Election 2007 Wrapup

It’s a good night for Democrats on this off-year Election Night 2007. They pick up a governorship in Kentucky – offsetting their loss last month in Louisiana – and gain some momentum in Virginia by winning control of the state Senate.

Republicans have reason to cheer in Mississippi, where they won seven of the eight statewide offices, highlighted by Gov. Haley Barbour’s commanding re-election victory. Here’s the wrap-up:

-- Kentucky: Scandal-plagued Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-Ky.) badly loses his re-election bid, falling to former lieutenant governor Steve Beshear, 59-41%. The only bright spot for the state GOP is Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who won handily with 56 percent of the vote.

-- Virginia: Democrats take control of the state Senate for the first time since 1995 by picking up four Republican-held seats – two of them in Northern Virginia. GOP state senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (the wife of GOP Rep. Tom Davis) gets shellacked by Chap Petersen, and only wins five precincts (out of 47) in her Fairfax County district.

Devolites-Davis’ resounding defeat in Tom Davis’ backyard will give Democrats added optimism that they have a shot at defeating the 7-term congressman next year, if he opts to run for re-election.

-- Ohio: With 86 percent of precincts reporting, state Rep. Bob Latta holds a narrow lead over state senator Steve Buehrer, 43-41% in the GOP special primary to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor. The Club for Growth’s slew of negative ads against Latta appears to have hurt him, but not enough to prevent him from a likely victory.