I’m not going to pretend that I’m completely overjoyed by the midterm election results, but I’ll also say this: I’m not as depressed as I was the day after Election Day 2016. There were some good results, important results, but there were some really bad stories too. Let’s start with the good stuff – even after decades of gerrymandering and voter suppression, Democrats took back the House with a substantial margin, winning seats all over the map. Did we win every important-bellwether race? No, but we did really well. Some important wins:
The first Muslim women Congresswomen. Per CNN: “Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s nominee, will secure their respective seats in strongly Democratic districts following primary victories earlier this year that effectively decided their races.”
Virginia goes from purple to blue. Tim Kaine won reelection easily in the Senate, and his coattails included big Democratic gains in the House, with three Democratic women winning important races. Jennifer Wexton won the 10th, Elaine Luria won the 2nd, and Abigail Spanberger won the 7th. Unfortunately, Olivia Wilde’s mom lost against the Republican guy who writes Bigfoot erotica.
Kansas is amazing. They voted in a Democratic governor, and they voted in a Native American lesbian named Sharice Davids to the Kansas 3rd.
As for the bad stories… the Senate was 51-49 Republican, and it’s looking like the Republicans will gain several seats. Claire McCaskill went down in Missouri. Heidi Heitkamp went down in North Dakota. Bill Nelson went down in Florida. Incidentally, those three senators voted against Brett Kavanaugh. Voters in too many states watched the Kavanaugh hearings and thought “we need to put more Republicans in the Senate to ensure that more sexual assailants like Brett Kavanaugh get on the bench.” Beto lost a nail-biter and while there’s a lot of positive stuff to say about his campaign, the fact remains that Texas voters preferred to vote for a spineless weasel and charisma vacuum like Ted Cruz.
In Florida, it’s particularly depressing – Democrat Andrew Gillum lost the governor’s race, Nelson lost his Senate seat. The Florida GOP ran the most racist and Deplorable campaign in recent memory. Florida’s new governor, Ron DeSantis, used blatant racism against his African-American opponent. And Florida voters ate it up. It’s almost as if – and hear me out – Florida voters wanted to show the country that they have a lot in common with Cesar Sayok, the Trump-supporting Florida-based terrorist who sent pipe bombs to all of Trump’s enemies. DeSantis ran a campaign about being loyal to Trump. And he won. So… Florida is Florida.
So no, it wasn’t the “blue wave” many of us were hoping and praying for, in which a surge of new voters would radically shift congressional races, senate races and gubernatorial races around the country. There were smaller waves in certain states, and I’m happy that we have the House now. But… I wish it had been better. I’m not going to pretend that Trump didn’t “win” again last night in many different races.
Just FYI: I’ll be doing some individual posts about certain races, like Beto.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
This was not a blue wave. Maybe blue splashes in small pockets around the country. I don’t know why I’m surprised.
It was a pretty good night overall. The Senate was always going to be tough. This is a good article about it:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/why-democrats-lost-key-2018-midterm-races.html
It actually was a good night. Democrats faced the hardest electoral map in the Senate that they’ve faced in a generation. Unfortunately, most of those losses were expected. The House was a big and important win and we flipped some Governorships, also important. Of course, Dems needed OH and FL because they’ll now be redistricting under Republican Governors, so that’s not great. But Dems also flipped a few state houses. More importantly, Dems got a message about inclusion and running the right candidates. Solid performance – let the subpoenas begin!
I’m not surprised either. Racism, misogyny, fascism continue to win. I’m in a red state and they elected a Trump worshipping governor to a full term.
I guess people don’t care as long as it doesn’t affect them.
I’m in Florida and everyone I knew voted for Andrew Gillum. However, I’m in a very red county and when I went to vote all the old white people and some young Republicans had stickers all over their cars for Ron Desantis. According to the AP my county vote split:it 125,000 for the Racist Desantis and 100,000 for Gillum.
It’s very frustrating because a lot of those older people are going to lose their health care as Desantis takes away pre-existing conditions. Why anyone would vote against their own self-interest makes no sense to me.
People over the age of 65 will not be impacted by pre-existing conditions because they are covered by Medicare. And now that Dems have the house, McConnell’s dream of gutting Medicare will not be realized.
The Panhandle of Florida is just basically Lower Alabama, but how did the rest of the state vote?
We just have to realize that a large portion of this country is selfish, greedy, and filled with hate. Considering how long slavery and legal segregation lasted and how racism persists bigly – should we really be surprised?
But we will never know how bad it really is until:
1) Everybody who is eligible registers to vote
2) Everybody who registers actually votes
3) We have mandatory hand recounts of paper ballots in every election as a double-check and fraud deterrent
4) We have mandatory paper ballots (either direct or as backup for those hackable machines, viewable by the voter)
5) We legally penalize appropriate parties if there are not enough paper ballots in case of machine malfunction (the appropriate number should be more than enough for every registered voter)
6) We have mandatory extension of polling place hours for every bit of time people can’t vote because of those “glitches” that mysteriously seem to affect areas that are lower income and less white or younger (university towns often face major obstacles)
7) If people insist on using machines that will always be vulnerable to vote-shifting methods, at least insist that enough machines be available for everybody and not just for predominantly white and higher income areas
8) Gerrymandered districts are all redrawn by diligently nonpartisan/bipartisan individuals according to sensible rules
We have a situation today where we can’t even be sure that our votes are being counted correctly, for those of us who actually were allowed to vote. We have seen signs of vote-shifting from Democratic candidates to Republican candidates since 2004, when those Republican-made machines were widely installed. It’s nice that intelligence agencies were watching for Russian interference this time – but what about the homegrown interference?
jwoolman, a hearty AMEN to your post. I would just add that it is super-important that paper ballots be hand-marked, because if the completed paper ballot is printed out for voter review, there is no way to verify that the machine is counting the vote the same way as it appears on the print-out if you do not have a hand recount for any reason, PLUS you have problem of paper backups getting “lost”, PLUS you have the long polling place lines created by each voter having to wait for a machine (not to mention the extra downtime each machine will incur when printing supplies have to be replenished or the printer breaks down). Jenny Cohn on Twitter is an amazing resource on all things EVM- and paper ballot-related.
We need to do SO much work on election integrity, and it makes me so angry when Republican politicians gaslight us about voter fraud, knowing all the while that our election systems are TERRIBLE — underfunded, hackable, and deliberately disenfranchising poor, minority, and disabled voters.
I think there was a babbling creek in some places and a swift river in others, which is hopefully building to an ocean wave analogy.
Never was going to be for Senate. Most seats up for grabs were already blue.
It was the house that really showed changes from both sides.
It was a wave. Only a third of the Senate seats were up and most that were up this year were seats held by Democrats.
Democrats took governor races and AG races. That’s huge. If a governor or AG doesn’t like a Trump policy imposed on the states, they don’t implement it and they sue to enjoin and overturn. That means he can’t get much of his agenda accomplished through the Executive Branch agencies or executive orders.
And the House flipped. Oversight has been restored and they are gearing up to make his life a living Hell.
8 weeks to go … we need to send Trump out of the country on a long vacation and we need to call the Democrats already in the Senate to stall on judicial nominations to keep Mitch McConnell busy. It’s going to be a fraught 8 weeks.
I think it was about as good an outcome as we could reasonably expect, and I want to thank all the Black Americans, especially women, for doing whatever it took you to vote. I am so sorry you had to stand on line like that. We have to fix that.
Yea I agree. I for one am thrilled. It’s a block to policies. Hallelujah for that.
Yes, black people and women specifically are saving the world again.
Yes, it was a “Blue Wave”.
***Don’t let the GOP try to frame losing a single party strangle hold on federal gov’t as a good thing for them!!****
They lost the House significantly. That was what the “blue wave” was supposed to be. Don’t let people make you think narrowly losing the LONG SHOTS was a failure.
Additionally, Dems will hold governorships in crucial states for 2020: Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico, etc.
It felt like a small wave in my neck of NJ. There were so many Trunp signs in my town in 2016 that it almost felt hostile. My town is overwhelmingly republican in local elections, but we helped elect a Dem for Congress. I’m so proud and happy that all my candidates, except for local school board, won last night.
I’m new to NJ (Bradley Beach) and love it, but so sad Monmouth is red! What town are you in?
The Senate is extremely difficult to overturn, particularly in a divided era like this – and particularly in the age of voter suppression and gerrymandering. The House is not a small prize. That’s the place where you can stop the legislation dead in its tracks before it ever makes it to the Senate.
Do not underestimate the power of state and local government, either. Gubernatorial elections are extremely important, particularly in a time like this when the executive branch is out of control. Florida and Georgia are definitely a shame to lose, but we’ve strengthened those numbers elsewhere. But remember that Florida just voted to give back voting rights to convicted felons – and that one million plus voting population could make for some big changes in 2020.
I agree with you but gerrymandering has nothing to do with Senate seats. It *feels* like gerrymandering because our most populous (and blue) states (California, New York) only have 2 senators each just like Utah and Nevada and Wyoming but it’s just not.
@Sassafras, gerrymandering affects Senate races when it is part of voter suppression. When the districts are drawn to favor one party and the precincts, wards. and polling places are set up in such a way as to make it difficult to vote for people who would tend to support a particular party, it does affect Senate races. When people have to travel a distance to vote and then wait in lines for hours, they’re less likely to vote.
I get what you’re saying, but as Light Purple pointed out, voter disenfranchisement and suppression is a real issue in places where gerrymandering exists. One of the big reasons my state’s Republican lawmakers finally got taken to task is that representatives were complaining about how the bizarre redistricting was limiting their ability to create meaningful relationships with the constituency. If people feel their House reps aren’t doing anything, they’re equally unlikely to turn up for the Senate elections during midterms.
