collective will and dedication and struggle can make it so. as always, the defenders of the status quo will fight with everything they have. they will have human psychology on their side, but it doesn't mean we are destined to lose. in the end, we

about bringing people around the table, listening to each other, showing them respect. doing what needed to be done. to be able to bring people together and to achieve what we needed to achieve to move our state forward. now, listen i know that if we can do this in trenton, new jersey, maybe the folks in washington, d.c. should tune in their tv's right now. see how it's done. congressiona there. an interesting contest between an establishment conservative republican named rodney byrne on the left and a tea party fire brand candidate on the right. this was seen as a alabama

microcosm for the fight that the republican party is having within itself. the associated press has called that race for byrne, the one who does not say president obama was born in kenya. bradley byrne will enter the general election for that congressional seat in december, a heavily favored over his democratic opponent. it is southern alabama, after all. the biggest story tonight was in virginia, where the race between democrat terry mcauliffe and republican ken cuccinelli was a closer one that had been suggested by the polls. it was the vote in northern virginia that came in late tonight, that put terry mcauliffe over the top and he will be the next governor of the commonwealth. republican ken cuccinelli explained his loss tonight in a concession speech to his supporters, saying his loss was not really about him. >> though i'm obviously disappointed by tonight's outcome, and i know you are too, i am immensely proud of the campaign we ran. we were -- we were very heavily

outspent, but i'm proud that we ran on first principles, and serious ideas based on those principles. and though we didn't come out on top, you have made a difference and tonight you have sent a message. this race came down to the wire because of obama care. let me say that again. despite being outspent by an unprecedented $15 million, this race came down to the wire because of obama care. that message will go out across america tonight. >> that is the attempted republican spin out of virginia tonight. just so it's clear, the message is that by electing a democrat, virginians are sending a message that they hate the democratic health care law.

that's the message and they're sticking to it. democrat terry mcauliffe, the new governor elect of virginia tonight, delivered his victory speech after ken cuccinelli's concession speech, thanking republicans across party lines to vote for him. terry mcauliffe joins democrat ralph northam, the projected winner of the lieutenant governor's race in virginia at this hour. the race for attorney general in virginia has not yet been called. look at that, with 99% in, too close to call. look at the number of votes between the two candidates there. this is the race between republican mark obenshain and democrat mark herring. looks to be very, very, very close at this hour. over the weekend, the chairman of the virginia state republican party told politico that a ken cuccinelli victory was within reach, provided turnout was low enough. the quote from the republican chairman to politico was, quote, if turnouts in the 30s, the low 30s, we're going to win. if it gets higher up in fairfax county, like 40%, it is likely we won't win.

well, tonight, in blue fairfax county, virginia, the republican secretary of the county elections board was live tweeting as the results came in. shortly before 9:00 eastern, he posted, we are at 44.3% turnout, we will probably hit plus 45%. virginia republicans were right. the lower the turnout in places like fairfax county, the better it would have been for their candidate. as it happens, though, that did not work out for them tonight. and ken cuccinelli did not win. joining us now is steve kornacki, the host of "up with steve kornacki." thank you for being here. interesting to look at turnout numbers, specifically in northern virginia. we saw an elector in virginia that looked much more like 2012 than the last time they elected a governor in 2009. >> what we saw play out tonight in virginia in a way was a repeat of election night in virginia in 2012, where in 2012, romney was leading in the state and all the returns that were publicly out there, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, those big four sort of --

those counties you talk about, loudon county, prince william, fairfax county, right outside arlington county, right outside of washington, d.c., in fairfax in particular, that's correct. those numbers from fairfax ended up being overwhelming for terry mcauliffe and that's where the late surge came from. i'm looking at that map tonight, and i'm looking at the 2012 map and it is sort of the same story. >> looking at the new jersey results, obviously no surprise that chris christie was able to get his second term as governor of new jersey. i was surprised by how bluntly he was already campaigning for president on the night that he got re-elected. but looking at the results we see out of new jersey, anything that was surprising or anything you think was particularly important there? >> no, i think what you're saying is true. this is a speech they started writing about a year ago. it was clear a year ago he was going to have an easy time in the election because the democratic party did not invest in this election. the democratic party nationally and at the state level gave up on this race. this is the thing, i think what

