As Tuesday’s Elections were still being closely watched, President Obama has invited congressional leaders from both Chambers to the White House for a meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon.

A White House official confirmed the meeting, saying that more details of the meeting to emerge later this week.

See Full Story at TalkRadioNews.com

The post Obama Invites Congressional Leaders to White House appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

It was a GOP wave. In a near-sweep of yesterday’s midterm elections, Republicans shifted the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, gaining at least seven seats, widened their majority in the House by at least 11 seats and defeated Democrats in 24 governor’s races.

“We are headed to Washington and we are going to make ’em squeal,” a triumphant Joni Ernst, Iowa’s newly elected Republican senator, told cheering supporters in West Des Moines.

President Obama had said his policies were on the ballot, even if he wasn’t, and in those terms it was difficult not to see the results as a repudiation by voters of an unpopular president and his Democratic allies.

 “Americans … have risen up and retired Harry Reid as [Senate] majority leader,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on Fox News at 2o minutes past midnight.

Cruz added: “Now that we have won the election it is incumbent on Republicans to stand up and lead. … Americans don’t necessarily trust Republicans; they’ve given us another chance.”

Votes still were being counted in Virginia and Alaska, but Republicans will take control of the Senate after netting seats in Iowa, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, North Carolina and Arkansas.

In brief remarks, Republican challenger Scott Brown conceded the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey to incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

Republican Joni Ernst defeated Democrat Bruce Braley to win Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, netting Republicans a seventh Senate seat — one more than needed to control the upper chamber.

“We are headed to Washington and we are going to make them squeal,” Ernst told supporters in West Des Moines.

Votes were still being counted in Virginia and Alaska, but the Republican Party will officially take control of the Senate, netting seats in Iowa, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won re-election earlier tonight, is slated to take over as Senate majority leader in January

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott beat Democratic challenger Charlie Crist in the Sunshine State. Crist, a former Republican, was governor of the Sunshine State from 2007 to 2011.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also escaped defeat tonight, beating Democrat Mary Burke.

Updated 10:04 p.m. Republicans netted their fifth Senate seat of sixth needed to take control with a win from Steven Daines in Montana, defeating Democrat Amanda Curtis.

Republicans also won in 12 governors races: Greg Abbott in Texas, Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas, Robert Bentley in Alabama, Nikki Haley in South Carolina, Bill Haslam in Tennessee, Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, Dennis Daugaard in South Dakota, John Kasich in Ohio, Matt Mead in Wyoming, Susana Martinez in New Mexico and Terry Branstad in Iowa.

Democrats, meanwhile, have wins with Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania, who ousted Republican incumbent Tom Corbett, Andrew Cuomo in New York, Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire and Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island.

In Colorado, Republican Cory Gardner defeated incumbent Democrat Mark Udall, four the fourth net seat.

Republican Ben Sasse won the U.S. Senate seat held by Mike Johanns in Nebraska, beating Democrat Dave Domina. Johanns did not seek re-election.

“I commit to be about the big challenges before us – for we do not have time now to be distracted by the small issues,” Sasse told supporters.

In New Hampshire, incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen beat Republican challenger Scott Brown, 52 percent to 48 percent in partial returns, holding the state for Democrats. The New Hampshire race was dubbed one of the hottest this election cycle.

Additionally, Sen. Mike Enzi, the Republican incumbent, beat Democrat Charlie Hardy in Wyoming.

So far, Republicans have won a total of 15 seats, giving them a total of 45 in the Senate. Democrats have won seven, with 41 seats total.

9:07 p.m. South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds beat Democrat Rick Weiland and Independent Larry Pressler, marking the third net gain for the GOP in the Senate.

Races were called for incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and incumbent Democratic Sen. Al Franken in Minnesota.

Democrat Gary Peters beat Republican Terri Lynn Land in Michigan. Peters maintained a 12-point lead over Land in the days before the election.

8:32 p.m. With the second U.S. Senate seat gained for Republicans, Tom Cotton ousted incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor in Arkansas. Republicans must win another four seats to become the majority party in the Senate.

In Delaware, Democratic incumbent Chris Coons was re-elected to the Senate.

See Full Story at DailySignal.com

image credit dailysignal.com

The post Senate Turns Red – Results of Election 2014 as They Happen appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

The AP and Fox News are calling Colorado for Cory Gardner. Right now, the Udall campaign is disputing the results. But the voting data is consistent with a Gardner win. Assuming Gardner does take the seat — which is what the polling predicted in recent weeks — this is very bad news for Democrats.

