Live Blogging the 2006 midterm election results

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11:50 p.m. PST: Last Update of the Night (to see updates in the proper sequential order see down below):

The DEMS WIN THE HOUSE. Control of the Senate has come down to a recount in Virginia (provided Montana doesn’t shift too much). MACACAS MADE A LOT OF DIFFERENCE IN THIS ELECTION!

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Hey SM folks, I am going to keep this post up and will be updating it through tomorrow. Feel free to leave comments regarding the results of ANY races and/or ballot measures you are interested in. I will mainly be reporting here on some of the races featuring (or of particular concern to) South Asian American candidates but most of us are interested in a whole lot more. I won’t be in front of a computer for the next several hours but when I get back in front of one later tonight I will go into Abhi Russert mode.

Let’s hope things turn out well!

Update 1: 5:17p.m. PST:

The latest #s [via Drudge]

VA SEN [35.28% IN]
ALLEN 392,816 49.39%
WEBB 392,854 49.39%

Update 2: 10:05 p.m. PST

I’m back! Here we go:

Raj Bhakta (R) loses:

Allyson Schwartz (DEM)* 143,031 66%
Raj Peter Bhakta (REP) 73,429 34%
99% of precincts reporting… [Link]

Raj Peter Bhakta, a former hopeful on Donald Trump’s television show “The Apprentice,” lost his long-shot bid Tuesday for a job as a GOP congressman.

Bhakta had sought to oust first-term Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz, two years after he occupied the posh Manhattan boardrooms of Trump’s show in which eager young men and women competed for a job with the real-estate mogul. He was fired from the program after a home renovation project went awry. [Link]

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Update 3: 10:18 p.m. PST

It’s Bobby Piyush Jindal (R) in a landslide victory:

Bobby Jindal (REP)* 130,277 88%
David Gereighty (DEM) 10,888 7%
Stacy Tallitsch (DEM) 5,004 3%
Peter Beary (LIB) 1,670 1%
100% of precincts reporting… [Link]

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p>Kumar Barve (D) is looking good:

Md. State House District 17
Candidate Votes %
Jim Gilchrist (D) 18,089 26
Luiz Simmons * (D) 17,052 24
Kumar Barve * (D) 16,889 24
Mary Haley (R) 6,530 9
Other 11,405 16
Key: * Incumbent | Red Checkmark Winner
Precincts: 77% | Updated: 1:12 AM ET | Source: AP… [Link]

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p>Update 4: 10:23 p.m. PST

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p>Raj Goyle (D) won in Kansas!!

State House – District 87 – 11 of 11 Precincts Reporting
Name Party Votes Pct
Goyle, Raj Dem 3,216 56.36
Huy, Bonnie (i) GOP 2,490 43.64… [Link]

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p>Update 5: 10:36 p.m. PST

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p>Dilip Paliath not looking so good from what I can tell.

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p>Neeraj Nigam (a.k.a. “other”) loses…big time:

Va. U.S. House District 10
Candidate Votes %
Frank Wolf * (R) 129,508 58
Judy Feder (D) 91,739 41
Other 3,764 2
Key: * Incumbent | Red Checkmark Winner
Precincts: 98% | Updated: 1:37 AM ET | Source: AP… [Link]

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p>Update 6: 10:51 p.m. PST

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p>Swati Dandekar looks like she is headed for victory in Iowa:

District 36
14 of 15 precincts – 93 percent
Swati Dandekar, Dem (i) 5,398 – 54 percent
Nick Wagner, GOP 4,564 – 46 percent… [Link]

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p>Update 7: 10:59 p.m. PST

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p>AJ Sekhon is getting smoked:

U.S. House – District 2 | COUNTY RESULTS
Candidate Votes % of votes
Wally Herger (REP)* 78,466 66%
A. J. Sekhon (DEM) 37,425 31%
55% of precincts reporting

Update 8: 11:24 p.m. PST

First Muslim elected to Congress:

Voters elected a black Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress on Tuesday after a race in which he advocated quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and made little mention of his faith.

Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed retiring Democrat Martin Sabo in a seat that has been held by Democrats since 1963.

