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American Idol Clay Aiken loses U.S. House bid in North Carolina

November 6, 2014 5:43 pm / 1 Comment on American Idol Clay Aiken loses U.S. House bid in North Carolina

Aiken, who came in second in the popular reality show, was defeated in a Raleigh-area district

♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com

north-carolina mug

Democratic U.S. House candidate Clay Aiken

Democratic U.S. House candidate Clay Aiken

RALEIGH  (CFP) — American Idol finalist Clay Aiken has been defeated in his first bid for public office, a U.S. House race in his native North Carolina.

Aiken, 35, running as a Democrat in the state’s 2nd District, located in and around Raleigh, was defeated by incumbent two-term GOP U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent in the November 4 vote.

“The result did not go the way we wanted it tonight, but we’ve walked down this path once or twice before,” Aiken told election night supports at a restaurant in Sanford, alluding to his controversial second-place finish on Idol.

The Esquire Network announced November 5 that Aiken’s campaign would be the subject of a TV reality series set to air in 2015. In a statement, the network said it had been filming Aiken’s campaign since February, and the series would “capture the internal workings of an American campaign — the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Aiken was seeking to become the first openly gay member of Congress from the South.

His campaign took a bizarre turn in May when the man he narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary, Keith Crisco, died from a fall less than a week after the vote.

Louisiana U.S. House: Edwards still in, “Kissing Congressman” out

November 6, 2014 12:02 pm / Leave a comment

Edwin Edwards, the disgraced former governor, makes runoff, but U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister’s re-election bid falls short

By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor

louisiana mugBATON ROUGE (CFP) — Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, a larger-than-life politician who spent eight years behind bars for corruption, has earned a spot in the runoff for the 6th District U.S. House seat.

U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister

U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister

But in the adjoining 5th District, U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister, who refused calls for his resignation after a video surfaced in April showing him passionately kissing a female staffer, finished fourth in Louisiana’s November 4 jungle primary, getting just 11 percent of the vote.

After the video surfaced, McAllister, a conservative Christian and married father of five first elected to the House in 2013, announced he wouldn’t seek re-election. But he later changed his mind, and his wife appeared in a TV ad on his behalf.

Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards

Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards

Edwards, 87, finished first in 6th District primary with 30 percent of the vote in a crowded field that included two fellow Democrats and eight Republicans. He will now face Republican Garret Graves, the former chairman of the state’s coastal protection authority, in the December 6 runoff.

The district, which takes in much of the southeastern part of the state including most of Baton Rouge, is strongly Republican, which will make Graves a prohibitive favorite in the runoff.

Still, getting into the runoff was a political triumph for the colorful octogenarian, who starred in a television reality show in 2013 with his third wife, Trina, who is 51 years his junionr.

Edwards served a record four terms as Louisiana’s governor between 1972 and 1996. In 1991, after being acquitted of federal corruption charges, he won a runoff against white supremacist David Duke. During that campaign, a popular bumper sticker urged Louisianians to “Vote For the Crook. It’s Important.”

In 2001, Edwards was convicted on 17 counts of bribery, extortion, fraud and racketeering stemming from his last terms as governor. he served eight years in prison.

As a convicted felon, Edwards is barred from seeking state office. But there is no prohibition on convicted felons seeking federal office.

GOP blazes through the South on its way to a U.S. Senate majority

November 5, 2014 1:09 pm / Leave a comment

Republicans take Democratic seats in Arkansas, North Carolina and West Virginia without losing any of their own

♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor

southern states smELECTION CENTRAL (CFP) — Southern Republicans are jubilant after voters in the midterm elections gave them three Democratic seats and forced another into a December runoff, helping to usher in a GOP majority in Washington.

Republicans managed to make those gains without losing either of their two seats that were in jeopardy, in Kentucky and Georgia.

With those losses, the number of Democrats representing Southern states was cut from eight to three, with two Democrat-held seats still undecided in Louisiana and Virginia.

In West Virginia, U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito defeated her Democratic challenger, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, by a margin of 62 percent to 39 percent. The seat opened with the retirement of Democratic U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller.

U.S. Senator Kay Hagan

U.S. Senator Kay Hagan

In North Carolina, Democratic U.S. Senator Kay Hagan lost narrowly to Republican State House Speaker Thom Tillis, taking 47 percent to Tillis’s 49 percent

In Arkansas, the GOP challenger, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, defeated the incumbent Democrat, U.S. Senator Mark Pryor, by double digits, 57 percent to 39 percent.

Likewise, in Kentucky, Democratic hopes of knocking off Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell went up in smoke when McConnell defeated Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes by a margin of 56 percent to 41 percent.