Although, we could probably have a rousing discussion about whether the system is fundamentally “gerrymandered” at this point because of how drastically the population has shifted. A lot of people like to skim over the fact that the electoral college exists in part because slave states needed a system where they had more political power in comparison to the more populated free states.
It was a blue wave;
333 state legislative seats flipped.
7 governorships flipped.
6 trifectas (governor plus both houses).
This is a HUGE deal and will have greater positive long term impact than a few charismatic individuals winning national races.
It’s rebuilding the Dem party from the grass roots up. People forget that we lost an INSANE number of seats, governorships, etc during the Obama years and we’ve had a non-existent farm team since the Clinton era.
Don’t even get me started with what this could mean for reapportionment.
It’s not sexy and exciting like the national races but it’s WAY more important.
Ever wonder how the GOP has managed to take over literally EVERYTHING despite representing fewer people and espousing some incredibly unpopular policies? This is how they did it. I’m very excited by these results.
You’re exactly right, Keaton. Very well said. As I said somewhere else, it may seem slow going but it’s really not…and the pendulum is starting to swing toward sanity again.
What a long day. This tweet made me smile:
‘I swear Florida could be voting between ice cream and a kick to the head and the results would be 50.5%-49.5%.’ – Benjamin Park
It’s true! I have lived in Florida my entire life.
In both races the Republican won by the tiniest of margins. Rick Scott won his 2 gubernatorial elections by similarly tiny margins. The 4 metro areas here tend to vote blue, but we are outnumbered by the rural counties which turn out in droves for the Republicans. It’s so disappointing, but I will continue to vote for truth because the margins in this election demonstrate that there are plenty of people trying to do the right thing in this state.
I’m originally from Florida. I wonder how many of my fellow white Latinos voted for DeSantis solely because his opponent was black (I know that was the case for my parents). Many white non-Latinos have no clue how racist Latinos can be.
Same. A lot of people don’t think about that. My father, a white Latino, is that way, but thankfully (sorry, dad) he can’t vote. Isn’t that something? He’s doesn’t even have full citizenship, yet he’s all wrapped up in “American pride”. He isn’t a Trump supporter, but he’s a closeted racist with conservative views. Makes no sense to me.
Which is mainly a result of American racism that portrays all “true” Latinos as brown-skinned. Many people do not understand that Latino is an ethnicity, not a racial classification, and South America was just as much a victim of European colonialism and colorist attitudes as North America.
Most latinos are mestizo.
And yes, mestizos are very often anti black.
(See: California)
I kept refreshing the live feeds on Beto last night. I’m so discouraged but I’m also impressed that it was as tight a race as it was. Guy this bites. I was really hoping for Texas and Florida but there’s just too many garbage racist old c-nts out there. How the literal f-ck does an ex mime who’s face looks like it is melting beat Beto
I was gutted for Beto and all his supporters, because they ran a superb campaign and came so close to winning a race that they really should have had no chance in at all. It’s tough, but I am optimistic.
If I’m being super optimistic, then I’m going to say it was a genius move; O’Rourke had no real chance of winning and came very close, and in doing so he has become a national figure (international figure even), now he has momentum, a huge national profile, lots of goodwill and admirers all over the country and he’s free for the next two years so if he wanted to campaign for something else, he’s in a very good place. Say, you guys have a big election for something or other coming up in 2020, don’t you.
He also carried several key house district switches that might not have happened otherwise.
Even though Beto lost, I can’t help but see it as a positive all things considered. TEXAS of all states had a close senate race. Things like that aren’t supposed to happen.
Beto was not expected to win, and the fact that he almost did is HUGE. It’s progress.
Yes – every close race in a normally not-close race is a warning shot to the Republicans. The same was true for the special elections to fill empty seats the last two years. Even if the Republican won as expected, they were winning by small margins rather than the usual large margins even in areas that Trump won by a large margin.
That was a warning also both for the Congressional elections and the 2020 Presidential election. If Trump is not in prison, a strait jacket, or in exile by 2020 – the Republicans may not be so keen to have him on the ballot. Especially if we tighten up our election procedures to make vote-shifting via machine more difficult (as a techie, I want paper ballots and mandatory recounts no matter what the margin to properly deter fraud in a high-tech age) and work seriously against voter suppression.
The House is crucial: it has control of the purse strings (so it can block cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid that Republican Speaker Paul Ryan has pushed for constantly for years), can block bad legislation that has to be approved by both House and Senate and reconciled between them, and also decides on impeachment (the trial to remove is held in the Senate). If enough Republicans in the Senate become disgusted with Trump and are no longer afraid to go against him – he may well be impeachable or at least able to be convinced to resign. It depends on Mueller’s report.
Our real problem right now is holding back Trump from getting rid of everybody who is in his way as he continues to try to stop the Mueller investigation and, failing that, burying Mueller’s report so only the White House sees it (just as he buried FBI reports concerning Kavanaugh). With the Senate in the control of Republicans who show indications of bribery or blackmail or demon possession in their blind obedience to the sociopathic narcissist in the White House — I’m not sure what can be done by the majority Democrats in the House (who won’t become the majority until some time in January).
But consider that in January, a Democrat (the Speaker of the House) will be next in line after the Vice President for the Presidency if Trump is taken away in handcuffs or a strait jacket, or skedaddles into exile to a place that won’t extradite him, assuming we all can survive the Trumpian tantrums in the meantime. Look at all he was doing just before the election in his panic. Expect more of the same.
I deliberately avoided looking at the news until late this morning, when I heard persistent emergency vehicle sirens. I decided to check this site in case we were all under martial law by now…. Not entirely rational, but it’s been a rough two years.
Texan here and we are still excited. Our state is in play for 2020 electoral votes (given a presidential candidate that’s as excellent as Beto), we registered many new (young) voters, we flipped as many seats as we could given the gerrymandering here (I think three or four?), and as Republican senior citizens will one day… um…. stop voting… the writing is on the wall in Texas.
Out of all the “big races” I REALLY thought Gillum had the best chance to win. I still cannot believe he lost and yes, I’m wondering if the election was tampered with.
I’m just bummed that every single candidate I donated to lost: Gillum, Abrams, O’Rourke, Scholten, and Bryce. If even just one of them won, it would have made for a great consolation prize..
I’m starting to see ripples on twitter about tampering. For example, black women supposedly came out in lower numbers for him than for Hillary? That does not make sense.
Since we have seen signs of vote shifting from Dems to Repubs since 2004– it would be naive not to wonder about vote shifting. But voter suppression tactics (including alleged glitches at polling places) also are very effective.
We really need mandatory hand recounts of paper ballots in every election (regardless of the margin) as the best way to deter fraud. No machine should be trusted as the last word. That includes optical scanners. They are vulnerable both to internal malfunctions and external manipulation.
I don’t know why people are so trusting of machines. I’ve happily worked with computers for decades and know their vulnerabilities. I love them dearly but would never trust them for voting. But then I actually know something about the capabilities of modern technology because of my training and my work.
Sorry, America, but I look at stuff like this from across the pond and just think about what sort of revolting people you have in your country to actually vote for this lot. And my country’s not exactly setting a good example either.
Are you looking from the U.K.? If so settle down…cause Brexit.
Which is exactly what I meant by my last sentence. We have a heap of shit to deal with, that we’re dealing with in probably the worst possible way, but the US actually seem to have us beat on the shitheap front right now.
As an impartial observer, both countries seem to be flaming dumpster fires right now. All the more reason to keep fighting for something better.
In fairness, our population is nearly five times that of the United Kingdom. Our shitheads can reproduce in greater numbers. Not that it excuses those in the country who are somehow not motivated to vote and stop them, but you know. Baby steps against Nazism or something.
What Veronica said. It’s been explained ad nauseum to EUers around here but I think y’all still don’t understand how drastically political ideology varies from state to state.
And I get that you think Americans are fucked for voting for these monsters but I have to say that living in Mass, I’m pretty satisfied with my local and state representation and governance. We’re are a lot more than just red states–don’t forget that.
I think there are actually a lot of good, level-headed people in the US. This election proves it. You voted, encouraged others to vote, discussed, encouraged, followed candidates on social media and did a lot more probably.
Whenever people say they don’t understand what’s going on in the US, I say that lots of Americans are not red-hat wearing nutters and that there is more than what they see on TV (often Trump saying something crazy). Sometimes I even point them at this very website, since there are a lot of level-headed, smart people here.
The biggest problem was people not voting, and it seems that more young people and other blue-leaning groups are finding their way to the ballot box. Keep up the momentum towards 2022.
@Belluga you’re right. So many Americans go on about America being the greatest country in the world. Only Americans think that. The rest of the world, as f***ed up as they are, look at the US and see something downright terrifying. How is it that Donald Trump got into power, maintained power for this long and then the midterms come around and people are STILL voting republican?! It says so much about the mentality of a frightening number of American citizens. This isn’t just a few unhinged crazies. This a huge number of racist, misogynistic idiots.
I’m sorry but I don’t think Brexit even comes close to what is going on in the US right now. The UK certainly has it’s issues but they’re not on the same level.
Not yet, give it a few years and we might be up there with the US. Brexit and the election of Trump has emboldened out own right wing extremists and racists, and in Europe to where a few countries have recently elected right wing nuts.
Trump has become the face of butt hurt white male privilege the world over – his rhetoric not only emboldens his base but other like minded people everywhere else. In some ways he’s just as dangerous, if not more, than Putin and Kim due to his extreme unpredictability and mental/emotional unstable behaviour. Putin and Kim are intelligent Trump is not, being stupid is sometimes dangerous.
@Digital Unicorn – you might be right and we can’t forget that the UK and Brexit had the arguably as horrible Farage and UKIP. However both are in the past (for now at least) and I think a lot of people feel that they were mislead when it comes to the Brexit vote. Hopefully the British people have learned their lesson and things won’t reach US standards of shocking.
