This election night is shaping up to be kind of a bust for Mayor Bloomberg as far as his endorsed candidates are concerned.
Connecticut Republican Rep. Chris Shays, who not only received Bloomberg's in-person endorsement but also had him appear in an TV ad, which is a lot more than any of the New York state Senate GOP candidates can say the mayor did for them, lost his seat tonight to Democrat Jim Himes.
In New Jersey, Dennis Shulman, the Democratic "blind rabbi," failed to oust his Republican target, incumbent Rep. Scott Garrett. Bloomberg endorsed Shulman last week as it appeared he was picking up steam.
Meanwhile, here at home, it appears the Democrats are poised to take control of the state Senate, which is not good news for Bloomberg, a longtime financial backer of the Senate GOP.
Sen. Serf Maltese, on whose behalf Bloomberg recorded a robocall and made a Halloween night appearance, has conceded to Democrat Joe Addabbo, who already delivered his victory speech in Queens.
During the call, Maltese said the results were "not as he expected, but he congratulated the councilman on his victory," said Addabbo spokeswoman Alexis Grenell, who added: "The Councilman is humbled and honored and ready to get to work on behalf of New Yorkers."
Liz Feld, whom Bloomberg endorsed (his visage was prominently featured on her campaign mailers), failed to defeat her target, Democratic Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, in Westchester. (She has called and conceded the race, too).
At last report, another beneficiary of Bloomberg's largesse and endorsement, GOP Sen. Frank Padavan, was locked in a tight battle with Democrat Jim Gennaro.
Bloomberg had better luck with his September primary picks - the first time during his mayoral tenure that he had injected himself into Democrat-on-Democrat contests.
Two of his two candidates succeeded at the polls, including Dan Squadron, who beat incumbent Sen. Marty Connor - a big win for the mayor, who had some of his friends contribute to the WFP to help pay for Squadron's field operations.
Another Bloomberg primary winner was Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, who fended off a challenge from Councilman Miguel Martinez.
Councilman Simcha Felder, whom the mayor endorsed and on whose behalf a number of former Bloomberg aides worked, failed to succeed in his challenge to incumbent Sen. Kevin Parker.
UPDATE: A full list of all the candidates Bloomberg endorsed, both at home and outside the state, follows after the jump.
Generally speaking, he did better the further away from the Metro Region he got - including the California Prop. 11 (for nonpartisan redistricting), which passed.
CONGRESS/SENATE:
The Mayor endorsed Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL-10). Kirk beat challenger Dan Seals 54-46 as a Republican in Illinois this year when Obama won the state 62-37.
The Mayor endorsed Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA-7). Sestak beat challenger Williams 59-40.
*The Mayor endorsed Congressman Michael McMahon (D). McMahon beat Straneire by 61-33
*The Mayor endorsed Congressman Pete King. Pete King beat his opponent (Long) by 64-26 as McCain lost New York 37-62
*The Mayor endorsed challenger Dennis Shulman (D-NJ-5). Shulman lost to Rep. Scott Garrett 42-56.
*The Mayor endorsed Chris Shays (R), who lost to Himes 48-51 as McCain lost Connecticut 39-60.
The Mayor endorsed Sue Collins ®, who won as 61-39 as Senator McCain lost Maine by 40-58
The Mayor endorsed Mary Landrieu - the only contested Senate Democratic Race. She won by 52-46 when Senator Obama lost LA by 40-59
The Mayor endorsed John Sununu who lost to Jeanne Shaheen (disclosure: my old boss) 45-55 (source: MSNBC) as McCain lost New Hampshire 45-55.
ALBANY RACES (ALL *Local)
*Frank Padavan, R, Queens-Currently up by 700 votes
*Kemp Hannon, R, Nassau-Won
*Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat-Won (primary and general election endorsement
* Dan Squadron (primary and general election endorsement)
*Simcha Felder-Lost
*Liz Feld, R, Westchester-Lost
*Barbara Donno, R, Nassau-Lost
*Caesar Trunzo, R, Suffolk-Lost
*Serphin Maltese, R, Queens-Lost
Moreover, the Mayor supported the 527 Americans United for Safe Streets -which sent mail about the gun policy records of five (Republican) Members of Congress.
The bulk of the mail focused on the bad gun records of 3 House Members. All 3 lost:
Challenger Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL-24) beat Rep. Tom Feeney 57-41.
Challenger Gary Peter (D-MI-9) beat Rep. Joe Knollenberg 51-43
Challenger Steve Dreihus (D-OH-1) beat Rep. Steve Chabot 51-48.
Americans United for Safe Streets also sent positive mail about the records of two (Republican) House members:
Mike Castle (R-DE-at large) and
*Chris Smith (R-NJ-4). Both won by large margins.
ALSO: this doesn’t take into account the California redistricting Per the CA Sec of State, with 96.4% ( 24,510 of 25,423 ) precincts reporting, prop 11 (Redistricting) returns are as follows:
YES: 4,546,307 50.6%
NO: 4,453,419 49.4%
