Web Update: Princetonians win 5 of 12 major races

The number of Princetonians in Congress will increase by one following an election in which Republicans pummeled Democratic incumbents across the country, taking control of the House of Representatives. But the Republican tidal wave was not enough to sweep high-profile alumni to victory in several major races.

A pair of Republican gubernatorial hopefuls lost by double digits. Meg Whitman ’77, a former University trustee, conceded to Democrat Jerry Brown in California’s gubernatorial race Tuesday evening. Whitman received 41 percent of the vote, to Brown's 54 percent.

In the race for Maryland governor, Democratic incumbent Martin O’Malley received 56 percent of the vote to defeat Republican challenger Robert Ehrlich ’79, who had 42 percent.

In one of the closest races in the country, Republican Kenneth Buck ’81 fell to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado. Bennet received 47.7 percent of the vote, while Buck got 46.8 percent. With a margin of only about 15,600 votes, Bennet avoided an automatic recount, which would be triggered if the winning margin is less than 0.5 percent of the winning candidate’s vote total, or about 6,000 votes for this election.

The near miss for the Republicans, along with several others across the country, will allow Democrats to maintain control of the Senate with a slim majority.

In the House of Representatives, Democrat Jim Marshall ’72 lost reelection for a fifth term, while Republican Nan Hayworth ’81 and Democrat Terri Sewell ’86 are headed to the Capitol. With 10 House races still too close to call as of Wednesday night, Republicans had already captured a net of 60 seats from Democrats to gain a majority in the House.

In Georgia’s 8th Congressional District, Republican challenger Austin Scott won 53 percent of the vote to Marshall’s 47 percent.

Hayworth, a retired ophthalmologist, Hayworth defeated two-term incumbent Democrat John Hall to represent New York’s 19th District in a race that was considered a toss-up. Hayworth took 53 percent of the vote, while Hall had 47 percent.

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Sewell glided to victory with the biggest margin of any Princetonian, winning her race for Alabama’s 7th District with 73 percent of the vote. Sewell, a public-finance lawyer, is the state’s first black woman elected to Congress.

Republican challenger Randy Altschuler ’93 nearly joined them, losing New York’s 1st District with 49 percent of the vote. Four-term incumbent Democrat Timothy Bishop received 51 percent to keep his seat.

Democrats John Sarbanes ’84 of Maryland and Jared Polis ’96 of Colorado comfortably won reelection to the House, as did Republican Leonard Lance GS ’82 of New Jersey’s 7th District. They received 61 percent, 57 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

With only 36 percent of the vote, Democrat Ravi Sangisetty ’03 lost an open race to represent Louisiana’s 3rd District. Republican Jeff Landry won the election with 64 percent.

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In New Hampshire’s 2nd District, Republican Charlie Bass defeated his Democratic opponent by 1.6 percentage points, while Independent Timothy vanBlommesteyn ’75 and a Libertarian candidate each collected roughly 2 percent of the vote.

More to come...