Republicans and conservatives notched stunning wins in elections across the country in victories amid voter sentiment fueled by a "year of the outsider."
Voters in Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, and in cities like Houston and San Francisco soundly rejected Democratic candidates or Democrat-backed measures.
Here's a sampling of the conservative wave:
Matt Bevin's upset victory in the Kentucky's governor's race makes him just the second Republican to govern the state in four decades,
The Washington Post notes.
And in bemoaning the defeat of Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, Democratic Governors Association head Elisabeth Pearson called the win a consequence of "Trumpmania" in a "year of the outsider," the Post reports.
But the victory also illustrated how a conservative voters' base came out in droves, likely in response to social issues including the effort to defund Planned Parenthood and the anti-same sex marriage fight of court clerk Kim Davis, the Post reports.
- Republicans held their seats in Virginia's state Senate — a rebuke to Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a blow to his party hoping to bolster the tie-breaking authority of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Post notes.
- In San Francisco — where the gunshot death of Kate Steinle allegedly by illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez enflamed voters — the sheriff who defended the city's "sanctuary" policy went down in flames, the Post reports.
- Mississippi GOP Gov. Phil Bryant's re-election only illustrated the "south is becoming even redder," according to the Post's blog writer James Hohmann. In that state's elections, The Clarion Ledger reports, the GOP increased its majority in its House and toppled the House minority leader.
Hohmann writes the Bevin win in Kentucky also puts "another big nail in the coffin for big labor unions in the South," considering the governor-elect's aim to make Kentucky a "right to work" state.
"Bevin is certainly an ideologue, but I've seen him show signs of a profound pragmatic streak," writes Hohmann.
"He told me last week that he'll lead in the tradition of a former KFC CEO, a moderate Democrat, who was not beholden to anyone and cleaned up state government in the '70s. His efforts to make nice with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who attacked him fiercely last year, show that he's capable of becoming a serious politician."
Hohmann warns that despite the wave of conservative and GOP victories, turnout was "very low" across the country, warning: "Republicans could over interpret the results at their own peril."
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