Brexit voters were completely and utterly willing to be misled, the way American Trump voters in 2016 were completely and utterly willing to be misled by him. That willingness reveals the racism and xenophobia underlying their decisions. None get a pass for being “misled.” What about all the voters who were not “misled?”
Actually, IMO, it’s not just the US and/or the UK: I’m from Germany and, considering our history, you would think that people would have come to their senses, would have learned from the mistakes past generations have made and therefore would not vote for any racist, misogynistic party. I mean, who in their right mind would, right? Wrong! Add the refugee “crisis” (it’s not a crisis), throw in some fake news all over social media, the general xenophobia (especially in East Germany) and a good amount of protest voters (LOL) – and voilá, the AFD (Alternative for Germany) is a thing to actually be worried about. Gauland, the “leader” of this party compared the holocaust to a “bird shit pile” (trying to translate it literally), so as some minor foot note in history – which, in all honesty, says it all.
Anyway, I just came here to say the following: even though it wasn’t really the blue wave all of you and I were hoping for, I’m still incredibly proud of each and everyone of you for trying toget the word out , for spreading information, for going out to vote (on a Tuesday?), for trying to make a change and for standing up for yourselves and your country! When I got up in the morning and read about the midterm results and the number of women that were elected, I felt – even though rare these days – hope. And I’m thankful for that. Just wanted to get that off my chest!
Toomany- the U.K. has a much more flexible political system than we have and people can generally find someone to vote for who actually will have a chance to represent their views in Parliament. We have a rigid (scheduled elections by prescribed date), binary (only two major parties and one of them wins the Election, third parties are minuscule and have a snowball’s chance in Hell) and winner-takes-all system (so we can have 49.9% of the voters completely unrepresented at any given time in Congress).
For example, there were practically the same number of Republicans as Democrats in the Senate but the Democrats were completely powerless. They could not head committees, subpoena witnesses, get legislation to the floor for a vote even if it had bipartisan support, couldn’t get time allocated for debate or hearings for legislation or Supreme Court nominees or even time to actually read the relevant documents and the bill itself (often written in Secret by Republican leadership) because the Majority Leader decides all that and Mitch McConnell made it his mission to block everything from the ademocrwts, including blocking Obama. Worse, the Republican majority actually represented fewer constituents than the Democratic “minority”. I think they still do even if they allegedly picked up a few Senators (there may be recounts because of the tiny margin and some oddities).
We have a really serious problem with concerted efforts by Republicans to prevent and discourage people from voting and now acknowledged vote-shifting from Democrats to Republicans by machines (has been reported since 2004). The assumption is that young people, non-whites, and low-income people tend to vote more for Democrats, so the Republicans have been trying for years to prevent them from registering to vote and then voting. Their vote tampering efforts are especially aimed at such populations also (selective hacking).
It is much more of a struggle here than other comparable countries to just get everybody to vote for these reasons. It all seems kind of pointless to many people, even though voting is so important regardless. But when you have to win big enough to outrun the hackers and the voter suppression efforts – it’s rather discouraging. Republicans even redraw Congressional district lines just to make it easier for them to stay in power (gerrymandering). They did it to my district.
I’m still politically numb. I mean I don’t necessarily wanna pop a few ‘fukitol’ pills, but the only thing that made me crack a smile was visualizing a Babbadook enjoying some Belluga caviar, and if Babbadook is being fullfilled, there’s hope for us all lol. I know. I’ve lost my mind.
From Australia here, watching the elections with interest. To an outsider it seems an incredibly complicated system, especially with “gerrymandering” and voter suppression going on. I wish you all could have our polling system which is run by an independent commission, each district based only on population, paper ballots, compulsory voting and always on a Saturday!
We won the house and foolsScott Walker lost. Kansas has a Democratic governor, and so does Maine. A lot of Repugs seats flipped to Democrats on the local level across the country.
This was a blue wave, make no mistake✊
Completely disagree, sorry. Winning control of the House was expected. It would have been big news otherwise and a bucking of trends as control usually shifts in this situation. As one of my friends said last night, winning the house was the bare minimum. Republicans picked up senate seats and governorships. This wasn’t some sweeping sea of blue change.
Agree to disagree. I guess I’m too pragmatic to think we’d win the Senate.
– We get a Democratic Speaker of the House. No more Paul Ryan. And they are 3rd in line for the president.
– The House initiates all spending and budgets.
– The Judiciary, Intelligence, House Ethics committees will go to Dems.
This was a great win for Democrats.
Winning the house only became expected within the past year. Thanks to Gerrymandering and voter suppression, it was going to be tough for Dems regardless, and after Hillary lost in 2016 many people did not think we had a real shot at taking the House now.
So it feels like a defeat, and like the “Bare minimum,” but really, the night was decent overall.
Florida though…..
No, Republicans did not pick up any new governor seats, they did, however lose 7 to Democrats. In the Senate Rs picked up four seats and lost one. In the House Rs picked up two seats while Ds picked up 26. Plus 100 women were elected to the House. We didn’t win the three most inspiring races but we did pretty damn well.
I’m pretty tired of the negativity…1) We took back the house & 2) took back governor houses from Republicans. Yes, we lost Senate seats. I had hoped for more. I had hope we’d hold on to Florida, Indiana & dreamed of picking off Texas. However, these were a) red states in the Senate & b) Florida. The important thing is we took back governor houses…I really can’t emphasize this enough. This was huge.
Dems flipped 7 governorships, several in key swing states. Pennsylvania and Michigan, two key states for 2020, are now solid blue.
I’m disappointed about Beto, and Florida, and worried but trying to hold out hope for Georgia. But those were always long shots, and they ended up pretty damn close.
Voter turnout almost matched 2016- very high for midterms.
It was not a perfect night, but it was never going to be. It was a GOOD night though.
I think we did pretty darn well. Flipping the house was NOT a given until good candidates and motivated volunteers came out to do this.
Beto was always a long shot and for him to do this well is a good sign for the future, I believe. FL will do better now that 1.5 million more people will be eligible to vote next election.
What this election showed in no uncertain terms is that we are two countries. Red and blue.
Sorry but winning the House with an overwhelming majority was never a given – a lot of really hard work went into getting it back and that was a blue wave. A lot of local elections went blue. The Democrats won the popular vote in the House AND Senate so at some point we’ll need to really address this BS.
GOP won Senate seats in mostly rural areas and that only reinforces that Fox News is a danger to our country. Yesterday we won a really big battle and now we keep fighting.
@Purplehaze–Totally agree. From the comments I’m reading, I’m thinking some of you had absurdly unrealistic expectations for the outcome of this election. It’s making me wonder if you guys fully grasp how much of an uphill climb the midterm race was for Dems. And if you don’t think this was a blue wave, then you must have expected the impossible because last night was an overall win for the left.
dietcokehead, I totally disagree with your points. Breaking up unified control over the House/Senate/Pres. was a HUGE deal. The GOP had a limited time to push through their agenda, and now they will not be allowed to pass any legislation without democratic approval. Trump has NEVER had a check on his presidency, and now he does.
Add in the wins of Governors, and the number of states that now have a Democratic trifecta (state house/senate/governor) going into census results and 2020, a lot of really big gains were made for the Democrats last night.
I’m just so relieved that Tony Evers beat Scott Walker. I stayed up until almost 2 am waiting until most of the vote had been counted and Evers was out of recount range. I don’t even care that I’m going into my WI state job on 4 hours sleep and more caffeine than normal. We also elected a Democrat AG too, which is great news.
It’s a pretty even split in my own extended family. My dad and I both voted for Evers, but there were still relatives who voted for Walker. I hope the Walker voting relatives enjoyed their last year of black bear hunting in Northern Wisconsin and that the bear steaks were worth it. That’s probably over with under an Evers Department of Natural Resources appointee.
Neither Walker nor the Republican incumbent AG have conceded and Walker is claiming that ballots that had straight party GOP voting were tampered with. That’s the petty sore loser behavior that I expected out of him.
Congratulations! Live off of the high of a Scott Walker loss and coffee!
Me too! Congrats and thank you to you and your fam for voting for Evers 🙂
And the lieutenant governor is already shilling to raise money for a recount.
I went to sleep before the race was called, and just wanted to sleep awhile before waking up to a third Walker term. I was SOOOO thrilled when my honey woke me up with the good news. Milwaukee turnout made it happen – there were 60,000 uncounted early votes that had to be factored in and those ballots couldn’t be opened and counted until the polls closed.
Thanks. It’s been much more optimistic and hopeful at work, far more so than after the 2016 election. We’re thrilled that Walker is gone. After he won in 2014, his 2015-17 budget had $250 million of cuts to the UW System and we felt them. Most of us aren’t anticipating a big increase in funding right away, since Evers has said on the campaign trail that he wants to give a good increase to our underfunded K to 12 system. I’m for that because it takes the pressure off local districts who have relied far too much on referendums and property tax increases to fund school operations. It’s also not true educational equity if the quality of your kid’s education depends too heavily on both property values and people’s willingness to pay higher property taxes for education.
My sister lives in Minnesota and thinks that Walker is a POS. She’s also a Michigan alumna who was pleased that Michigan went blue last night. Her comment was that hash bash 2019 in Ann Arbor is going to be the best Hash Bash ever, with Michigan voters legalizing recreational use of marijuana. She said she’s back to loathing Ohio and OSU after the Democrat lost the governor’s race.
Going to be a grinch here, but could we call Leslie Cockburn by her name rather than refer to her as “Olivia’s Wilde mom”?
I actually had to google Olivia Wilde ’cause I wasn’t sure who she was and then I realized Cockburn is her mom…
I’m not mad, it was a bit of levity in an otherwise highly depressing statement. The Bigfoot erotica guy won.
That is an unfortunate last name!
