Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is projected to win reelection in Mississippi.
Nov. 7, 2023, was Election Day in at least 37 states, and Americans cast their votes on everything from governorships to local referenda. When the dust settled, it was a solid night for Democrats and their allies: According to ABC News projections, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won reelection in Kentucky, and Ohio voters passed Issue 1 to codify abortion rights in the state constitution. The AP also projected that Democrats won both chambers of the Virginia legislature and an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. However, there were a few bright spots for Republicans: ABC News projected that Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves beat back a strong challenge from Democrat Brandon Presley.
As results came in, 538 analysts were breaking them down in real time with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.
ABC News projects that Republican incumbent Secretary of State Adams will win reelection in Kentucky. Adams faced challenger Democrat Wheatley, who wanted to add polling locations and expand voting, according to reporting from The Courier Journal.
—Monica Potts, 538
To follow up on Geoffrey's latest Kentucky post, we now have 95 percent of the expected vote in from Pendleton County, and 93 percent from Rowan. Statewide, in counties reporting 90 percent of the expected vote or more — my preferred threshold to hit before I even look at the county data — Beshear is doing 2.5-3 percentage points better than he did last time. That would seem to suggest a narrow win — if, and that's a big if, it holds up statewide.
—G. Elliott Morris, 538
Another county that looks close to fully reporting in Kentucky is Elliott. Beshear is winning it 53 percent to 47 percent, which is worse for him than in 2019, when he carried it 59 percent to 39 percent. Elliott County is in the middle of coal country, which used to be staunchly Democratic but has realigned harder than perhaps any other part of the country. Famously, Elliott County voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 1872 (!) to 2012, but then Trump carried it in 2016 and 2020 as part of his gains with working-class whites.
So it’s not too surprising that Beshear is doing worse there than he did four years ago. The only question is, will it doom his reelection chances?
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Galen mentioned that state-level concerns can sometimes trump national politics when it comes to state races, and Kentucky could be a good example of that. Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear is running for re-election in the deep-red commonwealth. Would a win for him there mean anything for 2024? It's hard to say. Beshear is an unusual case, the popular governor who also happens to be the son of a popular former governor. His Republican opponent, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, has been working to nationalize the race and tie Beshear to President Joe Biden and Biden's low approval ratings, but reporting from our ABCNews colleague, Tal Axelrod, shows that the commonwealth's voters don't necessarily buy that. Beshear's job helping rural areas recover from tornadoes and floods could boost his performance in Republican areas. Cameron, on the other hand, is known in the state for deciding not to prosecute the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor in her apartment. That may play a role in how voters cast a ballot in her home city of Louisville. These local issues could matter more to voters tonight than what's going on in D.C.
—Monica Potts, 538
