Some of Trump’s favorite candidates disappoint on Election Day
Former U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press on the grounds of his Mar-a-Lago resort on midterm elections night in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. November 8, 2022.
Ricardo Arduengo | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump hosted an election night party Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, and invited a full pool of reporters to document what he hoped would be a Republican landslide.
But as returns began to come in Tuesday evening, the Republican rout driven by Trump’s chosen candidates never materialized.
In one of the country’s most high-profile races, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost to Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, according to NBC News. The result cost the GOP a Senate seat.
In Michigan, Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon lost a gubernatorial race, while 2020 election denier Kristina Karamo lost her Trump-backed bid for secretary of state, NBC projected.
In Arizona, Kari Lake, a former newscaster turned gubernatorial candidate who is one of Trump’s most high-profile picks, trailed Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in a race that NBC considered too early to call. Trump-endorsed Senate hopeful Blake Masters, who is challenging Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, also lagged in a race that NBC said was too early to call.
— Christina Wilkie
Michigan, California and Vermont make abortion a state constitutional right
Los Angeles, CaliforniaSept. 26, 2022Signs at a pro-choice event at the Womens March Action Headquarters in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 2022. Yes on1 signs on a table at the event.
Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Voters in Michigan, California and Vermont have amended their state constitutions to protect abortion as a right, NBC News projects.
Michigan will become a crucial safe haven for reproductive rights in the Midwest, a region where abortion access is shrinking as states such as Indiana and Ohio have passed very restrictive laws.
Although abortion was never under threat in liberal California and Vermont, the state constitutional amendments will protect access for future generations.
In conservative Kentucky, voters were asked whether the state constitution should be amended to say that it does not protect abortion as a right.
The votes are still being counted and NBC News has not made a call yet. So far, however, 51.4% of Kentuckians have voted against the anti-abortion measure while 48.6% have voted in favor with 82% of the vote in.
— Spencer Kimball
Republicans didn’t see a ‘red wave’ as control of both chambers of Congress remains up for grabs
Pennsylvania Republican candidate for Governor Doug Mastriano and his wife Rebbie stand next to an image of former U.S. President Donald Trump on the ‘Real America Speaks Team MAGA Election Bus’ after arriving for a campaign rally ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Newtown, Pennsylvania, November 7, 2022.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Ballots are still being tabulated from Tuesday’s midterm elections leaving which party controls either chamber of Congress uncertain, but one thing is clear: The Republican “red wave” did not materialize.
Venture capitalist J.D. Vance scored an early win for Republicans, retaining Ohio’s vacated U.S. Senate seat for the GOP by beating U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. But Democrats saw critical wins in Pennsylvania where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman flipped a U.S. Senate seat blue by defeating TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz. Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Shapiro, won the governorship, beating state Sen. Doug Mastriano who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Unlike the 2020 election, Pennsylvania was not among the last to be called, but several other critical races remain undetermined Wednesday morning. Senate races in Nevada and Arizona are still too close to call, with Georgia’s U.S. Senate race looking likely to go into a December runoff. Neither party has claimed control of the U.S. House with several seats left uncalled. Republicans are still more likely to take control of the House majority, but it won’t be with the margins they had hoped.
“Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on NBC News on Tuesday evening. “A wave would have been, like, (winning) New Hampshire and Colorado.”
— Emma Kinery