User:Xinoph/Editing U.S. General Election, 2005

U.S. General Election, 2005

The United States General Election of 2005 was an off-year election in which no members of the Congress or state legislators were standing for election. There were, however, two governor's races, citizen initiatives, mayoral races in several major cities, and a variety of local offices on the ballot.

Gubernatorial Races
Only two states feature off-year gubernatorial races.

New Jersey
Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Corzine defeated Republican businessman Doug Forrester. See 2005 New Jersey Gubernatorial Election

Virginia
Democrat Tim Kaine defeated Republican Jerry Kilgore.

Mayoral Races
Many additional cities across the United States held mayoral elections; this list is representative, not inclusive. Nationally, the vast majority of mayors were reelected, often by wide margins, and there were few partisan upsets.

Atlanta
Shirley Franklin, the city's first female mayor, easily defeated both challengers to win reelection.

Boston
Incumbent Thomas Menino easily defeated challenger Maura Hennigen.

Cincinatti
Mark Mallory defeated David Pepper.

Cleveland
Challenger Frank Jackson defeated incumbent Jane Campbell.

Detroit
Challenger Freman Hendrix defeated incumbent Kwame Kilpatrick.

Houston
Mayor Bill White was easily reelected.

Minneapolis
R.T. Rybak easily defeated challenger Peter McLaughlin.

New York City
In New York City, incumbent mayor Mike Bloomberg defeated Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.

Pittsburgh
Democrat Joe Weinroth easily defeated Republican Joe Weinroth.

San Diego
Republican Jerry Sanders easily defeated Democrat Donna Frye take the reigns of a city with a $1.3 billion budget shortfall and recent endemic corruption.

Seattle
Incumbent Greg Nickels was easily reelected.

St. Paul
Democrat Chris Coleman defeated incumbent Republican Randy Kelly.

Citizen Initiatives
As with mayoral races, every referendum item nationwide is not included

California
California had eight questions on the ballot for the voters to consider. The election was seen as a referendum on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (who is up for reelection in 2006), as he sponsored and actively campaigned for four propositions on the ballot, Propositions 74 - 77. For more information, see California special election, 2005.

Maine
In Maine, voters decided a number of issues. Question 1 considered whether to enact a People's Veto over the legislature's law extending equal rights to cover sexual orientation (see gay rights. The state was also considering whether to pass a constitutional amendment designed to lower property taxes for fishermen by taxing property based on current use, rather than potential resale value. The measure passed overwhelmingly.

New Jersey
After recent scandals which led to the resignation of its governor, New Jersey considered whether to create the post of Lieutenant Governor; the measure passed.

Ohio
Ohio was considering whether to move the electoral redistricting process from the authority of the legislature to a non-partisan panel. Ohio also considered (in separate measures) whether to reduce individual financial contributions to political candidates, move election oversight to a bipartisan panel and away from the Secretary of State, and whether to allow allow all voters to vote early by mail. All four measures failed. These measures were placed on the ballot as a response to the controversies of the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio.

Texas
In Texas, voters overwhelmingly supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, making it the 19th state to enact such a ban. This result was largely expected.