By On Tuesday night, Democrats obliterated Republicans in the House of Representatives, picking up 30-40 seats (some races are still being counted) and taking the majority for the first time in eight years.
Yet I’m still bitter.
Don’t get me wrong, taking the House is an astonishing accomplishment. After Republicans gerrymandered Congressional districts half to death in 2010, I didn’t think we’d have a real shot at the House again until 2022 at the earliest. But we won it.
Winning the House means that Trump’s legislative agenda is dead. It means that Democrats can now launch proper oversight of the Trump administration. No more cover-ups by a Republican Congress. And new incumbents improve our chances of holding the House in 2020 and beyond. This is all huge.
But we also lost the Senate and a number of seemingly reachable governorships. That was hard to swallow on Election Night. And even as my own mood rises as more votes come in and more races flip from red to blue, the media narrative of a mixed result remains unchanged.
Let’s be clear – it wasn’t a mixed result. Democrats will win the House popular vote by probably 8 or more points. This is the most seats they’ve flipped since Watergate. They took 7 governorships and ousted the hated Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin. In the Senate, with 10 seats up in states Trump won in 2016, they lost only 3 (maybe 4, depending on what happens in Florida) and picked up 1 (maybe 2, depending on what happens in Arizona). That’s amazing.
But though it was a clear repudiation of Trump, it wasn’t a resounding repudiation. We had a chance to win the Senate, but we couldn’t quite make it. We fell just short in half a dozen governor’s races.
Perhaps the bitterest moment of the night for me was seeing Ron DeSantis (R) inch ahead of Andrew Gillum (D) in Florida’s governor race. DeSantis was a clear racist, buffoon, and Trump stooge. Gillum was inspiring and led every single public poll. He still came up short. Florida is still counting and there’s likely to be a recount, but he’s got a multi-thousand vote margin to overcome. Gillum probably won’t pull it out.
Stacey Abrams (D) in Georgia and Beto O’Rourke (D) in Texas were always underdogs, but it was difficult to watch them come within inches of a win – both came closer than any Democratic candidate in those states in 20 years – and just fall short. Brain Kemp’s (R) blatant effort to steal the Georgia governor’s race only further inflames this frustration.
A lot of my bitterness is media fueled. Pundits saw Joe Donnelly crashing and burning in the Senate and started talking like Democrats had fallen short. Even as Democrats began to sweep the House, no one was ever quite able to shake off that narrative.
It’s not true. This election result would have been unthinkable two years ago. But it happened. It’s huge.
Yet still I am bitter.
Trump is still President. He can still confirm his judges. Republicans will continue to support his abominable administration. We can finally fight them on somewhat even ground now, but they are clearly far from defeated. They will continue to lie, they will continue to promote hate and fear, and they will continue to devastate the country for another two years.
For the first time, I can really begin to understand how Republicans can win, and win, and win, and still feel so bitter and aggrieved. This is a big win. When the Democratic House springs into action, this win will have real, concrete results. It just doesn’t feel like it yet.
But with that, the midterm elections come to a close (except for those outstanding races). I’ll have more analysis over the next week or so, including a recap of how my Races to Watch shook out and an examination of potential Democratic maps back to the Presidency. Which brings us to the next topic:
2020 has begun.
Breakdown Politics 