There are a lot of races still in the air and a lot of votes left to be counted in this election cycle. It’s not all bad news for Democrats nor is it all good news. The best news is that the Republicans were trying desperately to will the “red wave” narrative into fruition and it fell flat. There was no red wave. If – a big if – the GOP gets control of the House, it will only be by a slim margin, and Kevin McCarthy is far from a sure thing as Speaker. It would actually be really f–king bad for Republicans if they did get control of the House, because it means an outsized empowerment of the Lunatic Terrorist Insurrectionist Coalition.
It’s more than likely that Democrats won the Senate. John Fetterman won the Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Raphael Warnock has a slim majority in Georgia, but there will probably be a runoff election. Democrat Maggie Hassan won the Senate seat in New Hampshire. Tammy Duckworth won reelection. Democrats won their elections for Senate in Colorado, Maryland, California, Oregon and Washington. Mark Kelly is probably going to win in Arizona. Nevada and Wisconsin look like they’re going to Republicans, but it’s close and votes are still being counted. Marco Rubio – a moron – won reelection.
Governors’ races were chaotic across the board. Ron DeSantis comfortably won re-election. Brian Kemp won comfortably in Georgia, meaning Stacey Abrams lost. Texas Gov. Abbott won reelection, meaning Beto O’Rourke lost. Democrats won their governor’s races in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania (!!!), New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland and more.
So, yeah… a mixed bag. Not a blue wave, not a red wave. Considering how midterm elections usually go – with a sweep for the party which doesn’t hold the presidency – I think President Biden can chalk this up as a win for the most part. Dems didn’t get routed. Some of the narratives already percolating: many of the Republicans who cozied up to Donald Trump were the ones who lost their races. Abortion was a huge issue driving voter turnout among women and young voters. SCOTUS is historically unpopular, and the Court’s approval of explicit gerrymandering on party lines affected many races in the South. We’ll get into more of these narratives in other posts.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Rally for the Democratic National Committee, gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, and senatorial candidate John Fetterman Saturday, November 5, 2022; at The Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Featuring: Democratic Senatorial Candidate John Fetterman Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States When: 05 Nov 2022 Credit: William T Wade Jr/startraksphoto/Cover Images
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- Rally for the Democratic National Committee, gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, and senatorial candidate John Fetterman Saturday, November 5, 2022; at The Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Featuring: Democratic Senatorial Candidate John Fetterman Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States When: 05 Nov 2022 Credit: William T Wade Jr/startraksphoto/Cover Images
Still waiting on final results in AZ but I feel hopeful. The republican candidates are nutjobs.
There are about 900k ballots still out in AZ. I have already mentally prepared myself for governor Lake, which will probably still happen. Mark Kelly’s race being so close caught me by surprise. We’ll see. There was a bunch of shenanigans in Maricopa last night so we might be in for a some major election drama.
*edit: the shenanigans are entirely because of Republicans. They are trying to make it seem like a change in the ballot count location is because our current secretary of state Katie Hobbs, Kari Lake’s opponent, is trying to do some big election fraud, which she isn’t.
I’m from NV and feel strongly that Cortez Masto will win. NV changed the way they vote and they now allow mail in ballots that are postmarked as of ED and they have until Saturday to count them. These and drop off ballots from ED haven’t been counted yet. These will give CM the senate victory. Just hoping our dem governor can pull it off.
Arizonan here too @Ann and @KBeth. The GOP candidates here are indeed nut jobs. Fingers crossed. These f*cking fascists – if they win, the election was secure. If they lose it’s because of fraud. Can’t believe some people can’t see through it.
Honestly, these results are mostly a relief. Its usually much worse for the incumbent party in the midterms, so I’m counting this as a win overall.
My local school board race was disappointing – my county elected the people who think teachers are lazy and overpaid to the BoE, so that’s great (also they’re racist and homophobic.) Waking up to that this morning was NOT pleasant. Ugh.
Oh, I hear you @Becks
While the prospect of red extremist control is terrifying, seeing so much support for bigots, ignoramuses, facists, folks locally is scary in a more visceral way – it’s the realization that the people who want to take away rights, undermine democracy, institutionalize ignorance and disinformation are active and vocal in my own town, not just somewhere else.
@Becks1, I’m also really relieved because it was looking rather dire for the Dems these last few weeks.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing up local elections (school boards, libraries, etc), because that seems to be the new Republican manner to undermine democracy. As an expat, I can vote in federal elections, but need to sit on the sidelines when it comes to state and local elections. They are really important: future judges and state representatives usually start out as local politicians and that’s where they build name recognition. We do not want anti choice, book banning people in power to n the way to the top.
Hey @ML! Fellow ex-pat here! I can vote in state and local elections, as well as Federal. I realise you may have a different personal situation, but thought I’d mention.
I found out a couple people running for school board in my “local” election were purely single issue anti-trans anti-gay candidates. But I had to do my research, looking each person up. Then vote for the either people.
It really wasn’t. The MSM and late polling were doing a lot of fear-mongering but the data wasn’t actually showing a huge red wave.
Hey @Ocho, do you have information on this?! I’ve been told since moving away decades ago that I’m only allowed to vote in federal elections. Has the law changed?! Thanks
@ML – It depends on the law in the state where you are registered to vote. Kiddo is registered to vote using our home address in NYS, but votes absentee from Canada. They can vote in our state/local elections because New York law allows it. You would have to check on the law in the state where you are registered. The US Embassy in Canada’s website was really helpful, but YMMV.
https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/voting/
@Liz, thanks for the link! Unfortunately, I am not able to vote locally, but it was really helpful to know that different rules apply for different states. As part of an expat community, I’ve had contact with Americans (and lots of other nationalities), and some of my friends may be able to have more of an impact. I let my friend know about NYS—she said that she can’t vote local there because she’s not returning to the US. I don’t know if that has any impact on your daughter?
