Alabama: Romney won the state with just over 60% of the vote. Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, again become chief justice. He made headlines in 2003 by refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from the courthouse.
Alaska: Romney won the state with 55% of the vote. Republicans took over the state legislature.
Arizona: Romney won with 54.8% of the vote. Jeff Flake won retiring Senator Jon Kyl's seat. Flake defeated Richard Carmona, the former Bush administration surgeon general. Sheriff Joe Arpaio won a sixth term. Arizonans rejected a ballot measure for a one cent per dollar sales tax for education.
Arkansas: Romney carried the state with 60.5% of the vote. Republicans won a majority in the state legislature for the first time since 1874. Sen. Mark Pryor is the state's only Democratic representative in Washington. A far cry from the Bill Clinton era.
California: Barack Obama carried the state with 59.1% of the vote. Voters amended the three strike penalty law, and approved Proposition 30, which allows for temporary tax increases.
Colorado: Obama won this swing state with 51.2% of the vote. Voters legalized the possession and retail sale of marijuana in limited quantities.
Connecticut: Obama carried the state with by 58.6%. Republican Linda McMahon lost her race to the Senate for the second time.
Delaware: Obama won the state with 58.6% of the vote. Republicans did not fare well in this state on the whole.
Florida: In a very close race, it looks like Obama won Florida with 49.9% of the vote, just .6% more than Romney. Republican Representative Connie Mack lost to Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. Voters opposed ballot measures to amend the State Constitution to block parts of Obamacare and add restrictions to abortion.
Georgia: Romney won the state with 53.4% of the vote. Voters approved a measure to set up a commission made up of members appointed the governor and lieutenant governor to take charge of charter schools.
Hawaii: Obama carried this state with 70.6% of the vote. Former Governor Republican Linda Lingle lost the Senate race to Democrat Mazie Hirono, but Hawaii has not elected a Republican to the Senate in more than 40 years.
Idaho: Romney won the state with 54.5% of the vote. Voters opposed an initiative to provide every high school student with a laptop.
Illinois: No surprise, Obama won this state with 57.3% of the vote.
Indiana: While Obama won Indiana in 2008 that he lost in 2012. Romney won the state with 54.3% of the vote. Republican Jackie Walorski won a congressional seat, and Republican Mike Pence replaced Mitch Daniels as Governor, who has reached his term limit.
Iowa: Obama won the state with 52.1% of the vote. Republican Steve King was re-elected the the House by a large margin despite being redistricted.
Kansas: Romney carried the state with 60.5% of the vote. Republican Andy Barr beat Democrat incumbent Ben Chandler for a House seat.
Louisiana: Romney won the state with 57.8% of the vote. Republican House incumbents Jeff Landry and Charles Boustany will participate in a runoff in December to determine a winner. Louisiana lost a House seat in the latest census, forcing both Landry and Boustany to share the same district.
Maine: Obama carried the state with 56% of the vote. Independent Angus King won retiring Senator Olympia Snowe's seat. Despite being endorsed by New York City Mayor Bloomberg, a Democrat, it has not been confirmed whether he will caucus with the Democrats or Republicans. Maine also voted to legalize gay marriage for the second time.
Maryland: Obama won the state with 61.7% of the vote. Like Maine and Washington, Maryland voters legalized gay marriage.
Massachusetts: Obama carried the state with 60.8% of the vote, despite Romney having been Governor there. Democrat Joseph Kennedy III, Robert Kennedy's grandson, won Democrat Barney Frank's House seat. Voters approved measures to allow medicine to be prescribed to end a terminally ill patient's life, and to terminate criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana.
Michigan: Obama won the state with 52.8% of the vote. Democrat Senator Stabenow won re-election, and Republican Kerry Bentivolio won the House seat recently vacated by Republican Thaddeus McCotter amid scandal alleging signature forgery on petitions.
Minnesota: Obama carried the state with 52.8% of the vote, no surprise since Minnesota has gone blue in that last 10 election cycles. Voters rejected a constitutional amendment to limit marriage between a man and a woman.
Mississippi: Romney won this state with 55.5% of the vote, no surprise since the state has gone red in every presidential election since 1976.
