McConnell Victory Kicks Off Midterm Results Reports

If there were going to be any big upsets as the results of the 2014 midterm elections started coming in Tuesday, the race for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat wasn’t one of them.

Based on early returns, the Kentucky Republican reclaimed his spot without much of a threat from challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes. Looks like he’ll also be joined by newly minted Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia’s first female senator, who roundly defeated Natalie Tennant in their bid to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, again according to initial projections.

CNN sprang into speculation mode as the polls began closing around the country:

The first wave of exit polls analyzed by CNN Tuesday evening show dissatisfaction with the president’s administration. Roughly six in ten voters are either angry or dissatisfied with Obama, though about the same proportion feel the same way about Republican leaders in Congress. And most voters have an unfavorable view of both parties.

The data also reveals a fearful electorate. Seven in ten voters are somewhat or very worried about a terrorist attack on US soil while 50 percent disapprove of the federal government’s response to the Ebola crisis.

If the network Ted Turner built is accurate in its analysis, then fanning the public’s fears is apparently still a reliable way to prod them into the voting booths.

Want to draw your own conclusions about what else the night’s reports might bring? The New York Times helpfully drew up this how-to guide to making sense of the midterm election results. Or let Amy Goodman and the good people at “Democracy Now!” walk you through it all by watching their live coverage here.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson