Political Types Depicted in Games or as Game Characters During Campaigns, How Did They Fare?

During the run up to yesterday’s mid-term election, we profiled a few politicians that used web-based games or videogame-related images in order to either slam their opponent, or drum up interest in their own campaign. In some cases the games were even created by third parties not affiliated with either side in a race. Let’s check-in and see how these candidates did in yesterday’s elections.

One such Flash game created by a third-party featured New Mexico gubernatorial candidates Susana Martinez (R) and Diane Denish (R) in a fighting game that pitted one against the other. New Mexico KnockOut was created by a former resident of the state named Max Barnett, who said that the game was not intended to give either candidate an edge. Martinez won the election with 54% of the vote, becoming the state’s first female Hispanic governor ever.

In New York State, Republican candidate for governor, and veritable loose cannon, Carl Paladino, painted his opponent, Democrat Andrew Cuomo as Mario Jr. (a nod to Cuomo’s father Mario, the ex-Governor of New York) in a political flyer, claiming that “Andrew Has Been Playing the Albany Game for 30 Years.”  Cuomo easily outdistanced Paladino at the polls, gathering around 62 percent of the vote.

Out in Missouri, Congressman Russ Carnahan (D) used a Pac-Man-inspired online game, named Hackman, in order to attack his Republican opponent for the state’s 3rd Congressional seat, Ed Martin.  Carnahan appears to have retained his seat by the slimmest of margins, 48.9 percent to Martin’s 46.7 percent. Candidates who lose elections by less than one percent in Missouri can ask for recounts. While the margin was 2.2 percent, Martin is alleging voting irregularities however.

In California, the California Labor Federation funded perhaps the most impressive political game of the season with its Wall Street Whitman creation. The Flash game was developed in order to highlight the “pattern of economic destruction” left behind by Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman as she advanced her business career. Whitman lost her run for governor to Jerry Brown, who received about 54 percent of the vote.