My reaction is “it could have been so much worse.” It’s not great, but it could have been a disaster. But there is still so much work to do.
Last night was giving me palpitations when Walker briefly went ahead so glad Warnock swung back in the lead I really hope he avoids a run off!!
Once again, Texas showed its ass. What a joke of a state that I live in.
2019: 23 people died in the El Paso shooting at Walmart where a white man was targeting Mexicans to kill.
2020-present: Approximately 90,000 Texans died because of the coronavirus.
2021: 246 people died during the winter storm.
2022: 21 people died at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
All of these are a direct result of Abbott’s poor leadership, being owned by a rich few, and his complete lack of human compassion.
Texas has so much gerrymandering it feels hopeless every voting season 😭
Also wtf with the thousands of independent candidate votes that should have gone to Beto?! If I find out any of my friends voted independent I will literally disown them.
I’m in a funk over Texas. Abbott’s not even the worst -he’s a lot dumb more than purely evil – but how can it be Dan Patrick and the poster boy of corruption Ken Paxton AGAIN? We had really good candidates this time and I’m afraid it’s going to be just not worth it for anyone to run statewide races anymore because it’s too big and expensive a state to run in, knowing how lockstep red the rural areas are.
I’m really disappointed Beto didn’t win.
I went to a Mothers Against Greg Abbott watch party last night and the collective disappointment as the night went on was devastating. I am so upset this morning – I just don’t get how people can vote for party over people, which is how they must be doing it, because these people are corrupt. Ugh I’m so sad.
Move!!!!!!!
@LaUnicaAngelina I completely understand your frustration. I was really watching 3 races hoping these 3 get obliterated: Abbott, Kemp, and DeSantis. They all won their races. Of these 3, I was sure Abbott’s goose was cooked. I’m so disappointed.
Also disappointing, Democrats came out to vote for Warnock and did not vote for Stacey Abrams. We just can’t get out of our own way.
Don’t discount misogyny. There are still a lot of people that will absolutely not vote for a woman for higher office. That sadly was the least surprising ticket splitting to me.
Speaking of Stacy Abrams, she’s not just great at organizing behind the scenes but I’ve seen her performance in debates and feel that she’s an impressive speaker.
That DeSantis victory really hurts. He is a walking rectal polyp.
Based on what I’m seeing online, I’m pretty sure that white women, yet again, have decided that they’re rather support white supremacy than get out from under the heel of the patriarchy. While I know there are a lot of white, self-proclaimed “good Christian” women happy to support the GQP, I cannot understand why white women who are not religious fanatics believe that white men are going to protect the current status quo of white woman middle class privilege that keeps their access to contraceptives, abortion (via personal GYN just coding it as D&C to remove fibroids), medicines, financial autonomy, etc. intact.
I’m a Texan as well, and I’m so disheartened by the election results. The fact that UVALDE COUNTY voted for Abbott just broke me. It’s hard to feel hopeful knowing it’ll be four more years of him not caring about my kids’ safety at school, not caring about my daughter’s autonomy over her body, not caring if we have sufficient heat or cooling to survive. I hate it. And I’m sad that so many of my fellow Texans voted to keep it the same ol same ol. Beto busted his butt and worked so hard, and I’m sad that he won’t be our governor. And sad that we are still so solidly red in our government.
The Republican abortion platform is strong. They have people who worry more about the unborn than living breathing children. That is how warped they have made people. They would rather their own children die than allow abortion.
And many voters care more about money than the safety of children or women. America worships money as it’s true religion and the Republicans have built a cult around it even though they are the worst at helping the economy.
I still hear stupid people say the Republicans are good at fiscal responsibility when they spend way more than Democrats every time. it’s just they spend it on corporations and not on social programs. our military is insane and barely any of it goes to improve our troops lives.
I am disgusted by the people who voted R. Not even dead school children could sway their cold ruthless shameless hearts.
I’m gonna make this clear and simple. People will vote Republican for several reasons. Wanting to be a part of a group, not wanting to be attached to a group, plain ole ignorance and spite. This is where we are as a society.
My people voted for Warnok and not Abrams. It’s sad we won’t do anything to elevate each other esp a black female.
Today I was at my parents house, and my mom told my dad they’d need to buy a different brand of bread because theirs was over $6. My dad blamed Biden and his policies for the high cost. I replied that it’s because we get our wheat from Ukraine, who just so happens to be a little distracted right now busy with a war, so they haven’t harvested their wheat crops for export, and low supply vs high demand equals higher prices, which isn’t anything Biden controls. Plus the whole supply chain issue. Some people just can’t see the forest for the trees.
I can’t wait to get out of Texas.
Beto lost partly bc he said the one thing people do not want to hear in Tx: we are gonna take away your guns. I’m sad too…but his track record just shows he’s not a strong candidate. He ran for senate and lost, presidency and lost, now governor and lost…i think he’s done in Tx. Tx is just not ready to be blue or even purple. over a million votes is a lot to lose by and cannot be explained just by gerrymandering.
Beto needs to move. The Texas majority doesn’t want him and he can’t win.
I’m a native Texan, grew up in Kingsville, and I was rooting so hard for Beto and Jay Kleberg. I’m so sad this morning. My husband (also a Texan) and I are fully remote and would love to move back closer to family- but there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell we would move a school age child from MA to Texas under Abbott.
It’s a sad day to be a Texan. I will never understand people who voted for the Republican clown car candidates. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a day of mourning for my state.
Beto is young, energetic, relatable, he’s passionate. If he were running in a different state he would have won in a landslide. I’m absolutely NOT saying he should pull an Oz, it’s just a shame.
