SOMETHING TO CONSIDER

MIDTERMS 2022

Mid-Term Elections Bring New Faces, New Issues and New Challenges

BY PAUL HARVEY

It is the end of the old year with a new year approaching rapidly. A new year brings a clean slate and the ability to set new goals for ourselves. In politics, this is especially true with new faces, new issues, new ideas and new challenges, and sometime old ones, that confront state legislatures around the country.

We have all seen our fair share of “political waves” like the Regan Revolution in 1980, the Contract with America in 1994 or the Tea Party wave in 2010, and Republicans had predicted this was going to be the wave of similar proportions. However, the “red tsunami” never lived up to the results. While the GOP will most likely have a majority in the United States House of Representatives, it will be by fewer than 10 seats, thus making deal making, bi-partisanship, and compromise that much more necessary. For states within our association, there were not many surprises but still some changes that will certainly bring an era of new leadership to our state legislatures.

CONNECTICUT

Gov. Ned Lamont won re-election by a 5% wider margin than he had when he won his first term in 2018. Lamont never received a plurality of the votes in 2018 due to the popularity of a third party candidate. Most incumbents in the Connecticut General Assembly also won re-election, but a half dozen races still have yet to be determined at the time of this writing. These races, however, will have a small impact on already guaranteed Democratic majorities in the General Assembly. Sen. Richard Blumenthal also won re-election, as well as the entire current Connecticut congressional delegation. Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes was able to eke out a narrow victory over Republican George Logan in her northwest and western Connecticut-based congressional district. Hayes currently serves on the House Agriculture Committee, and, if she stays there, will be an important voice on the upcoming Farm Bill. MAINE

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills won re-election against former Republican Governor Paul LePage, who attempted to harness support with voter dissatisfaction over high energy prices, especially home heating oil costs and inflation. Mills spoke with reporters outside Becky’s Diner, a favorite Election Day hotspot in Portland, Maine, about the issues facing the Democratic-held legislature, including high energy prices and inflation affecting the cost of basic necessities, such as groceries and gas, when the chamber reconvenes in December.

Rep. Jared Golden, from Maine’s Second Congressional District, leads former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin. Ranked-choice voting will determine who ultimately receives more than 50% of the vote as required by Maine law. The Second Congressional District has always split its tickets when it comes to elections, and this time was not different. Golden even attended a campaign event this past summer with LePage.

MASSACHUSETTS

Outgoing Republican Gov. Charlie Baker will be succeeded by Democratic Governor-elect Maura Healey, who will be the first woman to lead the Bay State. In her victory speech, Healey stated she would focus on promoting green jobs, expanding affordable housing and improving transportation across the state.

Democrats will also retain the super-majorities of both chambers within the Massachusetts General Court, although a small handful of races have yet to be decided.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu handily won re-election, while incumbents Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas, and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster won their races with sizable margins given the political headwinds. Pappas, in particular,

was supposed to face a tougher fight for re-election when the New Hampshire General Court wanted to make his district more favorable to Republicans. Sununu, however, vowed to veto any map that would either put both representatives in the same district or that would favor a change in composition in the congressional delegation. The issue eventually went before the New Hampshire Supreme Court where a special master drew lines comparable to the existing boundaries

In the New Hampshire General Court, Republicans will likely hold their 14-10 majority in the Senate. In the State House, Republicans hold a narrow advantage of six seats of 203-197, but 16 recount requests were submitted to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, which means that ballots will go through a manual count to determine the winner. To demonstrate how close some of these races are, Coos District 7 based out of Campton, New Hampshire, only had a four-vote difference between the two candidates.

NEW JERSEY

New Jersey did not hold any state-level elections this year. Elections will be held next year for the New Jersey State Legislature.

However, there was a change in the Garden State’s congressional delegation. Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, representing New Jersey’s Seventh Congressional District, lost to Republican Thomas Kean Jr., a member of New Jersey’s General Assembly. Malinowski’s loss is widely attributed to redistricting in the state, which shifted away from the more moderate suburbs of Newark to more conservative areas in the western part of the state boarding Pennsylvania to his district.

NEW YORK

New Yorker’s had an unusually active summer and fall campaign due to a competitive governor’s race and high-stakes congressional races after a court-ordered redistricting. Where as previous Democratic governors maintained comfortable leads over their Republican opponents, over the course of the polling season, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who became governor after the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo due to misconduct allegations, struggled to address issues of crime and punishment facing the state, particularly in regards to changes made to New York’s bail reform measures. Although most regions of the state saw reductions in overall violent crimes, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin toured the

state, hammering Hochul and New York Democrats in various instances on how bail reform had failed. Despite various other missteps earlier in her tenure, Hochul was elected to her first full-term as governor. She is the first woman and first Upstate New Yorker to hold the office in over 100 years.

In New York’s Congressional races, Republicans flipped three congressional seats: one encompassing the outer New York City suburbs and Hudson Valley and two encompassing Long Island and outer Queens. Inflation, crime and safety played a big role in the outcomes in these elections and proved to be successful in moving suburban voters to vote for Republican candidates in the historically Democratic suburbs. Some analysts also say that the redistricting fiasco, which caused a fractured primary early this year, resulted in a more Republican-friendly map. Personally, I think that it was both the message and the messengers.

In the state legislature, half a dozen Democratic incumbents in both the Assembly and the Senate lost their seats to Republican challengers. Four of these members were sitting chairs of various committees in both chambers. Democratic Assemblyman Steve Englebright, chairman of the power Environmental Conservation committee, is narrowly trailing his Republican challenger, Edward Flood. Sen. Michelle Hinchey and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, chairs of the Agriculture Committee in their respective chambers, each won re-election. While Democrats will retain their majorities in each chamber, whether they are veto-proof will remain to be seen.

RHODE ISLAND

Gov. Dan McKee was elected for his first full four-year term with almost 60% of the vote after succeeding Gina Raimondo, who was chosen by President Joe Biden to serve as secretary of commerce. Congressman-Elect Democrat Seth Magaziner, who was formerly Rhode Island’s state treasurer, surprised many pollsters and pundits by a larger-than-expected margin of victory in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. Republican candidate and former Cranston mayor Allan Fung ran a socially moderate campaign and was expected to give Magaziner a tough race, given Magaziner’s low name recognition and late primary victory that did not occur until early September.

In the Rhode Island General Assembly, Democrats maintained their veto-proof majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. In his victory speech, McKee referenced his “RI 2030” plan revolving around improving education, workforce and family issues. VERMONT

Gov. Phil Scott had a strong showing election night, garnering more votes than Senator-Elect Peter Welch and United States At-Large Representative-Elect Becca Balint. Welch ran to replace Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is retiring after nearly 50 years in the upper chamber. Representative-Elect Becca Balint was the leader of the Vermont State Senate before running for Vermont’s only congressional seat. While Democratic nominee for governor, Brenda Siegel, touted her top issues of housing and recovery from the opioid epidemic, Scott emphasized growing Vermont’s economy and workforce and maintains the status quo when it comes to how he has overseen operations within the state. However, Democrats were able to succeed in expanding their veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

Vermonters will have to wait and see if they will be able to continue their influence in the area of agriculture policy as they have since Leahy has been in office. Leahy served as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee from 1987-1995 and has always fiercely advocated environmental policies that would conserve Vermont’s natural resources and promote its dairy industry. Leahy also served as the chairman of the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees federal judicial appointments, including the Supreme Court, from 2001- 2003 and 2007- 2015, and chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees funding levels for federal spending, since 2021.

Paul Harvey is the director of regulatory affairs for the Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.

Editor’s note: This article was written just after Election Day, so the information contained here may have since changed.