Elections

This is the third installment of Streetsblog Capitol Hill's series on key governor’s races. Earlier we brought you stories about a candidate who likes bikes but isn't sure about transit in Tennessee, and the choice between light rail and bus rapid transit in Maryland. Here we turn our attention to Colorado.

With election day fast approaching, Streetsblog Capitol Hill is turning our attention this week to key governor's races. As Ya-Ting Liu of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign recently wrote (and as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has made painfully clear), "decisions by state and local elected officials ultimately determine whether federal transportation policies become instruments of reform or tools to be abused." Today we look at the gubernatorial election in Maryland.

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a biking mayor. He shows up almost every year to Bike to Work Day. The small-government Republican has allocated $20,000 for bike improvements.

Last week, we profiled Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's transportation platform, which tended in the direction of airy platitudes. In contrast, his Republican opponent Carl Paladino has probably never been accused of playing things too safe, and on transportation policy, he's true to form. Paladino's been blitzing the campaign trail with a no-holds-barred anti-toll, anti-transit message.

The votes have been counted in the 2010 primaries, humbling three of the state legislators who killed major transit funding initiatives the past few years.

The early returns are in, and Pedro Espada is going to have to make up some ground to retain his seat in the State Senate. Other incumbents don't seem to be in as much jeopardy.

So the big day is here and several seats in the state legislature are in play. Leave your analysis, predictions, and stories from the polls in the comments.

This year's election coverage at Streetsblog is mostly focused on the primary races where seats in the state legislature are up for grabs, but we've also got some competitive congressional contests where the Democratic nomination is at stake. One of them is the 10th congressional district in Brooklyn, where 13-term incumbent Ed Towns faces a challenge from Kevin Powell, in an intense rematch of two candidates who squared off in 2008.

Last night's 33rd Senate District transportation debate pitted two candidates against each other who are unlikely to ever appear on the same ballot: Democrat Daniel Padernacht and Green John Reynolds. Padernacht is running a distant third place in polling for the September 14 primary, after incumbent Pedro Espada Jr. and challenger Gustavo Rivera. Neither Espada nor Rivera showed up at last night's debate: Espada refuses to debate his opponents and Rivera chose to attend an NAACP forum instead.