The 2012 election was the longest and most expensive election that has ever taken place. It ended Tuesday night when election results were announced, after voters voted earlier that day. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were re-elected for second terms, defeating Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. The House and Senate are still under Republican and Democratic control, respectively. Locally, there was a major upset in the gubernatorial race. Pat McCrory, a Republican, was elected as governor of North Carolina. He is the first Republican governor of North Carolina in twenty years. He defeated Walter Dalton, the Democratic candidate.Many local incumbent candidates were re-elected, including June Atkinson, the North Carolina superintendent of public instruction; Beth Wood, the North Carolina auditor; and Renee Ellmers, David Price, and Howard Coble, members of the United States House of Representatives. Dan Forest won the race for lieutenant governor over Linda Coleman. Forest and Coleman were neck and neck, each having fifty percent of the votes. Forest won the election with 12,000 more votes than Coleman.
Nationwide, many surprising votes and important laws were passed. Gay marriage was passed in both Maine and Maryland, and
Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana for adults 21 and over. Tammy Baldwin became the first openly lesbian United States senator. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran with a disability, was also elected. Candidates like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock lost the election after they publicly discussed their views on rape. Todd Akin said that the female body shuts down its reproductive system if it undergoes “legitimate rape.” Mourdock said that, “I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen.”Many have been disappointed by this year’s election results, calling it “anti-climactic” because Barack Obama retained the presidency and the House and Senate will be controlled by the same parties they were controlled by in the previous term. Local results however, like the North Carolina gubernatorial race, may cause dramatic changes in the government.
Compare the National Election results with the results of the OHS Mock Election.
0 comments