Former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin speaks during a Republican National Committee (RNC) get-out-the vote rally in Anaheim, California on October 16, 2010. Palin and RNC Chairman Michael Steele held the rally to raise money for the RNC. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and Senate candidate.Carly Fiorina were not among Palin's so-called Mama Grizzlies on hand for the rally. UPI/Jim Ruymen |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Midterm elections produced a mixed bag for 47 Tea Party movement and GOP candidates endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, results showed.
Palin backed 11 GOP Senate candidates Tuesday and six won, including Marco Rubio in the high-profile Florida Senate race and Rand Paul in Kentucky. Other victors who received a Palin nod are 2008 presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona, Arkansas Rep. John Boozman, former Pennsylvania congressman Pat Toomey and ex-New Hampshire state attorney general Kelly Ayotte, the Washington Post said.
In the loser column were Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle, who failed to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada in one of the bitterest contests in recent memory, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in California and businessman John Raese in West Virginia.
O'Donnell, an outspoken Tea Partier, lost by double digits to Democrat Christopher Coons in the race for Vice President Joe Biden's old Senate seat.
"I think the only thing that really would have made a difference is if the Delaware GOP would have unified," O'Donnell said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
The "Palin effect" was questionable in her home state, where Palin-backed Tea Party candidate Joe Miller refused to concede to incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who may have staged the first successful write-in campaign for U.S. Senate in 56 years. Write-in was leading with 41 percent but the Alaska ballots could take days to count.
Michael Bennet won a close race over Ken Buck in the Colorado Senate race and incumbent Democratic Sen. Patty Murray held a slight lead over Republican Dino Rossi in Washington State.
Palin-endorsed gubernatorial candidates were elected in six states: Iowa, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Palin-backed candidates lost in Colorado and Minnesota.
Sixteen of the 28 candidates Palin endorsed in House races won, eight lost and four races were too close to call, the Post said.
Republicans picked up 59 House seats for a 239-seat majority and counting.
