Election results: Democrats pick-up Kentucky governship

• Kentucky: Score one for Democrats

With 93% of precincts reporting, Democrat Steve Beshear is leading incumbent Governor Ernie Fletcher 59% to 41%. Democrats have picked-up a governorship, only two weeks after losing Louisiana's. This result is anything but a surprise, as Fletcher had been massively down since the campaign began. In fact, the GOP shot itself in the foot when it nominated Fletcher instead of Ann Northup in the very contested primary back last spring.

In down-the-ballot races, Democrats won most statewide races but Secretary of State, in which the incumbent Republican narrowly prevailed, and Agriculture Commissioner (I stand corrected by Steve in the comments). Particularly noteworthy was the victory of Crit Luallen, the state Auditor, who earned a 59-41 victory, which is significant given that Luallen has been eyeing a run for Senate against Mitch McConell next year.

Meanwhile in Mississippi, Governor Barbour was reelected with 58% of the vote, a comfortable victory that is nonetheless a bit underwhelming considering how favored he was going in this thing. It is a testament to how weak Fletcher was in Kentucky that he ended up getting less than John Eaves, Barbour's opponent. The Mississippi Republicans had great results in statewide races and picked-up many positions, though Democrats surprisingly came out and took back the state Senate!

• Virginia Senate narrowly goes for Democrats
  

As of 9:38pm, the GOP is as expected keeping control of the House of Delegates, but the state Senate still hangs in the balance. Democrats need to pick-up four seats, and they look certain to pick-up three already: CD-1 has counted all the votes, and the Democrat has won the open race! In the 6th district, 95% of precincts are reporting and the incumbent GOPer is trailing by 9 points. And in the 33rd district of Northern Virginia, Chat Petersen is crushing Jeannemarie Davis for now. This last race was the hottest of the cycle, and both candidates spent millions. Jeannemarie is the wife of congressman Tom Davis, so let's see how her loss affects his plans for next year. So Democrats need to get one in the three remaining toss-up races: Districts 28, 37, and 39.

Update at 11:25pm: Democrats have captured the state Senate. District 28 has been long lost for them, but the Democratic candidate just emerged as the victor in District 39 -- which is enough to give Democrats a majority. The Democratic candidate lost District 37 by less than a 100 votes. So the Virginia Senate will now be composed of 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans.

Democrats emerge victorious in the Senate battle, but they barely managed to get a one-seat majority. They lost some races that they were looking to win, especially in the House of Delegates, where they look to only pick-up 3-4 seats, much less than expected. It looks the the GOP's relentless use of the immigration issue helped Republican turn-out, and the same looks to be the case in other states across the country, especially in Upstate New York local races. You can expect the GOP to use the illegal immigration issue with even more desperation in the coming months, as it is the one issue they have left and it appears to be working for them.

One important lesson from tonight though: Fairfax County is still driving Virginia Democrats. It gave Dems the victories necessary to retake the state Senate after ensuring Senator Webb and Governor Kaine's elections in 2005 and 2006. Tom Davis, who is sitting on a Democratic-trending House seat and whose wife lost tonight, probably is extremely worried tonight about his political future... and let's see if he even runs for re-election. The Democrats' presidential nominee will also certainly have a fighting chance in the state if current trends continue and if Fairfax votes as overwhelmingly Democratic as it is in recent cycles.

• Other races

Utah voters overwhelmingly rejected the school voucher program with about 66% of the vote, a resounding defeat for conservatives. However, conservatives managed to defeat by a narrow 53-47 margin the New Jersey initiative lobbied for by Governor Corzine that would have created stem cell funding. And most Mayors find themselves reelected in San Fransisco, Houston, New Haven, Pittsburgh, though the incumbent fell in Indianapolis.