Election results play to projected script across the region

There were few suprises in last night’s mid-term elections across the region.

11:15 p.m. Among the winners in Philadelphia races were incumbent U.S. Reps. Bob Brady (85 percent) and Chaka Fattah (91 percent), incoming U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (75 percent), incoming state Sen. Art Haywood (95 percent) and incumbent state Rep. Pamela DeLissio (71 percent).

All three ballot questions also passed with at least 64 percent of the vote.

10:45 p.m. For a round-up of New Jersey election results, visit NewsWorks’ NJ election-returns page.

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10:15 p.m. The Associated Press is reporting that Republican Tom MacArthur has won New Jersey’s most closely watched and expensive U.S. House race, defeating Democrat Aimee Belgard.

The 3rd District seat was open as Republican Jon Runyan decided not to seek re-election after serving two terms.

10:05 p.m. Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has just taken the stage in York, Pa. to celebrate his victory over Gov. Tom Corbett.

“I just received a phone call from Gov. Corbett and he gave me a very gracious, gracious concession speech. I think we owe him a debt of gratitude … for his years of public service,” he said, asking his supporters to give a round of applause.

“We need to re-establish education as a priority,” he said, launching into the issues that drove his campaign and, ultimately, victory. “We have to ensure we fund our education system fairly.”

He also noted a commitment to job creation and establishing a level playing field for everybody.

“We’re going to have to take some risks and look forward to a future with optimism,” he said in a victory speech that, bookended by John Cougar’s “Small Town,” lasted 10 minutes.

9:45 p.m. Gov. Tom Corbett is delivering his concession speech. He said he just spoke with Governor-Elect Tom Wolf. He noted that he’s enjoyed “a happy and blessed career.”

He said he is proud of what he’s done in office because he did it “for the right reasons.” He cited balanced budgets, reduced waste and “increased spending in education.”

Corbett noted that he delivered on the promises he made when elected four years ago and said that people may not like it.

“Obviously, they didn’t,” he said, adding that despite being a one-term governor, “I’m proud of what we did.”

Via the live feed from Wolf’s victory party, supporters were heard singing, “Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.”

9:25 p.m. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has taken the stage at Tom Wolf’s victory party in York, Pa. 

Wolf will be the kind of governor to give Pennsylvania “a fresh start,” he said, lauding Wolf and supporters like for their hard work during the campaign.

9:15 p.m. Republican U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo has defeated the son of his predecessor in Congress to win an 11th term representing a southern New Jersey district, according to the Associated Press.

LoBiondo defeated Bill Hughes Jr. on Tuesday to keep his seat in the 2nd District.

Hughes’ father represented the district from 1975 until 1995.

A poll last month showed Hughes within 6 percentage points of LoBiondo. But the incumbent said he had no plans to change his campaign strategy.

9:10 p.m. The Associated Press has declared that U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah wins his 11th term in Congress.

Not 20 minutes later, a press release from Fattah’s office announced that he’d be Philadelphia and Montgomery County voters at the Broad and Olney Transit Center along with City Councilwoman Cindy Bass and newly elected state Sen. Art Haywood at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.

9:08 p.m. According to the Associated Press, Democrat Donald Norcross has beaten former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Garry Cobb to take a congressional seat representing southern New Jersey.

Norcross is a state senator who has spent most of his career as an electrician and union official.

He also is the brother of New Jersey’s most politically powerful non-elected Democrat, George Norcross. Donald Norcross has downplayed the role of his brother in his campaign and political ambitions.

He defeated Republican Cobb in Tuesday’s election in the 1st District, a heavily Democratic area in the Philadelphia suburbs.

He also won a special election to serve the remainder of the term of Rep. Rob Andrews, a longtime Democratic congressman who resigned this year.

9:05 p.m. NewsWorks content partner NBC10 will air Tom Wolf’s victory speech and Tom Corbett’s concession live. You can watch the feeds from both here.

8:52 p.m. Tom Wolf, the projected next governor of Pennsylvania, has thanked voters via Twitter. His message: “Thank you, Pennsylvania!

With four percent of precincts reporting, incumbent U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah leads Republican challenger Armond James by an 85-percent margin.

8:50 p.m. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware has won re-electon, according to projections.

8:45 p.m. Kimberly Paynter of NewsWorks, live at the Utz Center in York, Pa., reports that Tom Wolf is expected to speak at 9 p.m. Numerous media outlets have declared him the winner over incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett.

8:15 p.m. NPR and NBC News are among the media outlets who’ve already called Tom Wolf as having won the Pennsylvania governor’s race, ousting incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett after one term in office.

In New Jersey, the Associated Press has declared Cory Booker as having “handily won his first re-election bid to the U.S. Senate a year after taking the seat in a special election.”

The former Newark mayor defeated GOP challenger Jeff Bell, a conservative with low name recognition whose signature issue was backing the dollar with a gold standard.

7:50 p.m. Reporting in from her South Philadelphia polling place, NewsWorks’ Elana Gordon notes that, sometimes, “the 50-year-old voting machines go out.”

To rectify this, a woman working at the polling place at 10th and Morris rubbed her hand on metal, then gave the machine an electric shock with her finger.

“And,” Gordon reports, “it turned back on.”

7:45 p.m. NewsWorks‘ Neema Roshania checks in from her polling place at 10th and Walnut sts. in Center City. She was voter no. 363.

Poll workers reported a steady stream of voters all day and that just about half of those registered to vote at the location have passed through.

7 p.m. NewsWorks alum Emma Jacobs checking in on voter turnout in South Philadelphia later in the day:

Democratic volunteer Ryan O’Donnell was knocking on doors of South Philadelphia row houses just hours before the polls closed.

“On Election Day especially, you’re done with persuasion and you just search for people to turn out,” O’Donnell said. “If someone is even not partially not interested in supporting your candidate, then you just say ‘thank you very much’ and you move on quickly as you can to get on to the next person. Then, you can get to the next person who might just be willing to support your candidate but not turn out to the polls.”

With O’Donnell was the Democratic committeeman for the second ward’s 19th division, Jon Geeting. He has been monitoring turnout at his polling place at 11th and Catherine sts. throughout the day.

“Everyone seems to have been surprised by the turnout,” he said.

While in his division, by the early evening, that meant only a third of voters had visited their polling place, “the consensus out there seems to be that turnout is higher than usual today.”

6 p.m. Radio Times’ Emily Bryant just voted at Wilmington, Del.’s First Unitarian Church.

About half of the district had shown up (800 of 1,700) to vote, which is lower than a Presidential election turnout but higher than expected.

 

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