Ellison, who converted to Islam as a 19-year-old college student in his native Detroit, won with the help of Muslims among a coalition of liberal, anti-war voters. [Link]

Update 9: 11:29p.m. PST

Chad Khan loses in Houston:

State House Dist. 126 In: 100%
Chad Khan, D
9,072 32.6%
Oscar Palma, L
735 2.6%
Patricia Harless, R
18,003 64.7%… [Link]

Satveer Chaudhary scores a big victory in Minn:

District 50
27 of 27 precincts (100%) Percent of vote
Satveer S. Chaudhary, D* 19,139 63
Rae Hart Anderson, R 11,105 37… [Link]

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p>Update 10: 11:37 PST

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p>The NATIONAL RACE HAS COME DOWN TO MONTANA AND VIRGINIA:

There will be a recount that will take weeks in Virginia. They are counting really slowly in Montana. The Democrats need to win BOTH to take control of the Senate. The Democrats have a razor’s edge lead in both races as of this post (11:37p.m. PST). The Democrats easily captured the House. Nancy Pelosi is third in line to be President should our government be decapitated.

398 thoughts on “Live Blogging the 2006 midterm election results”

  1. Friggin Green Party. I thought we won the cold war, why are these communists still around?

  2. 1) the “green” candidate in virginia is actually “independent green” which is not the same as green party. she’s more right-wing.

    2) CNN has allyson schwartz 69%, raj peter bhakta 31% in pennsylvania. cue the “you’re fired” jokes.

  3. If the VA election results are closer than 1 percent, the losing candidate can get a recount. Both sides are predicting that regardless of who is ahead at the end of the night beginning of the morning, there will be a recount. And with the voting machine problems, Rovian dirty tricks, and other problems — all bets are off.

    Don’t concede defeat for Webb too soon. And get ready for overtime.

  4. the race now boils down to fairfax and arlignton counties (dem) against rest of the counties (rep) in va

    Seems to be more votes in the dem counties but it depends on how heavily they go for webb.

  5. What were those 21000 people in Va who voted for the Green Party candidate thinking?

    Yeah. Seriously.

  6. 1) the “green” candidate in virginia is actually “independent green” which is not the same as green party. she’s more right-wing.

    all the better to take votes from the demz 🙂

    yglesias is pissed too.

  7. circus in jungle, it’s a bit more complicated than that. go back and read my earlier posts on this and especially look at the maps. norfolk, petersburg, and even loudon and prince william are strongholds for webb in a race this close, and they all seem to still be in play to some extent.

    and don’t forget the inevitable recount and litigation.

  8. Republicans should take it up with Osama Bin laden for not helping this time.. If he had released a video a couple of days before things would be different.. 🙂

  9. Pied Piper is right– Loudoun & Prince William aren’t Republican strongholds anymore. Everyone I know in Loudoun is voting for Webb (this may be because I am a unionized public school teacher). I’m not giving up hope yet.

  11. In non-brown news: I’m happy to see Hevesi keep his job as NY State Comptroller. His apology ad totally tugged my heart strings.

  12. the “green” candidate in virginia is actually “independent green” which is not the same as green party. she’s more right-wing.

    Oops. Sorry Greens:)

    Don’t concede defeat for Webb too soon. And get ready for overtime.

    in which case, I have full faith and confidence in our fox news like “fair and balanced” Supreme Court to favor democracy over partisanship like they did in Bush v. Gore!

  13. I’m happy to see Hevesi keep his job as NY State Comptroller.

    Good news. Now when they inevitably (and maybe appropriately) dump him, we’ll get a successor appointed by Spitzer, rather than bow-tie guy (not Raj Bhakta, the other one).

  14. Hey now. Hevesi made a stupid mistake. And he’s sorry. He’s done a decent job otherwise, right?

    But I’d support anything Spitzer does. Totally blinded by love.

  17. the “green” candidate in virginia is actually “independent green” which is not the same as green party. she’s more right-wing.

    fascinating. is that like the larouche version of the green party?

  18. i think it was the tone it was delivered in that peeved me off. i’m used to the southern lady way of speaking, but i just thought it was inappropriate to do that at the polls, where everyone is supposed to be equal and we can all sit back and rejoice in our mutual identity as americans.