she's saying is true, i feel for barbara bonin, she spent the last year, she really worked this thing. she was out there every day, that's a hard thing to do when your party isn't around you, you don't have the money and the media. barbara bono only had this nomination because her party sort of gave up on it. if the democratic party decided they could contest this and they could win this, this is a very machine heavy state, somebody else would have been in that position. and it really is the story of chris christie's governorship. like, if you don't like what christie has done as governor, if you don't like for instance the pension bill that he put forward, well, he got that through not because chris christie won it, he got it through because the democrats who have formed an alliance with him from south jersey and few other pockets of the state wanted it too. they got it through. they went to sleep on jon corzine on 2009, a nonfact they are year. >> in terms of the way this translates to the next round of politics, i've never understood why the size of chris christie's margin in his re-election effort

would say something important about his presidential re-election bid. but he really did everything he could to drive up the margin, right? the democrats sort of folded, right? that helped. but he -- 6-1 outspent the democrat he was running against, even when he didn't need to he went to the great pains, cost the state $24 million to make sure he wasn't going to be voted on at the same time that cory booker was being voted on as a popular democrat. why is it so important to get the margin up as high as he could get it? >> it is a psychological thing. what they're selling here is electability. what they're selling here is the idea he has something that so unique among republicans in this country, in a state that elected obama by 18 points last year, a state that last voted for republican presidential candidate in 1988, spent more than 40 years since they sent an elected republican to the u.s. senate. if you go in there and say i've won by 15 points, 20 points, 25 points, whatever you can get it up to, it sounds more and more impressive. it is more -- it is a psychological thing. but the flip side of it is interesting, you were putting it in your inelectroearlier, if you

look in virginia, we're seeing the flip side where the bar was set a week ago for this race in virginia as mcauliffe by six or seven points. if you had to guess, i would have said mcauliffe by six or seven. the tea party has to get the message now, right? they got candidate they wanted, the great environment for them, terrible democratic candidate and still lose. and they are now able to say, well, look, hey, it was closer than expected, so the tea party will not get a message. >> they'll call it a win. >> that's what they're already doing. >> our loss was a win if you squint. steve kornacki, host of "up with steve kornacki." great to have you here. we'll be right back.

so most of the news in the country today is obviously about it being election day. but one piece of big politics news today that was not specifically about it being election day was about marriage. the state assembly in illinois today voted in favor of legal recognition of same sex marriages in illinois. that vote in the state assembly today puts illinois on track to be the 15th state in the nation that will legally recognize marriages by straight couples and gay couples. this is the map of marriage equality in the country right now. with this vote today, illinois becomes the largest new state in the heart of the country to recognize marriage equality after minnesota and iowa. after wondering what states are going to be next, keep an eye on iowa and new mexico. the debate is on right now on

this issue in the legislature in the state of hawaii. the vote there could really come at any minute. and in new mexico, the matter is in court right now, rulings expected sometime in the next few weeks. so hawaii, keep an eye on. new mexico keep an eye on. they may be next. illinois went today. before today, before this big vote in illinois today, the last state to move forward on marriage equality was, of course, new jersey, just a couple of weeks ago. the state legislature in new jersey had passed a bill to recognize marriage equality in the garden state, but republican governor chris christie vetoed it. when the courts of new jersey said marriages could go ahead in the state, governor christie appealed their ruling, and vowed to fight. bu but then after the state supreme court ruled against him again, he did eventually cave and let marriages go ahead in new jersey over his objections. well, tonight, of course, governor chris christie was re-elected in new jersey by the large margin that was expected in more than 20-point margin.

new jersey, by large, disagreed with their governor on his marriage veto. but they still liked him well enough to give him a second term in office. new jersey voters also did not agree with their governor on the minimum wage. just like with marriage, the new jersey legislature had passed a bill to raise the state's minimum wage, but governor christie vetoed it. tonight, new jersey voters overruled their governor, they voted state wide overwhelmingly to raise the minimum wage that governor christie had fought to stop. so, despite his state being against him on his marriage veto, despite his state being against him on his minimum wage veto and despite governor christie saying before the election that he couldn't promise he would serve out a second term in office, new jersey tonight voted overwhelmingly to re-elect him anyway. and that doing but you like me any way, that makes this a great night for chris christie. with all those things against him, he still wins and wins big in his home state.

