And Braun barely beat out the number 3 guy, a democrat, for the chance at the seat.
I guess this shows that the republicans in the election split the conservative vote?
Or does it show that the democrats decided to vote for Braun in the hopes he’d be easier to beat next year than Whitehead?
Because it seems otherwise that democrats would have voted for Whitehead as the less conservative of the two? Or did the democrats mostly stay home? We could tell that by looking at the actual vote counts, were there more votes in the original election than in the runoff? Did the total in the runoff add up to more or less than the votes of all the republicans who ran in the general?
In the initial race, there were three democrats, six republicans and one libertarian. Of the republicans, all were pretty good conservatives (though Whitehead was the anointed party guy who, I think, would have been free with spending based on his record in the state).
Five of the six republicans split the votes in the initial race - Broun received about 20 percent while the others were much lower, and Whitehead got roughly 40 percent.
The democrats who voted in the first election largely all went to one candidate.
I doubt many democrats showed up yesterday to vote. This was a republican vote yesterday.
Or does it show that the democrats decided to vote for Braun in the hopes he’d be easier to beat next year than Whitehead?
It would be next to impossible for a dem to win in this district right now. This is a heavily right-leaning district. Unless Whitehead or the party elite launch a strong bid for the seat for next year, this is probably Broun's seat for as long as he wants it now.
Did the total in the runoff add up to more or less than the votes of all the republicans who ran in the general?
It was a runoff election from a special election ... turnout was way, way less.