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EVANSVILLE Across the Hoosier prairies, hills and hollers, as the cornfields morphed into city limits and neighborhoods, something beautiful occurred Tuesday night.

There were elections in more than 100 cities and towns. There were some 250 or so candidates for mayor from the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian parties, as well as some independents and write-ins. More than half of them lost.

And in nearly all the races that Ive monitored, those candidates who came up short at the ballot box conceded.

There were no charges of rigged or stolen elections. Thats because Americas election process worked. It did Tuesday with only a few hitches. Like it did in 2020 and 2016.

There is no sugar coating an election loss. It stings. Or as Adlai Stevenson acknowledged after one of his two losses to Dwight Eisenhower, he quoted Abraham Lincoln who said, He was too old to cry, but it hurt too much to laugh.

In Carmel, Democrat Councilman Miles Nelson lost to Republican Sue Finkam 57-42%. When he conceded two hours after the polls closed, Nelson said, Because of you, we have moved the needle in this community. We showed this community that a choice is good. This community is going to continue to be a phenomenal place to live.

There was a much closer race in Fort Wayne, where Democrat Mayor Tom Henry narrowly defeated Councilman Tom Didier by just 1,700 votes. It was a rematch from a city council race 20 years ago where the Republican won, launching Henry on a path that would bring him a record five consecutive mayoral wins in Indianas second largest city.

About three hours after the polls closed, Didier called Henry to congratulate him on the win. Henry said that in turn he thanked Didier for a spirited and professional campaign. The two agreed to meet to discuss Didiers ideas for the city in a future meeting.

I worked tirelessly 16 hours every day working on this campaign for over two years, Didier said. I gave it my all. I have to accept it and move on.

And then Didier turned up at Mayor Henrys victory party, with WANE-TV capturing the moment where the vanquished Republican could be seen talking to the mayors wife Cindy, offering his congratulations and shaking her hand

Here in Evansville, a century after Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson rose up from this city to lead a racist takeover of the state of Indiana, voters on Tuesday elected Stephanie Terry the first Black woman as mayor.

Honestly, its surreal. I never believed an African American could really be in this position, Terry told WFIE-TV after she declared victory on a 49%-40% win over Republican Natalie Rascher, while Libertarian Michael Daugherty received 11% of the vote. The fact is our city is ready to move forward; that this city really is for everyone and that we can be inclusive.

Rascher told supporters, Its OK. It doesnt matter what position you hold, to be a leader. And I know I will continue to be a leader in our community. I know all of these candidates over here will continue to be leaders in our community.

Rascher told her supporters how important it is to lose gracefully. My kids were sitting there, she said. I didnt want them crying and upset, you know, you win some, you lose some.

The late Kansas Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Dole said after he lost to President Bill Clinton, Sure, losing an election hurts, but Ive experienced worse. And at an age when every day is precious, brooding over what might have been is self-defeating. In conceding the 1996 election, I remarked that tomorrow will be the first time in my life I dont have anything to do. I was wrong. Seventy-two hours after conceding the election, I was swapping wisecracks with David Letterman on his late-night show.

Across Indiana, the notion rigged elections and the cruelty of social media has sent a shiver through the process. There were almost 40 uncontested mayoral races this year, including cities like Kokomo, Jeffersonville, Hammond and Elkhart. Many of these cities had had competitive mayoral races in recent cycles.

Ive been covering politics for 40 years, and I cannot recall this many uncontested mayoral races in a cycle.

Mayor-elect Finkam noted in a social media after her October debate with Nelson in which she was asked to denounce the Moms for Liberty group, This is why people dont run for public office. Ive been called a nazi, racist and money hungry whore, and followed by a person with a camera, since I would not bend to my opponents theatrics.

Theatrics aside, Founding Father Thomas Jefferson once said, We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

President Abraham Lincoln once observed, Elections belong to the people. Its their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., the late president of the University of Notre Dame, observed, Voting is a civic sacrament.

Brian Howey is senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.

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The beauty of democracy: Concessions of the vanquished - Journal Review

Election Day is nearly here, and when voters head to the ballots, they may notice fewer choices than usual.

Since 2020, third-party candidates have had a difficult time appearing on the ballot, and those changes are now being felt on the national level too.

