Press. voanews.com
Democrats and
their progressive allies across the United States had much to celebrate on
Election Day 2017, in addition to major victories in the Virginia and New
Jersey gubernatorial races. The elections Tuesday of two new governors, Ralph
Northam in Virginia and Phil Murphy in New Jersey, were capped with the
elections of two African-Americans as lieutenant governor, with Justin Fairfax
winning a separate race for that post in Virginia, and Sheila Oliver becoming
New Jersey's first black, female lieutenant governor as Murphy's running mate.
Exit polls in
Virginia showed that perhaps a third of the voters cast their ballots, almost
entirely for Northam, in what is seen as a sign of protest against Republican
U.S. president, Donald Trump, just a year after he won a four-year term in the
White House. Statewide, Northam won by an unexpectedly large
nine-percentage-point margin over a former national Republican Party chairman,
Ed Gillespie, who was supported by Trump even though Gillespie did not ask the
president to campaign with him.
Hours after his
victory, Northam said, “There's been a lot of discussion over what this election
meant. I don’t think there’s any question there’s some policies coming out of
Washington that are concerning to Virginians and are perhaps detrimental to
Virginians. But I think what this message was yesterday that Virginia said not
only to this country but to this world that the divisiveness, the hatred, the
bigotry, and the politics that is tearing this country apart – that’s not the
United States of America that people love. It’s certainly not the Commonwealth
of Virginia that they love."
As the outcome
of the Virginia election became clear, Trump tweeted from South Korea, "Ed
Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget,
Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats in special elections earlier this year),
and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger
than before!"
Democrat Bill de
Blasio won re-election to a second term as mayor of New York City, easily
beating his Republican challenger, New York State Senator Nicole Malliotakis,
in the longtime Democratic stronghold and hometown of Republican U.S. President
Donald Trump.
In the
northeastern state of Maine, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative
that expanded Medicaid, the federal-state government health insurance program
for low income Americans. The initiative overcomes opposition from hardline
Republican Governor Paul LePage, who has vetoed five previous legislative
measures to accept the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, former
U.S. President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.
In the state of
Minnesota, city of Minneapolis native Andrea Jenkins was elected to a seat on
that city's governing council, becoming the first openly transgender person of
color ever elected to public office in the United States. Jenkins made history
alongside Danica Roem, who became the first openly transgender woman elected to
the state of Virginia legislature, and the first openly transgender person to
win a state legislative seat in the United States.
And Manka
Dhingra won a special election to a state Senate seat in the northwestern state
of Washington, giving Democrats complete control of both legislative chambers
and the governor's office, a distinction it shares with western neighbors
Oregon and California.
https://www.voanews.com/a/democrats-celebrate-election-day-victories/4106164.html
.jpg)
