I missed on three races: I though Democrat Lynn Newlin would win in the new 11th, she did not. I thought Democrat Trey Paradee would fall short in the 29th. He surprised me, but it is my fault I was surprised. It was obvious that he had the same kind of grass roots campaign that propelled Bryan Townsend in the 11th SD and Paul Baumbach in the 23rd RD to victory. So he upset and unseated Lincoln Willis. And I was wrong on Shirley Price winning in the 38th. You know, if you are a Democrat in Sussex county, you are nearly doomed to losing 60-40, with a couple points up or down of that. Unless you are named John Atkins or Bob Venables. Although, I wonder if we just saw John Atkins win his last election. That was a nail bitter for him last night. He has to sweating for his future chances in the 41st, and the Republicans smell blood. I expect a rematch in 2014.
So the Democrats expanded their majority in the House by 1 seat, to 27-14.
In the Senate, finally, at long last, we have good news for our local Republicans. They picked up a seat. It was 14 Democrats, 7 Republicans. Now it is 13 Democrats, 8 Republicans. As I expected, Mike Katz lost to Greg Lavelle, and Andy Staton lost to Ernie Lopez. And Dori Connor was finally, finally ejected from the 12th by Nicole Poore. But I was wrong on the 5th SD, as Cathy Cloutier survived yet again, by a very healthy margin. Chris Counihan gave it all he had, two elections in a row, and we owe him a debt for doing so. The other surprise of the night was the close race in the 15th SD, where Senator Lawson barely, barely beat Kathleen Cooke. I guarantee you that will be a rematch.