>> i think he was making the case that it was going to have to be the former. i don't think there was any to melt down to the "new york times." potentially clear out of the way governor cristie's highest profile competitors for that 2016 nomination. after a week of plagerism -- paul -- he told them he will change the way he handless speeches in publications. quote, if will make people leave me the hell alone.

whoa, easy, tiger. the senator who the times described today as, quote, drawn and clearly shaken by the plagerism charges, said that his office had made mistakes, then there was the senator's explanation for why this whole plagerism thing has happened. and this may in fact be the real explanation, but this is the kind of explanation that the senator is going to have a really, really hard time ever living down, if he ever does intend to run for president. mr. paul attributed some soft slopiness to being a senator in high demand. he says thing are done quickly and in a hurry and sometimes i get some things that are -- we write something every week for "the washington times" and i literally am riding around in a car in between things trying to figure out if i can approve it. we need to get stuff earlier, but it's hard, paul said, we probably take on more than we

should be doing. if you can't handle the workload of a once a week column for a penny saver newspaper, in which you are the most junior member, or one of the most junior members, that is a hard admission to kick off your did for -- if you can't handle being a senator without screwing up like this, why should you get the really big job? and so the day goes to governor chris christie of new jersey, re-elected by a state that clearly does not agree with him on some major policy issues. rival for the 2016 job that he wants way more than the job he

just got tonight.

election night tonight has been mostly dominated by the two marquis matchups, the governor's races in new jersey and virginia. there's other fascinating results still pouring in. new jersey also voted tonight to raise that state's minimum wage. new jersey's minimum wage had

been the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. but now it will go up to $8.25 an hour and there will be annual cost of living adjustments. governor chris christie had vetoed that, but tonight voters vetoed his veto. so the worst paid workers in new jersey are going to get a raise. in colorado, voters were asked if they wanted to have a tax on pot to finance the construction of public schools and pay for things having to do with the regulation of now legal marijuana in the state. with 79% of the vote in, it looks like that one is going toward a yes in colorado. and in houston, texas, get ready to say good-bye to the astrodome. they have rejected a measure that would turn the astrodome

into a convention center. that probably means that the 1960s era sports complex means that it will be demolished. who says elections don't have consequences. we've got much more ahead. stay with us. [ female announcer ] it figures...on your busiest day you see the gray. try root touch-up by nice 'n easy. just brush our permanent color matching creme right where you need it. then rinse. in ten minutes zap those grays and get on with your day. nice 'n easy root touch-up.

in the great state of maine, republican governor le page used the day today -- he said it was the biggest campaign in history. kind of a miniature presidential campaign. he wants to be governor again. ahead of this biggest candidate event ever, this recreated republican convention, they said his remarks would be brief. and all the political reporters in the state of maine said ah, in deep disappointment.

because if he has accomplished nothing else in his time in office he has managed to establish himself as the raging id of conservative american governors. >> you take it and put it in the microwave, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. in worse cases some women might have little beards, but we don't want to do that. we the people have been told there is no choice. you must buy health insurance or pay the new guess tau poe, the irs. >> we apologize. >> to who? >> who's upset? >> the anti-defamation league. >> it was never intended to we the people have been told there is no choice. you must buy health insurance or pay the new guess tau poe, the irs. >> we apologize. >> to who? >> who's upset? >> the anti-defamation league.

