Daisy Hernandez

A round up of 2006 elections

Wins…
Black governor
Democrat Deval Patrick became Massachusetts governor, making him the second black governor in the nation since Reconstruction.

First Muslim
Keith Ellison is now the first Muslim ever elected to Congress and the first Black congressman from Minnesota.

Living wage
Six states passed living wage bills that will increase along with inflation. The hourly minimum wages will range from $6.15 in Nevada to $6.85 in Montana.
Anti-immigrants ousted in Arizona. Dem. Harry Mitchell will be the new representative for Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District, ousting the hardliner Republican J.D. Hayworth. In the state’s Eighth District, Dem. Gabrielle Giffords has beat Randy Graf, a member of the Minutmen, a vigilante border patrol group.

Losses….
Killing affirmative action.
Ward Connerly got the thumbs up from Michigan voters to ban affirmative action. As one radio commentator put it: the only official organization supporting the ballot measure was the KKK, which gave its support in its local newsletter.

Banning rights to immigrants.
Arizona voters faced the most ballot measures, a total of 19. They voted to make English the state’s official language and with Prop. 300, they approved ending taxpayer support for education and child-care services for undocumented immigrants and non-citizens. That means Arizona students who are not Americans will have to pay out-of-state fees to attend public colleges.

Posted at 12:00 PM, Nov 10, 2006 in Permalink | View Comments