Unlike the heated midterm elections of 2010, Election Day 2013 was a relatively quiet affair. There was little fallout from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” despite the continued snags and “glitches” of the new health care law’s rollout.
In 2010, however, Democratic members of Congress up for re-election were hit hard for their support in passing the law. The Affordable Care Act was approved 60-39 in the Senate and 219-212 in the House of Representatives in March 2010. In both cases, the law had a bare-bones Democratic majority.
That November, the Republicans gained six seats in the Senate and 63 in the House, ushering in a new era — a Republican-controlled House, doggedly and dogmatically determined to roll back President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda, including and especially the Affordable Care Act.
The 2013 elections saw far fewer controversies, which is par for the course in a presidential off year. Fewer people pay attention, let alone vote, so that’s absolutely to be expected.
Despite the implosion of a certain Democrat’s campaign for New York mayor (remember former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his little sexting problem?), the remaining Democrats managed to escape getting tagged by the issue. Bill de Blasio triumphed in the race to become New York’s first Democratic mayor in two decades.
In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe defeated state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, R-Va., to win the governor’s race. Cuccinelli is notorious among political junkies for his ardent support of reinstating Virginia’s anti-sodomy laws (though the U.S. Supreme Court declared such laws to be unconstitutional in 2003).
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie won re-election quite handily with 60.5 percent of the vote, in a blue state, no less. The man whom many tout as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016 (though he’s currently polling behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) even managed to wrangle about 30 percent of the Democratic vote.
Back in Arizona, it was a quiet night on the Western front with no gubernatorial race, sheriff’s race or even dogcatcher on the state ballot. There were, however, several bond elections and two races for Phoenix City Council.
Chances are that if you did actually vote on Nov. 5 in Arizona, you probably voted on school district bond overrides.
According to Arizona law, school districts that exceed their operating budget may submit a bond issue on the ballot for all qualified electors in that school district in order to increase their funding.
There were 27 school districts that placed overrides on the ballot and the election results were mixed: 13 overrides were approved, while 14 failed. Tempe Union High School District’s bond override was approved with 58.5 percent of the vote, while those in favor of Phoenix Union High School District’s override were in a statistical tie with those who opposed it. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the vote was 18,492-18,456. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to the vast variability of bond override votes — the only tentative conclusion is that many voters don’t understand what a bond override election is. All I know is, ironically, I never learned that in school.
While the election results in New Jersey and New York and Virginia may be making headlines, it ultimately will have little, if any, effect in Arizona (perhaps only if Christie does end up running for president, as so many expect).
Funding public schools at the local level is an issue that must receive more public debate and support than it currently sees.
Reach the columnist at skthoma4@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @savannahkthomas
