Dem 48
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Ties 3
GOP 49
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The Governors: The Center Held

The center of the country, that is. Three sort-of-Midwestern swing states, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, have Republican-controlled state legislatures and currently Democratic governors. Those governors and their veto pens are the only things that keep the legislatures from banning abortion and making voting very difficult, especially for Democrats. Two of the governors won reelection. They are Govs. Gretchen Whitmer (MI) and Tony Evers (WI). Pennsylvania had an open seat because Gov. Tom Wolf (D) was term-limited. AG Josh Shapiro (D), who is Jewish, beat antisemite Doug Mastriano (R). Note that Gov. Tim Walz (DFL-MN) also won reelection, but the Democrats control the House there, so he's not the last line of defense against voting shenanigans.

One other achievement for the Democrats was Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) holding her job in deep red Kansas. She didn't win by much, but she won. Despite a flurry of last-minute activity on the part of the Republicans, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) won a full elected term.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) did much better against Stacey Abrams (D) than in 2018. He beat her by almost 8 points. This time she conceded. Beto O'Rourke (D) did fine on the border, but Texas was simply too red and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was reelected.

One race that was very close is in Oregon, where a real Democrat, Tina Kotek, battled a Republican, Christine Drazan, and a fake Democrat, Betsey Johnson, funded entirely by the richest man in Oregon, Phil Knight, who wanted to defeat Kotek at all costs. He figured sponsoring a second Democrat would be cheaper than funding the Republican. It didn't work. Kotek won anyway. He had better hope she doesn't bear grudges. (V)



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