The same thing goes for Stacy Abrams.
At least in my county, and the neighboring one, there has been so much gerrymandering and state-wide there has been so much election laws fu*kery that it’s nearly impossible for a Dem to win to any sort of federal or statewide position. The precinct maps are completely mind boggling and have no basis in reality whatsoever.
My community impact newsletter had a really sobering report around 6 weeks ago talking about the impact of the new ballot laws. Had they been in place in 2020, nearly 30% of the votes would have been thrown out in our community. Almost all the mail in votes would have been thrown out. It was staggering. And it highlighted just how much the Rethugs are screwing around with the election all while pointing fingers and going “look over there! Communism! Death Panels! Pay no attention to the power behind the curtain doing the real damage!”
I don’t get how Abbott and DeSantis can fuck over their states so bad and win in landslides.
Unfortunately I was forced to live in Florida.It is my take that the old people here see Ronnie D as a throwback to JFK, young guy, pretty wife, little kids.They go back to their youth and hang onto the image that they really didn’t understand the reality of at that time.And old people here voted like crazy.
I’m in PA and breathing a big sigh of relief this morning.
I’m so proud of my neighboring state. My daughter is in school there and her friends all wanted to vote
PA got depressing for a hot minute last night, I’m breathing a sigh of relief too. I thought we’d lose the senate
PA came through! It’s a relief and yet the fact that there was even a questions makes this country terrifying all at once.
Fox News went all in for Oz and went hard against Fetterman. Even the national media was trying to make Fetterman sound unwell because he was recovering from a stroke. And then there’s the Trump endorsement for Oz. But despite all of that, and even Oz dumping millions on his own money into his campaign, he still lost. So LOL. Enjoy your crudite from Wegners you f**king douche.
It was lose/lose. Fetter man is unwell.
Nice to wake up to the news that Shapiro and Fetterman won here in PA!!! Shapiro wasn’t a surprise to me, but I had pretty much come to the conclusion that scammer Oz was going to win. Glad Pennsylvania got something right for a change. And, so happy for my daughter who voted in her first primary and general elections this year!!
fellow Pennsylvanian here – try received,, like so so relieved
but still have to side eye 50% of the state, love yourself more Oz/Mastriano voters
sorry so tired
that should say very relieved
I’m seeing people say they think dems may have made a dent in the Christofascist control of PA General assembly, and may have even flipped the state house. If so, that’s HUGE! I had worried that some of the Republicans that were supporting Shapiro (many, but not all, of whom also supported Fetterman) would still vote for the extremist republican running for state office so I’m breathing a sigh of relief that the Christofascists won’t have a veto-proof majority that would undermine Shapiro.
Everyone I voted for yesterday won. I was very happy to see Friel send Hennessy packing, and by a significant margin
Me too! The icing on the cake is that “Dr.” Oz threw $27m of his own money down the toilet. Maybe he’ll have to shop for his crudite at Faldi now I hear their tequila is much cheaper.
he may have flushed more than that. There were rumors that Trump was requiring that candidates donate a minimum amount (millions) to Trump’s PAC in order to get an endorsement from Trump
Same, @Jenns, same!
So grateful to wake up to the news this morning. I feel much better about living in this state!
This one was personal for me. I don’t live in PA or even near, I’m a registered D & always vote a straight Democratic ticket, and I was absolutely disgusted by Oz in every way shape or form. What made it personal for me was Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke & how the Oz campaign & Fox News et al., tried to make that into a thing. My brother had a massive stroke at 42 and was back at work four months later. It’s possible. Fetterman had auditory processing troubles, that’s it. He was recovering and getting better. He’s really fully functional. I am so glad for him, his family, the state of PA, and the rest of the country that he won. He’s a far better man that Oz could ever hope to be.
Beanie, ITA. It was ableism and medical fear mongering.
For me too! I have two autistic boys, my 5 year old is working through his language development stages fairly well, but my 3 year old is basically nonspeaking. My father in law(who also refuses to acknowledge that they are autistic) was talking crap about how Fettermman can’t even string a sentence together! How could anyone vote for him. 🤬. I, not so politely reminded him that he has two grandchildren with speaking delays and they aren’t stupid. Non speaking does NOT mean not intelligent! Ugh- I could punch him sometimes. I also had to remind him when he was complaining about social services like disability, that odds are his two prized grandchildren will be on some form of disability as they get older, so be careful what you say.
Sorry, he just ticks me off and my momma bear gets fired up!
Gutted over Beto. Wrong morning to wear makeup to work. Polls were down at multiple locations and hours were extended but Paxton and the Texas Supreme Court rules any votes after 7 be discounted, obviously they were in democratic pockets
Not a surprise that the red pockets had many polling stations but the blue ones barely any.
That’s just one of the many reasons why everyone should be concerned about the Supreme Court’s invalidating vital parts (Sect. 5, I think?) of the Voting Rights Acts. Eventually, access to voting affects us all, not just the people of color originally intended to be marginalized.
I live in a very blue state and I was seriously concerned that we would have a red wave here for governor, senate and house based on a very loud minority. We didn’t, thank god, and all the nut jobs lost. As a former New Yorker I was also soooo happy that Hochul won the governorship there. All that money spent on the Trump-y guy and he still lost. It’s as if the big article in the NYTimes this weekend about billionaire Ronald Lauer spending millions and millions of dollars to defeat Hochul had the opposite effect he thought it would. It restored my faith in humanity.
As disgusted as I am by the Bills stadium nonsense, I voted for Hochul because voting for republicans is a non-starter.
Yeah. Not okay with proposed increased police presence in subways (WTF?), but it was Hochul for me anyway, no question.
