As his opponent pointed out, Matt Blunt is only 33 years old — and now he’s the governor-elect. Blunt beat Democrat Claire McCaskill in a close race, 51-percent to 47-percent. In his speech to supporters after McCaskill conceded defeat, Blunt called for “real change” at the state Capitol. He says he’s ready to pursue that change in health care, transportation and other areas. McCaskill had bucked her own party to defeat incumbent Governor Bob Holden.
Senator Bond has made history, becoming just the fifth man in Missouri history to represent Missouri in the U-S Senate for more than three terms. He beat Democrat Nancy Farmer — the outgoing state treasurer — 56-percent to 42-percent for his fourth term. The 56-percent vote is the biggest for Bond since he started running for the U-S Senate. He says he’s looking forward to getting back to the work of governing the country: working on a highway bill, fighting the war on terror, and trying to stop the making and trafficking of illegal drugs.
President Bush captured the state much more easily than expected yesterday. Bush won about 53-and-a-half percent of the vote. John Kerry won 46-percent of the vote. The other candidates captured less than one-percent of the vote. Among them, Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party had the most votes–with fewer than ten-thousand statewide.
Democrat Bekki Cook and Republican Peter Kinder are locked in a close race for lieutenant governor. The two candidates are separated by about 19-thousand votes, out of more than two-point-six million cast. With only a few precincts remaining, that amounts to a relatively strong lead for Kinder.
In the secretary of state’s race, Robin Carnahan soundly defeated Republican Catherine Hanaway. Carnahan won 51-percent of the vote, and Hanaway received votes from only about 46-and-a-half percent of voters.
The new state treasurer is Republican Sarah Steelman. She won 51-point-one percent of the votes in her race against Democrat Mark Powell. Powell got 46-percent.
Attorney General Jay Nixon easily won re-election. He won nearly 60 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Chris Byrd. Bird won 37-point-seven-percent of the ballots cast.
Voters have overwhelmingly decided to restrict the spending of gas-tax revenue by state government. A proposal to require all gas-tax money to be spent on Missouri highway projects passed by a nearly four-to-one margin. Seventy-nine percent of the voters approved the amendment. Only about 21-percent voted against it.