>> it was never intended to offend anyone. and if someone's offended, then they ought to be [ bleep ] mad at the federal government. >> is that an apology? >> what would you like to do? >> we're about to put on screen what the governor said in response. and some of our viewers who may find it distasteful might want to hit the mute button and turn away for the next 30 seconds or so. he said senator jackson claims to be for the people but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing vaseline. when he was asked if he realized that some people might find that comment offensive he said good, it ought to because i've been taking it for two years. >> kids, the governor's on tv tonight. viewer discretion is advised. he said he wanted to fly over to the press building and blow it

up. he has been amazing since the moment he became governor. he ordered the taking down of a mural off the state department of labor saying he disagreed with the political implications of the artwork. that led some people in maine to put the mural back up by projecting it on the outside of the state house. last month during the federal government shutdown he declared a state of emergency in maine that gave him new and unspecified powers that he had never had before. the governor kept the state of emergency going for two days after the shutdown ended, until democrats pointed out, that, hey, you know what, big guy, maybe the jig is up. he made headlines for saying nearly half the able-bodied people in maine do not work. he said 47%.

47% is a number the republicans should retire from their repertoire. if you're going to make up a statistic, pick 48 or 46, but he picked 47. it's totally not true, but totally typical for the amazing paul le page. he has been governor for just under three years. he's been seen as a part of the tea party wave that swept the country that year. he has tea party support. but his victory was more complicated than that. in 2010, on election night, the main governor's race was so close that year, and the race was so crowded that year that it couldn't be called on election night. ultimately the man who got elected that night, paul le page

got the seat, even though he only got 38% of the vote. it was a three-way field. paul le page walked the democrat on the ballot. unfolded, that winning with 38% of the vote thing has reminded some mainers to remind others that they did not vote for that guy. they by a large majority chose somebody else when they went to vote for governor. his approval ratings are about the same now as the results were then, which is to say kind of low. he's not very popular.

he very likely got into office because of that weird dynamic of that three-way race back in 2010. so now he's running for reelection. how about a replay of that exact same dynamic. the field includes republican paul le page, again, and that same moderate independent guy from last time who's running again. now, though, the democrat is a different candidate. the democrat this time is a popular six-term congressman named mike michaud. it shows him leading but not by much, only by four points. if it was a two-way race, the democrat would be leading by 15. but with the independent guy running, too, and a three-way race, the democrat lead shrinks to four. if it is not a two-way race -- and right now it's not -- it may very well be a different story a year from right now.

three-way race is how maine got paul le page in the first place. the paul le page governorship is amazing enough as a spectacle. the contest to try replace him which launched tonight was a fascinating cannot look, cannot look away type of campaign. that was all true before this happened. saying he wanted to put an end to what he called a whisper campaign, congressman mike michaud came out. he came out as gay after a public lifetime in the closet. including six terms in congress. should he manage to win this race against paul le page, democrat mike michaud would be the first openly gay governor in the united states since 2004. he is hoping to make a lot more history. this is his first national interview since coming out the

maine papers this weekend. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> let me ask you the big strategic question about running for governor. if we are looking at another three-party race including elliot cutler again, that's how le page got there in the first place. how do you plan to avoid a repeat? >> 2014 is a different time than 2010. the other two candidates ran before, i have not run for governor before. when you look at the candidates, i'm a difficult kind of candidate.

i won six elections for the united states congress, overwhelmingly, even last year when it was supposed to be my tough reelection effort, but this race is much different. i come from the second district which is not as difficult for a democrat to win. so i feel really good about the race, we're going to run an effective campaign, talk about the issues important for the people in the state of maine. >> in terms of your decision this weekend to write that op ed, which was in the press herald and the bangor paper, you wanted to let everybody know you are gay. and you wanted to set the record straight so to speak. what can you tell us about the timing of that decision? obviously, you've been able to serve maine as a congressman for a very long time and a state legislator before that without talking about this publicly. why now?