The NY Governor race was too close for comfort. And I’m watching Steve Kornacki talk about 5 NY congressional seats possibly flipping from blue to red, they are still counting and its on a knife’s edge. I love living in NY but outside NYC and Buffalo/Rochester/Syracuse/Albany it is pretty red. Between the rednecks in the southern tier and the rich white catholics in the burbs NY isn’t safe if the cities don’t turn out to vote in large numbers.
I never understood how Hochul was in so much trouble if Schumer wasn’t. I mean, were people going to vote for Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, and then turn around and vote for the ultra Trumpy guy for governor? It makes no sense!
As for those NY congressional races, some judge threw out the redistricting plan and put one guy in charge of redistricting. He gerrymandered the hell out of the state. That’s why those seats are at risk. Republicans are allowed to gerrymander all over the country but Dems can’t.
Redistricting in NYS was a disaster for the Dems. I live in Jerry Nadler’s district. On one level, I understand merging the Upper East and Upper West sides into one district, but at the same time, DEAR GOD!. It put two of the most senior Democrats in the House up against each other in the primary!
I live in Florida and the people here would vote for the Devil if he was a Republican.
I mean, Florida basically IS Hell. The Devil has probably woken up there a few times by accident after a drunken night out.
He is.
I’m in TN and I didn’t even know our governor was up for re-election. That’s how much of a sure bet he was to win. I never saw or heard a single ad for him or for the Democrat nominee. And I’m in a blue county!
The only ad I heard this whole cycle was from a man with far too much money/free time on his hands who is always trying to win SOMETHING and he never does. His not-winning streak still stands…
@Meghan — fellow Tennessean here and you are 100% correct about the governor’s race. I had to look up the Dem opponent before voting last week b/c I realized I did not know their name. It can such a gut punch to be a democrat here.
Meghan- I’m also in TN and thought I was the only one who didn’t see or hear anything about the governor’s race. And I’m in Nashville which is supposedly a blue city. As a transplant from a majorly blue state I already feel very out of place here but it becomes almost unbearable during elections 😞
I’m a transplant in Nashville too! Child custody keeps me in place for now, or I would have left for bluer pastures long ago. They split the 5th district to eliminate a D seat. Gov. Lee is a disaster.
They did. As per usual. deathsentence once again won. seriously if Vader or voldemort ran as a republican in FL they’d be ushered into office with parades and parties
2 more years and I can get out of this cesspool.
Also in Florida – Matt Gaetz’s district. The rest of this week will be spent drawing up a plan to move out of state over the summer. I’ve felt like there was a chance to stay and vote blue and make a difference, but not any more. And it’s not worth being surrounded by this maga mentality and damaging my own mental health to try to empty the stupid ocean with a logic bucket.
It still shocks me that Pres. Obama was able to win Florida outright, not just once but twice in 2008 and 2012, in Florida, for God’s sake.
@Debbie The only thing I can think is those who don’t vote, got out to vote blue and sit out from here on out.
Shout out to Maine for pulling it together and sending Florida Man LePage packing
Yay! Between that and Nh soundly kicking awful Bolduc to the curb, I’m cheering here in New England.
Also cheering for the fact that here in Massachusetts, we’ve got a Democrat in the governor’s seat again, and that pretty much every state level election went blue.
And all but two statewide offices (Senator Markey & Secretary Galvin) are now held by Democratic women.
I felt so relieved about Maggie Hassan winning. My main concern has been local elections. Even though we have Blue representation for federal, it has a lot of red with our idiot governor and the red legislature.
Our local elections are sometimes more important than the federal ones.
Last night was a little bit of a shock to me, and I don’t think people get how big of a deal these results are. I remember the absolute shellacking of ’10 where we Dems lost like 60 seats in the house and 10 governorships, to be in a good spot to retain the Senate majority and have possible single digit majorities in the House is unbelievable. Even if Republicans take the House Kevin McCarthy is not Nancy Pelosi, I can’t see him keeping control of MAGA portion at all. The House Minority Leader (not sure Nancy would/will stay on) will constantly be able to pull votes. Committee control is what concerns me; we’ll be back to 45 Benghazi and Obamacare hearings.
I didn’t look until this morning because I was expecting a shellacking. I’m disappointed for Beto and Stacey, but overall this was better than I expected.
I wonder if either of them will move to a more federal focus or some thing. I think they’re both great and have so much future potential, but I don’t know if they’re ever going to win where they are.
Having all Democratic governors in the Midwest will be huge for 2024. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, along with Illinois, creates a firewall against Republican shenanigans there. It may even be more important than retaining the Senate, although that’s certainly important too so Biden can get more judges through.
Beto and Stacey will need to move to friendlier territory if they hope to continue in electoral politics. Buttigieg has already moved to Michigan. Smart.
I’ve always thought of Stacey Abrams as a more effective behind the scenes person if she stays in Georgia. She knows the state, and she’s very good at getting votes which would otherwise not be cast or counted. She could be a great campaign manager.
The Midwest (MI, MN, WI, IL) plus PA staying blue is great for 2024. This ensures that elections will be run fairly and competently.
It’s been interesting seeing the reaction to the results, including about the doom and gloom polling. If anything, the results show that many of the polls that have been assumed to be the gold standard have serious flaws. It’s been something I’ve been commenting on since 2018 that the polling in WI isn’t representative of who actually shows up to vote. Certain demographics, including older voters, rural voters, and men are over represented in polling samples. Younger voters, women, and people in urban areas and under counted.
It was also a very mixed night for progressives outside of established incumbents. I’m not sure it’s such a great idea to bring in Bernie Sanders to stump for candidates in tight races.
