Tuesday is Election Day across the United States, and there are a number of key races and ballot initiatives to watch including gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey and a mayoral race in New York City.
The leadership races and ballot measures, some experts say, may serve as a referendum of President Joe Biden’s first year in office.
The races in Virginia and New Jersey, historically, have often served as proving grounds for opposition to the party that holds the presidency.
Terry McAuliffe, Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, arrives to speak at a rally in Arlington, Va., on October 26. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI
Virginia
This one is probably the most high-profile race on this Election Day, with Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin locked in a tight race to become Virginia’s next governor. The incumbent governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, is not eligible for another term.
In-person early voting in the state began in September and ran through last weekend, with more than 1 million early and mail-in ballots cast as of Saturday, according to data firm TargetSmart.
McAuliffe, who previously served one term as Virginia’s governor, has hinged his campaign on protecting Democratic control of the state to ensure recent party advances such as abortion access and outlawing the death penalty are not undone.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama have visited the state to stump for McAuliffe, and have painted Youngkin as a wannabe Donald Trump — who, by the way, lost to Biden by a double-digit margin in Virginia the 2020 presidential election.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin greets supporters at a rally in Manassas, Va., on October 18. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI
Youngkin has largely focused his campaign on calls to ban the implementation of critical race theory, an academic concept discussing systemic racism that some view as racially divisive, which is not part of the state’s K-12 curriculum. He has also voiced opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Trump has endorsed Youngkin, who has embraced the former president’s false claim that Biden’s election win was the result of voter fraud.
Virginia passed a new law this year that requires election officials to begin counting mail ballots early, after the delay in counting them last November that later flipped numbers in the state in favor of Biden.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy greets healthcare workers at a coronavirus vaccination site in Newark, N.J., on October 8. Pool Photo by Justin Lane/UPI
New Jersey
Incumbent New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is also facing a challenge from a Republican — businessman Jack Ciattarelli.
Murphy has overseen the state’s COVID-19 response, including mandating that key healthcare workers get vaccinated against the virus. Ciattarelli has expressed support for masking and vaccination, but opposed mandates in favor of allowing residents to make their own choices.
Ciattarelli has also called for a loosening of the state’s gun laws to make it easier to obtain a concealed-carry permit and expedite applications for permits for people who face “imminent danger,” including domestic violence victims.
Murphy has also increased limits for when officers are permitted to use force and required officers to file reports when they unholster their gun while on duty. Ciattarelli has said such restrictions make it too difficult for police to do their jobs.
There have been nearly 570,000 early and absentee votes cast in the statewide election so far.
The nation’s largest city will choose its next mayor on Tuesday, after seven years of leadership by Bill de Blasio. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio will soon be on his way out, and New York City on Tuesday will choose his replacement — either Democrat Eric Adams or Republican Curtis Sliwa, after they emerged from the city’s first ranked-choice primary earlier this year.
In their first debate earlier this month, Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, said he would uphold de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for city employees and order that children in New York City schools be vaccinated.
Sliwa, a conservative talk show host and founder of the Guardian Angels, has opposed de Blasio’s vaccine requirement for city workers and argues that it’s contributing to the city’s already dwindling police force a claim that’s largely untrue.
He also said he would not require vaccinations for schoolchildren.
Sliwa was treated at a hospital on Saturday after being struck by a taxi cab, but has since been released to recover at home.
New York voters will also decide a handful of ballot measures over how voting is conducted in the state.
Ballot Proposal 1 would require the state assembly and senate district lines to be based on total population based on all residents, including non-citizens, and would cap the number of state senators at its current total of 63.
Ballot Proposal 3 would remove a requirement that residents register to vote at least 10 days before an election and allow for practices such as same-day registration.
Ballot Proposal 4 would ask whether the state should eliminate a requirement that absentee voters must provide a reason for why they are unable to physically appear at a polling place to receive a ballot.A protester is seen in front of the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 19 during the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020. File Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI
Minnesota
A ballot measure is asking voters in Minneapolis whether the city should change its charter to replace its police department — which was involved in the death of George Floyd last year — with a “department of public safety.”
If approved, the change would replace the Minneapolis police chief with a commissioner appointed by the mayor.
Tuesday’s election is the first in the city since Floyd’s death in May 2020 rocked the Minneapolis police force and led to a national movement against police brutality. There have been efforts in the city to “defund the police” and replace it with an agency more focused on community-based protection. If voters answer “yes” on Question 2 on Tuesday, it would be a step in that direction.
If the change is passed, the new public safety department could employ police officers, but it would not be required to do so.File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Texas
Voters in Texas will weigh in on a number of ballot measures Tuesday, mainly in response to restrictions put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proposition 3 will ask Texans whether a state or political subdivision should be allowed to prohibit or limit religious services of religious organizations. The question comes after other states limited in-person church services in efforts to limit non-essential gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott exempted religious worship from his stay-at-home order, deeming it an essential service.
Proposition 6 would solidify the right for long-term care residents to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation, in response to the state restricting in-person visits from family and friends not designated as essential caregivers during the pandemic.
Voters in Austin, will also take up a proposition on whether the city should bolster its police force.
Proposition A would require the Austin police department to employ at least two police officers for every 1,000 residents, require a minimum of 35% “community engagement time” for front-line officers, double their yearly mandatory training and create an incentives program for officers who are in good standing, mentor cadets or speak multiple languages.
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Democrats and the Democrat Party never take responsibility or are held accountable for their own unlawful, destructive, dishonorable, immoral actions. Democrats always blame someone or something else for their own actions. Even if the Democrats are caught “red handed”.
The dishonorable socialist Democrat Party revolves around and its philosophy is based on Total Control, Hate, Lies, Cons, Deceptions, Immorality and the lack of Integrity, Ethics or Honor.
Socialist democrats are willing to destroy themselves and everyone around them before they will agree to compromise their failed policies and their destructive self-fabricated beliefs.
Hopefully the Black communities are waking up to the socialist Democrat Party’s “Plantation agenda”, to keep Black-Americans uneducated, servants, poor and dependent on their Democrat Party masters.
Communism versus sanity in society!
If Virginia is able to conduct a free and fair election for governor, then Republican Candidate Glenn Youngkin should easily defeat radical leftist Democrat Candidate Terry McAuliffe. However, as we witnessed in the brazenly stolen 2020 election for President, the dishonest Democrats are more than capable of committing massive retail and wholesale voter fraud in order to elect a candidate who will implement their delusional, divisive, and destructive policies. As a result, I will be quite surprised if Youngkin wins the critically important race for Virginia’s Governor.
GO CONSERVATIVES !!!
YOUNGKIN FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR !!!!
Youngkin has largely focused his campaign on calls to ban the implementation of critical race theory, an academic concept discussing systemic racism that some view as racially divisive, which is not part of the state’s K-12 curriculum.
“Fair and unbiased” reporting by UPI. True, the teacher’s union doesn’t call what they’re teaching “CRT,” but a skunk by any other name…
YAY.. Younkin won!