Voters in 11 States Cast Their Ballots for Governor
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Voters dumped a Democratic governor in Indiana and forced a Republican incumbent in New Hampshire into a race for his political career as 11 states elected their top leaders yesterday.
In Missouri, Montana, and Washington state, close contests left each party fighting for the last few votes as ballot counting went on into the night. In the rest of the contests, incumbents won or the party in power kept control of the executive mansion.
In Indiana, former White House budget chief Mitch Daniels unseated Democratic Governor Kernan, who was facing his first test at the polls since he took office after the former governor, Frank O’Bannon, died last year. In New Hampshire, with 81% of precincts reporting, Democrat John Lynch was ahead of one-term GOP Governor Benson by 14,000 votes, or less than three percentage points.
A close race emerged in Missouri, where Republican Matt Blunt was ahead of Democrat Claire McCaskill 50.4% to 48.3%, with two-thirds of the precincts reporting. In Delaware, Democratic Governor Minner withstood a surprisingly strong race from Republican Bill Lee to win a second term.
In Washington state, very early returns showed Republican Dino Rossi, a former legislative leader, narrowly ahead of Democrat Christine Gregoire, the state attorney general, in the race for an open seat.
With just over 10% of precincts reporting in Montana, Democrat Brian Schweitzer, a farmer who unsuccessfully sought a Senate seat in 2000, was leading Republican Bob Brown, secretary of state. Republicans have held the governor’s post for 16 years.
Elsewhere, Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. took Utah’s open governor’s seat. Governor Hoeven, a Republican of North Dakota; Governor Douglas, a Republican of Vermont, and Democratic Governor Easley of North Carolina each won second terms. In West Virginia, Democratic Secretary of State Joe Manchin took an open seat.
In Delaware, Ms. Minner won despite making what some saw as an insensitive response to a prison inmate’s abduction and rape of a counselor. “In prisons, you almost expect this to happen,” she said.
The contests for open seats in Missouri, Montana, Utah, and Washington state brought record spending and unprecedented bursts of out-of-state money, and the heat of the presidential race had an effect on at least a couple of races.
New Hampshire’s Mr. Benson fought to hold on for a second term against Mr. Lynch in a state leaning against President Bush. In Indiana, a state that went solidly and quickly for Bush, Mr. Daniels had the prominent support of the president.
Others contests remained resolutely local, turning on taxes, economic development or transportation issues.
Even before Election Day, dismay over economic problems and other woes over the past few years led to the ouster of governors in Missouri (where one-term Democratic Governor Holden lost in the primary) and Utah (where GOP Governor Walker lost the nomination at the party convention).
Three other governors – in Montana, Washington, and West Virginia – chose not to seek re-election.
In Utah, Mr. Huntsman, a businessman and Bush administration diplomat, easily beat Scott Matheson Jr., dean of the University of Utah law school and the son of a former governor.
Republicans went into yesterday’s election holding 28 governorships to the Democrats’ 22. The Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association have poured millions of dollars into the campaigns, hoping to increase the numbers of executive mansions they control.
The party with a majority of governors holds a prominent platform for presidential politics and domestic policies, such as the GOP’s successful push for welfare reform in the 1990s. In presidential campaigns, governors can mobilize fund-raising efforts in their states, capture significant media coverage, and help turn out voters.