by WorldTribune Staff, November 15, 2016
Although the spotlight was focused elsewhere on Nov. 8, several other key elections were decided, including the thrashing of Colorado’s proposed single-payer healthcare plan, the thorough repudiation of David Duke and one in which Oregon voters delivered a candidate the ultimate “just desserts”.
In Oregon, Democratic Secretary of State Brad Avakian was defeated, marking the first Republican victory in a statewide election in 14 years.
What made the race significant is that Avakian is the official who infamously led the charge to fine a Christian-owned bakery $144,000 for declining to provide services to a same-sex wedding.
In 2013, Avakian’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) went after Christian bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa after the bakers refused to create a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. Though the bakery served gay customers, the couple believed that by participating in the wedding ceremony, they were condoning the marriage, which conflicted with their Christian beliefs.
Aaron Klein told Independent Journal Review that the state garnished their bank accounts and assets to satisfy a $135,000 fine. In all, he says, the state took $144,000 from them.
Avakian’s Republican opponent, Dennis Richardson, won by a comfortable five-point margin in deep blue Oregon, where voters also overwhelmingly rejected (41/59) a major corporate tax increase.
In Colorado, a ballot initiative to create a government-run, single-payer healthcare system for the state was rejected by nearly 80 percent of Coloradans who cast ballots.
Every county in the state voted against the proposal, including liberal Denver County, where two-thirds of residents rejected it.
In Louisiana, David Duke was largely ignored by voters even though he was continually in the spotlight as the major media continually tried to tie Donald Trump to Duke.
In the end, Duke received just 3 percent of the vote and finished in seventh place.
The contest is headed to a run-off on Dec. 10. Republican John Kennedy is expected to prevail over Democrat Foster Campbell. Nearly 1.2 million Louisianans voted for Republican candidates on Nov. 8, with fewer than 700,000 backing Democrats.
Obamacare, Democrats, David Duke repudiated in other key nationwide election results added by World Tribune on
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