As a Floridian, I just want to say that Florida is a garbage state, so Gillum’s loss isn’t surprising. A lot of people here are incredibly racist and proud of their support for Trump. I blame it on our horrible education system, rural Floridians who are 1950s Alabama racist/sexist and the old, white conservative people who come here to die. It feels like all of that is so much more pronounced since Trump’s win. There’s no way Obama could have won Florida in today’s climate. This deeply, deeply sucks.
I came here to say this. If you’ve been to Florida you are not surprised.
I’ve decided to ban all things Florida. I’ve never liked Florida and now it’s cemented….but I live in Arkansas…so there’s that. Ugh.
Yeah, but you passed Amendment 4, and that is a BIG, BIG win. I was pulling for Gillum, but this is going to help a lot going forward. Meanwhile, here in Wisconsin, Walker has not conceded and while Evers may have pulled out a win (Thank you, MKE voters for turning out, because for sure that’s what did it), both legislatures are Republican. We need to strap in, because it’s gonna be a rough ride.
I think it’s important to make sure that the people who get the vote back will not be discouraged from voting in any other way.
This is the first time my teenage daughter has shown any interest in politics and she stayed up really late to see if Andrew Gillum won. As the race got tighter and tighter, I knew the only votes that hadn’t been counted where the Panhandle, I told her to go to bed and don’t expect miracles unfortunately and that the Panhandle always goes Republican.
I’m not from Florida, I’m a transplant and all my friends are transplants and every single one of us voted straight Blue. I’m hoping by 2020 younger voters will come out in Florida and the state will go Blue. However by that time, we will be living in Colorado. I’m done with racist Florida, no matter how much I love the weather.
I know, but I still had SUCH high hopes for Gillum. He is a really special candidate. He DESERVED the governorship. 🙁
Democrats have *flipped* 7 state legislative chambers and 333 seats, adding 6 more trifectas (gov+both chambers), per DLCC.
Few ever pay attention to these races, but they’re important for redistributing and waves can be leveraged for major gains.
Per a comment on Twitter.
They’re also important for challenging Trump policies in the courts. If a governor or AG doesn’t like what Trump is doing on Medicaid or food stamps or transportation or the environment, they can refuse to allow implementation and sue.
AND they strongly influence election mapping. My state finally got Democrats back into judicial power at a state level a few years back, and shocker shocker, they were finally able to do something about the gerrymandering the Republicans did in the early 2000s by declaring it illegally distributed and biased. State elections are far more important than people want to think they are.
That’s true. Having Mike Pence as Governor was a disaster for Indiana. He cut back on health programs (many consider him responsible for quite a few deaths as a result), put Creationists into the educational system, refused federal money to extend Medicaid, wouldn’t set up an insurance Exchange (we had to use the federal one when the Affordable Care Act finally kicked in), didn’t complain when greedy insurance companies on the Exchange narrowed their network so much that my wonderful ACA policy was useless unless they decided it was a medical emergency (other governors did try to do something).
It really matters who is governor and who is in the state legislature. Changes there are important. Governors in particular have been major players in opposing Trump’s actions.
The state governance is so important. It has huge implications on the integrity of the 2020 elections.
Full Disclaimer : i’m an african woman living in Europe, so i’m certainly not as knowledgeable about US politics as most of you here
Recently i feel like there has been a switch in the coverage that we receive here regarding the US. we do still get a daily update of Trump’s latest blunder but more and more, even amongst the centre or left liberals commentators/journalists, we are hearing about how the US economy is doing better, and unemployment is down etc.
And when i read right wing publications ( keep your enemies closer ..), i feel like many shrould their racism behind economic issues.
However, i dont get the impression (i may be wrong) that Democrats talk about the Economy enough, so in a sense they are not talking to the non racist democrat that could be swayed.
Because they don’t want to be so direct as to call the opponents liars as they take credit for Obama’s economy. Pretty soon, all of Trump’s horrible decisions will start taking their toll, but then the talking point will be that it’s the Democrats in the House fault. We need to have the honest media speaking up, but still, Fox will be spouting lies. I know a lot of people who believe that nonsense. No critical thinking skills…..
But is it really Obama’s policies?
Even the analysts here are attributing it to trump?
If it is down to Obama then the democrats/any sane American has the responsibility to shout it loud and clear because it is influencing others around the world.
Yes, Trump is 100% riding the fruition of the economic recovery that Obama shepherded through. The stock market did receive a short-term boost from Trump’s corporate tax cuts, but that’s because companies largely funneled the funds freed up by the tax cuts back to shareholders. The deficit and rising interest rates, plus the student loan crisis, plus the unresolved disaster that is our healthcare system, will eventually put the brakes on the economy, and it’s not going to be pretty. The deficit and rising interest rates are squarely at Trump’s doorstep, and he has made the healthcare situation much worse after the hard-won gains made under Obama. He’s also working hard to worsen income inequality, and you can’t sustain a robust consumer-driven economy forever off the spending of the rich — you have to have a middle class well-off enough to have disposable income, and the middle class is getting squeezed out of existence with healthcare and higher education costs.
We’re in the middle of 90 months of job gains! That’s a 7 1/2 year streak of an upward trajectory for jobs!
When you look at the economy and jobs, it has been a straight line upwards since the middle of Obama’s presidency. That trajectory continues today.
What Trump has done with tax cuts, is use a tool that spurs the economy. The stock market has gone up a few thousand points from around 23k to 25-27k since the tax cuts. This is “better”, but it was still doing really good before the tax cuts.
The issues is, why use such a tool when we don’t need it? Why deploy our safety net when things are already good? If things start to go bad because of inflation or tariffs, we will not be able to use more tax cuts to spur the economy, because taxes are already unsustainably low. The deficit has grown incredibly since the tax cuts were enacted. The GOP is looking at cutting programs to reign this in. This will harm American families. So in essence, the tax cuts have provided momentary gains that we didn’t really need in exchange for big long term losses. Americans aren’t feeling the pain yet, and this is a complex issue, so that is why I think many dems are staying away from it.
The GOP ran on immigration fear. If their economic policies were worth bragging about, they would have campaigned on the tax cuts.
It could be the economy. It could be continued racism/indifference to sexual assault/white fragility. I think it has to be both to explain how it can be that the Repubs picked up more House and Senate seats in 2010 after two years of Obama than we did last night after two years of Trump, but then Obama went on to win in 2012.
The Voting Rights Act was decimated in 2013. That’s why we see a difference. These election cannot be fairly compared.
@whoarethesepeople. That’s interesting. The major voter suppression I heard about was in GA, ND, and KS, but I’m sure there was more out there. In ND it may have affected the Senate race, but GA and KS didn’t have any Senate races. Would love to hear more about how you think it came into play.
I posted links and that didn’t go through, so you can Google “voter suppression 2018” and see what comes up.
Georgia was still a statewide race, so same dynamics as if for the Senate.
And the ‘victor’ was also its Secretary of State determining voting rules and procedures — he exploited that power maximally.
Voter suppression comes in many forms, some blatant, some subtle.
The U.S. economy is cyclical. Republicans come into power, cut taxes for the wealthy, run up huge deficits and then crash the economy. Democrats get elected to clean up the Republican mess, restore the economy and then get voted out of office…..wash, rinse, repeat. And racism is wired into the fabric/DNA of this country and everything is colored or influenced by race/ethnicity. That’s why so many people vote against their own best interest.
The U.S. economy is still churning on from Obama era policies. Aside from cutting taxes for the wealthy and dismantling Obama’s legacy on issues such as health care, education, environment, etc. Trump hasn’t passed any major legislation. Early signs of a recession are starting to show up and Trump and the GOP will have to own if a recession happens, but they will try to pin it on the Democrats. People will file their 2019 tax returns and feel the pain of the “Trump tax cuts” and it won’t be pretty.
IlsaLund- Thank you for this explanation. I’m also a non-American and I’m really clueless when it comes to economics etc. So when I hear that “the economy is booming under Trump” my bullshit meter goes up (because honestly I don’t think he has the skills to fix the economy and I don’t think you even can fix an economy in two years), but I also don’t have the knowledge to provide an adequate rebuttal. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.
My business and I both benefitted enormously from Trump’s tax cut, but I voted enthusiastically for Democrats who have pledged to overturn it. Clearly I was voting against my economic best interests, but I have yet to see someone criticize a middle class person for not prioritizing personal finances when voting.
The economy actually isn’t booming under Trump. The stock market, which matters to him and other wealthy investors, has continued to climb, but at some point that will correct or crash. Unemployment is low, but how many good full-time positions have been created? People aren’t taking home more money and are spending even more on health insurance and housing.
Obama could have improved the economy even quicker had the Republicans allowed him to put more stimulus in place. McConnell was bent on making him a 1-term president so he put the brakes on the amount of stimulus.
The US economy is so heavily dependent on “free” markets and the unfettered flow of capital (including a ton of private equity) that it is even more prone to asset bubbles than other capitalist countries. So we get these great booms and these terrible busts.
Even from the narrow standpoint of the current national debt, cutting taxes was utterly irrational at this point. The demands of what few socialized programs we have are climbing as the population ages out and birth rates slow down, and Trump’s pledges (BUILD A WALL! BUILD THE MILITARY!) require exorbitant amounts of money. On a fool would think cutting taxes was a good idea. If anything, they should be raised.
Economies are almost always a few years behind cyclically. Clinton enjoyed the boost provided by Bush’s tax increases in the 90s, and Trump is enjoying the eight years of hard work done under Obama to fix the mess Dubya did with his wars. People are excited to see the US economy improve because we have our hands all over the global market, so what happens here affects everybody else, too. But give it time. Those tax cuts and tariffs will soon take their toll, not to mention the Fed has begun raising interest rates.
Fantastic point. And George Bush 1 had a recession because of Reagan’s policies.