Third-party candidates have always played a role in presidential elections, but the nations two-party system is often an impossible hurdle to climb.

Since 1900, only five third-party candidates have captured at least one electoral vote, one of those being George Wallace in 1968.

"The Electoral College system really makes it so that any vote not for one of the two major parties, you're running the risk of sort of throwing your vote away on a candidate that isn't going to win. And if everyone sort of follows that logic, then it really becomes difficult for anyone but the two major parties to have a real shot," said Jonathan Parent, associate professor of political science at Le Moyne College.

That impact is now being felt on the local level as well across New York state. Since 2020, the number of third parties that can appear on the ballot has dropped from six to two.

The change effectively eliminated the Green, Libertarian and Independence parties from the ballots,leaving the Democratic, Republican, Working Families and Conservative parties on the ballot.

But thats not the only challenge.

"The signature requirements are a lot higher than they used to be, and the vote totals for president and governor in order to stay on the ballot have also gone up quite a bit. And so really in the last four, three or four years, New York state's made it quite a bit harder for third parties to get on the ballot in the first place, said Parent.

Statewide third party candidates need 45,000 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot triple the previous requirement.The highest statewide candidate must get 130,000 votes or 2% of votes cast to maintain ballot status for the next two years.Parties must also qualify every two years instead of four. But despite these challenges, roughly half of Americans believe a third party is needed, according to a Pew Research Center study.

"I think a lot of that has to do with most people's expectations that the 2024 election is really going to be a rematch between two pretty unpopular candidates, Trump and Biden. And I think that's just really making people anxious to look around for sort of another third option," said Parent.

Ross Perot was the first third-party candidate to participate in a televised debate with the two major candidates.

At this point, though, Robert Kennedy is not expected to be invited to any future debates.

Locally, in Broome County, District Attorney Mike Korchak lost his Republican primary in 2019, only to run as a Libertarian and win in the general election. But after losing the primary this year, he no longer had that option.

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Can a third-party candidate win? New York has made it harder - Spectrum News

Democrat incumbent Del. Shelly Simonds won the election for the newly drawn House District 70 Tuesday night, fending off two challengers.

Simonds faced challenges from Libertarian candidate Michael Bartley and Republican Matt Waters for the House of Delegates District 70 seat.

The Associated Press called the race for Simonds at 8:25 p.m. Tuesday. With 89% of the precincts reporting, Simonds held 52.9% of the vote compared to Waters 44% and Bartleys 3.2%.

In 2020, Simonds was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 94. But after redistricting, she ran as the incumbent candidate for District 70, which encompasses swaths of western and northwestern Newport News.

Im thrilled, Simonds said of her victory Tuesday night. Its been the honor of my life to serve. And Im just so happy that I get to continue some of the projects that Ive started. Im excited to continue work to make teaching the best profession in Virginia, to fight human trafficking, to pass a bill to reduce out-of-pocket costs for breast cancer screenings. I am so grateful to the voters for giving me the chance to continue this important work for my community.

Simonds, 56, said previously that if reelected she would push for reform in laws and policies governing railroad safety, human trafficking prevention and environmental justice to to keep our communities safe from crime and toxic chemicals. She said she hopes to pass a railroad safety law requiring trains to have two crew members on board to better address any emergencies on the tracks and has promised to introduce a bill requiring elementary school teachers to receive a 30 minute lunch break.

Challengers Bartley, 45, and Waters, 56, both said issues surrounding education and school policies were of top concern.

When asked what piece of legislation he would most like to see passed in the next General Assembly session, Bartley, the Libertarian, said funding for students instead of schools, such as funding to provide backpacks to K-12 students.

Waters hed like to see vouchers for up to $18,500 per child available so parents can enroll students in the school of their choice.

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8138, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com

Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com.

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Virginia House District 70 winner: Shelly Simonds The Virginian-Pilot - The Virginian-Pilot

In Tucson, Democrats appear to have swept the races for mayor and City Council.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero jumped out to an early lead when the Pima County results were released shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. Romero picked up 60.81 % of the vote. Republican Janet Wittenbraker received 31% of the vote, independent Ed Ackerly received 6.74%, and Libertarian Arthur Kerschen received 1.37%.

