2012 marked one of the most media heavy campaigns on record. From TV to radio and email to Facebook and Twitter,the info flowed in. We all were greeted with full mailboxs at home each evening. Now that the votes are in, here is your post election update.
We’ll be inviting all of our Senators, Congressmen and Legislators to join us at the 2012 AZBio Trailblazer Awards on December 13th. I hope you will be able to join us also. To learn more, click here.
(Note: This post was updated to reflect the election of the Democatic Laeadership Team on 11/8/2012)
Arizona State Capitol Updates
thanks to Mike Haener of Upstream Consulting.
With the elections mostly completed for the State Legislature, it appears the breakdown is as follows:
Senate House
17 Republicans 36 Republicans
13 Democrats 24 Democrats
The Senate race in LD 8 between Barbara McGuire-D and Joe Ortiz-R and The House has one seat, LD 28 where Eric Meyer-D leads Amanda Reeve-R by a slim margin is still not completely decided as of this writing.
The House and Senate Republican caucuses met today to determine their leadership teams for next session.
In the House, Speaker Tobin won the House vote for Speaker surviving a challenge from incoming freshman Steve Smith. David Gowan of Southeastern Arizona is the new Majority Leader and Rick Gray of Sun City is the new Majority Whip.
In the Senate, Andy Biggs will be President of the Senate next session.. John McComish (Chandler) is the new Majority Leader and Adam Driggs (Phoenix) is the new Majority Whip.
The Democratic leadership team willl be led by Chad Campbell in the House with the support of Ruben Gallego as Assistant Leader and Bruce Wheeler as Whip. The Democrat’s will be led in the Senate by Leah Landrum Taylor with the support of Linda Lopez as Assistant Leader and Anna Tovar as Whip.
Arizonan’s Headed for D.C. Come January
Congratulations to Matt Salmon, Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema who will all be new members of Congress come January.
Congressman David Schweikert, Congressman Raul M. Grijalva, Congressman Ed Pastor, Congressman Trent Franks, and Congressman Paul Gosas, DDS will all be returning to their offices once again to represent us in the House of Representatives.
Congressman Jeff Flake will become Senator Jeff Flake
The votes are still being tallied in Congressional District 2 in the race between Martha McSally and Congressman Ron Barber.
Notes on the National Stage from BIO
Election Results
“The Biotechnology Industry Organization looks forward to working with President Obama, the House and Senate to ensure that support for innovation continues to be a priority, so that our 1,100 member companies may continue to find solutions to heal, fuel and feed the world, while also creating more jobs here in America.”
In addition to the Presidential, Congressional, and Gubernatorial races decided in yesterday’s election, several states placed health care reform questions on the ballot. Five states – Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Montana and Wyoming – voted on referenda or amendments to the state constitution which limited implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Voters in Florida rejected its proposed Amendment 1, but limits on “Obamacare” passed resoundingly in the other four states.
Gubernatorial Recap
On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, gubernatorial elections were held in 11 states and two territories – the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and American Samoa. Seven incumbent governors ran for re-election and six incumbent governors were either term-limited or did not seek reelection.
Partisan Breakdown Heading into Election Night:
29 Republican
20 Democratic
1 Independent
Partisan Breakdown Post-Election:
30 Republican (North Carolina represents the only party-change at the gubernatorial level)
19 Democratic Governors
1 Independent Governor.
Governors Re-elected
Republican:
North Dakota: Governor Jack Dalrymple (R) easily won re-election
Utah: Governor Gary Herbert (R) easily won re-election
Democratic:
Delaware: Governor Jack Markell (D) easily won re-election
Missouri: Governor Jay Nixon (D) easily won re-election
Vermont: Governor Peter Shumlin (D) easily won re-election West Virginia: Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) won re-election.
New Governor – Changed Party Control
Republican:
North Carolina: Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R) is elected. McCrory succeeds Governor Bev Purdue (D) who did not seek re-election
New Governor – Maintained Party Control
Republican:
Indiana: U.S. Representative Mike Pence (R) is elected. He succeeds Governor Mitch Daniels (R)
Democratic:
Montana: State Attorney General Steve Bullock (D) is elected. He succeeds Governor Brian Schweitzer (D)
New Hampshire: Former NH House Majority Leader Maggie Hassan (D) is elected. She succeeds Governor John Lynch (D)
Washington: U.S. Representative Jay Inslee (D) is elected. He succeeds Governor Chris Gregoire (D)
U.S. Territories
American Samoa: Governor Togiola Tulafono (D) is term-limited and several candidate are vying for his seat. This election will likely go to a runoff on November 20.
Puerto Rico: Senator Alejandro Garcia Padilla (D) is elected. He succeeds Governor Luis Fortuño (R)
State Legislative Recap
More than 6,000 state legislative seats were decided in the 2012 election. The nation’s electoral map has been altered and this is the first election following the once-a-decade redistricting based on new census data.
In 2010, Republicans enjoyed record state legislative success and picked up 720 state legislative seats and took control of 23 chambers from the Democrats. An average of 13 chambers switch party control in every two-year cycle and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) projects only 20 chambers with a likely chance of switching control in 2012.
Partisan Breakdown Heading into Election Night:
59 Republican-Majority Chambers
36 Democratic-Majority Chambers
3 Tied
Some key chambers that have been identified as ‘toss ups’ are both chambers in Arkansas, both chambers in Colorado, Iowa Senate, Kentucky House, both chambers in Maine, Minnesota House, Nevada Senate, New York Senate and Washington Senate.
Many races across the country are still too close to call and we should know the final partisan chamber breakdown in the coming days.
Below please find a list of chambers who have a new majority party.
Key Chambers Results:
Republican Takeover
Arkansas House
Arkansas Senate
Wisconsin Senate
Democratic Takeover
Colorado House
Maine House
Maine Senate
New York Senate