Everyone knows the headline results from Tuesday: President Obama was re-elected; Pat McCrory will be the next governor; Republicans control the General Assembly; and Justice Newby narrowly retained his seat. But there are lots of interesting details in the State Board of Election’s preliminary results, here. For example: Every district attorney who ran this year was unopposed. The only sitting superior court judge who was not re-elected was Judge Abe Jones, narrowly defeated in Wake County by Public Defender Bryan Collins. The three court of appeals judges who essentially campaigned as a package met very different fates. Judge McGee retained her seat with 61% of the vote, Judge Bryant won more narrowly, and Judge Thigpen lost with only 47% of the vote. In other news: Perhaps he will behave differently in his second term, but this recent study concludes that “President Obama . . . has granted clemency at a lower rate than any modern president . . . pardoning just 22 individuals while denying 1,019. He has given pardons to roughly 1 of every 50 individuals whose applications were processed by the Justice Department. At this point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan had pardoned 1 of every 3 such applicants. George H.W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 16. Bill Clinton had pardoned 1 in 8. George W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 33.” Seems like there's a pretty clear trend line, regardless of party. As a final note on the election, this story notes the re-election of Chicago Judge Cynthia [...]
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