I’m relieved here in Wisconsin. Evers, our boring Democratic governor won again, by a good margin. We also avoided a Republican veto proof majority in the legislature which means that Evers’ best weapon against Republican extremism, the veto pen is still useful. I’m disappointed Mandela Barnes lost to that horrible, awful and odious Ron Johnson, but Johnson’s campaign and associated SuperPACs ran mostly fearmongering and negative ads. Barnes probably could have held out for Milwaukee and Madison to finish counting absentee and early voting, enough to force a mandatory recount, but he did the decent thing and conceded. That’s more than Johnson would have done if the situation was reversed.
There’s signs of hope in Wisconsin. Both Barnes and Evers did better in heavily Republican areas in SE Wisconsin around Milwaukee, getting around 40% of the vote. There may be counties that become purple swing counties in the next couple election cycles. These are still areas where they are breeding grounds for some of the more extreme and radical parts of the GOP agenda, including anti LGBT policies in schools, accusing K to 12 schools of indoctrination of kids with CRT, redlining in housing, and hostility to public transit. Maybe some people recognize that some of the rhetoric around the culture war issues is become too heated and the need to pull back and reflect on how to cool things down.
@Kelly: Good observations all. I stopped believing in pre-election polls in November 2016. They’re either flawed in terms of their answers not being a representative sample or people being unwilling to admit who they’re really going to vote for. (Or being so apathetic/suggestible that they change their minds at the last minute, which is my sad suspicion about many.) I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s nothing but destructive to take a “vote on who people are going to vote for” and then publish the results of that pre-vote vote.
Clinton lost over 40 seats. Big losses during an incumbents term is normal. Only a couple times it has not happened.
FL has been f’ing with my mind ever since I went to bed in 2000 thinking Gore won. DeSantis is terrifying. I honestly hope trump runs again just to keep DeSantis from the ticket. Because if DeSantis gets the nomination in ’24 he will win.
This is my greatest fear. I lived in Florida for 15 years and we’ve had Democrats and Republicans as governors. Even Jeb Bush wasn’t that bad. DeSantis is a nightmare. I lived through him during the pandemic and unemployment, everyone should be afraid if he runs in ’24. He’s Trump but with an actual brain and would set the country back 50 years.
My hope is that he and Trump will eat each other trying to get the nomination.
2000 changed me. Changed the whole US political landscape and the world, honestly. That’s when the Supreme Court lost all its legitimacy, we lost the battle against climate change, we allowed terrorists to dictate our policy because 9/11 shouldn’t have happened but we instead ushered in the Patriot Act. So many things that need to be rolled back to that one decision to stop the recount (then the too late reversal).
That’s exactly how I feel, 8 years of GW Bush set us back decades and we have never recovered the momentum. I really fear for this Country when propaganda and flat-out lies win the day.
Last night was a bad night for Trump and I think the success of DeSantis has shown he is the new “leader” of the party. The GOP is about to turn on Trump and get behind DeSantis 100%. He will be their nominee and he will win. And that terrifies me.
DeSantis is terrifying because he’s smart enough not to believe any of the crap he’s peddling, and manipulative enough to whitewash his cynical opportunism. The massive US flag in front of which he made his acceptance speech said everything – the bigger the flag, the bigger the fascist. I just really hope everyone keeps sharing the photo of him looking like a complete tool in his white rain/gogo boots.
Non-American here. Why are people so sure deSantis will win if he runs? Why is he so popular? I’ve heard people say that he’s Trump with a brain, but speaking again as a non-American, the thing I found scariest about Trump was his sheer unpredictability. It always seemed like he might decide to start a war because he was having a bad day. Would deSantis be like this?
I’m not sure he would win if he ran. I mean I think he could get the nomination, but I’m not sure he would win the general election.
I was watching MSNBC last night and Joy Ann Reid said something about Florida like – everyone always wants to try to take what happens in Florida and put it out across the nation, and florida is just florida. What happens there often isn’t duplicated in the rest of the country, theres not really a pattern there. so when FL returns came in last night for the Rs, I think people were worried what it would mean for the rest of the country and the reality is, as we’re seeing, it didn’t mean a whole lot in terms of the results.
Florida has been growing in population for decades, primarily because it is where retirees, who often vote R, live out their retirement years. On top of that, DeSantis took quite a gamble in 2020 by opening everything up early while covid raged on. It led to Florida becoming a haven for conservatives, especially those who lived in blue states and hated restrictions. Even with the obscene deaths Florida led the nation with during the Delta variant surge, the growing conservative population loved dining, shopping, having schools opened, and no mask mandates.
And I say all this because DeSantis benefitting from a growing population that votes R + his lack of covid policies are really what anchor his popularity. He is also really good at riling up his base over policies that stoke their bigotry and distrust over institutions like public education, hence policies like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and banning books. His wife is also a big asset because she maintains the facade of a supportive trophy wife and loving mother of his kids in public, while controlling his messaging and image behind the scenes. She particularly makes him attractive to white female voters.
I’m from FL and am terrified of him. He is like trump but republicans love him because people think his is normal. Mostly they are white supremist .
PA resident here. Thank god enough of our people saw sense and I welcome Shapiro and Fetterman. Two things I firmly believe of most of PA…they don’t take to non PA people who think buying some mansions makes u eligible for office and also more are of them are seeing through Trump and his ilk.
Very glad for PA! I’ve been in Bucks Co a bit the last couple of months and saw way too many Oz signs, so glad he was sent packing. But we don’t want him back in New Jersey!
Before I went to bed last night, all I asked the universe was that John Fetterman would win in Pennsylvania. Coming from Florida, I knew the Devil would win and Moron would be beat Val Demmings. (I have no faith in Florida voters.)
