Pretty Much Every Election Race Turned Out How You Thought It Would

There weren’t many surprises in Tuesday’s election, either here in Philadelphia or among our neighbors in New Jersey.

The Inquirer reports: “With nearly all of the vote counted Tuesday night, District Attorney Seth Williams and Controller Alan Butkovitz had insurmountable leads over their Republican opponents: Controller candidate Terry Tracy and Danny Alvarez, who was running for district attorney, were each outpolled by 4-1 ratios.”

CBS News adds: “Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., was re-elected as New Jersey governor in a landslide – 60-39 percent over his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono – and virtually no one ever thought the outcome might be different. For months, Christie held a commanding lead in the polls as Buono failed to get her campaign off the ground.”

AP: “Democrats retained control of both houses of the New Jersey Legislature in Tuesday’s election. With a handful of races too close to call, Republicans stood to make small gains. But the minority party could not gain control of either the Senate or Assembly, despite Republican Chris Christie’s 20-plus point win over Democrat Barbara Buono.”

The Inquirer again: “Philadelphia voters elected 10 new judges Tuesday and reelected 18 more in yes-or-no retention votes, paying little attention to negative recommendations on four candidates from the Philadelphia Bar Association. All of the new judges were running as Democrats, the key to electoral success amid Tuesday’s light voting in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by better than 6-1.”

City voters also approved, by a 2-1 ratio, a $94 million bond issue to pay for “street paving, park and recreation facilities, computer system upgrades, and police station renovations, among other projects.”