While Philadelphia Democrats Seth Williams and Alan Butkovitz trounced their Republican opponents to win the district attorney and city controller races, respectively, conservatives won big elsewhere in Tuesday’s election.
Republican Joan Orie Melvin defeated Democrat Jack Panella for a seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court in a 53-47-percent vote. The state’s highest court now has a 4-3 Republican majority.
However, the seven Democrats vying for the seven open seats on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, including openly gay judge Dan Anders, were all elected without contest, as were the four Democrats, including openly lesbian judge Dawn Segal, who were running for Philadelphia Municipal Court.
Openly lesbian Abington Township Commissioner Lori Schreiber will retain her seat on the commission after receiving 64 percent of the vote Tuesday against her Republican challenger, Lou Guerra. Openly gay former Harrisburg city councilmember Dan Miller also won his bid to become Harrisburg’s city controller.
In New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, Republican Chris Christie defeated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine, marking the first time the Garden State has elected a Republican governor in 12 years.
Corzine has pledged to sign marriage-equality legislation, which is expected to reach his desk during the lame-duck session before Christie takes office in January. Christie, however, is opposed to same-sex marriage and has advocated for a statewide ballot initiative to decide the issue.
The GOP was also successful in the nation’s only other gubernatorial election, in Virginia, where Republican Robert McDonnell topped Democratic opponent R. Creigh Deeds.
Marriage equality took a hit up north, with the passage of Question 1 on Maine’s ballot, which overturned the state’s marriage-equality law.
Maine’s legislature legalized same-sex marriage in May, but the law had not yet been implemented because antigay activists staged a petition drive that brought the issue to referendum. At press time, the question, which asked voters if they “want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages,” had received approval from approximately 53 percent of voters.
Jesse Connolly, campaign manager of No on 1, released a statement Wednesday thanking supporters and pledging to continue to work to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
“We’re in this for the long haul,” Connolly said. “For the next week and next month and next year, until all Maine families are treated equally. Because, in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for.”
Although results were not finalized by press time, reports indicated that voters in Washington upheld the state’s domestic-partner law, which the state’s legislature passed earlier this year and which grants same-sex couples similar rights and obligations as heterosexual married couples.
Residents of Kalamazoo, Mich., voted Tuesday to approve a nondiscrimination ordinance inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity, and Houston mayoral hopeful Annise Parker, an open lesbian, won the highest percentage of votes in her race, with approximately 31 percent of voters favoring her over the six other candidates.
Since no one candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, however, Parker, Houston’s city controller, will face former city attorney Gene Locke in a runoff election next month.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].