The economy is only doing well for the top 10% or so. Not so much for the rest of us. Here’s an article by Robert Reich on truthdig. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/robert-reich-the-trump-economy-is-not-what-it-appears/
This is what I suspected was actually going on. I kept hearing about job creation, but I’ve literally sent out dozens of resumes, had interviews, and not one would hire me for over $35K. And I refuse it because I’m in my thirties with two Bachelors and more than a decade of health industry experience and know my concession will just be used to screw entry level workers even worse.
I am, by the way, one of those employees who are contract workers who learned the hard way about how easily those positions are exploited. I’m fortunate to have a family who can support me and a backup career to jump into – even if it’s lesser paid – if I can’t find anything by the end of December, but I imagine it would be far more stressful if I had children or a spouse to care for.
Christmas spending (starting the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday) will tell the real story. It’s called Black Friday because sales on that day are supposed to pull merchants out the red (losses) into the black (profits) on their ledgers.
When people are feeling financially uncertain, they hold back on Black Friday and all through the season to Christmas. So poor sales mean a shakier economy.
But I remember once in the Reagan years, they were trumpeting a great Black Friday and it wasn’t until a few weeks later a little story buried in the back of the newspaper revealed oops, it was actually a very bad Black Friday…. Sales were very poor when final figures came in. So watch out for Trumpian lies about Christmas sales starting soon.
I can definitely relate to the contract worker experience. When I first graduated from law school I did some contract work. It was awful and very exploitative. Now I have a government job, which is also pretty explorative, surprisingly. I have insurance and with a toddler and another baby on the way I definitely appreciate my health insurance…so there’s that positive. Good luck in your job search. It’s horrible out there. I found who you know, as opposed to experience and skills, is practically the only way to land a job.
You are right that the economy (or rather people’s PERCEPTIONS of the economy) helped Trump. But the truth is, if you look at almost every single statistic whether it’s unemployment or GDP you’ll see it’s on the same positive trend it’s been on since around 2010 when Obama helped pull us out of the biggest economic meltdown since the Depression. Anyone that has taken regression analysis will tell you that that suggests Trump’s policies have had little to do with the positive economic news. He’s truly riding on Obama’s coat tails here.
The problem is Obama didn’t talk UP his economy to the degree Trump talks it up now. I imagine this is because Obama is honest and even with incredibly low unemployment and 8 years of economic expansion (starting in June 2009!) there are still major structural problems in the economy due to things like technology, globalization, etc.
Also, the Republicans badmouthed the hell out of Obama’s economy while he was in office but suddenly see it all as rosy now that Trump is POTUS. (Say what you will about the sleazebags on the right but they are loyal little brownshirts and will fall in line and spout the party line when it’s required of them. Sometimes I wish the center-left was more supportive of it’s leaders but I’m glad we’re more intellectually honest. But I digress).
Bottom line, I agree that the Dems should have talked about the economy more, including debunking the Trumpian lie that his policies have suddenly turned the economy around.
Please look at the map of the USA on the front page of the New York Times. So much red, everywhere. This will take a generation to shift, so as a Black woman from Cleveland, Ohio living in NYC, not holding my breathe. I vote absentee in OH. Also, after Stacey Abrams results, I will NEVER trust a poll again. #ThisIsAmerica
Land isn’t votes, isn’t people, though the voting system makes it look that way. The Times won’t explain that to its readers. It was a good result for Democrats across the country in terms of investigation and accountability, and will bring a lot of good people….a lot of women, a lot more diversity and youth…into the party.
Florida will gain more than a million voters by Re enfranchising former felons. Beto got closer than you’d have thought possible. We have to stop thinking anything short of perections is bad. That’s what happened in 2016.
The Senate is the most undemocratic part of our government, followed closely by the electoral college. Land may as well vote in those cases because people’s votes don’t count.
So true. I like this set of maps, that accurately reflect population density results from 2016 election. Much more realistic picture of our “purple” country:
https://www.businessinsider.com/2016-election-results-maps-population-adjusted-cartogram-2016-11
I know. The system is a big part of the problem. But the maps mislead people by making it seem like there’s lots more ‘red’ than ‘blue’ out there, or that states are definitively one way or the other, when that’s not the reality. The press still has not examined its own role in educating the public, or rather mis-educating them, and the Times has been one of the worst offenders.
Saying louder for the people in the back. This is EXACTLY what happened in 2016 AND in 2010. Dems got all in their feelings didn’t vote and we had the now defunked Tea Party stampede through our country.
Oh my goodness, I meant *perfection in comment above, not *perections. Though that does sound interesting!
Soooo…
I have been on a personal mission to address the imbalance of our congress.
IMO, The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 is unconstitutional and disenfranchises voters of populace states. This act capped the number of representatives at 435, which throws off the calculations of proportional representation.
For example:
Wyoming has 573,720 people, and they get 1 representative in the house.
California has 39,144,818 people and they get 53 reps.
If reps were distributed proportionally as the founders intended, California would have 68 or 69 representatives. Because of the arbitrary cap placed by the Permanent Apportionment Act, they only have 53 representatives. This disenfranchises the voters of highly populated states. California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois should all have more representatives.
Reminds me of a tweet I saw last night where Verizon tweeted a map of their coverage area and the whole country was in red. Someone replied NOW IS NOT THE TIME, VERIZON. But in all seriousness I think you are right. This is going to take years. If you look at the Beto/Crus results voters who were over 45 overwhelmingly voted for Cruz
Elk, cows, corn, and rocks do not vote. Large swaths of that red consist of nothing more than elk, cows, corn, some soy, some trees, and rocks.
But the sad fact is – those few people that live among the elk are represented a 1000 times more in Washington than is some one from CA or NY. The senate must become more representational. It won’t but At the same time it must for us to continue as a free society. My policy plan – every state gets two senators but any state with a population some chosen deviation above the mean national population gets a third. So yes NY and CA would get a third. But so would TX and FL. And maybe Illinois and PA? Also Washington DC and Puerto Rico need to be represented in Congress with real votes.
Yes, and now that Trump’s tariff’s have tanked soy bean prices by losing the Chinese market, rural voters will find out the hard way that he is actually destroying their way of life and not protecting it. I believe this is what voters in Kansas figured out.
All it would take is a few Silicon Valley companies to move out to rocks-soy-elk land, bring a few thousand new voters out and all that red would turn blue. These districts are won by like 500 votes. We need some politically minded corporations to be strategic for the country.
The Senate’s power would be balanced by the House ***IF*** the house had proportional representation. But they essentially broke the balance of power with The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, when they arbitrarily capped the number of house seats.
I couldn’t watch last night, and you are the first website I checked this morning. I knew that, if the news was bad about last night, I’d be able to take it from you. I’ll breathe easier today than I have in a long time. Thank you.
Not the Blue Wave I was hoping for but maybe I was being unrealistic. Several races the Dems lost really hurt. But we have the House and thank goodness for that. Ultimately, that was what was needed and it was achieved.
It was a blue wave, historically and by numbers. Don’t listen to CNN. and it was always going to be about the House.
What news source do you watch? I’ve always watched cnn out of habit but might want to change that.
Yes. PBS had an interesting graphic that listed all the red and blue waves in the modern era and how many gains each party made in that wave. This qualifies as a blue wave — maybe not the biggest ever but a wave nonetheless.
I don’t watch, I read, and I follow a lot of different people/analysts/journalists on Twitter. CNN has a lot to do with Trump’s election and popularity, having given him free rally coverage, bringing on former Trump staffers who signed agreements not to criticize him, basically using entertainment instead of news values. It has a few decent reporters, but its moderators don’t give much by way of facts – they just seem as if they’re running focus groups, but they don’t give viewers reliable information.
Very high turnout and lots of new voters – in a midterm election. This was a repudiation of Trump and will lead to the installation of bright, promising new Democrats at the local, state and federal levels.
CNN etc. will do horse-race coverage, not policy coverage, and it won’t explain how the system works below the national level – if it even does explain how the system works at the national level. Now it’s going to start talking about 2020 candidates, just you wait. What’s important is the next 8 weeks until the new Congress is installed.
Let’s get a new Senate minority leader in – call your Dem. Senators! And tell your new Reps. your priorities for the new House.
We switched back and forth between Democracy Now and CNN last night. Dem Now was the real coverage and CNN was just so we could get updated on the vote count.
I’m heartbroken about Beto, Gillum, and Abrams. However, I truly believe that the three of them were introduced to the country, and that their future in the Democratic Party is bright. I take solace in Scott Walker losing, and in taking back the House. Trump may be celebrating today, but his nightmare is coming. The House has subpoena power and Democrats will now chair all the committees. Devon Nunez won’t be able to obstruct investigations, or be in a position to demand information from the FBI like a petulant child. So, I’m taking heart in the fact that investigations into Trump will go forward and that he will start screaming soon when his tax returns are subpoenaed.
Walker and Kleefisch (his lieutenant governor and a real piece of work) aren’t going to go quietly – he hasn’t conceded yet. That said, in MKE, where Iive, voters turned out in unprecedented numbers and that is what pulled him over the line. It’s going to be an interesting next few days and Evers is going to have his work cut out for him with a strongly Republican Assembly & Senate.
I wonder if the three GOPers who didn’t vote for Kavanaugh and lost were also not backed by GOP election/machine hacking…? I think that was a much bigger deal in 2000, 2016 and yesterday than we’re aware of or acknowledging. I think the only way Dems can win now is by large enough margins like 2008 and 2012 that the wins can’t be denied. We need so much more coverage and analysis of that… Still scary times as a Jewish woman here, but at least yesterday was a turn toward the light… Thanks to this community here too for providing ballast throughout.
It may not have been a blue wave, but at least it was this stupidly named “red tide” the right has been going on about either. Cold comfort.
Overall I don’t think the election was as bad is people are making it. I think it was a little too much to expect both houses. I’m going to look at the positive. People like Beto, Gillum, and Abrams making it extremely close in conservative, racists states. A year, even 6 months ago I don’t think anybody would have thought they would have made it as close as they did.
