Housing posts key wins on Election Day

The historic elections on Nov. 4 produced a victory for Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as the first African-American to win the presidency and increased majorities for House and Senate Democrats. Voters across the country also brought home significant election wins for housing.

More than 130 million people cast their ballots, the most ever for a presidential election. An estimated 64% of eligible voters went to the polls, making 2008 the highest percentage turnout in generations.

Congratulating President-elect Obama and all the lawmakers who were elected to the 111th Congress, NAHB Chairman Sandy Dunn said that “the nation’s home builders look forward to working in a bipartisan manner with the incoming Obama Administration and new Congress to help solve our nation’s economic crisis and get housing and the economy back on track.”

To build support for housing on Capitol Hill, the nation’s home builders launched a targeted voter mobilization campaign in five Senate races and 28 competitive House districts. The effort resulted in wins for 26 of the 33 candidates that NAHB supported. The Minnesota Senate race remains undecided.

The voter mobilization program employed sophisticated communications and outreach programs to help identify, educate and mobilize the pro-housing vote.

In local grassroots efforts, NAHB members living in the targeted congressional districts volunteered for the candidates by putting up campaign signs, canvassing neighborhoods and having the candidate speak at home builders association meetings.

Once the voters who worked in housing and housing-related fields were identified and educated on the issues, they were contacted through phone banks, mail, e-mail and person-to-person outreach in the final days before the elections and urged to go to the polls and vote for pro-housing candidates.

In the Senate, NAHB’s grassroots efforts helped propel Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) to victory. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) fell to Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley while Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) contest with Democrat Al Franken is headed for a recount.

The 23 NAHB-supported House winners included Reps. Gary Miller (R-Calif.), Ron Klein (D-Fla.), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), Jim Marshall (D-Ga.), Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.), John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.), John Hall (D-N.Y.), Zack Space (D-Ohio), Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Chris Carney (D-Pa.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), Chet Edwards (D-Texas), Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). In addition, Republican Christopher Lee won an open seat in New York.

BUILD-PAC, the political action committee of NAHB, contributed to 27 Senate contests. Twenty-two of the BUILD-PAC-supported candidates won ¯ a success rate of 81%. This total does not include the outcomes of the elections involving Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who are in races that are still to be decided.

In the House, BUILD-PAC posted a 92% success rate, supporting 309 winners in the 337 races to which it contributed.

Builder Efforts Help Defeat Arizona Legislation That Would Have Nullified NOR

On the state level, perhaps the most notable victory in NAHB’s state and local ballot initiative efforts occurred with the overwhelming defeat of Proposition 201 in Arizona, which would have nullified certain provisions of Notice and Opportunity to Repair legislation that was signed into law in 2003. The final tally on the measure was 22% in favor, 78% against. Arizona builders worked alongside NAHB and the High Production Home Builders to achieve this favorable outcome.

Another industry victory occurred in Nevada, where the state constitution was amended to spell out a private property owner’s rights regarding eminent domain matters.