Nov. 8 election: While some mayoral races wrap up, national contests continue without a clear winner

It’s one day after the November midterm elections, which featured more than 200 local mayoral races, and most are still too close to call. Of those, 34 were among the nation’s 100 largest cities by population.

In Washington, D.C., Democrat incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser easily clinched her third re-election, receiving nearly 80 percent of the votes so far. With the win, Muriel becomes only the second person ever to be re-elected for a third term as mayor in Washington, D.C.

“We are Democrats. … We are Republicans. We are Independents. We are rich and we’re trying to get rich. We are people of all backgrounds and beliefs. We are gay, we are straight, we are Christians, we are Jews, we are Muslims. We stick up for each other. Sometimes we fight each other—but we’re going to fight you if you fight us—and we will defend our values,” said Muriel, speaking to a crowd of supporters after it was announced that she’d won more than 75 percent of the votes.

Notable mayoral races were held in a number of other large cities.

In Los Angeles, Democrat Rick Caruso held a slim lead over opponent Karen Bass, who is also a Democrat, as of early Wednesday afternoon, with 38 percent of the vote tabulated. Elsewhere, according to election results posted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Frank Scott Jr. held onto his incumbent mayoral seat in Little Rock, Ark. Jason Beck will take over in Peoria, Ariz. In Oakland, Calif., where Loren Taylor faced Shen Thao, it was too close to call. The race for mayor in San Bernardino, Calif. was leaning toward Helen Tran, who held 62 percent of the vote against Jim Penman, with 37 percent. Mail-in ballots there have yet to be counted. 

In Tallahassee, Fla., Mayor John Dailey won his re-election campaign, and in Maui, Hawaii, Richard Bissen will take over from Michael Victorino. Craig Greenberg won a contested mayoral race in Louisville, Ky. with 51 percent of the votes, and Christopher Taylor has been re-elected in Ann Arbor, Mich., with nearly 75 percent of the votes.

In Raleigh, N.C., Mary-Ann Baldwin was re-elected with 46 percent of the votes. The North Las Vegas mayoral race went to Pamela Goynes-Brown (65.9 percent). She will take over from John Lee. Hillary Schieve has been re-elected in Reno, Nv. In Corpus Christi, Tx., Paulette Guajardo has been re-elected. And Austin, Tx., will hold a runoff election between Celia Israel and Kirk Watson on Dec. 13.

 In Newport News, Va., Phillip Jones will take over from McKinley Price. A complete list of results as they come in can be viewed on the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ website. And on the East Coast, Brett Smiley will take over from Jorge Elorza in Providence, R.I. Elorza could not seek re-election due to term limits.

Along with mayoral races, nationally, voters weighed in on a number of ballot questions related to abortion access—the most ever considered in a single year, according to Ballotpedia. Michigan, Vermont and California approved measures to create a constitutional right to reproductive freedom, including abortion and contraceptives. Meanwhile, Kentucky voters struck down a measure that would have banned the creation of a similar state constitutional right in the future by a vote of 730,715 to 663,516, or 52 percent to 48 percent.

Five states had marijuana legalization on their ballots. Maryland and Missouri voters both approved the measures, becoming the 20th and 21st states, along with Washington, D.C., to legalize marijuana.

In governorship races, incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp defeated Democrat challenger Stacey Abrams in Georgia. Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro won election bid, as did Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, fending off Democrat challenger Beto O’Rourke. In Oregon, Democrat Tina Kotek won over Republican Christine Drazan. Gov. Tony Evers was re-elected in Wisconsin, Gov. Janet Mills, won re-election in Maine, as did incumbents Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was appointed after former Gov. Chris Cuomo resigned, won her bid. All are Democrats. 

In Nevada, Republican challenger Joe Lombardo (50 percent of the votes) led incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat (45 percent), with 77 percent of the votes counted.

Control of the House and Senate hadn’t yet been decided as of mid-afternoon.