Former President Barack Obama took a victory lap for the Democratic Party on Wednesday, tweeting about the blue beating Republicans took up and down the ballot Tuesday night.
‘This is what happens when people vote,’ Obama wrote. ‘Congrats Ralph Northam and Phil Murphy. And congratulations to all the victors in state legislative, county and mayors’ races. Every office in a democracy counts!’
On the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s White House win, Democrats are taking back the political momentum, as they hope to repeat victories at a Congressional level next year.
President Obama took a victory lap for the Democrats, sending out a tweet Wednesday morning noting that ‘every office in a democracy counts’
President Obama had campaigned for both Democrats, Ralph Northam, who won the governor’s mansion in Virginia, and Phil Murphy, who won his gubernatorial race in New Jersey
A victorious Ralph Northam speaks to supporters Tuesday night at a party held on George Mason University’s campus in Fairfax, Virginia
Last month, President Obama (left) traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to campaign for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Northam (right), who won his race last night
President Obama had also campaigned for Phil Murphy, the Democrat running for New Jersey governor. Murphy won his race last night by 12. 9 points
In Virginia, they kept the governor’s mansion, with voters electing Northam, a pediatrician and Army vet, who in the final days of the campaign looked vulnerable to Republican Ed Gillespie, a D.C. lobbyist and former Republican National Committee chair.
Gillespie had tried to thread the needle with Republican voters in the Old Dominion state – taking Trump-like positions on Confederate monuments and sanctuary cities – while campaigning with moderates like Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida who lost the presidential primary to Trump last year.
It didn’t work.
Northam bested Gillespie, 53. 9 per cent to 45 per cent, running up the margins in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and around Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
‘A resounding defeat tonight for President Trump,’ boasted Obama’s ticket-mate, former Vice President Joe Biden. ‘Voters around the country rejected the ugly politics we have seen this past year. Instead, they chose candidates who unite and inspire us.’
Republican candidate for Virginia governor Ed Gillespie (pictured) got trounced by Democrat Ralph Northam, despite the race narrowing in recent weeks
Democrat Chris Hurst won his race against a NRA-financed Republican. Hurst’s late girlfriend was gunned down on live television and so he ran on a pro-gun control platform
Democrat Danica Roem made Virginia history as she will be the the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature in the country
Democrats down ticket in the state did well too, with Justin Fairfax winning his lieutenant governor’s race – in Virginia the ticket is split – and Democrat Mark Herring, the incumbent attorney general, getting re-elected.
The Democrats also made major, and unexpected gains, in the Virginia House of Delegates.
The party was up 14 seats, making the split 48 Democrats to 48 Republicans, with five seats being too close to call, according to the New York Times’ election results.
Among those who were elected, the first openly transgender state legislator Danica Roem, who ran a campaign against socially conservative Republican Robert G. Marshall, who labeled himself the state’s ‘chief homophobe’ and referred to Roem with male pronouns.
She bested him by 8 points.
Democrat Chris Hurst, a former news reporter whose late girlfriend Alison Parker was gunned down on live TV, beat an NRA-funded Republican using a pro-gun control platform, also by 8 points.
In New Jersey, Democrat Philip Murphy bested Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno to succeed the unpopular GOP Gov. Chris Christie.
Murphy won his race by 12.9 points.
Obama had campaigned for both gubernatorial winners.
Mainstream Republicans kept quiet after the losses, with few appearing on television Wednesday morning and keeping their tweets to the subject of tax reform.
Trump had already chimed in, giving Gillespie a Twitter spanking Tuesday night for not being more like him.
‘Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,’ Trump wrote from South Korea. ‘Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!’