In an election upset, Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Brat lost his House seat to Abigail Spanberger.

Spanberger, who has never held public office, is a former CIA officer and Federal Postal Inspector.

A Democrat, Spanberger won the election in a newly court-drawn congressional district now including areas considered stronger for the Democrats, such as Richmond, Virginia.

Brat has held the House seat for two terms, having beaten House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014.

Spanberger’s election victory yesterday in Virginia helped the Democrats gain control of the U.S. House.

Incumbent Republican Governor Chris Sununu won last night’s election in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is only one of two states where governors are elected to two-year terms.

Sununu, son of former governor John H. Sununu, was first elected in 2016.  At 42 years old, he was the youngest governor in the United States when he initially took office.

Sununu’s centrist platform focused on the strong economy, low unemployment rate, success with fighting the state’s opioid crisis, and reforming mental health and child welfare systems, according to US News.

Molly Kelly, a former state senator from Harrisville, was the 2018 democratic challenger. Kelly presented a strong challenge to Sununu, despite early polling indications giving him a double digit projected win.

Despite the strong challenge, this was an uphill battle—state voters very rarely unseat an incumbent governor after their first term, with only two governors in the last 100 years losing after one term.

Despite the governor’s office being a democratic stronghold from 1997 to 2017, New Hampshire has elected 13 Republican governors since World War 2.

Governor Tom Wolf was re-elected in Pennsylvania with a resounding 57.6 percent of the vote.  Republican challenger Scott Wagner did not pose a challenge, winning only 40.8 percent of the vote.

The win does not come as a surprise, as Governor Wolf led by double digits in every independent poll preceding the election.

Governor Wolf indicated he would continue working on his first-term priorities, including school funding.

He has advocated for many liberal causes, including ending the death penalty and expanding Medicaid.

Democratic candidates won at least seven gubernatorial races in Republican-held states on Tuesday.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker narrowly lost to Tony Evers in his bid for a third term, and Gov. Bruce Rauner lost big to billionaire J.B. Pritzker in deep-blue Illinois.

In addition to these victories, Democrats also picked up open seats in Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Races yet to be called include Alaska, Connecticut, and Georgia.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has kept his senate seat after a fierce election contest brought by U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

O’Rourke, a three-term Democratic Congressman from El Paso, Texas, garnered national attention for creating a competitive race against Cruz, who had been assumed to have a seat safe from any real election challenge.

The challenge by O’Rourke motivated president Trump, a sometimes-critic of Cruz, to hold a political rally for the Republican senate candidate in October in Houston.

Cruz’s election victory yesterday in Texas helped the Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate.

The battle to be Georgia’s next governor continues as Democrat Stacey Abrams refuses to concede to Republican Brian Kemp. Kemp holds a small margin of less than 70,000 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Democrats believe there are enough votes submitted by mail still left uncounted to close the gap.

Abrams, a former state legislator, is the first female African-American to be a major party’s nominee for governor. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Secretary of State, is attempting to break a 20-year slump for Republicans running for governor.

The race took an ugly turn this past weekend as Kemp’s office opened an investigation into the state’s Democratic Party for an alleged attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system. No evidence was cited and the Democrats denied the allegations.

In Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers upset incumbent Republican Scott Walker in the governor’s race.

Evers denied Walker a third term with 49.6% of the vote to Walker’s 48.4%.

Walker lost two key groups he carried in 2014, independents and college graduates.

Evers won in a landslide in urban Dane County and Milwaukee County, winning by more than 150,000 votes and 140,000 votes, respectively.

City of San Diego voters approved Measure L to limit lobbying and campaign activities of elected city officers.

The measure increases the restriction on lobbying by former city officials from one to two years.

The measure also eliminates the city elective officer exception to receiving honoraria prohibited by state law.

Utah voters passed Amendment C allowing the Legislature to call itself into a special session.

This came after Gov. Gary Herbert refused to call lawmakers to set a special election to fill the vacancy created by the departure of U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz.

Amendment C will allow legislators to convene if two-thirds of the House and Senate agree it is necessary because of a fiscal crisis, war, natural disaster or emergency.

The amendment also allows the Legislature to hold a special session outside the Capitol if the building isn’t available.

Voters appear headed to approve Amendment C as unofficial vote totals show it winning 63.2 percent to 36.8 percent.

New York City voters approved a ballot measure related to campaign finance on Tuesday.

Proposal 1 amends the City Charter by reducing contribution limits for all candidates and amending public matching funds for candidates participating in the public financing program.

Contributions for non-participating candidates will be reduced as follows:

• Citywide offices, from $5,100 to $3,500
• Borough President, from $3,950 to $2,500
• City Council, from $2,850 to $1,500

The amendments will apply to participating candidates who choose to have the amendments apply to their campaigns beginning with the 2021 primary election and would then apply to all candidates beginning in 2022.

The City of Long Beach, California voted to establish a city ethics commission.

Measure CCC creates an independent ethics commission charged with administering and implementing rules concerning campaign financing, lobbying, conflicts of interest and governmental ethics.

The commission will also develop an educational program for candidates and lobbyists with the city.

The city’s agreement with the Fair Political Practices Commission to assist in the enforcement of local ethics laws remains in place.

A majority of city voters endorsed Measure 2E, banning corporations and labor organizations from donating directly to political campaigns for city offices and lowering the cap on donations for mayor, City Council, and other government posts.

Beginning January 1, 2020, mayoral candidates will be prohibited from accepting more than $1,000 per donor, as opposed to $3,000.

Individual donations for at-large council members will drop from $2,000 to $700, and donations to district candidates will be capped at $400 instead of $1,000.

Voters in Phoenix overwhelmingly passed Proposition 419, an amendment to the Charter of the City of Phoenix requiring any person, association of persons or entity making expenditures to influence the result of a city election to disclose and identify expenditures and contributions including original and intermediary sources of major contributions.

This is the latest in a nationwide trend to limit the influence of so-called dark money.

Proponents for the proposition argued Proposition 419 was a critical step to restoring the public’s trust in our elections.

The proposition passed 86.1 percent to 13.89 percent.

North Carolina voters defeated a constitutional amendment to establish an eight-member Bipartisan Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

In defeating the amendment, voters validated a previous North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that struck down a 2017 law establishing the eight-member board because it reduced the governor’s executive authority and failed to provide representation for unaffiliated voters.

Currently, the governor appoints eight of nine members of the board from nominees provided by the two largest political parties.

The governor appoints the ninth member from nominations provided by the other eight members.