  20. Oh please. please please please please pleeeeeeease. Go Arlington! Fairfax is a bit more red, but Arlington is huge and largely Dem. Pleeeeeeeeease…

    We may still have hope. Margin is down to 11,000 votes with 94% reporting…..

  22. Sheldon Whitehouse-D elected in Rhode Island

    Chafee is out. 35% of voters said Chafee agreed too much with Bush. Hilarious.

  23. Looks like Webb stomped in Arlington, and is comfortably ahead in Fairfax. 139 precincts to go. Paul, I know how you feel. We’ll start a 12-step program after the dust settles. Right now, someone pass the goddamn pipe.

  25. I’m happy to see Hevesi keep his job as NY State Comptroller. His apology ad totally tugged my heart strings.

    I know the Hevesi family personally and am good friends with his son Andy and know that his mom has been really ill so every time I saw that ad it made me feel bad. He’s a really good man and has served this area of Forest Hills for a long time before he went on to be Comptroller and his record is solid but this was a stupid and very bad mistake. Unfortunately as Pied Piper said he will be removed by Spitzer who will appoint someone else which is a shame. And like you I absolutely adore Spitzer and believe in him. He’s got a solid record.

  27. Margin is down to 11,000 votes with 94% reporting…..

    And still a lot of Loudon, Prince William, and Petersburg to be counted.

    My favorite numbers of the evening remain the Missouri exit polls numbers. If they’re correct, and the rest of the numbers hold, the break in last minute undecided voters for McCaskill is a huge deal.

    Damn! The Democrats took Nicaragua.

    Damn! The Republicans lost Iran. (And FWIW, whatever else you might say about Daniel Ortega, I’m pretty sure he didn’t get elected by running racist ads, conducting robo-dialed push polls, and engaging in voter intimidation. Great people, those friends of yours.)

    As for Hevesi, JOAT and espressa, what I have heard so far doesn’t sound great, though I do reserve judgment to some extent on the merits — the situation with his wife is quite poignant. Still, it does seem that most people have drawn their conclusions, for better or worse, and that being the case, better for Spitzer to pick someone than for us to be stuck with bow tie guy, who just irritates.

  28. Surprisingly, it looks like the Republicans are going to win the Missouri Senate race. Seems like it doesn’t matter for immediate purposes if Webb can pull this one out or not 🙁

  29. Does all precincts have almost same number of votes? What is the criteria decide the precinct boundaries

  31. (And FWIW, whatever else you might say about Daniel Ortega, I’m pretty sure he didn’t get elected by running racist ads, conducting robo-dialed push polls, and engaging in voter intimidation. Great people, those friends of yours.)

    Well said 🙂 He was also elected by the PEOPLE of his country and not it’s Supreme Court!

  32. All:

    Ohio Secretary of State’s website reports Jay Goyal easily ahead of his opponent which will make him the youngest and fifth elected Indian-American state house member.

    Jay

  35. Circus:

    I’m not totally clear on how precinct boundaries are drawn, but supposedly precincts are somewhat equal. They’re not supposed to be larger than 2000 voters, but there’s some margin of error in all of them. Can anyone elucidate?

  36. Bring on the return of oversight, accountability, and separation of powers.

    Constitutional Law geeks around the world rejoice 🙂

  37. Missouri Senate is still way too close to call — those returns breakdown with the Republicans strong in rural counties, Democrats dominant in the big cities. Only half the returns are in, almost certainly not in Kansas City and St. Louis. That one is going to be a nail-biter as well.

    As I understand it, precinct sizes can vary widely — “precinct” just refers to the actual polling location, so (for example) if there are a lot of voting machines set up in one precinct, it could have many more votes than another. (And though this is probably more obvious, note that when returns are reported in terms of “counties,” counties definitely do vary widely in population.)

  38. I’m not totally clear on how precinct boundaries are drawn, but supposedly precincts are somewhat equal. They’re not supposed to be larger than 2000 voters, but there’s some margin of error in all of them. Can anyone elucidate?

    Precincts are generally geographic and while there may be an effort to make them “even” in terms of the pop it can be farthest from the truth. Also within a precinct (for NYC) you have districts. My current Precinct has 12 districts within it with individual booths, some of them have multiple booths and they all pertain to geographic locations of the actual buildings or housing blocks. There is a map science to it though not necessary a math science.

