What Went Down During The 2021 Elections

Turnout in the Virginia gubernatorial election will likely exceed 3 million votes, higher than 2.6 million votes in 2017 and 2.2 million votes in 2013. Tonight is a great example of how “high turnout” does not necessarily foreshadow Democratic wins. There’s a lot of opportunity for Republicans to turn out low-propensity voters and also flip swing voters.

In addition to Youngkin looking like a good bet to be the next governor of Virginia, it also looks like Republicans are favored to flip the lieutenant governor’s and attorney general’s offices (the Republican nominees lead both races 55 percent to 45 percent right now) as well as the House of Delegates. That would leave Republicans just the state Senate shy of a governing trifecta (the state Senate wasn’t on the ballot this year).

In Austin, Texas, a controversial proposition that would’ve forced local officials to drastically increase the city’s police force appears doomed. According to early vote totals in Travis County, where the bulk of Austin’s voters live, 67 percent of residents voted against Prop A, while just 33 percent of voters voted for it. The fight over this proposition was somewhat viewed as a referendum on Austin’s scaled-down approach to policing — which was implemented after months of racial justice protests throughout the city. But the proposal was even opposed by the city’s firefighters, who argued the measure would force Austin to lay off hundreds of employees including firefighters, medics and librarians.