So far tonight, Democrats have lost seats in South Dakota, West Virginia, Montana, and Arkansas. All those losses were expected — and, for the Democratic Senate majority, survivable. But losing Colorado makes keeping the Senate very, very hard.

And Colorado is not a loss Democrats can easily explain away. The state went for Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Democrat Michael Bennet — who is running the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee this year — even held on in the Republican wave of 2010. It isn’t a red state. If Democrats are losing seats in Colorado that’s a bad sign for their hopes elsewhere.

The Colorado race had two unique features. One was that Udall focused like a laser on the “war on women” theme. He argued, almost endlessly, that Gardner wanted to ban all sales of birth control — a charge that Gardner denied, and countered by releasing a proposal for birth control to be sold over the counter (which is, for the record, an excellent idea). If Udall loses what was clearly a winnable race, it suggests that perhaps the war-on-women theme wasn’t such a good move.

See Full Story at Vox.com

image credit vox.com

The post Democrats Take their First Hard Loss in Colorado appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

Early results showed more than a 2-1 lead for a measure to make recreational marijuana use legal in Washington, D.C. A sign promoting the initiative is seen on a corner in the Adams Morgan neighborhood Tuesday.

In the first of several widely watched votes on marijuana in the midterm election season, voters in Washington, D.C., have approved the legal use of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Supporters of the D.C. marijuana measure had a 65-29.5 percent lead as of 9:09 p.m. ET, with 20,727 voting in favor. We’ll update this post as more results come in. You can also follow our special coverage at NPR’s Election Party.

See Full Story at NPR.org

image credit npr.org

The post D.C. Voters OK Legalization appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

Fifty-eight percent of those casting ballots were either dissatisfied or angry at the W.H. | Getty

The voters have had it up to here, according to exit polls released Tuesday evening.

The national survey of voters showed broad dissatisfaction with both parties, the Obama administration and Congress.

Fifty-eight percent of those casting ballots in the midterms were either dissatisfied or angry at the White House, while just 11 percent said they are enthusiastic with the administration and 30 percent said they were satisfied, according to CNN.

Another 54 percent said they disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job, while 44 percent said they approve.

See Full Story at Politico.com

image credit politico.com

The post Voters Disgusted with Everyone Today appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans struck powerful first blows in U.S. congressional elections on Tuesday in their drive to control the U.S. Senate and dramatically tip the balance of power away from President Barack Obama and his Democrats.

Obama’s low job approval rating, partisan gridlock in Washington and a U.S. economy that is not growing broadly enough to help many in the middle class were major issues confronting voters in elections for 36 senators, 36 state governors and all 435 members of the House of Representatives.

In the Senate races, Republican challenger Tom Cotton defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor in Arkansas, television networks projected, despite frantic get-out-the-vote efforts by former President Bill Clinton, who hails from Arkansas.

Cotton’s win, along with a victory by Republican Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia, gave Republicans two of the six seats they need to gain control of the Senate. Capito easily defeated Natalie Tennant to win a seat left open by retiring Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller.

Republicans had been expected to pick up seats in the Senate, but polls ahead of the voting showed eight to 10 races are still toss-ups. If they do win a net gain of six seats they would control the 100-member chamber for the first time since the 2006 election.

In a key win for Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen won re-election in New Hampshire in what polls had forecast as a tight race, ABC projected.

A key barometer for Democrats was whether they would be able to hold North Carolina, where incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan had an early lead in her closely fought battle against Republican challenger Thom Tillis.

Obama, whose 40 percent approval rating made him unwelcome on the campaign trail for many fellow Democrats, cast the race as critical in a radio interview with Charlotte, North Carolina, station, the Artie and Fly Ty show.

“If we lose North Carolina then we lose the Senate. And if we lose the Senate then the Republicans are setting the agenda,” Obama said.

See Full Story at Reuters.com

image credit reuters.com

The post Early Republican Wins appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, has won the U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia, CNN projected, a gain for Republicans hoping to win a Senate majority.

Capito, 60, who has served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, beat West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, a Democrat, for the Senate seat now occupied by Democrat Jay Rockefeller. He is retiring after five terms.

See Full Story at Reuters.com

The post Republican Capito wins Senate Seat in West Virginia appeared first on Alaska Politics & Elections.