Yes, thank you. I think that people equate their fantasies with reality. More blue Senate seats were up for reelection than red and in states trump won. There was always almost no chance of dems taking control of the Senate. The map was just not favorable to dems. Beto is great and all but he was always fighting an uphill battle in a state that has been red for a very long time. I kind of think we dems got so obsessed with the shiny new candidate who was unlikely to win Texas this go around that we forgot to pay attention to the red state dems fighting for their political lives.
The fact that dems won the house in a very good economy is impressive and a good indicator of a changing electorate. Losing the governors races in Florida and probably Georgia sucks but they are Florida and Georgia. Ex felons got their voting rights restored which is great and may influence elections in the future.
Dems picked up a bunch of governors seats which is fantastic.
The biggest takeaway this election is that when women run they win. Women and minorities cleaned house, literally. It’s a good sign when the Democrats electorate is beginning to reflect its base. Maybe it will influence white women to stop voting against their own interests. One can only hope.
I’m with you, Louise. Even a year ago the results we got were not in the bag. We made some important strides that will set us up for future gains.
Totally agree. And the more I read about it this morning, the better I feel about it. Good things happened for the Dems, and the country, last night.
The blue wave that people expected, with Trump getting blown out, was never going to happen. But once you move past that idea and take a look at the results, you’ll see a lot of great things to build on.
And look, I’m no Nancy Pelosi fan, but the GOP ran against her specifically, and spent $$$$$$$$, and she still won.
It’s a mid-term election during a highly divided time, after a very emotional SC nominee process that revved up the Republican base, with the highest turnout in years where only a third of the seats were up for grabs and many of them in already blue areas. The Senate was always a long shot, but we got the House, which many people seem to forget is who passes legislation to the Senate in the first place. We overturned governors in many areas, and we also flipped several state senates.
What should worry us about the Negative Nancys is that they still seem to be infatuated with the idea that a magical political superhero will swoop down and make everything easy again, where democracy doesn’t have to be work ~work~ and constantly require us to be on the ball about politics. The hard truth a lot of people are learning is that creating a progressive future means WORK. It means showing up for midterms EVERY TIME. It means having to compromise on moral purity to go for the most sensible option. It means canvassing and politicking and engaging with the issues that matter to you. The 2016 election is a hard lesson for a lot of people about what happens when you leave it up to others to decide.
I’m not sure who exactly was expecting to flip both houses. I was in a policy workshop a couple weeks ago, and the woman who was talking about the outcome of the midterms predicted pretty much exactly what happened, which was that Democrats would take the House, and Republicans would gain seats in the Senate, but them gaining seats in the Senate doesn’t have nearly as much impact to change current decision-making processes as Democrats getting the House.
See now this why we can’t have nice things. People are upset that certain races didn’t go the way they wanted and they think that that means this wasn’t a success for Democrats. It was. Be grateful, guys, for the progress made. Almost every Republican win was in a solid red area but the gains Democrats made were in lots of red areas. This was a win. Not a total shutout, but a strong victory. Negative thinking doesn’t help anyone, so let’s stay positive.
Yes. Here in IL, which is a cesspool, we flipped some key house seats. IL-06 has been GOP for 40 years until Sean Casten, a CLIMATE SCIENTIST, won the seat last night. Lauren Underwood, a woman of color, beat the repugnant Tea Party incumbent in a predominantly white district. It might feel slow but the pendulum is beginning its swing back toward sanity.
I love that he is a climate scientist! We need him!
Here in MO McCatskill was never going to win. This is a very red state and with the political climate the way it is she had an uphill battle. But now at least there will be a check on the things that Trump wants to do. Let’s hope in 2020 the Senate turns blue also.
I had high hopes because she was in the lead when I went to bed. We are way too red, but with the new gerrymandering/redistricting amendment, maybe it won’t stay that way.
Absolutely, Rapunzel.
I am done with Florida and I won’t feel sympathetic towards them when Republicans scr*w them over.
But for the rest, this is just the beginning. Democrats won the House and several other important seats.
One step at a time. Republicans have to try and save almost 25 Senate seats in 2 years time. The Senate will flip Democrats then.
Thanks a lot. You know, not all of us Floridians voted for Republicans, and since Scott and DeSantis were far from land slide winners, that proves that there were tons of Democrats voting to protect our state and its citizens. You have no sympathy for those of us Floridians who are screwed over because of ignorant voters who are Fox news watchers who only vote party before country or state?
Thank you, @Beth. Florida transplant from up North and my family has been voting Democratic forever except for my crazy brother. My grandfather was very proud that he had voted for FDR three times.
Yes, Florida is Florida and we have extremely racist folks in the Panhandle and in rural areas, like where I live. However, as the Orlando suburbs grow those surrounding counties are voting blue. And with more and more Puerto Ricans coming to Florida, like my neighbor, they are also voting blue. Both Rick Scott and Ron Desantis scraped by.
They won but they have to realize that when we voted to allow former felons the right to vote in Florida (Amendment 4) FL has now gained more than a million voters in the next election. I hope that keeps Ron DeSantis up at night.
“Republicans have to try and save almost 25 Senate seats in 2 years time. ”
WOW!!!!
I didn’t realize that. Crazy!
Another Floridian who voted blue. There are a lot of us and the impact of Amendent 4 will be felt in 2020. The governor’s and Senate races were so close that the GOP should be scared. I had heard Bill Nelson was calling for a recount and I don’t blame him.
I also am behind Stacy Abrams in Georgia 100%. Kemp cheated his way to a win. If he had gotten it fair and square I’d accept it, but we all know he didn’t.
I have a new Democratic Congressman, and that’s where I had donated my money, so I’m very happy about that. I’m happy that there is a Democratic House (who are already being advised by various pundits to be “nice” and hold off on investigations) and that is terrific news. I’m going to be happy about this, after two horrible years of nothing but the GOP.
I live in Texas and voted straight Dem.
Cruz is like one of those manic bible spewing snake handling religious nutters. Makes me ill.
Beto did better than we expected. We did have one surprise, Allred over Sessions. Take that redneck Texans.
No it was not a Blue Wave. But it is a start.
Heard Allred on PSA yesterday and what an amazing candidate. So happy for your state he won! Regardless of some of our losses last night, I’m proud how Democrats ran their campaigns. They were positive, more to the left than ever before, passionate, genuine, and talked about the issues. I’m inspired by my party. We made huge strides all over the country in state legislatures, governorships, and the House. I’m even proud that the races we lost in red states, where Trump won by huge margins in 2016, were SO close this time around. Most importantly, we ran inspiring campaigns. More people volunteered and got involved. We are being represented by more women and people from diverse backgrounds than ever before. This is the America I want to live in so let’s keep fighting for it.
Culberson and Hurd’s seats flipped too, I think. And we made Republicans actually spend money and compete! I’m pleased with having a competitive state!
Honestly, I was surprised that Beto did as well as he did up until that point. I was even more surprised that it wound up being a nail-biter at the end. Good. Make them a little nervous.
It’s a small start, and House and state districts flipping from red to blue in suburban areas takes time. Illinois and Virginia are finally seeing the result of 20 years of demographic change in suburban Chicago and DC counties being reflected by gains in the House last night. Michigan had at least one suburban Detroit area district flip to blue and the Minnesota House district with a lot of the southern Twin Cities suburbs flipped as well.
Baby steps people. More women of different races, religions and sexual orientation elected than ever before. NY Senate flipped blue. More young people voted. It’s a start of a movement. Be patient. Good always wins.
In my NY assembly district we flipped the seat to blue and are sending a wonderful woman to Albany!
I keep hoping this is true!
It was a great day for dems! They have oversight on Emperor Zero by winning the House. Whatever you want to call it…a small blue splash or a blue wave…it’s important to keep it going until the 2020 elections.
Dana Rohrbacher, the Russian asset, was kicked out of CA as a representative! And despite Devin Nunes getting re-elected, he won’t be able to run amok on House Intelligence Committee investigations any more.
Oh yeah…Mueller is Coming!
Two years ago on the morning after the election, I was going on zero hours of sleep and cried the entire time to work. So, I’m feeling much better this morning. And right now, I’m focusing on the positives.
1. The Dems took the house. They didn’t blow it! Yes, they didn’t take the senate, but honestly, it would’ve taken a miracle for that to happen. It was never really in play, but they still had a chance, which is more than what people thought two years ago.
2. It is now perfectly clear that Trump can win a second term. I’m also taking this as a positive. We know what we’re up against and that it’s going to take a brutal fight for 2020. Especially if the economy is still doing well. The GOP has a lot on their side, including money and voter suppression. If the Dems took both, I fear that they could get lazy and it could backfire in two year. There is still so much work to be done, because we can’t ignore the threat of Trump.
Don’t forget that Mueller is coming! By the time all the indictments come down, and more becomes public, Trump might not be a lock. Fingers crossed!
Do NOT count of Mueller. Trump isn’t going anywhere. He will be here in 2020 and could easily be re-elected. He is the face of the GOP.
Getting Trump out is going to come down to the Dems getting on message and hard a$$ work.
Sad in Canada that it wasn’t a more resounding victory against Trump and all the evil he so gleefully represents. The civil war goes on…
The system is designed in such a way, and electoral process corrupted to such an extent, that a resounding victory was not possible. HOWEVER – the House wins were a sharp nationwide rebuke that was far more representative than the Senate races. It’s not a civil war but the Republican party, which has become an extremist party of white ethno-nationalists or Christo-fascists or whatever you want to call it, got pushed back a bit and that’s the first successful boundary-setting Americans have seen in some time.
I’m taking this as win, sure I’m a little disappointed, but there were a lot of firsts last night especially for women of color.
And considering all the gerrymandering and voter suppression that went on, things could have been a lot worse. And the fact remains, we won the house, 40% of black men are now eligible to vote in Florida, and 3 deciding states in the last presidential election went blue last night. We are better off today then we were yesterday, I’ll take that and smile.