Regina Romero

Regina Romero

2023 Maricopa County election results at a glance

In the race for Tucson City Council in Ward 1, Democratic incumbent Lane Santa Cruz garnered 62.7% of the first votes reported while Republican Victoria Lem received 37.29%

In the Ward 2 race, Democratic Incumbent Paul Cunningham received 64.36%, while Republican Ernie Shack received 31.95%, and Libertarian Pendleton Spicer picked up 3.7% of the votes cast.

Democratic incumbent Nikki Lee also was an early leader with 65.59 % of the vote over Republican challenger Ross Kaplowitch with 34.41% of the vote.

The vote for Proposition 413 appeared to pass with first votes reported, with a 50.36% to 49.64% margin. But more votes still need to be counted.

The vote to determine whether or not Vail will be incorporated as a town appeared to fail on a 60.06%-39.94% margin.

The initial indicated a 15.8% turnout with 95% of precincts reporting.

The budget override and bond elections for Tucson area school districts all appeared to be passing when the first results were released.

In Cochise County, the bond question for the Willcox Unified School District No. 13 was too close to call. It was leading when initial votes were released, but county officials said they have more votes to count.

Curt Pendergast, co-founder of the Substack Tucson Agenda, joined The Show to break down the results from Tucson.

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Tucson Mayor Regina Romero leads in early election results - KJZZ

ATLANTA (AP) A political novice and one of the worlds wealthiest millennials, Vivek Ramaswamy has waged a whirlwind presidential campaign mirroring his meteoric rise as a biotech entrepreneur. On everything from deporting people born in the United States to ending aid to Israel and Ukraine, he consistently displays the bravado of a populist, self-declared outsider.

I stand on the side of revolution, he declares. Thats what Im going to lead in a way that no establishment politician can.

In business and politics, though, Ramaswamy has run into skeptics and sometimes hard facts that threatened to derail his ambitions. In the 2024 campaign, the Israel-Hamas war has refocused the Republican primary on foreign policy and exposed just how much Ramaswamy's self-declared revolutionary approach puts him at odds with the party's most powerful figures and many of its voters.

At Wednesday's primary debate, Ramaswamy joined the rest of the field in supporting Israel's offensive but returned to his practice of not just critiquing his opponents but mocking them. Ramaswamy skewered Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who some online sleuths suggest wears lifts in his boots, by asking, Do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?

The performance drew eye rolls and derision on stage. When Ramaswamy implied Haley was being hypocritical in criticizing the social media platform TikTok because her daughter has previously used it, the 51-year-old mother of two called him scum.

Ramaswamy, an Ohio native who also lives there, has wowed many audiences with his rapid-fire, wide-ranging discourse. Yet even some Republican voters who come away impressed are not backing him. He's among a group of candidates who trail former President Donald Trump and generally fall behind DeSantis in national surveys, polling in the mid to high single digits.

Ann Trimble Ray, a Republican activist from Early, Iowa, suggested Ramaswamy exposes his naivete in part with what hes said about Israel, but also his inexperience.

Unless youve had the experience of someone who has had exposure to the briefings, what you communicate is a whole lot of conjecture," said Ray, who is leaning toward backing Haley.

The 38-year-old son of Indian immigrants has spent his adult life as a sort of boastful savior. In business, that meant building a fortune by hyping a drug that ultimately failed. In politics, it means arguing he can return Trump's America First vision to the White House without the baggage.

Ramaswamy set his course at Harvard, a pillar of the American establishment. Ramaswamy majored in biology and participated in the campus Republican club, standing out even there as a libertarian. He drew attention from the campus newspaper for his alter ego, Da Vek, a rapper who performed using libertarian ideology as lyrics.

I consider myself a contrarian; I like to argue, Ramaswamy told The Crimson.

Harvard introduced Ramaswamy to the hedge-fund class. He interned at Goldman Sachs, the most prestigious Wall Street investment house, then won a job at QVT Financial, founded by another Harvard alumnus, Dan Gold. Ramaswamy led the firm's pharmaceutical investments.

Ramaswamy launched his own venture in 2014. He named it Roivant the ROI standing for return on investment and had a clear business model in mind: Buy discount patents for drugs languishing in the development phase, then resurrect them.