  39. 50-50 senate is very possible. if dems take montana and missouri, and reps keep tennessee and virginia, DICK CHENEY becomes the tie-breaker for the next two years.

  40. Here’s some information about precinct size in North Carolina:

    In North Carolina, the number of registered voters assigned to a particular voting place varies greatly from precinct to precinct. In terms of registered voters, precinct sizes range from a low of 21 voters to as many as 6,827. This variation in size is most often attributed to six factors – Population growth and density, – Availability of adequate sites to handle voters on election day, – Availability of voting equipment – Type of voting machine utilized by a county – Guidance as to the proper size of precincts – Reluctance on the part of elections officials and voters to change the location of an established voting place.

    So here’s a question: what’s the status of absentee and provisional ballots in Virginia? Do absentees get counted first or last?

  41. if dems take montana and missouri, and reps keep tennessee and virginia, DICK CHENEY becomes the tie-breaker for the next two years.

    mera qatil hi mera munsif hai, kya mere haq me faisla dega.

    (He who slew me is my judge, O, what justice can i expect.)

  42. Piedpiper and Circus:

    yeah, the numbers to watch are the raw voter counts.

    I just realized, I’ve literally bitten my nails down to the quick. Ow.

    Extrapolating loosely from the VA numbers, Prince William could hand over an additional thousand votes for Webb, another thousand from Fairfax County, and a few hundred from Newport News, etc. Most of the areas we’re waiting on in VA lean left and are showing Webb in the lead.

  44. May be dems shouldn’t make too much of wins in RI, PA which lean blue anyways. Tonight is not proving to be a wave against iraqi war except that slightly more people are pissed off with bush but not in significant numbers. Unless dems pick up some southern states it can be easily argued that majority of the population didn’t change their views on foreign policy, immigration. At least not significant enough to vote blue.

    To force Bush to change the policy, tonight has to be a thumping win for blues which it doesn’t seem to be. It is disappointing that even in this sorry state of affairs the reds are holding their own. What could be the reason for this?

  45. mera qatil hi mera munsif hai, kya mere haq me faisla dega.

    wow sakshi. I thought exactly the same song/sher 🙂

  46. 50-50 senate is very possible. if dems take montana and missouri, and reps keep tennessee and virginia, DICK CHENEY becomes the tie-breaker for the next two years.

    Aaaargh!

    Dammit, I will not begin pounding my head against something hard and unyielding until this happens. 😛

    Sherrod Brown is on C-Span right now, and he’s preaching stem-cell research, making OH the “silicon valley of alternative energy,” affordable health care for all Americans, making education affordable, and ending the war in Iraq. Ok, fine, it’s just a victory speech, but it feels good to hear it. I’m still waiting for a Dem to take the podium somewhere and deliver a screed on how the Dems now have a hold on fiscal conservatism, too. THAT would make me high-five random strangers on the street.

    No matter what happens in the Senate, I’m going to have to go to sleep with a smile on my face.

  47. The reason for Reps holding is the economy. Employment is at an all high, and price of gas is below the ‘hurt’ threshold.

  48. It is disappointing that even in this sorry state of affairs the reds are holding their own. What could be the reason for this?

    my opinion? (and it’s just my unscholarly thoughts, ;-)) the republicans have a platform that they’re promoting– judeo-christian philosophies (not necessarily religious practices) and values, their stance on defending america against terrorism, the war on iraq, etc. the democrats just seem to react to this– questioning our place in iraq, not pushing for referendums banning gay marriage/abortion, etc. as a person that identifies as a democrat (and voted blue today), they just don’t seem to stand for anything as a party to me except be a reaction to the republican’s action (however misguided i feel that their action is). anyways, that’s just my opinion 🙂

  49. so the reason Tennessee and Virginia may go to the republican column is because of the economy? yes maccaca

  50. It is disappointing that even in this sorry state of affairs the reds are holding their own. What could be the reason for this?

    The answer: gerrymandering by the Tom Delay led Republican Congress! They basically redrew districts to split African American voters and other traditionally Dem strongholds. Thus, they insulated themselves by building levees against a political wave. If only they had shown similar foresight in New Orleans…