WINNERS

1. Republicans: Won the governorship, nine legislative seats, four county executives and a mandate.
2. Governor Chris Christie: Took special interest in defeating O’Malley’s protege, Anthony Brown, after suffering years of O’Malley’s attacks. Paybacks are hell.
3. Peter Franchot: Can say to Dems, “I told you so.” Fiscal conservative, social liberal best attuned to voter’s mood.
4. Roads, Bridges and Metro Capital Replacement Costs. Gov. Hogan’s transportation priorities.
5. Maryland Taxpayers: Thanks to Hogan, no new taxes for next four years.
6. Public Campaign Finance: Hogan chose public financing and won. Will others follow?
7. Jaymi Sterling: Hogan’s 34-year-old daughter starred in TV ad that completely defused Dem’s “War on Women” attack ads.
8. African-American Voters: Message to Dems: We can’t be ignored and, then, herded to the polls by playing the race card. It’s not the 1960’s.
9. Anne Arundel County: Gov. O’Malley played politics by moving state agencies out of this GOP county and relocating them in PG Co. and Baltimore city. This will end under Gov. Hogan.
10. Ellen Sauerbrey: “Md’s Barry Goldwater” whose courageous campaigns in the 1990’s paved the way for later Ehrlich, Hogan victories.
11. Estate Tax Reform, Transportation Lock Box, Term Limits: Brown said he was against this year’s estate tax reform, Hogan’s win saved it. Voters passed Transportation lock box and, in PG, retained term limits.
12. Alex Mooney (R): Gerrymandered out of his state Senate seat by Maryland Dems, Mooney moved to West Virginia, won 2nd District congressional seat on Nov. 4.
13. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: No longer holds the booby prize for worst governor’s race loss to a Republican.
14. The Washington Post’s and Baltimore Sun’s local newspapers who all endorsed Hogan.
15. Bruce Bereano: Highly paid Annapolis lobbyist shut out by O’Malley, campaigned for Hogan, making a comeback.
16. Jim Brochin (D): Three-term independent state senator defied Senate President Mike Miller and O’Malley who gerrymandered him into 63 percent Republican voting district, won anyway.
17. Bob Flanagan (R): After serving four terms in the House of Delegates, Flanagan served as Gov. Ehrlich’s Transportation Secretary. Now he’s back in the House for a fifth term, no plans to serve in Hogan administration.
18. WPA Research, Gonzales, Cook Reports: Hogan won by 4 points. WPA predicted a five-point win, Gonzales had him behind by two but closing and Cook called the race a toss-up.
19: Business and Economic Growth: Hogan is putting jobs and the economy ahead of windmills and carbon taxes.
20: Farmers: O’Malley’s exit, Hogan’s win ends state government’s “war on rural Maryland,” especially on farmers.
21: Lt. Gov. Jinx: Four Lt. Govenors have run for governor, none succeeded. It’s the Bermuda triangle of Maryland politics.
22. Maryland Voters: Critics of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision said voters are too dumb to resist big money-backed TV ads. Maryland voters proved them wrong.

LOSERS:

1: Democrats: What went wrong and what can we do about it? Who’s the head of the party now? Mikulski? Franchot? Cardin?
2: Gov. Martin O’Malley: How do you run for president after being repudiated by your own voters? Maybe nobody will notice.
3: Barbara Mikulski: Lost Senate Appropriations Chairmanship, her best case for 2016 re-election. Ambitious young Dems now eyeing her seat.
4. Light rail projects: Gov. Hogan says they’re nice but unaffordable. No Purple Line, Red Line.
5. Maryland Economy: Thanks to Republican Congress, flat federal spending means stagnant Maryland economy.
6. Big Dem Spenders: Dem Governor’s Association ($1.2 million), Michael Bloomberg ($500,000) and labor union loan ($800,000) couldn’t save Brown.
7. Justin Schall: Brown’s campaign manager kept Brown under wraps and did all the talking, himself. Attack ads bombed, couldn’t find Instagrams of Hogan at an O.C. teen drinking party?
8. The Race Card: Dems, not Republicans, played the race card. Yet, some lame liberals claim racism defeated Brown in a state that Obama won twice, 62 percent to 36 percent!
9. Baltimore City: Only the second non-Baltimore area governor in 48 years, Hogan owes the city nothing. The mayor says she’s “reassessing the city’s reliance on state aid, state revenue.” Nation’s most subsidized city is in trouble.
10. The Clintons and Obamas: Both couples campaigned for Brown in Maryland with no discernible results. Voters had taxes, not celebrities, on their minds.
11. New Spending Programs: Thanks to Hogan’s win and O’Malley’s $900 million deficits, no pre-K, no Thornton II, no paid sick leave, no new spending.
12. John Delaney (D): Almost lost to long-shot Dan Bongino (R), in majority Dem 6th congressional district.
13. Anthony Brown: Nice guy who let “the pros” handle his campaign and tell him what to do.
14. The Post and the Sun who endorsed Brown.
15. Vinnie DeMarco: Anti-tobacco advocate had votes lined up for another tobacco tax in 2015, unlikely now.
16. Mike Miller (D): Senate moderate Dems either lost or narrowly won leaving Miller surrounded by liberal Dems from Balt., PG and MoCo.
17. Mike Busch (D): House speaker saw seven moderate Dems lose to Republicans, the House is turning more Republican while the Dem caucus is turning more liberal.
18. Nate Silver, CBS/NY Times: Pollster Nate Silver predicted a 9.7-point Brown win, CBS/NYT had Brown at +13.
19. Environmental Extremists: O’Malley did 99 percent of what the Green lobby wanted, Hogan won’t.
20. Conowingo Dam: Hogan wants the Bay’s biggest sediment source dredged instead of focusing on farmers.
21. Rain Tax: This tax on “impervious surfaces” was the tax rebellion’s lightning rod. Will the Dems repeal it?
22: Pundits and Talking Heads: Focused on the past, not the present, the conventional wisdom said a Republican couldn’t win Maryland’s governorship.
Blair Lee is chairman of the board of Lee Development Group in Silver Spring. He is the son of the late Blair Lee III who was Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1971 to 1979 and Acting Governor from 1977 to 1979. His email address is  blairleeiv@gmail.com.