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Tuesday's Elections May Have Future Presidential Implications

Miguel Arreola |
November 5, 2013 | 2:50 p.m. PST

Executive Producer
(Bob Jagendorf/Creative Commons
(Bob Jagendorf/Creative Commons
The United States is exploding with excitement as people rush to the polls to cast their votes on election day. 
From Miami to Seattle, candidates await the results after months of campaigning. 

New York is in the middle of a lopsided mayoral election. New Jersey and Virginia citizens are casting votes in two gubernatorial races that will affect their states and the next presidential race. Let's look at these  notable races:
New York
New York has been controlled by Republican governors for the past two decades. Today, it appears that a Democrat will be chosen to lead the largest city in the United States. The citizens of New York appear to be eager to elect a Democrat even if, according to the New York Times, they are somewhat skeptical about the candidate they are electing, Bill de Blasio, who, some feel, may lack "a lot of management experience."
The lopsided results in the pre-election show an almost sure victory for de Blasio. As a result, the voter turnout in New York has been "low to moderate, at most", the New York Times further reports.

New Jersey
Republican Gov. Chris Christie is a major leader in his party and is expected to be a major player in the 2016 presidential elections. However, his presence in 2016 may be determined in today's election. Why? 
Gov. Christie is expected to win re-election over Democratic challenger Barbara Buono, but the margin by which he wins is vital to his future success. According to NPR, a blowout win would "Serve as his springboard into the 2016 presidential race" and will prove "that he's a conservative who can win in one of the most Democratic states in the nation", which is what the GOP may be looking for in a presidential candidate.

Virginia
The Virginia gubernatorial election is another major election with national implications. The two candidates - Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli - are still in a tight race, despite McAuliffe's pre-election lead. Both candidates, as ABC News reports, are odd fits for Virginia's political landscape, both are "scandal-plagued" and many view "a vote for one man as a vote against the other."
How, then, does this race have national implications? ABC news further reports:

"If [Cuccinelli] wins, Cuccinelli and Republicans including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who came to Virginia this week, believe that more than anything else, the election will serve as a referendum on the health care law...But Democrats will paint a Cuccinelli loss as a cautionary tale for his tea party-tinged brand of conservatism and those in his party with presidential ambitions who are considering framing their candidacy in a way that mirrors his gubernatorial campaign."

If McAuliffe wins, according to NPR, "his victory will put a close Clinton family ally in the governorship of a swing state."

It is believed that Cuccinelli's unpopularity among women voters, who outnumber men, will cost him in the polls today, but, at this point, it is still either candidate's race.

Reach Executive Producer Miguel Arreola here.


 

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