>> it never was an issue before. i've always ran for office talking about the issues. this was actually the first campaign that it had become an issue, and, you know, i decided after hearing a little bit about it, they questioned my sexuality and i thought i'd put it out to the voters in the state of maine, yes, i'm gay. what's wrong with that? fact of the matter is punch a time clock in the mill for 29 years and a member of congress for 12 years. my personal life never affected how i do my job, and it definitely is not going to affect how i do my job if i'm elected governor. i want to get it out of the way to talk about the issues. maine is a state hurting because of the poor direction our current governor has led the state. thousands of people in maine are not going to get covered because

of a veto that the governor put forth. and the fact of the matter is, it would save maine over $600,000 by that expansion of medicaid here for voters, i mean constituents in main. jobs and the economy is very important. yes, we do have down employment rate, it's been going down. but it doesn't mean people are not getting jobs. it means they're not collecting unemployment. so we have a lot of issues here in maine that we need to focus on, and that's why i decided for governor. it concerns me the direction we're being led by the current administration and i look forward to talking to the voters about the issues. >> when you said that you were hearing that your sexual orientation was becoming an issue, not by your choice but that other people were starting to talk about it because were you running for governor, do you

know that that was being done by people who were trying to use it against you? people trying to say it was a bad thing and a reason not to vote for you? >> i have no idea who's doing it, whether it was an individual or organization. all i know is that there is speculation out there that i was gay. and i wanted to be out front, be honest, yes, i am, but what should that matter? i'm the same person today that i was last week, you know, last year, and the year before. i'm mike, and i want to talk about the issues. so it was very important for me to put that on the table so we can move on and talk about issues. i do not intend to make the governor's personal life or the independent's personal life part of their campaign. and hopefully they'll do the same for me. mainers are due respect.

and i hope we can get on the table and move on. >> candidate for governor now. stay in touch with us. it's going to be fascinating to watch. >> we'll be right back.

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happy election night, woo-hoo. thousands of voters went to the polls to pick new mayors. now this is a technical political science term, forgive me. among all those races, the one race that is the most crazy pants of all is the one in minneapolis where they had 35 candidates to choose from. among that crazy pants sea of

hopefuls, residents had the choice of somebody who represented the occu-pirate party. occupy, occu-pirate and somebody named bob carney again. one was businesswoman and independent stephanie woodruff who put out this campaign ad a few days ago in which she was dressed only in saran wrap. she's making a point about transparency in government, and saran wrap is see through. so there you go. the filing fee to get into the race was only 20 bucks. so maybe that adds to the crowded field. minneapolis residents get to

vote for their top three choices for mayor. you don't just vote for one person. you vote for three. you pick your top three choices, number them one, two, three. that essentially does the runoff for you if that's need. it eliminates the spoiler effect of minor candidates helping to elect major candidates who they don't like, ahem, ralph nader. as of this hour it looks like betsy hodges is in the lead with 99% of the vote in. in miami, the most viable challenger dropped out. so the sitting mayor will keep his seat. also in florida, in st. petersburg, the democratic challenger has taken the mayor's seat. that represents the first time a sitting mayor has lost his seat in 20 years.

in detroit right now the job of being mayor in that city is basically a ceremonial position. detroit doesn't actually have democracy anymore, but tonight they did go through the motions and awarded the key to the city? they awarded very little authority to mike duggan. he beat out the county sheriff named napoleon to get the job in detroit. big election in boston tonight, there was no incumbent mayor running. the new mayor will be martin walsh who was probably the more leftier of the two democrats who faced off in that race. in new york city it looks like gracie mansion will have a

democratic mayor for the first time since 1993. bill de blasio over joe lhota. all of them being elected mayor tonight have a lot ahead of them. they have been struggling with budgets and to pay employees. some will be great at the job. some will not. being mayor is tough. the mayor of the great city of toronto, the fourth largest city in north america, today he handed every mayor in america and every mayor on earth the at least i'm not that guy card to be used really at any time. no matter what scandal happens to you, it will never be like yours. he was a big city mayor who was

forced by circumstances to say this. >> i do not use crack cocaine, nor am i an addict of crack cocaine. as for a video, i cannot comment on a video that i've never seen or does not exist. >> now we know that the crack video does exist because the toronto police have announced that they have it in the possess of the department. now it's harder for him to deny being caught on tape smoking crack since the police have the tape of him smoking crack. now toronto mayor as of today, toronto mayor rob ford will be known forever as this guy. >> do you smoke crack cocaine? >> exactly, yes, i have smoked crack cocaine, do i? am i an addict? no. have i tried it? probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably about a year ago. you asked the question. i answered the question properly.

