Voters headed to the polls in historic numbers for the Nov. 6 general election. Voter turnout on election day was expected to break records in comparison to previous midterm elections, which historically have seen low turnout rates with voters generally showing up to the polls only during a presidential election year.
In an election where 36 governors and the mayor of the District of Columbia, thousands of legislative seats, 19 utility commissioner positions and a handful of measures were on the ballot, roughly 114 million votes were cast, an increase of 37.3% from 2014, according to estimates by the New York Times. Within the weeks leading up to election day, 38 million early voting ballots were cast, up by nearly 42% compared to the 2014 midterm general election.
In 20 of the 36 gubernatorial races a new governor was elected. New governors can bring about changes in the energy landscape in their state, as different governors have different priorities. These gubernatorial priorities and objectives play an instrumental role in driving legislative policy agendas.
Out of the 19 incumbent governors who sought re-election, 16 were were successful, as was the mayor of the District of Columbia. In Alaska, Gov. Bill Walker dropped his bid for re-election in mid-October; however, his name still appeared on early voting ballots. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, both Republicans, were defeated by the Democratic challengers, J.B. Pritzker and Tony Evers, respectively.
As expected, a blue wave was more prevalent within the gubernatorial races, where in seven states — Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin — Democrats gained control of the governor's office. Starting in 2019, Republicans are expected to control the governorship in 27 states, while Democrats will have control of 24 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia.
In Georgia, Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams stated that she would not concede the election to Republican Brian Kemp. According to Abrams, a large amount of absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be accounted for, particularly in heavily Democratic areas. While results are still unofficial at this time, Kemp received 50.5% of the votes, while Abrams received 48.6%. As of Wednesday morning, Abrams' campaign was estimating that nearly 97,000 ballots need to be counted. If Kemp and Abrams were to finish below 50%, they would meet in a Dec. 4 runoff, and of the 97,000 remaining ballots, Abrams would need a net gain of 24,379 to prompt the runoff election.
The 2018 gubernatorial elections resulted in several historical firsts, as Maine and South Dakota both elected their first female governors and Colorado elected the first ever openly gay governor. In the District of Columbia, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser became the first person to be re-elected in the District since 2002. Bowser defeated D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox and Libertarian Martin Moulton.
