ELECTION ROUNDUP In one of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the nation, California Republican MEG WHITMAN ’77, the former CEO of eBay and lead donor for Princeton’s Whitman College, fell to former Gov. Jerry Brown. Whitman spent a record $140 million of her own money in the race. ... On the other side of the country, former Republican Gov. ROBERT EHRLICH ’79 of Maryland lost to incumbent Democrat Martin O’Malley. Ehrlich was trying to regain the office he held from 2003 to 2007.
Colorado Republican KEN BUCK ’81, the district attorney for Weld County who had the Tea Party’s endorsement, lost a close race for a U.S. Senate seat against Democrat Michael Bennet, the state’s junior senator.
In contests for seats in the House of Representatives, alumni had mixed results. NAN SUTTER HAYWORTH ’81, a retired ophthalmologist and Republican challenger in New York’s 19th District, scored an upset win over incumbent Democrat Rep. John Hall. ... As expected, TERRI SEWELL ’86, the Democratic candidate in Alabama’s 7th District, defeated Republican Don Chamberlain and will become the state’s first female African-American representative to be elected to Congress (see page 22 for a feature article on Sewell).
LEONARD LANCE *82, an incumbent Republican from New Jersey’s 7th District, held off a challenge from Democrat Ed Potosnak.
JARED SCHUTZ POLIS ’96, an incumbent Democrat in Colorado’s 2nd District, defeated Republican Stephen Bailey, and JOHN SARBANES ’84, an incumbent Democrat from Maryland’s 3rd District, will return to Congress after winning his race against Republican Jim Wilhelm.
But JIM MARSHALL ’72, a four-term incumbent Democrat from Georgia’s 8th District, fell to Republican Austin Scott, a longtime representative in the state’s General Assembly. ... RAVI SANGISETTY ’03, a Houma, La., lawyer and Democrat in Louisiana’s 3rd District, was defeated by Republican Jeff Landry in a race for the seat vacated by Senate candidate Charlie Melancon. ... And TIM VAN BLOMMESTEYN ’75, a small-business owner and independent challenger in New Hampshire’s 2nd District, finished third in a race won by Republican Charlie Bass.
RANDY ALTSCHULER ’93, a co-founder of two startup businesses and Republican challenger in New York’s 1st District, remained in a close race with Rep. Tim Bishop, a four-term incumbent Democrat, more than a week after the election. Altschuler had a lead of just under 400 votes when officials began counting more than 9,000 absentee ballots Nov. 16.
In other races: Democrat STEVE GROSSMAN ’67 won the contest for treasurer in Massachusetts, while in the same state, independent candidate JAMES HENDERSON ’87 lost in his challenge to incumbent Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, a Democrat. ... In Wisconsin, Democratic lieutenant-governor candidate TOM NELSON *04 and his running mate, Tom Barrett, were defeated by the Republican ticket of Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch.
The Navajo Nation chose REX LEE JIM ’86, the subject of PAW’s Nov. 3 cover story, to be the next vice president of the Navajo nation. He was the running mate of victorious presidential candidate Ben Shelly. One week before the election, a special prosecutor filed charges against Shelly and 77 Navajo council delegates, including Jim, alleging misuse of discretionary funds. Jim, who was accused of misusing $3,200, told PAW that the charges were false, saying they were politically motivated and “it’s all an election thing.”