Election 2023 results and analysis: Democrats excel in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia

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.


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One early trend in a key Virginia legislative district

Virginia's been counting votes for almost an hour and a half, but some key races are still very far from a conclusion. Still, in Virginia's state Senate, it looks like GOP Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant is in trouble in the 16th District in the western Richmond suburbs. She's trailing Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg by about 3 points, but none of the more Democratic-leaning early vote has been reported yet. A Democratic victory there would probably put them at 20 seats, needing just one more in one of the other swing seats to capture an outright majority in the 40-seat chamber.

Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Amo projected to win in Rhode Island

Speaking of which … ABC News can now project that Amo has won in Rhode Island’s 1st District. I’ll still be watching to see what the final margin is, though, since overperformance in special elections can often tell us which way the political winds are blowing.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


As expected, Democrats lead in Rhode Island

With 39 percent of the expected vote reporting, Democrat Gabe Amo leads Republican Gerry Leonard Jr. 63 percent to 37 percent in the special election for Rhode Island’s 1st District. This is wholly unsurprising, considering that the district voted for Biden by a similar margin of 64 percent to 35 percent. So far, Amo isn’t overperforming to quite the same degree as Democrats have in state-legislative special elections this year. But that shouldn’t stop him from becoming the first person of color to represent Rhode Island in Congress.

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538


Democrat projected to win Philadelphia mayoral race

In Philadelphia, ABC News projects former Philadelphia City Council member Cherelle Parker will be the city's next mayor. She will become Philadelphia's first female mayor, defeating Republican David Oh.

— Leah Askarinam, 538


Voting access is at stake in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court contest

Pennsylvania has a slew of state and local races to keep an eye on this evening, headlined by a multimillion-dollar state Supreme Court contest between Republican Carolyn Carluccio, president judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, and Democrat Daniel McCaffery, a Superior Court judge.

The outcome here won’t change party control of the seven-member court, where Democrats have held a 4-2 majority (with one vacancy) since the death of Democratic Chief Justice Max Baer in October 2022. Rather, Democrats are looking to shore up their majority amid continued legal battles over voting access in the battleground state, and ahead of the next judicial elections in 2025, when three of their four existing seats will be up for retention.

There isn’t much polling on this race, but a September survey by the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank, showed McCaffery in the lead 42 percent to 36 percent. However, a mid-October survey by Franklin & Marshall College found that, for each candidate, over 70 percent of registered voters weren’t familiar enough to have an opinion of them. Voters, then, are more likely to be influenced in this race by partisan preference and issue-related messaging — of which there’s been plenty.

As we’ve seen repeatedly in the post-Dobbs era, Pennsylvania Democrats have made abortion central to their turnout efforts and attacks against Carluccio. But tonight’s outcome will likely have more immediate ramifications on another key issue: voting access. Pennsylvania’s Act 77, a bipartisan measure that widely expanded access to mail-in voting in 2019, has been repeatedly challenged by Republicans in the wake of Trump’s baseless claims of voting fraud in the 2020 election. The state Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 on one such challenge right before the 2022 election and is likely to hear additional challenges heading into, and perhaps in relation to, the 2024 election.

—Tia Yang, 538