“…40% of black men are now eligible to vote in Florida…”
This is what I came to say. This is significant, and I’m looking forward to the impact on future elections.
HUGELY significant. Proud of Florida for doing one thing right at least lol. 😉
I’m just flabbergasted that the ballot motion upped the black male voting population to 40%. That’s just…mind blowing as a reflection of how damaging the drug war has been to the black community.
Also, I’m encouraged by the slow awakening of the youth. If they continue to organize, network and become more engaged in the political process, we will continue to see an incremental change in governance. An awful lot of 16 and 17 years will be able to vote in 2020.
When fools like Charlie Kirk are proclaiming that Trump had an historic accomplishment because he is the 6th President to add to the Senate in 105 years, while omitting that there have only been 17 Presidents in that time, you know that there was a wave; that it rocked their foundation; and they are desperately flailing about for a life raft. Only 1/3 of the Senate was decided yesterday. They held, they made some small gains but Nancy Pelosi and Richard Neal are now in charge of the checkbook.
You think it was a lame night for Dems?
Emperor Zero is on the freak-out on Twitter right now.
Boy oh boy this is gonna be good!
—Flounder from Animal House
Oh no, I’m afraid to see what he’s saying. But I’m with you, Eric, it was a pretty damn good night last night. Beto, Abrams and Gillum were heartbreakers but they were always long shots.
I would like to see legal action in Abrams’ race, though. The voter suppression tactics were unreal.
It looks like someone just let him know that the Democrats now have some control and could cause trouble for him and the spineless Republicans that refuse to admit that Trump is causing nothing but problems
Looked up his schedule today and so far has nothing on it except a press conference at 11:30. That means he’ll have all day to watch the news and post on Twitter. Now that he has no more rallies to do, he’ll have to find something else to fill in the time. I’m thinking maybe a vacation.
I am always confused by people who thought democrats could take the Senate. This was a looooong shot. I was in DC less than two weeks ago speaking with political insiders from both the Republican and Democratic sides and they also admitted that everyone in DC figured the dems would win the house (not the senate) the question became, by how much. Also they both admitted that key Republican Congressmen were concerned that if Dems won significantly in the House and won key governorships, this could force them to give up some of the crazy ideas that they have held on to for quite some time. Once you leave the CNN/FOX/MSNBC bubble and really start looking at it the way insiders have, this shaped up to be a bigger win for Dems in a way that even they thought was possible. Solid red districts have gone blue, and voter turnout was high in many locations, despite voter suppression tactics. Also the fact that certain states got close and Florida has now given former prisoners the right to vote really signals a change for the future.
And people forget that only a third of the Senate is up for election in the midterms. Most of the terms ending this year were held by Democrats and there really weren’t many seats in play.
Exactly. Many Republican senators were looking at this from the lens of how their races in 2020 could look. Some people are in for a fight and they were scared before last night. People want instant wins but that’s not how ish works. Sometimes you have to play the long game and look at the gains so far.
A quick glance at the map for 2020, and I see the following Republican Senators facing re-election in two years:
Mitch McConnell
Lindsay Graham
John Cornyn
Ben Sasse
and Susan Collins.
Cornyn may not be a household name, but he was just as responsible as McConnell for preventing Obama’s SC nominee from being granted hearings, and was one the senators that urged Trump to pull out of the Paris climate treaty.
I hope the Democrats go after all of them, hard.
Ugh, I could die happy on the hill if we got McConnell out. I know it’s a long shot, but God would that be satisfying after his boasting following Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Guess that base wasn’t as fired up as you thought, prick.
@Veronica, someone on MSNBC made an interesting point last night. McConnell is no spring chicken – he’ll be 78 in 2020 – and it’s possible he may decide to retire rather than run. It will depend on the strength of his opponent and the odds of Dems taking the majority in the Senate in two years. If he wins re-election, but his party loses the majority, he would be demoted to Minority Leader. He may not feel it is worth it to hang on to his seat if that happens.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Republicans “won” the Senate when you consider the amount of blatant cheating that they did. There were reports coming out of Texas, Georgia and Tennessee that machines were flipping votes from Republican to Democrat. I live in Indiana and conveniently enough for the Republicans, the computer systems were messed up for hours during the day in different parts of the day. This increased wait times so much that some people had to get out of line to get back to work. And I don’t know this happened to any one else or not but the machine tried to cancel my entire ballot. I’m still not completely sure that my vote counted. We need sweeping election reform, including paper ballots.
That’s why I do paper!
Paper ballots are the best. We’ve known since Diebold how easy it is to hack electronic voting machines.
Esmom
Someone is going to need a bigger diaper stat!
Lol. Gross.
I know as Democrats we tend to be the Eeyore about things, not happy regardless of the happiness we should see. I for one feel relieved.
LOOK AT HOW MANY WOMEN WE’RE SENDING! LOOK AT HOW MANY PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE GOING TO WASHINGTON!!
After all of trump’s demonizing and hate speeches, we’re sending more women and minorities to Washington to represent us.
Here in Kansas we are sending a woman to the governor’s house and a lesbian Native American to Congress!
Deb Halaand is another Native American woman going to Congress.
As a Native American this made me so proud. This election gave me hope.
The conversation will shift now. The conversation will have new eyes. I don’t care about impeachment, or shutting down government. I want all of these women to go there and flip the conversation to the every day needs of our people.
I want a frank discussion on universal health care. I want all of these women and minorities to show why Democrats should run everything by being for the people. Then we win the senate and the house in 2 years.
Well done, Kansas!
Thanks Tania, I really, really needed this!
Amen, Tania.
Minnesota’s new Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan is a Native woman too! she is one of the highest ranking Native elected officials in US history
I can’t help but wonder if the elections were fair. Voter suppression was everywhere, voterfraud too probably. Who knows who really won in Texas….or Florida..we all know how the voter machines function there..
Was thinking the same.
Not good enough, America
says the rest of the world.
I was hoping for a true Blue Wave and am disappointed, but glad that we made the progress that we did. Electing more women and minorities is SO IMPORTANT in order to reach people in this country who don’t see themselves represented by their politicians, and we made huge strides there.
The House is better than an all Red Congress. I’ll take it.
For me the Democrats showed great strength last night, holding all but three senate seats in Red states . Change is rarely sudden and almost always painful. I think a very good night overall.
I agree.
A compliment for all those who voted blue.
With a shout-out to first time voters.
I’m still watching my Congressional seat-it’s still too close to call but at the moment the Dem McAdams is beating the dingbat Mia Love. That in itself is amazing, considering how deeply the district is gerrymandered. Thankfully, we did vote to change the way we do our district lines- we’ll not have a bipartisan committee, so I have hope for the future. Also, we got medical marijuana! So not a complete disappointment.
Kansas voter here! I was happy to vote for Sharice Davids (first Native American lesbian) in my district & Laura Kelly as Governor. (Kobach the Repub running against Kelly was a complete nut job). I feel like as women we stood up last night and said enough is enough! Woo hoo!
Totally agree. I am pretty bummed about Paul Davis, I really hoped he would snatch his race. Steve Watkins makes me want to vom.
Same about Paul Davis. Those ads about the strip club are the worst! But at least KS had mostly great results. I live in KCMO but grew up in KS and work mostly on the KS side. I actually went to law school with Davids’ opponent (Yoder). I was quite nervous that she would be too liberal for voters (Native American, lesbian former MMA fighter) but they came through. I was also worried Orman would pull votes from Kelly. On the MO side, McCaskill lost which sucks but at least we got medical marijuana!
Same for me, live in MO and work in Kansas. I am so hoping maybe the good sense of Kansans voting for Laura Kelly and Sharice Davids may somehow cross state lines into Missouri sometime soon, b/c I do not like living in Trump country. I miss when MO was a swing state!
I know this may not bring comfort to all, but the tides are turning. Progress may seem slow, but it *is* being made. My stepdad, who voted for Trump in 2016, voted straight blue yesterday. Keep the faith!
Don’t forget that Florida voted to restore voting rights to rehabilitated felons! That was a BIG win and could change the tide in 2020!
No need To attack Floridian voters. A lot of us wanted gillum. A lot of us DESPISE rick scott and are extremely sad about this.
Keep up the good work (voting blue). With amendment 4 passing, you have a better shot at ousting red messes next time.
Nobody should judge you for people who vote red (or didn’t vote).
Keep an eye on CA’s new governor, Gavin Newsom. He’s a sharp politician who could seek the WH come 2024.
He has declared an open war on Emperor Zero.
+1 Newsom fan.
That sounds like a person I might like.
A black man in MISSISSIPPI has a chance…Times are a changing
Mississippi Senate election results: Cindy Hyde-Smith faces Mike Espy and Chris McDaniel
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/mississippi-senate-election-results-cindy-hyde-smith-faces-mike-espy-and-chris-mcdaniel.html
That result made me do a double take. Holy cow, that is great news!!!
Was a bit dissapointed in the overall national races but I live in Colorado and we overtook the whole thing. We flipped state senate, congress and voted in the first openly gay governor as well as Colorado’s first Jewish one. The blue wave really went hard here!
Must be nice to have such a blue party 🙂
If Mueller & his team get the “goods” on the dotard & Pence has any involvement… If both are removed from office… the Speaker of the House is a Democrat & becomes President!
Gerald Ford, August9,1974, was sworn in as our 38th President. Miracles do happen and maybe our miracle will be delivered by Mueller.
I’m in FL. I cried a little bit this am over the news.
However, we DID restore the voting rights of felons, which Rick Scot refused to give back. I’m betting that in 2 years, there’s gonna be a lot more blue voting…..
and at least the gov and senate races were close. But it was a horrid race, I’ve never been more ashamed to be a person then I have been with this administration in office and it’s supporters.
