Things went relatively well here in Arizona. While Jon Kyl (R) held onto his Senate seat (by a nine percent margin), JD Hayworth (R) got pink-slipped by Harry Mitchell. Thus, the AZ House contingent will be equally divided between the parties (Republicans Renzi, Franks, Shadegg, Flake and Democrats Pastor, Mitchell, Grijalva, Giffords).
At the State level, Janet Napolitano (D) got a second term as Governor as did Terry Goddard (D) as Attorney General and Tom Horne (R) as Superintendent of Public Instruction.
There were a ridiculous amount of propositions on the ballot. Here are some of the highlights:
- The propostions aimed against illegal immigrants (100, 102, 300) and for English as the state's official language (103) all passed by an approximately 50% margin.
- The minimum wage has been raised (202).
- A humane treatment measure for pigs (204) also passed relatively easily.
- The ban on same-sex marriage (107) did not pass.
- The smoking ban for restaurants and bars did (201) while the RJ Reynolds-funded ban in restaurants alone (206) did not. A cigarette-tax was also passed to fund pre-school programs (203).
- And the state legislators will not be getting a pay raise (302).
I wasn't surprised the anti-illegal immigrant measures passed. I was, however, surprised about the smoking ban and the result on 107.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
- Log in to post comments
*A few minor corrections: it is spelled "Kyl," not "Kyle." Also, the smoking ban that passed is 201, not 210.
Bah. That's what I get for typing quickly before heading to a meeting :)
I live in Prescott and, for me, the meat of the smoking ban -- that I've heard very few people mention -- is that 206(failed) would have superceded all local ordinances while 201 does not.
I believe that 206 was an attempt by the tobacco industry to accept a bit of regulation now to gain a strong position against future laws statewide.
Personally, I was suprised but thrilled to see it come out the way it did -- 201 pass and 206 fail.
Rich
The Arizona Republic reported today there were 200,000 early and provisional ballots, including mine most likely, left to be counted. I'm hoping that Harry Mitchell will indeed win and that Prop 107 will officially go down in a ball of flames. On a side note, I was in New York last week and the campaign ads there were vitriolic. The television stations in that market were also showing ads for candidates from Connecticut and New Jersey so it got to be a bit much after a while.