The pendulum swings of off-year elections, especially following contentious presidential races, are usually sharp. This time, Virginia went blue and New Jersey stayed that way. California’s eye-for-an-eye vote on gerrymandering to thwart Republican efforts was wildly successful — only years after it had been rejected as unprincipled. Democrats retained three judges on Pennsylvania’s top court against an intense GOP effort to oust them.

Yet, the Republican brand held strong on Long Island, especially in Nassau County. Bruce A. Blakeman is the only county executive candidate from the same party as the president elected the year before to win since Thomas Gulotta in 1989, when George H.W. Bush was in the White House.

Republicans and independents who broke in their favor went straight across

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