all i can do now is to apologize and move on. >> it was all part of a drunken stupor. that kind of makes it better. a drunken stupor on the part of the world's fourth largest city who sees no reason to resign. best wishes for a successful term. and for toronto mayor rob ford whose standards of behavior you'll be hard-pressed to surpass no matter how badly you act in office, there is only one thing to say tonight -- and that is, you're welcome.

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governor's race. it's mcauliffe over cuccinelli. when you've read the beltway press about this race all along, you wonder how mcauliffe was doing so disproportionately well among women? is terry just an androgenous name, maybe people think he's a woman. why would he have such a strong preference in this governor's race. it could be a matter of policy. the last virginia governor's race before this one was in 2009 when the state elected a deeply conservative man named bob mcdonald. he had written a thesis but how policy should be used to punish homosexual, cohabitators and fornicators.

he tried to play down that part of his background as a candidate for governor, but once he got elected he and the republicans got to work on just those issues. part of his legacy as he leaves the governorship is the raft of new anti-abortion regulations that have started shutting down clinics across that state. even before that, the virginia republicans moved to force unnecessary ultrasound exams on any woman who wanted to try to get an abortion in the state of virginia. remember the vaginal probes? if you can read this, your government is too close. small government. this violation, courtesy of the virginia republican party. or this one -- i can see the white house from here. that's not supposed to be the vaginal ultrasound probe talking, it's supposed to be bob mcdonnell. but, you know, forced medley unnecessary ultrasounds ordered by the government, that proved

to be a wand too far for the governor. >> i have to ask you about this red hot story that's gotten so many women fired up. >> virginia drew national attention for the proposal -- >> this was an abortion bill that would have mandated that women get what's called a transvaginal ultrasound if they were getting an abortion. >> if were you educating yourself on this bill, did you originally not realize -- >> it was an invasive procedure. >> this wasn't my bill. >> normally a governor would review these hundreds and hundreds of bills when they get to your desk. you're so busy, you don't read every legislator's bill. >> actually, it was your bill, sir, in the effect that you co-sponsored it. and you signed the bill.

so he was not picked as the vice president nominee. and the nickname kind of stuck, even as his governorship dissolved in a corruption and bribery scandal. they'll make a decision on whether to criminally indict bob mcdonnell between now and thanksgiving. the national press have been mystified in this gender gap. turns out cuccinelli is not that much of a mystery. he is the harder to spell opponent. even after shutting down the abortion clinics, even after the forced ultrasounds, on top of that republicans are asking people to support this man that wouldn't just ban all abortion, it would ban hormonal forms of birth control. there was a normal conservative republican, a mainstream

republican available to run in the form of bill boulding, but cuccinelli outmaneuvered, and through that, the virginia republican party got themselves not only ken cuccinelli, they got a statewide slate of republican candidates. he ran against jackson. he said gay people are sick, the military has been homosexualized and president obama seems like the anti-christ. this one says that anybody who suffers a miss carriage must report that miss carriage to the local sheriff. you know, small government. history says republicans should

have had this election in virginia in a walk. democratic president for more than 30 years, that means it would be guarantees that the -- virginia women are so strongly opposed to the way republicans are governing that they have changed that streak. the republican party doesn't seem to recognize that this was about policy. the final list of candidates who cuccinelli campaigned with, the people who he tried to turn people around to his way of thinking on. his last name of big name surrogates were senator marco rubio, anti-abortion guy, rand paul, bobby jindal, mike huckabee, rick santorum. those were his last list. where is this gender gap coming