Washington DC Election Results LIVE: Election Creates Buzz in the Capitol

Impact

November 6, 2012

Welcome to Policy Mic's official coverage of the presidential race in the District of Columbia:

The District of Columbia promises to be President Obama's safest electoral college votes: in 2008, Candidate Obama secured nearly 95% of the popular vote here in my hometown. Moreover, if the president lost the electoral college 535 to 3, those three votes would surely come from DC. For that reason, this blog will follow less the number of ballots being cast and more the buzz coming from the heart of this whole show. Follow along for general analysis from around the country and hear what the nation's polling and election experts are saying throughout the night. Additionally, hear what millenials in DC are thinking and saying about the election results, the candidates, and what this all means.

PolicyMic will be providing LIVE updates over the course of election day. Bookmark and refresh this page for the latest updates.

See our full election live coverage here.

Update (10:29 PM)

This election looks close to over for Governor Romney, as Florida looks like it's slipping further and further out of reach. As was true an hour ago, the largest counties that still have votes left to report lean strongly to the left and thus the president's cushion is probably only going to grow.

It's getting more difficult to see how Republicans can hang on in Florida and Ohio, two states he MUST win in order to reach 270 electoral votes.

Update (9:34 PM)

It's still too soon tell for sure, but things are lookin good for Romney in Virginia but not in Florida or Ohio. In those two states, many of the counties with low reporting levels are strongly Democratic and promise to grow the president's lead considerably.

Ohio:

Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton County all have less than <1% of precincts reporting (that's Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, respectively). About 1/3 of the total state has reported, but you can imagine a large share of the remaining votes that come in to go to the president based on the demographics of the three counties listed here. Overall, Advantage: Obama.

Florida:

Broward and Miami-Dade county (which make up about 20% of Florida's total population) have only reported half of total votes or less. As in the major counties in Ohio, these counties lean heavily blue so it's likely the margin will grow for Obama in the next hour or so as more votes come in from south Florida. Overall, Advantage: Obama.

Update (8:56 PM)

Since the DC race is already over (really, it was over before it began), I want to bring the results of the three big races that, while they don't secure a Romney victory if he wins them, would all but ensure that the governor would lose if he can't carry all three.

So far, Florida and Virginia have about 40% of precincts reporting, but both still have polls open and have low reporting levels in the major counties. Ohio has less than 5% reporting across the entire state, so it's really way too early to tell there (despite the president's seemingly commanding lead).

Update (8:28 PM)

All major news networks have called the race in DC for President Obama. The only question left is by how much he won in the district. The real question, however, is how many states we'll know which candidate won by the end of the night.

Here's my question to everyone: what are the odds that we hear a concession speech tonight? I'm thinking it's fairly low, given the razor thin margin in so many swing states. What does everyone else think?

Update (8:06 PM)

Three networks have called the District of Columbia for President Obama. I'll update with more details on this race as it comes.

Update (7:08 PM)

As the polls begin to close on the east coast, it's important to take the advice of Public Policy Polling director Tom Jensen - as reported by the Washington Post's Wonkblog - to take the early results "with a giant grain of salt."

I can't stress that enough. We won't know more until later in the night when the full picture comes into focus, so anyone trying to show that anything coming out between now and about 10pm proves anything definitive is probably relying more on conjecture than fact.

That being the case, let's take the next few hours to sit back, relax, and talk politics! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to address each one as soon as possible.

Update (5:35 PM):

Before we kick it off tonight, I think it's a good idea to recap what the "experts" around the country are saying about how this whole thing will shake out. New York Magazine has a complete list of picks, while the Washington Post's Wonkblog has a bit more detail about what each of the "experts" are saying. Keep in mind some of these "experts" are picking Obama to win 440 electoral college votes, while others "experts" are picking Romney to win by over 100. The real question in my mind - after reading these analyses - is how these people got annointed "experts" to begin with...

Welcome to Policy Mic's official coverage of the presidential race in the District of Columbia:

PolicyMic will be providing LIVE updates over the course of election day. Bookmark and refresh this page for the latest updates.

See our full election live coverage here.