UPDATE 10:20 p.m.
The liberal northeastern states of Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware brought few surprises in the early hours of Election Night on Tuesday.
With just 1% of the vote in, Fox News called Pennsylvania for incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, won re-election in his gubernatorial race in New York. Even the victory by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1, wasn’t a surprise — Fox called the race for him with just 10% of the vote in.
Meanwhile, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey crushed Republican Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania, NBC News reported. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez defeated Republican Bob Hugin in New Jersey. In Delaware, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tom Carper defeated Republican Robert Arlett. And In Maryland, incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin defeated Republican Tony Campbell. And Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wins re-lection in New York, defeating Republican Chele Farley, NBC said.
The House was different story.
NEW YORK
Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler won re-election, and he’s poised to become a party leader.
And Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily defeated Republican Anthony Pappas. Watch for the 28-year-old bartender to take a leading role in the new Congress.
Too close to call:
The race for New York’s 19th Congressional District was a bruising battle, with incumbent Republican John Faso facing Antonio Delgado. Faso bashed Delgado over his past as a rapper, calling his lyrics “offensive.”
In the 22nd District, incumbent Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney faced off against Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi. President Trump visited the district to headline one of her campaign events in August.
NEW JERSEY
The New York Post had a great lead on the Menendez race. “New Jersey voters held their noses Tuesday and re-elected corruption-plagued Democratic US Sen. Bob Menendez.”
Menendez was charged with accepting bribes from an eye doctor and party donor in exchange for his political influence. The jury could not agree on a verdict, so he walked. Still, in April 2018, Menendez was “severely admonished” by the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics, but that didn’t keep him from being re-elected.
But the House went strongly for Democrats. All but two seats were called early for Democrats.
MARYLAND
Democrats crushed statewide, as expected.
PENNSYLVANIA
The cities went blue, but the rural congressional districts, as expected, stayed red.
DELAWARE
The one House seat went to Democrat Lisa Rochester, who defeated Republican Scott Walker.