No need to be ashamed of others. You did the right thing.
Tester in Montana takes the lead!
YES!!!! Such a small margin but pleasepleaseplease.
Dana Rohrabacher has been defeated!
As usual all the old baby boomers go out and vote as they always do and a lot of them are all set in their ways. They’re afraid of progression and want to force their 1950 beliefs onto us. It’s so frustrating. They don’t work so they have time to go vote and they always do every election. I hate to sound ageist, but I wish more younger people would run and would vote. We are the future yet we allow grandpa to still run the country. It’s time for grandpa to either die or go home and rest. Leave it to the young people now. We’re a lot wiser and more sophisticated than grandpa’s generation yet we keep getting held back. The US will be in a better place when all the baby boomers die. The economy will sore, we can finally have a chance at a decent job, and we can progress to the place in humanity where we should be. I really dislike old people today.
We were born in the 50’s. We grew up in the 60s and became adults in the 70’s. So maybe 70’s attitudes is more like it. Do we deserve no respect? I am 65. Even at our ages we can be disenfranchised. I have no work. I live on social security and my rent takes 2/3 of my check. Where I live I cannot have guests, cannot take drugs or drink.
By the way, I’m not your grandpa.
@Eddie Bryan, so I guess you voted blue?
PS.
There was an issue of Ms Marvel about how young people are hated and some old people are preferred to be forgotten about. It’s a superhero comic, but often quite poignant about all kind of things (including topics like racism, gerrymandering, bullying, depression etc).
So many generalities… Some of the strongest Dems I know were born in the 1950s. There are several age 80-something baggers at my grocery store, who are not there to pass time. So no, not every person born in the 1950s (let alone the two decades prior) do not work or “all” vote one certain way.
It’s like saying “all” Millennials are more interested in their phones than voting. We need to identify as citizens instead of infighting over age or where someone lives. People saying that those who live in red states are worthless or lost causes is equally destructive, because it simply is not true.
Jeez! Trump needs to be taught that at a press conference, the press have to right to ask him questions, and he needs to answer them no matter what paper or channel they’re from. He’s going bananas on the reporters
Canada calling – can’t get David Bowie to stop singing “I’m Afraid of Americans” in my head. Just sayin’…
Gee, thanks.
I am Canadian, married to an American and living in the USA. 80% of my friends and family cannot stand Trudeau and think he is inept despite considering themselves liberal. Ontario and Quebec went conservative in their last elections. Don’t be up on your high horse over there, Canada. The country will flip to conservative in next federal election to be sure.
Borrowing a term from one of America’s great crooked conservatives, Spiro Agnew, the nattering nabobs of negativism.
He was a great performer, an artist. The world has a prejudice against artists. They don’t all make the millions. Poets, musicians and other writers as well.
Stupidity knows no bounds.
https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1060134798725931009?s=21
You’re welcome -from Kansas.
Actually if you look at Kansas’s voting map, aside from the bigger cities it was all red. Basically the WyCo and JoCo voters carried the House votes, thank goodness, which is also a bit sad because we’re still red for the Senate. But hey, we are a red state who just voted an openly gay Native American woman to the House. Way to go Sharice Davids!
I was disappointed that Gillum didn’t win in Florida, and at some of our loses. But I am with the others that say the wheels are slowly turning in our direction. We must remain hopeful, AND ANGRY. We still have so much more to do, let’s not get complacent!
It wasn’t a blue tsunami, but the Dems did KICK OPEN that door that said, “No Dems allowed.” Pelosi is strong as Leader of the House, and she gets shizz done.
And now that Maxine Waters is the head of the Finance Committee, she is going to be an absolute thorn in EZ’s life. He’s spent the last two years bashing her, “Low IQ Maxine” — and Auntie Maxine is going to make him rue the day. I bet she throws down the gauntlet – and will televise it. Maxine is coming to play–EZ needs to worry.
And also, lets not forget that Adam Schiff is head of the House Committee on Intelligence, which means he can tell Nunez to GTFO out of his seat, and start turning over ALL the documents dems were denied as Nunez was doing his lame cover-up dance from Cali to DC. Schiff has been publicly and very vocal about how the dems were shut down and out of this process. Come January, that will change. Subpoenas, all the witness testimonies they were denied, documents from the FBI they were denied–Schiff will have the power to control all of that now.
Dems have also said one of the FIRST things they are doing is getting EZ’s tax returns. If the DOJ tries to deny them, like that weasel Munchin–he can be arrested for obstruction.
And this quote, I think, is very timely today–
Millstones of Justice turn exceedingly slow, but grind exceedingly fine.” ~John Bannister Gibson
There is not much to celebrate here. This was basically predicted (House to dems, Senate to GOP) and the much anticipated blue wave did not materialize. A blue trickle, perhaps. This election proved celebrity endorsements do not work. It showed that BOTH sides can come out in record numbers when inclined to do so and it was relatively balanced if you look at it impartially. However, don’t get your impeachment hopes up because I am almost certain the SENATE has to approve an impeachment, which they will not. Also, wasn’t the house republican when Clinton was impeached? That didn’t work out so well. I could be mistaken but yeah….
Just thinking findings by Mueller could be so embarrassing to Trump that he steps down of his own volition or he’s handicapped seriously in his bid for reelection.
Celebrity endorsements do work because it literally convinced many young people to vote.
We will never know exactly how much that saved for democrats, but it does have an effect and energized lots of young people to become more politically active.
Okay….I’m now terrified he’s going to win a second term for President….my stomach is in knots. I can’t deal with dump and his obsessive supporters in my family and area for that many extra years.
Keep the energy up!
Lots of young people voted. A lot of new young people will turn 18 between now and that election. Continue to encourage people to vote.
I got bad vibes even in this liberal voting county, Alachua. It was mostly about the poor and the homeless. Anyone can make money and bus drivers already make plenty were a few of the jabs I heard. People with cars but people who had problems themselves. One could use some help with her profession, she failed an important test in the health field (Acupuncture) another has a son for whom she is trying to get disability. She had a problem with beggars that are holding signs saying they are homeless. They are out in the sun all day and she wondered that they could not get jobs. I think both did vote democratic but the vibe was ugly, you know?
AG Sessions fires just now.
It’s ON and it’s gonna be lit!
Mueller time!
Yeah, this is going to be interesting… With the House blue, he can’t just fire Mueller and think that he won’t be held accountable.
Then again, Trump was never held accountable so who know what’s going to happen?
It’s not blue yet, that won’t happen until January. The interim AG now has authority over the Russia investigation and he is on record saying Mueller has overstepped. He won’t wait. Mueller will be gone before the new Congress is sworn in. The way I figure it, if they end Mueller’s investigation now they can try to spin any investigations the new congress starts as just a partisan witch hunt. I hope it doesn’t work, but it’s about the only thing Trump can do.
My advice to the Ds:
Pass Medicare for all. Just pass it. Have a big ceremony unveiling of the legislation. Put a nice flashy website together and make it easy for people to understand and see how they can take advantage of it. Run on it in 2020.
Then, do the same thing with student loan debt relief.
Don’t waste your time with tax returns. You’re playing into T’s hands with that one, and you will change exactly zero minds.
Agree.
I agree they go ahead and pass Medicare for All as well as student loan debt relief. It’ll never pass the Senate – plus Trumpy would veto it in a heartbeat. But why not? Show people what Dems stand for.
But I disagree strongly about the tax returns. It’s not about changing minds. It’s about a co-equal branch of government doing their oversight duty.
The American people deserve to know just how corrupt Trump is and what he’s hiding in these tax returns. We deserve to know if his finances have impacted policy.
That’s plain ol’ corruption and it needs to be exposed.
Same thing with the Russia investigation. We deserve the truth.
We should have done this with the financial meltdown, the lead up to the Iraq War and a number of other polarizing important events.
But yeah 100% Dems should just start passing legislation that we want. Don’t worry that it won’t go anywhere. If nothing else it’ll help make it clear what Dems stand for and lead to more Dems in Congress. This is an area where we have a distinct advantage because Dems actually want to GET THINGS DONE for the American people.
I’m so relieved! We still have a long way to go though… Trump has many followers and he could still easily win in 2020. Dems need to stick together and stay strong. Stop with the bi-partisan nonsense. Being the nice, fair guy gets us no where.
There are more people who are against Trump, but they need to vote and not be gerrymandered out.
Trump has just fired Sessions – the purge is on and the count down to impeachment begins.
Rumour on twitter is the Mueller is close to indicting Uday – explains why Emperor Orange has sh!tting in his diapers today. That press conference where he attacks Jim Acosta was him showing how sh!t scared he really is and am not sure how much the Senate can protect him.
Boy are you wrong..sessions could not get involved in the investigation but his replacement has a record saying it needs to stop, he’s a trump ass kisser of the top tier..and every single repub swore they’d be outraged if sessions were fired, but today, it’s all good.
By “Uday”, do you mean Trump Jr.?
Yes
I’m sorry, but it just shows how desperate we are now that this result is considered pretty good. It’s sad to see that still so many agree with the racists, sexists 😫
IMO the fact so many are depressed shows how shallow the political engagement is on the left and how poorly the main stream media does talking about these nationalized races. RE the former; Dems have a habit of only engaging during Presidential years. They came out to support Obama in 2008 & 2012 but stayed home during the midterms and effectively screwed over his presidency. Similarly, the Dems that are unhappy are unhappy that Beto & Gillum, two charismatic Dem superstars that got alot of national media attention lost. But they’re ignoring the incredible gains the Dems made at the statehouse level. That’s going to help the Dems longterm more than anything. And the fact is, Beto was never going to win and Gillum’s campaign was rocked by a last minute FBI probe (Andrew came very close so I bet that revelation alone made up the difference.) But you wouldn’t know that from listening to the main stream media. They blather more about the horse race than what is actually affecting voter sentiment on the ground.