And today is Election Day in the United States. People are heading to the polls to vote for mayors, ballot initiatives, special state senate elections and two governors’ races.
The two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Ed Gillespie of Virginia and Kim Guadagno in New Jersey, have both openly embraced President Trump and are running on anti-immigrant platforms. Their Democratic challengers, Ralph Northam in Virginia and Phil Murphy in New Jersey, are running on anti-Trump platforms.
In Seattle, a special state Senate election has broken state spending records, as millions of dollars have poured into the race between Democratic candidate Manka Dhingra and Republican candidate Jinyoung Englund. If the Democrats win, they will flip the state Senate and take control the entire Washington state government.
There are significant mayoral races in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Seattle and New York City, where Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio is facing off against Republican candidate Nicole Malliotakis and Independent candidate Bo Dietl.
There are also a number of key ballot initiatives: In Maine, voters will decide whether to expand Medicaid over the opposition of Maine Governor Paul LePage; in Ohio, voters will decide whether to buck the pharmaceutical industry and force a reduction in the price of prescription drugs; and in New York, voters will decide whether to hold a constitutional convention to rewrite the state constitution.