In the five competitive races for governor this cycle, we now have a good idea of the outcomes. Republicans have won or seem likely to win four of them: Phil Scott in Vermont, Eric Holcomb in Indiana, Eric Greitens in Missouri, and Chris Sununu in New Hampshire. Alas, in North Carolina the news isn’t as good. When delayed votes from several urban Democratic precincts finally came in just before midnight, Democratic Roy Cooper took a 4,000-vote lead over incumbent Governor Pat McCrory. There will be provisional and absentee ballots to count. There will be a recount. But if this holds, it will be a heartbreaking loss for North Carolina Republicans who otherwise enjoyed significant electoral victories, along with their counterparts across the country. Some voters clearly split their tickets between Trump and Cooper, or just chose to skip over the governor’s race entirely.
The net result of all this is that Republicans will actually expand their lead in governorships, to 33-16-1. Tomorrow, I’ll try to get a sense of how legislative chambers and other state offices of interest went in this fascinating election cycle.