JD Vance, the venture capitalist and Hillbilly Elegy author whose campaign was bankrolled by tech investor Peter Thiel, eked out a victory in the Ohio Senate race, defeating Democratic congressman Tim Ryan. But the race was closer than many Republicans would have liked: with 97 per cent of precincts reporting, Vance won by just over six points. That compared with incumbent Republican governor Mike DeWine, who has previously criticised Trump and won re-election by more than 25 points.
Mehmet Oz
Pennsylvania
Mehmet Oz, the surgeon turned daytime television host who won the Senate nomination in Pennsylvania in large part thanks to Trump’s endorsement, was defeated in the race by the Democratic lieutenant-governor John Fetterman. Pennsylvania political insiders had expected the vote count in the hard-fought battleground to take days. But the race was called just hours after the polls closed, and with 93 per cent of precincts reporting, Fetterman won by a comfortable three-point margin.
Blake Masters
Arizona
Venture capitalist Blake Masters was boosted in his Arizona Senate race by cash injections from his one-time mentor Thiel. But the race is still too close to call. Many non-partisan analysts expected the Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly would be able to hold the seat in the southwest swing state. With 63 per cent of precincts reporting, Masters trailed Kelly by a six-point margin.
Herschel Walker
Georgia
Herschel Walker’s bid for the Senate race in pivotal Georgia was also too close to call on Wednesday. With neither he nor his rival clearing the 50 per cent threshold required under state law to claim victory, the race will continue into a December runoff election. With 98 per cent of precincts reporting, the scandal-hit former American football star Walker, who was Trump’s pick, trailed Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock by the slimmest of margins. Republicans had hoped Georgia would be an easy win this time around. Brian Kemp, the state’s Republican governor who stood up to Trump in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, cruised to a comfortable re-election in the midterms, defeating challenger Stacey Abrams by more than seven points.
Gubernatorial races
Doug Mastriano
Pennsylvania
Doug Mastriano, Trump’s pick for governor of Pennsylvania, failed to mount a successful campaign in the perennial battleground state amid a lack of cash and widespread rejection of his hardline views on everything from election rules to abortion rights. Mastriano was at the US Capitol on January 6 2021 when rioters stormed the building, and campaigned in part on a platform of banning abortions without exceptions, even for victims of rape or incest. He ended up losing to Democrat Josh Shapiro by 13 points — a huge loss in a state where just two years ago Joe Biden defeated Trump by a razor-thin margin of 80,000 votes.
Kari Lake
Arizona
The results in the Arizona governor’s race remained too close to call on Wednesday, with Trump’s pick, former local newscaster Kari Lake, neck and neck with Democratic secretary of state Katie Hobbs. Lake’s race has been among the most closely watched in the country, in part because the political novice has given full-throated endorsement to Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. That has raised fears that, if she becomes governor, she might refuse to certify the results of the next presidential election in 2024.
Lee Zeldin
New York
Republican congressman Lee Zeldin gave Democratic incumbent governor Kathy Hochul a run for her money as she sought to remain as governor in the traditional Democratic stronghold of New York. Polls suggested the contest was too close for comfort for Democrats heading into election day, with Zeldin — a prominent Trump ally on Capitol Hill — gaining ground with a well-resourced campaign focused heavily on concerns about crime in and around New York City. But Hochul won in the end by a margin of more than five points with 93 per cent of precincts reporting.
Written by: Lauren Fedor
© Financial Times