Missouri: Romney won the state with 53.9% of the vote. Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill defeated Republican Todd Akin in contentious race. Women outnumbered men at the polls there 55% to 45% and favored McCaskill.
Montana: Romney won the state with 55.3% of the vote. Democratic Senator Tester was re-elected against Republican Danny Rehberg. Voters approved a measure to require the parents of minors to be notified before an abortion is performed and a measure to deny certain state services to illegal aliens.
Nebraska: Romney carried the state with 60.5% of the vote. In a race to get excited about, Deb Fischer was the only Republican in the country to win a Senate seat previously held by a Democrat. Now no Democrats hold statewide office in Nebraska.
Nevada: Obama won the state with 52.3% of the vote.
New Hampshire: Obama won the state with 52.2% of the vote. New Hampshire has gone blue in 5 out of the last six presidential election cycles. However, the state now boasts the country's first all-female congressional delegation.
New Jersey: Obama carried the state with 57.9% of the vote. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was re-elected, which was no surprise considering no Republican has won a Senate seat in New Jersey for 40 years. Voter turnout was lower than usual because of Hurricane Sandy, even though some people were allowed to vote by email and fax.
New Mexico: Obama won the state with 52.9% of the vote. Republican Heather Wilson lost her Senate race to Democrat Martin Heinrich.
New York: Obama won the state with 62.6% of the vote. Republican House incumbents Nan Hayworth and Ann Marie Buerkle lost their races.
North Carolina: Romney won the state with 50.6% of the vote. Republican Pat McCrory became Governor. Republicans picked up three House seats.
North Dakota: Romney carried the state with 58.7% of the vote. Democrat Heidi Heitkamp won a Senate race against Republican Rick Berg for retiring Democratic Senator Kent Conrad's seat.
South Dakota: Romney won the state with 57.9% of the vote. Voters defeated measures to institute a sales tax to boost funding for Medicaid and schools.
Tennessee: Romney carried the state with 59.5% of the vote. Republican Senator Corker was re-elected.
Texas: Romney won the state with 57.2% of the vote. Republican Ted Cruz was elected to the senate.
Utah: Romney won the state with 72.8% of the vote. Republican favorite Mia Love lost her congressional race to Jim Matheson, a Democrat. Had she won she would have been the first black female Republican in the House and the first black person to represent Utah in a national office. Senator Hatch was re-elected for a seventh term.
Vermont: Obama won the state with 67% of the vote. There were no ballot measures in Vermont this year.
Virginia: Obama carried the state again, with 50.8% of the vote. Democrat Tim Kaine was elected to the Senate over Republican George Allen.
Washington: Obama carried the state with 55.2% of the vote. Washington voters legalized marijuana for people over 21, for both recreational and medical uses. Voters also passed a measure to legalize gay marriage.
West Virginia: Romney won the state with 62.3% of the vote.
Wisconsin: Obama won the state with 62.8% of the vote. Paul Ryan was re-elected to his House seat.
Wyoming: Romney won the state with 69.3% of the vote. Republican Senator John Barrasso won as did Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis. Voters approved a constitutional amendment to block any government action to force state residents to purchase health insurance.
To read a more thorough analysis of each state's election returns, click here. (It's the NYT article mentioned above)
NFRW Fall Board Meeting To Be Held in Dallas This Month
On November 16 and 17, the NFRW Board will meet at the Grand Hyatt at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The event will take place from Friday evening with the State President's meeting and the Executive Committee meeting with the Board of Directors meeting on Saturday morning. Click here to see the Official Call.
Deadline for Bylaw Amendments Approaching
The deadline for submitting proposed changes to the NFRW Bylaws for this term is November 15, 2012. NFRW state federations, clubs, and individual members may submit recommended changes to the Bylaws Committee using the official form available on the NFRW website. Click here to access the document.
Only those submissions received on the official form will be considered and each must be typed or clearly printed. Proposed changes will be evaluated by the NFRW Bylaws Committee, forwarded to the NFRW Executive Committee for review, and presented to the NFRW Board of Directors for a vote at the spring board meeting. Final adoption of any changes to the NFRW Bylaws will be determined by a vote of the delegates to the biennial convention in Louisville next fall.
Questions? Contact Suzanne Crow (LA), Bylaws Chair, at suzcrow@bellsouth.net