Election Results 2014: Republicans Take Control Of Governorships In MD, AR, IL, MA
” Republicans, now projected to take control of the Senate and build on their House majority, also made a strong showing in gubernatorial races around the country. GOP candidates in Maryland, Arkansas, Illinois and Massachusetts all took control of governor’s seats that were previously held by Democrats. The only upset Democrats were able to pull off was in Pennsylvania.
Maryland
In a major upset, Republican candidate for Maryland governor Larry Hogan is now projected to win the state’s highest office, according to ABC News. Hogan, a businessman, will replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, representing a party switch for the state. In the last 45 years in the state, Robert Ehrlich Jr. was the only Republican to serve as governor and for only one term from 2003-2007.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts’s highest office is now projected to switched party hands again. According to ABC News, Republican Charlie Baker will likely defeat Democrat Martha Coakley, and take over for outgoing Deval Patrick, a Democrat. The last serving Republican governor in the state was Mitt Romney, who was elected in 2002. Baker is a Massachusetts native from Needham, just outside Boston. He ran on a centrist platform, highlighting his previous business and management experience as both a former healthcare CEO and former Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governors Weld and Cellucci in the early 1990s. Coakley, a two-term attorney general, also lost a statewide race for Senate in 2010 to Republican Scott Brown. Coakley and Baker came down on opposite sides of several key initiatives on the Massachusetts ballot this year, including a repeal of an incremental gas tax increase, a 5 cent plastic bottle deposit, and expanded requirements for paid sick leave.
Illinois
ABC News can project that Republican Bruce Rauner has defeated Democratic incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, in a campaign that doubled fundraising records in President Barack Obama’s home state. Rauner threw millions of his own fortune into the race, running as a socially moderate anti-corruption businessman. “
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