With Republicans taking control of the Senate, McConnell will become the new Senate majority leader.

In Louisiana, the Senate race is headed for a December 6 runoff between the incumbent, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, and her closest Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy. Landrieu came in at 42 percent, with Cassidy right behind at 41 percent. An outright majority was needed to avoid a second round of voting in the state’s all-party “jungle” primary.

U.S. Senate nominee David Perdue

U.S. Senate nominee David Perdue

Despite pre-election polls that showed a tight race in Georgia, Republican David Perdue had an surprisingly easy time defeating Democrat Michelle Nunn. Perdue captured 53 percent compared to 45 percent for Nunn.

In the surprise of the night, U.S. Senator Mark Warner nearly lost to Ed Gillespie, the former head of the Republican National Committee.

Though Warner’s lead was just 17,000 votes, out of more than 2.1 million cast in the Old Dominion, Gillespie decided not to ask for recount, saying he was unlikely to prevail.

Elsewhere across the South, Republican incumbents cruised to re-election victories in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, with the GOP holding a second open seat in Oklahoma.

Republican governors survive in Florida and Georgia

November 5, 2014 1:03 pm / Leave a comment

The GOP also takes away an open Democratic governorship in Arkansas

♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor

southern states smELECTION CENTRAL (CFP) — The Republican firewall held at the gubernatorial level across the South in the November 4 midterm election, with the GOP keeping endangered seats in Florida and Georgia and taking away a Democrat-held seat in Arkansas.

Republicans will now hold 11 of the 14 governorships in Southern states.

Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist

Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist

In Florida, Republican-turned-independent-turned Democrat Charlie Crist lost his bid to resurrect his political career in a battle with Republican Governor Rick Scott. Scott won narrowly in the Sunshine State, 48 percent to 47 percent

Meanwhile, up in Georgia, Republican Governor Nathan Deal easily fended off a challenge from State Senator Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. Deal took 53 percent, to 45 percent for Carter.

Former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson

Former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson

In Arkansas, where Democratic Governor Mike Beebe was term-limited, former GOP U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson – making his fourth try for statewide office – defeated former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Ross by a margin of 56 percent to 42 percent.

In Texas, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott crushed Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis, who garnered national attention last year after filibustering a bill restricting abortion.

Abbott took 59 percent of the vote, to 29 percent for Davis. Republican candidates have now won the last six gubernatorial elections in the Lone Star State.

Elsewhere in the South, Republican incumbents won easy victories victories in Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Conservative Southern U.S. House members go down

November 5, 2014 12:56 pm / Leave a comment

Republicans make a net gain of four seats across the region

♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor

southern states smELECTION CENTRAL (CFP) — Four embattled Democratic incumbents who represent conservative U.S. House districts lost their seats in the November 4 midterm election, while the GOP lost a  seat in the Florida Panhandle.

The four Democrats — Nick Rahall in West Virginia, John Barrow in Georgia, Joe Garcia in Florida and Pete Gallego in Texas — all represented districts that Mitt Romney carried in 2012. The GOP also took an open Democrat-held seat in North Carolina where Romney also won.

With those wins, the GOP will hold a 112-39 advantage in Southern U.S. House seats come January.

U.S. House nominee Gwen Graham

U.S. House nominee Gwen Graham

The Democrats’ only good news came in Florida’s Tallahassee-centered 2nd District, where Gwen Graham, the daughter of former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, narrowly defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland by a margin of 50 percent to 49 percent.

Democrats had also targeted five open seats in Arkansas, Virginia and West Virginia. Republicans held all five.

Barrow, who represents Georgia’s 12th District, had survived four previous attempts by Republicans to push him from Congress, which included having his district gerrymandered twice by the state legislature. But the fifth time proved the charm as he lost to Republican Rick Allen by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall

Despite 19 terms representing West Virginia in Congress, Rahall could not overcome President Obama’s marked unpopularity in the Mountaineer State, losing to State Senator Evan Jenkins in the 3rd District, by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent. .

In Florida’s 26th District, Garcia lost to Republican Carlos Curbelo by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent. This Latino-majority district, which stretches from southwest Miami-Dade County to Key West, has now switched hands in the three straight elections.

The GOP also won in Texas’s 23rd District, a vast district that sprawls across more than 500 miles of southwest Texas, from the suburbs of San Antonio to the suburbs of El Paso.

Will Hurd, a former CIA agent who, uniquely, was a black candidate running in a majority Latino district, defeated Gallego by a margin of 50 percent to 48 percent. This closely divided district has now switched hands three times since 2006.

Republicans also picked up a seat in North Carolina’s 7th District, which opened up when Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre decided to retire. Former State Senator David Rouzer easily defeated New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield.

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