In his first big move, Ramaswamy used a subsidiary, Axovant, and paid GlaxoSmithKline $5 million for RVT-101, a potential Alzheimer's drug already put through multiple trials and deemed not promising enough to continue. Ramaswamy rebranded it as intepirdine and, despite the earlier studies, touted it as a game-changer, a best-in-class drug candidate, he told The New York Times during Axovant's infancy. He landed on the cover of Forbes magazine.

The hype worked. Intepirdine never would.

Axovant's initial public stock offering in 2015 drew $315 million, the largest-ever biotech IPO to that point, and Axovant's valuation approached $3 billion. In 2017, Axovant released more trial results that found the drug ineffective at dampening Alzheimers symptoms or its advancement. Axovant stock tanked.

Ramaswamy, though, had pocketed tens of millions, divesting himself of shares whose value had swelled because of public buy-in.

He pumped up the image and the name so people invested, while he was selling out, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a scholar at the Yale School of Management who tracks Ramaswamys business dealings. Thats classic pump and dump.

On his 2015 tax return, one of 20 years worth he has disclosed, Ramaswamy reported almost $38 million in capital gains income. He parlayed that into a portfolio now measured in the hundreds of millions, enough to dwarf the $15 million he has loaned his own campaign.

He became a conservative author and cable news regular, mainly as a critic of corporate America's focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. In that role, and as a candidate, Ramaswamy sidesteps that some of his own interests he invested in Disney, a punching bag for conservatives are leaders in DEI efforts.

Ramaswamy embraces the notion that he is Donald Trump 2.0.

I believe Donald Trump was an excellent president, Ramaswamy said while campaigning in Atlanta. But I do believe that we need to take our America First agenda to the next level, and I think it will take an outsider from a different generation with an actual positive vision.

Ramaswamy has promised to pardon the former president if he is convicted of federal crimes, including those related to the Capitol Hill attack in 2021. In one of his earlier books, Ramaswamy called Jan. 6 a dark day for democracy" and criticized Trumps abhorrent behavior assessments he no longer repeats.

Ramaswamy advocates deporting the American-born children of immigrants in the country illegally, though they are U.S. citizens under federal law and Supreme Court precedent. He questions the government's account of 9/11. He's called for firing 75% of the federal workforce. He wants to raise the U.S. voting age.

Two days after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack killed 1,400 people, Ramaswamy suggested the U.S. withhold aid to Israel until its government detailed plans for Gaza.

While many conservatives dislike foreign aid, Republican voters align heavily with Israel.

About 4 in 10 Republicans (44%) say the United States current level of support for Israel in the conflict with the Palestinians is about right, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research poll conducted in November. Another one-third of Republicans (34%) say the U.S. isn't supportive enough, compared with 9% of Democrats who say the same.

During Wednesday's debate, Ramaswamy endorsed Israels right to counterattack Hamas but said Americans should not have a financial stake in the war. He chided his opponents for framing U.S. aid to Ukraine as a fight for democracy against Russian aggression.

I want to be careful to avoid making the mistakes from the neocon establishment of the past. Corrupt politicians in both parties spent trillions, killed millions, he said. Made billions for themselves in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting wars that sent thousands of our sons and daughters, people my age, to die in wars that did not advance everyones interests, adding $7 trillion to our national debt.

Ramaswamy jousted recently with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson over Ramaswamy's accusations of systemic corruption in the U.S. establishment.

When Sean Hannity, the hugely influential Fox News personality, challenged Ramaswamy after his interview with Carlson, the candidate insisted he was mischaracterized. Retorted Hannity: You do this in every single interview. You say stuff but then you deny it, your own words.

Trump's critics accuse him of doing that as well. The former president also got in trouble with top Republicans for denigrating Israel's prime minister after the Hamas attack. Yet Trump remains such an overwhelming favorite to win the GOP nomination that he has skipped each debate, leaving Ramaswamy to absorb punches most candidates never direct toward the former president.

I am telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president, Haley retorted Wednesday, saying the Russian and Chinese leaders would love his isolationism.

Ramaswamy showed his core strategy earlier this year in a brief huddle with a 16-year-old who asked for advice. Find where the pack is going and then figure out what they missed, Ramaswamy told him. You have to buck the consensus.

But he added a bottom line: You have to be right.

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Vivek Ramaswamy's approach in business and politics is the same ... - WCPO 9 Cincinnati