Matthew Yglesias: “Before Tuesday’s elections I warned against overinterpreting the Virginia gubernatorial election as a national bellwether. I stand by that: Governor’s races are the kind of election that shows the least correlation with national politics, and where candidate attributes and issues make the biggest difference.”

“But if you’re a Democrat looking for some good news in the wake of Republican Glenn Youngkin’s triumph over Democrat Terry McAuliffe, I have some bad news: Republicans did well in a bunch of other elections, too.”

Kristin Davison, one of the strategists for Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R), told Politico how she would have advised the Democrats if they had been working for Terry McAuliffe (D).

Said Davison: “I would have hit us on education first a lot harder than they did. That’s actually what I was afraid of for most of the time, annoying everyone about it. But Terry focused so much on Trump and made his campaign so much about Trump, then abortion, and then I think climate change was in there for a minute. It’s like they literally took the Rolodex of all the base issues and tried to hit us as being extreme on them.”

She added: “And what they should have done instead was go towards the typical: Democrats are very good at painting Republicans as being bad on education, saying we’re going to fire teachers and cut pay. Having been governor before, he had a record there. He should have hit us first and disqualified the issue.”

William Saletan: “It’s true that Trump has a lot of supporters, and many turned out for Youngkin. In the network exit poll, 42% of people who cast ballots in the Virginia gubernatorial race said they had a favorable view of the former president, and they voted almost unanimously for Youngkin.”

“But these people were outnumbered by the 54% of respondents who expressed an unfavorable view of Trump. If that majority had voted for McAuliffe with anywhere near the same degree of unanimity, Youngkin would have lost. Instead, the Republican won by peeling away one of every six anti-Trump voters.”

“On average, in these polls, Youngkin got more than 7% of Biden voters, while McAuliffe got only 2% of Trump voters. Biden voters, not Trump voters, were decisive.”

Mona Charen: “Isn’t it interesting that Democrats appear to have forgotten how to manipulate voting machines, stuff ballot boxes, engage in the wee-hour ballot dumps, collect ballots from dead people, and coordinate with Chinese/Venezuelan governments to change the outcome of elections?”

“Two-thirds of Republicans believe that’s what happened in 2020. And yet, only one year later, Democrats have lost the knack?”

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown (D) told CNN that his write-in victory on Tuesday was a rebuke of “socialism” and efforts to take money away from law enforcement. 

Said Brown: “I think it clearly is a rebuke of defund the police, it is a rebuke of socialism, and I think there were those from outside the city of Buffalo that underestimated the Buffalo community. They tried to come in and tell us who to vote for, and the people fought back, and we won.”

First Read: “Yes, the political environment was rough for Democrats on Tuesday night. Yes, playing the Trump and Jan. 6 cards didn’t work as well as they had hoped. And, yes, Democrats lost independent voters in Virginia, per the exit poll.”

“But there’s an even more troubling takeaway for Democrats now that the dust has settled on Tuesday’s results: They’re losing white voters, rural voters and voters without college degrees by such large margins that it makes winning elections hard.”

David Wasserman calculates that Republican candidates for New Jersey State Senate outperformed the 2020 Biden/Trump results in the districts by a median 10.8 points.

In races for Virginia’s House of Delegates, the GOP beat the 2020 by a median 12.4 points.

“If Republicans were to outperform the 2020 Biden/Trump margin by 10.8 points (New Jersey) in all 435 House seats in 2022, they would pick up 44 House seats for a 257R-178D majority.”

“If they were to outperform by 12.3 points (Virginia), they would pick up a mammoth 51 seats for a 261R-174D split — and that’s not even factoring redistricting, which could help boost GOP fortunes even more.”

Of the $153 Edward Durr (R) spent on his campaign to upset New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D), nearly half went to Dunkin’ Donuts, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

Vito Perillo, who is 97-years old, was reelected as mayor of Tinton Falls, New Jersey last night to another four year term, NJ Advance Media reports.

At least seven Republicans who attended the Jan. 6 rally to overturn the election that led to the insurrection were elected Tuesday, the HuffPost reports.

“Three were elected to state legislatures, and four won positions at the local level.”

New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D), “the longest-serving legislative leader in New Jersey history, is on the verge of losing his own State Senate seat in what could be a stunning political upset,” the New Jersey Globe reports.

“Edward Durr (R), a conservative truck driver who reported spending just $153 on his campaign, leads Sweeney by 2,009 votes in the South Jersey-based 3rd legislative district.”

Former President Donald Trump says if he had not supported Glenn Youngkin (R), the new governor-elect would have lost by a big margin, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “I’ve heard Virginia is blue, but I’ve never believed it was blue. Without MAGA he would have lost by 15 points, more … instead of giving us credit they say, ‘Oh, he’s more popular than Trump.'” 

Bobby Valentine, the former manager of the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, lost his bid to become mayor of Stamford, Connecticut while he complained about people voting more than once, the New York Daily News reports.

Said Valentine: “It makes my stomach turn to think that in our city, that they’re actually telling me now, ‘Oh, someone voted in person and they forgot they voted absentee.'”