Voters have decided the outcome of races for five open insurance commissioners' seats, 11 gubernatorial spots and races for many legislators participating on insurance committees in their state legislatures.
In the five insurance commissioner elections early returns, where the race could be called, Democrats won three of those posts.
o In Delaware Democrat Karen Weldin beat Republican John Brady with 217,070 votes, or 57.5 percent of the total vote.
o North Carolina's race went to Democrat Wayne Goodwin, who garnered 51.5 percent, or 2,074,698 of a total of 4,028,222 votes. Republican John Odom placed second with 44.63 percent of the vote with a total of 1,797,644, and Libertarian Mark McMains received 3.79 percent of the total with 152,592 votes.
Mr. Goodwin will succeed Jim Long, the current longest-standing commissioner with a career that spans 23 years and six terms. Commissioner Long announced that he would not run for re-election.
o North Dakota's squeaker between Republican incumbent Adam Hamm and Democrat Jasper Schneider this morning was still too close to call. Mr. Hamm had 150,710, or 50.3 percent of the vote, and Mr. Schneider had 49.7 percent, or 148,929 of the total 299,639 votes cast.
o Montana had a face-off between Duane Grimes, R, and Monica Lindeen, D, to replace John Morrison, the current state auditor who is leaving office because of term limits.
o Washington's race between incumbent Mike Kreidler, D, and John Adams, R, had Mr. Kreidler winning handily with 910,571 votes, or 60.98 percent of the total 1,493,155 votes. Mr. Adams garnered 39.02 percent of the vote with a total of 582,584 votes.
Eleven governors' seats are up for grabs including: Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
The territory of American Samoa and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are also holding gubernatorial elections in which the governor appoints insurance commissioners.
In the states where governors can appoint commissioners, the races are as follows:
o Indiana's Mitch Daniels, the Republican incumbent, received 917,393 votes, or 61.7 percent of the total 1,485,247 votes, beating Democrat Jill Thompson, who received 534,860 votes, or 36 percent of the vote.
o In Missouri Jay Nixon, D, won the race for governor with 1,675,270 votes, or 58.4 percent of the total vote, against Kenny Hulshof, R, who received 1,133,779, or 39.5 percent of the total 2,869,880 votes. The spot opened when Republican Gov. Matt Blunt announced he would not seek a second term.
o New Hampshire's Democratic incumbent John Lynch trounced opponent Joe Kenney, a Republican, winning 70 percent, or 416,918 votes, compared with Mr. Kenney's 28 percent, or 162,893 votes.
o Utah's incumbent governor Jon Huntsman bested Bob Springmeyer, a Democrat, with a total of 682,409 votes, or 78 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Springmeyer's 172,846, or 20 percent of the vote.
o Vermont's Republican incumbent Jim Douglas beat Gaye Symington, the Democratic candidate, with a total of 144,465 votes, or 54 percent of the total vote compared with Ms. Symington's 21 percent, or 56,655 votes.
o West Virginia's incumbent Joe Manchin, D, beat Russ Weeks, R, with 484,848, or 70 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Weeks' 179,341, or 26 percent of the total.
The race in Puerto Rico was between incumbent Anibal Acevedo Vila, a Democrat, and Luis Fortuno, a Republican.
Two initiatives that affect insurers are also on the Election Day ballot in Arizona and in North Dakota, respectively.
In Arizona, a proposed amendment is on the ballot to add a section to the Arizona constitution relating to freedom of choice in health care that prevents any law from restricting the right to choose private health care plans, pay directly for lawful medical services, or obtain or decline any health care system or plan.
In North Dakota, the Workforce Safety and Insurance Agency Initiative, also known as Measure 4, changes the management structure of the WSI agency which administers workers' comp to return oversight directly to the governor and create an independent panel of judges to conduct hearings and make decisions.
And a large number of state legislators who are on insurance committees and play major roles in the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, Troy, N.Y., are also up for re-election.
A total of 44 states will hold legislative elections, according to Jeffrey Brewer, a spokesperson for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Des Plaines, Ill. States that do not have legislative elections this year include Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, he added.
A total of 75 percent of the states' 7,382 legislative seats are up for election, he said. And, in roughly half of the states, he continued, PCI found that Democrats and Republicans split control of the state legislature. However, he added, according to PCI's count, Democrats hold both chambers of the legislature in 14 states and Republicans are in control of 10 states.
There will be some new commissioners but not as many as had been anticipated, says Neil Alldredge, vice president, state and regulatory affairs with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Indianapolis. There was the potential for 16 different outcomes between the governors' races and insurance commissioners' contests.
Alldredge says that one initiative that insurers are watching is an Oregon initiative on building code requirements but adds that election results are not yet final.
Changes in attorneys general and in state legislatures are also points that insurers will be monitoring because it could lead to a revisiting of issues such as 'bad faith' reporting, he continues.
Among the state legislators that are up for re-election are several members of NCOIL's leadership team.
NCOIL's current president, Rhode Island State Rep. Brian Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, is up against Nancy Richmond, R-Westerly, R.I., while New York State Senator James Seward, R-C-Oneonta and NCOIL president-elect, is in a race against Democratic hopeful Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber.
Kentucky State Rep. Robert Damron, D-Fayette, an NCOIL vice president, is in a race with Chris Moore, Nicholasville city commissioner, a Republican.
Other active NCOIL participants are also facing challenges for their seats or vacating seats, including:
o Florida State Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, vacated his seat after 20 years, creating a contest between Democrat Eleanor Sobel and Republican Ellyn Drotzer, a write-in candidate.
o Georgia State Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, faced Tim Riley, D-Athens, who would become the first openly gay state senator and openly gay man in the state legislature.
o Kansas State Sen. Ruth Teichman, R-Stafford, ran unopposed.
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