Democrats Take Senate- Oleszek headed to Recount?

By: James Martin
Published On: 11/7/2007 2:26:55 AM

In a stunning victory- Virgina Democrats have taken back a majority in the Virginia State Senate. Congratulations to Virginia's 4 new Democratic Senators:

Chap Petersen defeated Senator Jeanmarie Devolites Davis by 4825 votes (11 points)

Ralph Northam defeated Senator Nick Rerras by 2799 votes (9 points)

John Miller defeated Tricia Stall by 722 votes (2.4 points)

George Barker defeated Senator Jay O'Brien by 687 votes (2 points)

Unfortunately it also appears that Janet Oleszek has lost to Incumbent Ken Cuccinelli by just 91 votes after the absentee ballots were counted.


Comments



George Burke? (n/t) (ortcutt - 11/7/2007 2:29:39 AM)


Please Correct (Barbara - 11/7/2007 2:32:49 AM)
That would be George Barker.  I don't get up at 4:30 for just anyone. :)


Poisson (D) beats Chapman in HD-32 (ortcutt - 11/7/2007 2:33:07 AM)
Rust (R) beats Donahue in HD-86

So, the final tally in the House is

Democrats: 45
Republicans: 53
Independents: 2

That's a five-seat pickup for the Democrats.  Not bad.



Rust-Donahue (Inside Baseball - 11/7/2007 2:43:13 AM)
I don't believe the Rust-Donahue numbers at SBE. Compare them to the AP's tally. Something is fishy with those totals. In every other race posted by the SBE, there were significantly more votes tallied than in the AP counts. In the Rust-Donahue race, there are several thousand fewer votes. There's some serious data entry error somewhere in that race.


The SBE numbers are more in line... (ortcutt - 11/7/2007 2:51:22 AM)
with general turnout numbers though.  12,000 total votes in a contested election is generally what most of the races are showing.  We'll have to wait and see whether SBE or AP made a mistake.  My money right now is that AP made the mistake.


I think that's why Loudon was so late (dingojoe - 11/7/2007 2:56:48 AM)
Something went haywire and they were shooting out bad numbers which the AP picked up.  Schultz was much closer to Vogel than the numbers AP reported and the vote total for that race was also way too high using APs total.

Guess somebody should have run against the Loudon Clerk of Court.



OTOH, Look at Caputo and Herring races (Inside Baseball - 11/7/2007 2:59:20 AM)

Caputo:

SBE Vote Totals: 15,833
AP (89% in): 14,249

89% of 15,833 = 14092 or roughly AP's total

Herring:

SBE: 48,811
AP (45% in): 22,353

45% of 48,811???? 21,965 or close to the APs total...



And now... (Inside Baseball - 11/7/2007 3:00:26 AM)
AP makes me look foolish by calling it for Rust while still showing Donahue ahead by 200 votes.


We'll fine out eventually (ortcutt - 11/7/2007 3:17:21 AM)
By tomorrow morning, I'm sure it will be sorted out.


Democrats gain ground in GOP-controlled Virginia House (vote-left - 11/7/2007 2:43:23 AM)

Associated Press - November 7, 2007 12:45 AM ET

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Democrats knocked off one Republican incumbent and picked up at least two open seat but are well short of the 11-seat gain they needed to take control of the House of Delegates.

Both of the Democratic gains were in Virginia Beach. R.W. "Bobby" Mathieson defeated three-term GOP Delegate John Welch The Third. Retired Navy captain Joe Bouchard is holding a 130-vote lead over Republican Chris Stolle for the seat of retiring Republican Delegate Leo Wardup.

Democrat Paul Nichols defeated Republican Faisal Gill for the seat of retiring Delegate Michelle McQuigg in Prince William. In Fairfax County, Democrat Margaret Vanderhye edged the GOP's Dave Hunt to succeed Republican Delegate Vincent Callahan Junior.

http://tinyurl.com/y...



Cuccinelli should hope for a re-count (Dennis Coyle - 11/7/2007 2:55:03 AM)
'cause he will NOT enjoy life in the minority.

Always look on the bright side of life...



Congratulations (Matusleo - 11/7/2007 5:45:28 AM)
To everyone involved with this campaign, congratulations for your efforts, you have made a difference tonight!  You have given Tim Kaine a helping hand in Richmond, and you have ensured that Democrats will have a seat at the table come redistricting.  That can only create maps that are less partisan, though we ope that it will also create maps that protect communities, no matter how they end up voting.

It is good to see that Democrats made significant gains in the House of Delegates too.  While the narrowness of the margin in the Senate is worrisome, at the very least it is still our Senate!  Congratulations to all the new Senators, new Delegates, and to everyone who worked tirelessly on any of these campaigns, and to all the folks here at Raising Kaine who have kept the pressure on this last year!

Matusleo
Ut Prosim



Janet Oleszek--will we know tonight? (kevinceckowski - 11/7/2007 8:05:06 AM)
With all this computer stuff, will we know if she won tonight?  We saw it in the paper at 6 am today and wondered if there would be a recount at .1 % over Janet.

MaryLee is on the front cover of the WaPo METRO.  I called her this morning to scream.



I'm a half glass full (Newport News Dem - 11/7/2007 11:24:28 AM)
kind of guy, kinda like president incompetent boob.

Win 1 by 700 votes, lose 3 by 700 votes and one in recount and down by a few.

4 seats was the minimum requirement, 6 was required and 8 was the grand slam sweep.

The GOP just escaped a massacre in the Senate yesterday, too bad.



No one can claim votes don't count anymore... that is 5 major races all close (snolan - 11/7/2007 5:43:49 PM)
less than one thousand votes close

Just so you know - that is about the difference of two busy precincts running out of literature early in the day.

That's really close.



Janet was down by 91 or so vote... (kevinceckowski - 11/7/2007 7:37:48 PM)
Where does it stand tonight?


same (Pain - 11/7/2007 7:42:53 PM)
They are re-canvasing and then once it's official Janet can ask for a recount [or one happens automatically since it's so close, not sure].