May 18 US primary results thread

[Icarus27k]

This is a kind of thread that I've participated in in other forums, and it's usually really fun, especially to those interested in politics. It's an election results thread where someone explains the races that is happening and then posts links to the official sources for the results. It's kind of like watching a sports game.

Today is primary day is four US states: Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oregon. I'll start with PA. The big match-up is the Democratic primary for US Senate. Incumbant Senator Arlen Specter is facing a tough challenge from Joe Sestak.

Specter has been a Senator for 30-something years, and most of that time as a Republican. Last year, he switched political parties because he didn't think he could win the Republican primary.

Also on the results page below is the Republican primary for US Senate. The candidates are Pat Toomey, the powerful conservative that Specter was afraid of facing and that made Specter switch parties, and Peg Luksik.

Results page from the PA Department of State:

Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information


Also on the ballot in PA, the Democratic and Republican primaries for Governor. The Dem primary pits 4 candidates (Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, Anthony Hardy Williams, Joseph Hoeffel) against each other, and the Republican primary has 2 candidates (Tom Corbett and Samuel Rohrer). The link for that page is:

Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information

The final PA race of interest isn't a primary, but a special general election race to fill the vacant US House seat from PA's 12th District. This seat was held by long-time Democratic Representative John Murtha until his death a few months ago. An aide to Murtha, Mark Critz, is the Democratic candidate to replace him, but he's facing a tough challenge from Republican Tim Burns. If Burns wins, it'll be a significant blow to the Democratic majority in the US House and perhaps be a signal of how the elections in November will go. The results page for that is:


Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information

Polls close in Pennsylvania at 8PM ET tonight. I'll post the links to the other states later today after I've found them.

 

[Walter]

The traitor Specter is a goner.
Tim Burns should win easily as this election is a vote on the Bamster.

 

[Icarus27k]

In Arkansas, polls close at 7:30 CT. The main contest here is the Democratic primary for US Senate. Blanche Lincoln is the incumbant Democratic Senator from Arkansas, and she's a rare breed. She's a moderate-to-conservative Democrat who has a lot of leftists angry at her for being to the right of the party as a whole. She was one of the few Dem Senators that held up passage of health care reform, and she has also opposed favored liberal bills dealing with unions and climate change.

Lincoln is facing a real challenge from her left in the form of Lieutient Governor Bill Halter. There's also a thrid candidate in the race, DC Morrison, who is a libertarian Democrat.

The results page for this race, from the office of the Arkansas Secretary of State:


Arkansas Secretary of State Presents: Vote Naturally | Are you ready to be heard? | Search Results




Also happening in Arkansas is the Republican primary for US Senate. There are 8 Repubs fighting each other. Their surnames are Alexander, Baker, Boozman, Coleman, Hendren, Holt, Ramey, and Reynolds. The results page:


Arkansas Secretary of State Presents: Vote Naturally | Are you ready to be heard? | Search Results




One more thing. Arkansas law says that if no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, an automatic June 8 runoff election is triggered.


EDIT: Fixed the Democratic primary link.

 

[Icarus27k]

In Kentucky, all polls close at 7:00 PM ET, so it'll probably be the first state of the night to have winners. The main race here is the Republican primary for US Senate. Incumbant Republican Senator Jim Bunning is retiring, and the candidates are Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who is considered to be the establishment candidate, and Rand Paul, the son of US Representative/former US Presidental candidate Ron Paul. Rand shares many views with his father. He's more of a libertarian than a traditional conservative, and he's being heavily supported by Tea Party activists.


The other main race is the Democratic primary for US Senator between Lutienient Governor Daniel Mondgiardo and Attorney General Jack Conway.

Kentuck results:

KY - Election Results

 

[Icarus27k]

The PA-12 race might just be the most important election of the day. I'll let two of the US's best election oracles, Stu Rothenberg and Amy Walters, explain.

Rothenberg says that the Democrat, Critz, should win "given the large Democratic registration advantage in the district and the district's strong support for the late Rep. John Murtha." He further states, "[a] Burns victory would be a bad sign for Democrats for the fall."

Walters says, "In some ways, PA-12 seems to be a must win for Republicans. After all, if they can't win the only district in the country that voted for both John Kerry and John McCain, what does it say about their ability to win other GOP-tilting seats this fall?"

Source: Race for Murtha's seat could have national implications - CNN.com


There you have it, whichever party loses this race may have some serious negative mojo going on during upcoming elections.




EDIT; Here's the more direct results page again. (It's better than the one in the OP.)

Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information

 

[Icarus27k]

Here we go. Polls in the Eastern time zone part of Kentucky should be closing right about now.

 

[Icarus27k]

Well, the big news: Sen. Arlen Specter has been defeated in the PA Democratic primary by Rep. Joe Sestak.

Also, in PA-12, the Republican, Burns, has reportedly conceded defreat.

In Kentucky, Tea Party fave Rand Paul won the GOP primary, and Jack Conway won the Dem primary.



Now, unfinished busiess is the Arkansas Dem primary.

 

[Walter]

Got one right and one wrong.