Guess it just means I get to call Rubio’s office on a monthly basis for the next 6 years again and tell them he’s doing a horrible job. 😁
I’m in GA and deeply saddened over Stacey’s loss, but not surprised. Am hoping that we avoid a run-off. Seriously considered removing the spark plugs on my brother-in-law’s truck yesterday
Can anyone please explain to me how they can legally redistrict and then have the blue become so small that the red wins? Was stumped last night seeing how much was lost due to redistricting across the board. And I too am affected. I am now in a very conservative group when I had a Democrat for US Congress. This blows!
My HS civics professor called redistricting “legalized cheating.”
Beto’s loss is most disappointing. He’s been running for office almost non-stop for the last 6 years (Senator, President, Governor) and lost them all. I’m not sure what his future holds. Realistically, if he runs again, people are going to be reluctant to support him – the mantle of a three-time loser is going to be hard to overcome. Maybe Biden can appoint him to a cabinet-level post (after mid-terms, usually a few Secretaries leave). It would help erase some of the stigma if people could think of him as “Secretary O’Rourke.”
It breaks my heart because I think he would have been great at any of these offices. I have family and friends in Texas and it’s just a sad day.
Other thoughts:
No surprise in FL. Crist was a horrible candidate. Stacy Abrams is another heartbreaker. Walker/Warnock shouldn’t be this close but Republicans will vote for anyone that furthers their agenda regardless of “moral character.” WTF Arizona – Lake, really? JD Vance – insert puking emoji here.
Ugh – MTG is (probably) going to be in charge of a committee.
Fetterman – yeah!
Breathe and relax today because the 2024 election starts tomorrow.
Beto’s loss is heartbreaking. I had hoped after Uvalde, Texas voters would come out for Beto en masse. I agree that constant runs/losses hurts a candidate’s reputation. For the most part, I think people who continue to run after successive losses fall into two general categories – the power hungry, who will just keep going because they want the power that comes with an elected office, and the savior types, who think only they can lead the country to better times (i.e. Bernie Sanders). I don’t think Beto falls into either of those categories. He’s just a truly good guy who wants to make life better for people.
If Warnock doesn’t win in Georgia (hopefully sooner rather than later, after a runoff), I’m gonna dig up General Sherman and tell him to try harder this time. Walker, besides being a hypocrite and a pathological liar, is genuinely one of the stupidest people I’ve ever had the displeasure to hear.
That’s why repugs pulled out all the stops for him. He’s easily controllable; he has no original thoughts. They say “Hershel, we need you to vote this way.” And he does.
I have no complaints this morning. My state is now deep blue. Two Dem senators, a Dem governor, and my member of Congress,who was supposed to be in danger, won by five points. Also, the entire legislature is Dem controlled for the first time in forever. If I’m dreaming, I hope I don’t wake up.
Glad KH won in NY; even though she is
from Upstate, a conservative pit as bad as Florida – another G-d forsaken hole which will never see my tourist dollars ever again. Glad Fetterman over Oz – which brings along a sidebar about celebrity worship, ableism and hypocrisy. It is disappointing how partisan people will vote for idiots just because they are inserted into their party. (Special large amounts of shade to Oprah. Maybe it is time for her to fade into the background after her shoving on us her questionable schmsltzy book club, Dr. Phil🤮, needless fluff like “the Secret”AND Dr. Oz to begin with. Not a good look for her “brand”….The world has changed and we need leadership and facts, not fluff, glitter and shamanism) Also “hypocrisy” over ablesm as well; if Fett has some lingeribg physical effects of a stroke and no other issues regarding leadership why has that become such a big deal? Especially since so many other conditions are mainstreamed without issue?
I do think Oz had a hard time with the Republican base. Someone mentioned that he is Muslim on here last week. That’s a pretty hard sell for people who are so Islamophobic. My guess is some came home at the end and some never did.
Upstate NY is not exactly a conservative hole. I grew up there, and I’m very glad to have left. But it’s a lot more like most of the country than it is like Florida, unless something has massively changed in the last 10 years. The rural areas are red and the cities are blue. I grew up in an upper middle class suburb of Syracuse and the culture was very much your standard NYT-reading liberals. I’m sure some people I knew had conservative politics, but I don’t remember ever really hearing them. My public high school had a big walkout when the Iraq war was declared & most parents were supportive.
Sounds like you had a bad experience and I’m really sorry!
@Meagle Actually, Upstate NY is a very conservative place as Lawler and Stefanik prove. You don’t count places like Syracuse(a college town), Buffalo, Niagara Falls or Rochester typical Upstate, as they are relatively large cities. Other than smaller towns like Ellenville, New Paltz, Kingston (where I lived in the 1970s and 1980s which are hardly “NTY Liberal” but quite a bit more center/moderate Democratic leaning) the rest of the small towns that make up the state are quite like their picture post card equivalents in Ohio, Indiana etc.. From my own experience, if there isn’t a college, artitistic community, some diversity, or even a form of public housing, it will be quite conservative….
I’m from Buffalo, still maintain residence here and have lived in NYC as well. I’m not sure what your experience here has been but we are not a conservative cesspool on par with Florida. Are there more rural pockets that are very red? Yes, just like in other states. But the boroughs aren’t all blue rivers – spend some time in Staten Island. During such polarizing times I would kindly ask to not lump all of us together, especially if you have only spent tourist dollars here. Buffalo is an incredible city that has come back from the dead and just like other small cities like ours we have a complicated and often contradictory approach to politics, and we still struggle with the same issues many other places do re: racism, policing, etc. That said, we are NOT Florida which has a more consistent and extreme approach to politics. Hochul was always going to win, even if Zeldin has a closer margin than maybe comfortable, but I think that also shows too many people took it for granted she would win and didn’t turn out.
