By Robert A. Vella
The hoped for “blue wave” didn’t materialize in the 2018 midterm elections held yesterday, but it still was a good night for the Democratic opposition to President Trump. Dems won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and gained some governorships and in some state legislatures across the nation by about the middle margins that were expected while Republicans added to their majority in the U.S. Senate by the high-side margins that were projected (see the full results here).
Voter turnout was high for a midterm, and the U.S. Elections Project currently puts the number at just over 47% – precisely where my pre-election assessment report had anticipated. However, it did not uniformly favor one party over the other. Democratic candidates did very well in the suburban areas I cited in the report, but Republican candidates for statewide offices excelled in the red states won by Trump in 2016. Female candidates did extremely well, and now there will be more than a hundred in the U.S. Congress for the first time in history.
Progressive candidates like Andrew Gillum in the Florida governor race and Beto O’Rourke in the Texas senate race ran strong campaigns even in defeat which will probably make the Democratic Party reconsider its long losing strategy of running Republican-light centrists in the southern states. Another progressive candidate, Stacey Abrams, also ran strongly and has not yet conceded the governor race in Georgia where a runoff election is still possible.
One of the biggest surprises was the defeat of two Republican governor candidates, Kris Kobach in deep-red Kansas and Scott Walker in purple Wisconsin, who both had angered the people of their states with a barrage of right-wing extremist policies including blatant voter suppression.
For those interested in the accuracy of public opinion polls, they generally were considering their inherent error margins; but, polling in some states like Florida and Ohio were wrong in consistently showing leads for some of the Democratic candidates who ended up losing such as Richard Cordray.
In the many state ballot measures, efforts to reverse partisan gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts and to ease or to increase voting restrictions were largely successful. Pro-marijuana measures also succeeded, and anti-abortion restrictions in two conservative states were passed.
Although Democrats will be disappointed that the wave election they had wanted didn’t occur, they have achieved their most important goal in securing real political power as a check against Trump’s rampaging authoritarianism. Although Republicans will be disappointed in losing control of the House of Representatives, they did excel in the Senate and in key governor races despite an electorate energized against the acrimonious divisiveness of Trump. The bottom line is that these midterms poignantly reflected the intense cultural and political polarization of America today. Look for more of the same in the years ahead.
The way I look at it … the Democrats came out ahead in many of the races. The results may not be all that we would have liked, but it’s a heck of a lot better than it was before the election!
Thank (whoever) for small favors (as they say). 🙂
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I do agree!
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I’m fairly pleased by yesterday’s results. Kinda what you’d expect, but since I was terrified we wouldn’t even get the House, I’m pretty pleased with the result. Gotta keep the energy up for 2020 and pray to Thor the Dems don’t do what they usually do and eff things up. I’ve heard rumblings of Clinton running again to which I say, just give Trump his second term now because that’s a HORRIBLE idea.
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I’m fairly pleased too. In 2020, it will be Republicans who’ll be defending a lot of senate seats, and that is good for us. I’m doubtful that Hillary will run again. She might be putting feelers out there right now, but if she gets serious about it the backlash from the Dem base will be very, very loud.
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Hell, I’m screaming about it now. All my neighbors are complaining about it.
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That’s what I was thinking. 2020 is the opportunity to take the WH and Senate (quite easily), then spend two years whacking out laws.
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It will be an opportunity, for sure. How easy it will be is a different question. I just hope that these new voters, and those who are still sitting on the sidelines, realize the practice of democracy is a never ending process. People shouldn’t expect that once a particular goal is achieved it can be maintained by retreating from civic engagement.
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And when 2020 rolls around, WE (plus all the others) need to continue (and amplify) our efforts to Get Out The Vote! Or else we’re going to deal with this orange orangutan another 4 years.
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Absolutely!!!
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If there Dems run her, they are really stupid. And not Biden either or Bernie( even though I love him). Got be someone different, out of the box, decent, well spoken and energizing. Did I hear the word Beto?
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Thanks for the analysis, Robert. I was disappointed that Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum didn’t secure their seats as state governor. I still hold onto hope that Stacey Abrams will succeed against all the odds.
Some good news to celebrate: “Female candidates did extremely well, and now there will be more than a hundred in the U.S. Congress for the first time in history.”
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Yes, if Beto, Gillum and Abrams could’ve run the table, it would have been a truly great victory. Still, our side did okay. Control of the House of Representatives was an absolute imperative, and we achieved that.
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OH MY THOR! You won’t believe what I just read!
Quote by Rudy Giuliani … 🤡🤡
OBAMA SHOULD BE ‘MORE PRESIDENTIAL’ LIKE DONALD TRUMP; MIDTERM RESULTS PROOF
🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Sounds about right.
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Rudy Fooliani? When he speaks, I don’t listen.
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He looks like a vampire that’s mutated in a really, really bad way.
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That’s because he has devoted his whole political career to sucking the life-blood out of the poor and middle class.
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And in recent days he’s sucking the methane gas outta tRump’s anal sphincter, just like li’l Mitchy McDickel.
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Oh shit, I needed that! Too funny! 😀
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And it’s time for the very quiet Mueller to make some noise!
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He will very soon, and I’m sure Trumpski will too. These next few weeks before Dems officially take control of the House should be interesting, to say the least.
BTW, I just read a blog post that had Putin’s picture under the heading “Biggest Loser from the Midterms” – lol!
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Reblogged this on sdbast.
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Love it!
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FLASH!!!!
“Fox News has just reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday morning, effective immediately.”
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Here we go…
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Just saw that. Yep. Here we go indeed. The next two years are gonna make the last two seem very loving and mild by comparison.
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What’s scary is the part the guy “selected” to take Sessions’ place may throw a monkey wrench into the Mueller investigation.
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Of course he will, but now, tRump will have to answer for it.
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Reblogged this on We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident.
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Can trump just appoint a new attorney general without congress’s approval?
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I think he has to be approved … and from what I read earlier today, there’s some controversy on this guy.
The disgusting and frustrating thing about all this is tRumpsky always seems to get things and people through. He is an expert at finding the loopholes.
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There’s a lot of controversy about this guy.
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He’s a friggin’ tRump stooge. This is BAD! There’s a protest tonight and another on New Year’s Eve that I’m going to.
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He is a stooge. Thanks again for your activism.
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He just appointed an “interim” attorney general which doesn’t require the normal senate confirmation process.
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Did any of you watch the press conference today. I heard trump was off the rails and saw some of it on the internet. He and Jim Acosta from CNN got into it and trump was also rude to another black woman. It’s an amazing thing to watch a president who is a bully and completely incompetent.
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I just watched it. He behaved like the fascist bully that we all knew he was.
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With Senate majority, trump can now have his nominees given a free pass
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Republicans had majority control of the Senate before this election, and now they have more control.
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I saw that this acting attorney general can have free rein for 210 days before congress by law must approve. Not sure if this is true.
And Ruth B G fell broke three ribs and I’m afraid this could open door to another Supreme Court pick. Not good.
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Ugh… crap. Yes, I understand an acting AG can serve for 7 months without confirmation by the senate.
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This explains a lot…interesting
https://www.justsecurity.org/61386/quick-primer-legality-appointing-matthew-whitaker-acting-attorney-general-whitakers-power-influence-russia-investigations/
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A question in the article: What’s Trump’s authority for superseding the AG Succession statute? — and the answer given is just one more “loophole” that tRumpsky has been using to accomplish his dastardly deeds ever since he took office.
He’s obviously been keeping his lawyers VERY busy!
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And on our dime, I’m sure
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Excellent, thanks.
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