Election 2017

Atlanta's next mayor could be a black woman named Keisha — a prospect that thrills Diamond Harris.

The 28-year-old graphic designer exulted Wednesday on her Facebook page: "Keisha, Keisha, Keisha! I just want a mayor name Keisha."

By a difference of just five votes, residents of Milledgeville have made history by choosing Mary Parham-Copelan as the city's new mayor.

Parham-Copelan becomes the first woman to win election to that office. She defeated incumbent Gary Thrower in Tuesday's balloting.

Unofficial election results reveal that Parham-Copelan received 833 votes to Thrower's 827 votes.

Parham-Copelan told The Union Recorder residents wanted a change and they worked hard for her, making that change possible.

Democrats won up and down the ballot Tuesday night, notably in the governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey. The victories were a much needed sigh of relief for a party that hadn't had any high-profile victories at the ballot box during the first year of the Trump presidency — despite his record-low approval ratings.

Here are seven takeaways from what happened Tuesday and what it means:

Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET

It was a good night for Democrats in some of the nation's largest cities.

New York's Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, a forceful critic of President Trump, easily won a second term. And Democrats also won several major cities and closely watched races, including those in Boston, Charlotte, N.C., and Seattle.

With all of the precincts counted, de Blasio had 66 percent of the vote to 28 percent for his main rival, Republican Nicole Malliotakis.

Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET

Voters in Maine have easily approved a referendum to expand Medicaid for low-income adults, doing an end-run around Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who vetoed the move — a key element of Obamacare.

Maine is one of a handful of states deciding major issues by referendum on Tuesday, including New York and Ohio.

Two metro Atlanta Democrats will face off in a runoff Dec. 5 to decide who fills the state Senate seat of Democrat Vincent Fort, who stepped down to run for Atlanta mayor.

Nikema Williams and Linda Pritchett were the top finishers Tuesday in a four-way face for the 39th Senate District in Fulton County. No one garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, the threshold required to win outright and avoid a runoff.

In odd-numbered years, Election Day consists of a hodgepodge of state, local and special elections.

But in an era when, to flip an old phrase, all politics is national, these low-profile, low-turnout elections might have a lot more to say about the direction of the country than may have been the case just a few years ago.

Two governors races and one president in the background