Kemp easily won here. That is depressing on a soul level.
Yes, it really is.
I’m in GA and I’m honestly not surprised by Stacy’s lost. Kemp standing up to Trump and he’s been doing everything he can to win.
Okay, just got a brief update. My uncle complained to my mom that my aunt broke ranks and voted for Warnock. So that might explain some of why Kemp made it and Walker might not? It sucks for Stacy Abrams that Kemp is not seen as the threat to Democracy that he is.
Also, another elderly relative is living in a nursing home which is in lockdown due to Covid. Some Republicans did not vote this cycle—small spot of light in the darkness.
Kemp passed the 6week abortion ban in GA. And yet, he’s still our governor.
I didn’t get my hopes up here in OK, I knew the rural voters would come out in masses. It’s sad because their schools & hospitals are shutting down, but owning the libs is more important than education & healthcare apparently.
The results make you realize that if there were fairly drawn Congressional districts instead of gerrymandered districts, the Dems would have easily won the House. Just praying they can hold the Senate.
This, exactly this!
GOOD-BYE & GOOD RIDDANCE, LAUREN BOEBERT!
Massachusetts made history with the first all women Administration set to take office in January and Maura Healey, its first elected woman governor and the first lesbian elected governor of any state.
Maura’s a brilliant rising star who will be a great governor and she may not stop there.
Democrats need to rethink strategies. All states are in play. GOP Senate seats almost flipped in Wisconsin and North Carolina last night. Take some emphasis off Florida and start investigating more in the Carolinas, Kansas, and elsewhere.
If there’s a runoff in Georgia, Obama needs to shake every hand there before that election with Biden making weekend appearances with him and Warnock.
And again, GOOD RIDDANCE, BOEBERT!
It’s truly a surprise gift! Boebert is so terrible, but I never thought her area would switch to dem! Hoping her loss sticks as final numbers come in.
Just checked that race. 93% in, less than 3500 votes separate the two, nothing called.
I think some Dems should rethink the practice of not accepting funds from big businesses in favor of “the people.” That sounded good in 2010 when the anti-Wall Street movement was a rage, and the young people were engaged and doing “Occupy Wall Street.” But working people don’t have generally have the money to fund expensive elections. And unless a candidate has the knack of getting money from a lot of people, it’s futile to ignore an available source of funding just to curry favor with an earnest but notoriously unreliable group of voters.
Until recently, I spent my entire life in Ohio. Unfortunately, JD Vance (a turd in a suit) won the senate race there. He thinks it’s A-okay for raped 10 year olds to be forced to carry their rapist’s baby to term. I’m so disappointed, and saddened for my friends and family still there. Not to mention Mike Dewine’s heartbeat bill which bans abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy.
My new state of Virginia didn’t fare any better with many Republicans winning new seats or the Republican incumbent winning a new term.
Some people won’t be happy until this country is utterly destroyed. Honestly, with the exceptions of Fetterman and Healey, this primary made me sad.
I live in a solid blue state so I wasn’t worried for my state, but yesterday I was a nervous wreck nationally. I voted, then went on a complete news blackout until this morning when I decided to peek here first thing. Thank you for sharing the good news there is! (I still haven’t opened WaPo or turned on the radio or TV because I can handle only a little at a time!) Thanks Kaiser!
I love in a solid blue State, CA, but I’m in the hills. In Republican country. Myself, and my three dem incumbents had Magat challengers for our school board seats. Happy to say we all won re-election and this push in our county to infiltrate school boards failed. All of the local incumbents won re-election and the stop the indoctrination, crt nut jobs did not win.
Hearty congratulations to you and your fellow incumbents!
Thanks @KTAE for your public service!
Congrats!! And thank you 🖖
Thank you for your bravery and courage. The toxic rhetoric is unbelievable and I never thought in my lifetime I would see such back peddling – including the appalling activities against pur libraries and schools. Most distressing is that the support for Maga runs so deep in this country that people like Oz, Walker and Vance actually were nominated…
I am actually shocked at how well the Reps did. Swept my state and now have a super majority so the (dem) governor will no longer have any veto power.
I’m an election worker in Texas as well as a Democratic voter. Yesterday was brutal in every possible way. This morning I’m exhausted and achy and my heart is broken that we made no movement on getting rid of Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton.
So the Fetterman win is a teeny tiny balm to my soul. Good job, Pennsylvania. 💙
Kaiser, I just want to pause to thank you for your tireless reporting on politics, and for keeping us all informed on the issues that matter. I appreciate that we all come here to discuss fun gossip, but also get a good discussion of big picture items key to shaping our lives.
Add me to the gratitude list. Kaiser is a real one 💯, her work translating and educating us on issues from political word salads & worse has been a great gift. tysm lady seriously. 🖖
Agreed. This has become my go-to site the day after an election.
Thanks!
Are the losing republicans conceding anywhere? I have one who resoundingly lost with half the votes counted but will not concede until “every legal vote” is counted. God I hate Republicans.
‘It would actually be really f–king bad for Republicans if they did get control of the House, because it means an outsized empowerment of the Lunatic Terrorist Insurrectionist Coalition.’
Kaiser, it appears this is exactly what the US Republicans want.
I was just so frightened and the PTSD from 2016 was so bad I’ve been in a news blackout since Sunday. Honestly, scared to death, not trusting of my fellow Americans. I still haven’t opened any news sites, but thanks for this because my insides don’t feel as off kilter.
Things went pretty well in Michigan. Prop 3 was on the ballot to protect abortion rights here, and I think it brought people out to vote. Despite the fact that all the churches had signs up saying ‘No on Prop 3 – too confusing and too extreme!’ …how can it be both too confusing and too extreme?? Prop 3 passed by quite a margin, and Gov Whitmer was re-elected too.
