.

 
 
Daniel Cameron’s victory is also rather significant on its own because he’s the first African-American ever to be voted into the position and is the first Republican to win that position in over 70 years.
 
Over in Mississippi, we find the inverse of Virginia: GOP completely controlling the state.
 
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) defeated Attorney General Jim Hood (D) 52-46%, a 6-point margin, and will replace outgoing Governor Phil Bryant (R). Both the House and Senate are also in control by the Republicans in the state.
 
The President sent tweets both in congratulations to the Republicans that won (at least the high-profile ones) and in fully understanding what the media would try to spin out of the Kentucky gubernatorial election. He accurately predicted that the media would blame him for Bevin’s ultimate loss and that it would be spun as a “warning” for Republicans moving forward. The only warning Republicans got out of that race is: don’t be a bad governor.
 
All-in-all, Tuesday’s elections were a bit of a mixed bag for everyone. The Democrats had a massive win in Virginia, a narrow win in the Kentucky gubernatorial race, the Republicans had big wins at every other level of the Kentucky elections and maintained complete control over Mississippi. But the big takeaways from these races are far from what the media wishes to portray them. The Kentucky Governor’s race was ultimately a loss for the GOP but an extremely close one, considering how utterly unpopular the incumbent GOP governor was. Again, the guy was down by massive margins (according to media polls, but you can never take them at face value) and was extremely unpopular, one of the least popular governors in the country. And still, he barely lost by more than 5,000 votes.
 
All things considered, that should’ve been a cakewalk for the Democrats and it was far from it. They ultimately came away with the victory, but a pyrrhic one at best.
 
Donald Trump proves once again how popular he is.
 
1 Peter 5:8
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”