Maine voters have been consumed with the heated governor’s race and a ballot question about how to hunt bears. There also is some interesting political theater beyond the state’s borders.
A big question — one poll-meister Nate Silver says likely won’t be answered on Election Night — is which party will control the U.S. Senate. With close races in numerous states, including Georgia, Louisiana and Alaska, several recounts are expected.
Republicans are expected to gain a majority in the Senate, as the GOP has fewer seats to defend than the Democrats and seven of the Democratic seats in play this year are in states where Republican Mitt Romney won the presidential tally in 2012. And, says CNN, “Democrats also have to contend with the electorate’s six-year itch. The party occupying the White House in the sixth year of a presidential administration almost invariably loses seats in Congress.”
The results in Louisiana likely won’t be known because there are eight candidates in the Senate race, so no one is likely to earn the required 50 percent, requiring a runoff election, which is scheduled for Dec. 6.
Alaska? With the four-hour time difference from the East Coast, its results will come late and Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, who won by fewer than 4,000 votes in 2008, faces a strong challenge from Republican Dan Sullivan, the state’s former attorney general and natural resources commissioner. Alaska voters, as well as those in Oregon and Washington, D.C., will consider legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, as will the Maine communities of Lewiston and South Portland. Alaska’s adult pot smoking rate is twice the national average.
Then there’s Kansas. The reliably Republican state may dump longtime GOP Sen. Pat Roberts in favor of independent Greg Orman. Democrat Chad Taylor had his name removed from the ballot after polls showed him trailing badly. Pundits have speculated that if Orman and Larry Pressler in South Dakota win their elections, they could join Sen. Angus King and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to form an Independent Caucus that would have clout in the closely divided Senate.
If Republicans win a majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell may not be there to be elected majority leader. The current Senate minority leader is locked in a tough re-election fight against Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky. Although Silver’s blog, fivethirtyeight, gives McConnell a 79 percent chance of winning, it adds, “He’s a favorite, but by no means a sure thing.”
Closer to home, it looks likely that a Republican will return to the Massachusetts governor’s mansion. The latest poll shows Republican Charlie Baker holding a slight lead over Democrat Martha Coakley. Last week, Baker was endorsed by the Boston Globe, the first time the paper has supported a Republican for governor in 20 years.
In New Hampshire, Republican Scott Brown is trailing Democratic Sen. Jean Shaheen. Perhaps, voters aren’t so keen on the recent arrival of Brown, who was Massachusetts’ senator until he was defeated by Elizabeth Warren in 2012, in their state.
The most mundane-sounding — but odd — ballot measure may be in Montana. Voters there are being asked to rename the state auditor the commissioner of securities and insurance since the office oversees the state’s securities and insurance industries. The name change requires amending the state constitution. Voters rejected the name change in 2006.