Agree. The Dems swept all three of the main offices (gov, sec of state and atty gen) and turned back a big time Trumper for governor. We also took control of our state house and senate which is huge! Sad about the rest of the country, especially TX, I thought Beto had a real chance.
I’m in Wisconsin and am well aware that any binding statewide referendums require approval by the very gerrymandered state legislature. Given that they did the Republicans did their usual gavel in, gavel out during a special sessions Evers called to repeal the 1849 abortion law, I’m doubtful that they’d let that be decided by a direct referendum.
However, if one were to happen, I would love to see how much money that the various Catholic dioceses, evangelical churches, and their ilk would spend to defeat it. Given that multiple Catholic dioceses here in WI have plans to close parishes due to both finances and strategic plans, it sure would seem awfully hypocritical if they could find some spare millions in collection baskets to lobby against a popular ballot measure.
I think “pretty well” undersells what happened in Michigan. The results were amazing! The house/senate control is the first in 40 years. Governor, secretary of state, and attorney general all held onto their seats. And not only did we enshrine abortion into the constitution, two other proposals – one for modest voting rights and another for modest campaign finance disclosures – passed with >60% each.
Michigan’s ability to get ballot proposals straight into law is proving to be a really important tool. Citizen redistricting passed in 2018 with extremely strong support and this year it is bearing fruit. Additionally, left of center proposals often pass. I think when you strip off the label Democrat or Republican, identity politics are less of a factor, and people will actually think things through and support commonsense proposals.
I didn’t read all the comments. I am in Missouri. I was jumping up and down when I saw our Dem candidate leading then she lost badly. What a disappointment!
This area is huge Republican. It was going to be an easy sweep. Those of us who vote Dem’s it’s always fingers crossed for a miracle when it comes to this State. What really is shocking is that recreational marijuana passed. All these Republican’s that voted yesterday for their little conservative candidates also voted to legalize marijuana. There is something to ponder for the day, lol.
Really upset Cheri Beasley lost the Senate seat in NC but even more upset that our Supreme Court flipped Republican last night. We have some important issues coming up and if Rs decide them, hello gerrymandering and goodbye, education funding. I went to bed at 1:30am upset and woke up at 5:30am still upset over it and couldn’t fall back asleep.
The DNC and national media ignored us and wrote us off. The race was close enough that Beasley could have pulled it out if her campaign hadn’t run out of money. She had the momentum but Republicans spent a crapload of money in red areas of the state to turn out the vote for those supreme court seats and Budd benefited.
Thanks for voting 🗳, celebitches!!!!
@HEYKAY how is Biden a huge failure? He passed 3 big bills- American Rescue Plan, College loan act, and Infrastructure bill- which is why I have soooo much construction in my city. He’s not responsible for inflation, that was coming and so is a small recession. And OPEC is the reason for high gas prices. OPEC countries make more money when supply is significantly lower than demand. What more do you want Biden to do?
Totally agree Mee – blaming the sitting president for a situation for which the writing was on the wall long before he took office is lazy analysis IMO. Also, people better prepare themselves for the cost of living to rise dramatically and permanently as global warming accelerates and resources disappear.
Inflation and gas prices are a global issue, but Americans don’t typically look that deep, so they blame the people in front of them. It is such a historic break with tradition that the Dems didn’t get clobbered, much less in these times. Biden and the Dems had incredible results last night. Historic. I am so pleasantly surprised.
Her wish for a DeSantis presidency says it all and all I need to know.
So happy Gov Hochul won. If Zeldin won it would have meant blank check pardons for Trump and his cohorts for NY cases. I still hold on to hope Trump will be arrested one day.
Excuse me, the Democrat won the Connecticut Senate Race as well thank you very much.
If Republicans win the House, it will be really f–king bad for the whole country.
https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1590241972794830848?s=21&t=a0eK2IdzVEoVqSaJ-OLwZA
KY here. I was disappointed that Rand Paul is going back to the Senate, but I’m glad KY voted down an anti-abortion amendment.
Trump: “If [republicans] win, I should get all the credit. If they lose, I should not be blamed at all.”
Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior writer for the National Review: “Just — all the chatter on my conservative and GOP channels — is rage at Trump like I’ve never seen. ‘The one guy he attacked before Election Day was DeSantis — the clear winner; meanwhile, all his guys are shitting the bed.’ “
Im in FL and I was so mad last night that DeathSantis won so easily and early- like they called the race when an hour earlier people were still waiting in line to vote. I almost didn’t want to check any election results this morning, and had some strong dissonance going on when I saw it wasn’t that bad overall! My sisters and I have been working on our father for years now, but recently going hard at him to not vote for Oz or Mastriano. We got halfway there, at least he respects democracy more than women’s right to choose. So glad the rest of the state has some better sense. If PA is turning sane, maybe it’s time to move back. I definitely need to get out of FL ASAP
“Lunatic Terrorist Insurrectionist Coalition”. Can we not call it the “Coalition of Lunatic Insurrectionist Terrorists” so we can refer to them by their acronym only?
😆
An amazing win is likely to be called here in Oregon, this evening maybe. in the nationwide effort to enact common sense gun laws.
I sure hope it holds.
We have now, technically, passed a gun measure by a very narrow margin. Measure 114- it would be the toughest gun legislation nationwide. It’s language bans specific magazine sizes, possibly specific weapon models as well I but can’t remember the entire and exact details of the measure. It would require potential buyers pass background checks, take a class and get a permit, like back in the day when in the early 90s in Cali when like we wanted to carry pepper spray, very similar. It’s just been reported at 51% yes, 49% no, and we were at 50/50 this am. 🤞 🖖