Ohio restored full bargaining rights Tuesday to hundreds of thousands of public employees in a major victory for organized labor, while a Mississippi initiative that would have defined life as beginning at conception went down to defeat.
Meanwhile, Kentucky and Mississippi refused to turn their governors’ offices over to different parties, despite the nation’s stubborn economic woes,
Across the nation, voters’ last major judgments of 2011 were closely watched for any hints about the public’s political mood just two months ahead of the first presidential primary and nearly four years into the worst economic slowdown since the Depression.
Kentucky’s Democratic governor easily won another term, and Mississippi voters kept their governor’s office in GOP hands — decisions that suggested many Americans were not ready to abandon incumbent parties.
In Ohio, a new law that severely limited the bargaining rights of more than 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees was repealed. The defeat was a stiff blow to Gov. John Kasich and cast doubt on other Republican governors who have sought union-limiting measures as a way to curb spending.
“Ohio sent a message to every politician out there: Go in and make war on your employees rather than make jobs with your employees, and you do so at your own peril,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.
Kasich congratulated his opponents and said he would consider his next steps carefully.
“I’ve heard their voices. I understand their decision, and frankly, I respect what people have to say in an effort like this. And as a result of that, it requires me to take a deep breath, you know, and to spend some time reflecting on what happened here,” he said.
The outcome will no doubt be studied by presidential candidates as a gauge of the Ohio electorate, which is seen as a bellwether. No Republican has won the White House without Ohio, and only two Democrats have done so in more than a century.
Elsewhere on the ballot, Ohio voters approved a proposal to prohibit people from being required to buy health insurance as part of the national health care overhaul. The vote was mostly symbolic, but Republicans hoped to use it in a legal challenge.
The governors’ races were of keen interest to both parties. Ten states will elect governors next year, and governors can marshal get-out-the-vote efforts crucial to any White House candidate. The first presidential primary is Jan. 10 in New Hampshire.
In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear was easily re-elected despite high unemployment, budget shortfalls and an onslaught of third-party attack ads. He became the second Democrat to win a governor’s race this year, after West Virginia’s Earl Ray Tomblin.
In Mississippi, voters picked Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant to succeed Haley Barbour, who could not run again because of term limits. Bryant beat Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree, the first black major-party nominee for governor in Mississippi.
The Mississippi measure to define life as beginning at conception would have been the first victory in the country for the so-called personhood movement, which aims to make abortion all but illegal. Similar attempts have failed in Colorado and are under way elsewhere.
In Arizona, state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the tough immigration law that put the state at the forefront of the national debate, was ousted after a recall attempt led by a fellow Republican.
Other races of note
Hundreds of cities held mayoral races, including some of the nation’s largest. In Philadelphia, Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter trounced a little-known Republican challenger named Karen Brown, a former math teacher and Democrat who switched parties to challenge the incumbent.
Phoenix elected Democrat Greg Stanton, a former city council member, as its new mayor after a campaign focused on pulling the nation’s sixth-largest city out its economic and foreclosure slump.
In San Francisco, interim Mayor Ed Lee had a strong lead in early returns and would become the city’s first elected Asian-American mayor if he wins. But it could be days before final results are known because the city uses a complicated system in which voters rank their top three candidates.
Comic-turned-politician Robert Farmer lost his bid to become Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner. Farmer told hillbilly jokes that upset some people, and he had no farming experience. In Ohio, another comedian, Drew Hastings, a fixture on “Comedy Central,” became mayor of tiny Hillsboro.
Atlanta voters overwhelmingly approved Sunday alcohol sales, clearing the way for shoppers to buy liquor in stores as soon as New Year’s Day.
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