In my district as of this evening the Democratic candidate is now ahead of the Republican incumbent by 261 votes, out of a total of about 229,400. Two years ago, the Republican won by 53,000 votes.
The count continues.
7
Small population states like Wyoming pervert the principles of democracy.
Small population states like Delaware, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Vermont and New Hampshire are the embodiment of the democratic principles enshrined in the US Constitution. The Founders knew what they were doing.
That makes New York Times sense.
Gerrymandering by Red states is a perversion of democracy.
Gerrymandering by Blue states ensures that democracy continues its Constitutional imperative. The wisdom of the Supreme Court is on full display in gerrymandered Blue states.
That makes New York Times sense, too.
3
The progress made by progressives in the SunBelt had nothing to do with the democratic party, and all to do with the candidates running for office. For example, the amazing performance of Beto in Texas was all about him, despite the fact that the democratic party has not invested in Texas in decades.
5
I voted and my vote did matter in my district. The counting is still on an the republican leads by a little over 500 votes, a 0.3 percent margin after leading on election night by over 2000 votes. Many people vote by mail here and a larger proportion of those voters seem to have voted democrat. Every vote should count and be counted, and the tallying should be done right even if it takes a month. Ronald reagan once said ‘republicans go to orange county to die’. Trump’s very deep unpopularity has ensured that three out of seven republicans lost there. The four remaining are very close.over 1 million votes remain uncounted in orange county, san bernadino and la. Affordable health care, immigration and unemployment are some of the main issues in those areas. 40 percent are latinos. Trump and the gop’s demonizing immigrants and the caravan and almost repealing affordable health care, ignoring blasey ford’s credible testimony and appointing a rank partisan kavanaugh accused of attempted rape to the supreme court, and trump’s very low approval ratings here have together produced a blue wave in california. The state’s problems are complex, high economic inequity being one of them. Freeways are in poor shape in many places in silicon valley because of heavy traffic and lack of maintenance.Traffic congestion and commute times keep getting worse because of a strong economy and low unemployment. Rural unemployment is higher though. These are some challenges for state democrats
4
Turnout is the key determinant in upcoming elections. It was historically high for a midterm this year. 2020 will be even more favorable for the Dems. After all, Trump isn't going to get less Trumpier. And House investigations plus the fruits of the Mueller investigation will shine a bright disinfecting light on rampant corruption and illegality in the current administration.
Trump snuck in the first time. He had to have help from the Russians, James Comey (twice!), and Bernie Sanders (who badly overplayed his hand). It should also be less likely for petulant third party voters to prefer to get nothing rather than half a loaf, although it remains to be seen how much sanity exists on the far left.
And Trump's strategy will almost certainly rely on racial division, anti immigration rhetoric, and the sugar high from tax cuts for the rich. Deficits are climbing, his trade policies are disastrous, and an economic correction is long overdue. The only move that MIGHT save him is a war. But his administration is too incompetent to fool most voters, and Iran is not remotely as weak as Iraq.
Anyway, everyone should know a true tsunami comes in a series of increasingly more powerful waves. Let just hope the next wave comes before Trump burns the whole house down. You know Trump would do ANYTHING to save his own skin, possibly including a nuclear war.
7
This is a case of Trump fatigue. Even his supporters I think are just tired of the constant 24/7 Trump news. It's exhausting and I don't even like the guy.
7
The obnoxiousness of Trump's behavior and speeches has obviously turned off many of the more civilized moderate population. The GOP may be licking its wounds, even as it continues to delude itself that keeping the Senate was a real accomplishment in this skewed electoral map year.
And now that 1.5 million former felons are now able to vote in Florida, these squeakers of elections there are unlikely to be replicated ... even if only 1/4 or 1/5 of those newly enfranchised citizens vote.
However, the Democrats need to consider how they wound up in this position. After the champaign and back-slapping, they have to reflect on the fact that working Americans are their natural constituency (as opposed to the plutocratic class and others who are extremely conservative).
For decades, the Democratic party consciously decided to turn its back on white working and middle class Americans, in favor of minority and gender identity constituencies. They never seemed to consider how important it was to try to relate to -- and listen to -- everyone, not just the disadvantaged. And they won't always have bigoted louts like Trump and his minions to run against.
Piecing together a victory from suburban and urban communities is better than losing. But it falls far short of actually appealing broadly to many constituencies.
5
As the election results continue to trickle in, it appears that the Democrats are going to have a larger majority in the House than previously reported. It is now clear that the election results were influenced sharply be the electorate's overall repugnance of Trump's defective character & personality rather than the issues separating the two parties and the more extreme examples provided by the Democrats of their drastic shift to the left.
It is apparent that the NPA's [no party affiliation] and independents swung from the GOP to the Dems in this election. That had to be a product of the revulsion so many in the middle of the political spectrum have for the current president. It bodes ill for the incumbent's chances of reelection.
3
Kind like a hurricane, after the wind has gone the flooding goes on. The blue wave is not a crashing one but it goes on. Trump is like man’s activities are to global warming, a tipping point. He saved some seats but lost a whole lot more. Another person who wasn’t such a lotus eater might have turned this country into a true authoritarian state by now. He found a lot of resentment and animosity in a lot of people. If he’d been more discrete, like Pence, he might have leveraged it into a real movement for cultural homogeneity and sensible firm rule to control all the change that is leaving so many behind. A kind of dictatorship by emergency executive authority. Thank goodness for small favors.
1
There is an old saying that says, don't wish too hard you might get it,Keith Ellison's election in Minnesota,is a case in point.Ellison is an out spoken Anti Semite, and a bosom friend of Farrakhan. He is also a leader of radical Liberalism in the Democratic Party.I have never voted for a Republican, but if Jeb Bush was President i would have voted for him, rather than a Democratic Party that is being run by angry hateful Bolsheviks.
Trump has done more harm to our country than is apparent, he has opened the door to socialism, as the Mid term election results show.It's not too late for Republican Statesmen to come forth.There must be a Reagan somewhere.
3
@Joe Blow Pls provide some evidence of Ellison saying or doing something anti-semitic. Keep in mind, despite what Ron Dermer might say, it's not actually anti-semitic to say that Palestinians are human.
We have a President who has talked of very fine people among Nazis and is feted by David Duke and you're fretting about Keith Ellison..
5
Remember come 2020 Citizen Trump will, in all probability still have the so-called red States in his vest pocket. Anyone running against him must be a strong viable person. Able to play at his game. If his back is to the wall beware.
3
Make America respectable again
3
Imagine… voter fraud in America; watching the cunning antics of democratic pundits, aka leftwing wastrels trying to spin the reality of deceit and the blatant efforts Broward County bureaucrats have gone to, to manipulate the vote to serve their socialist dreams would be comical if not so obtuse.
Imagine… not accepting the outcome of an election that doesn’t go your way, or suggesting those not marching to your political whims are racist. The Democratic Party has successfully managed to market themselves as tolerant White Knights coming to your rescue; in lieu of any reality, while depicting those associated with the Republican Party as racist bigots!
Imagine… tribal wars, cultural manipulating or race bating in America; if not such criminal affronts to democracy, you might associate the antics of our politically correct wunderkinds with the antics of Don Quixote. You remember ‘The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha’ don’t you!
Imagine… like our politically correct nobles aka wastrels; Don Quixote spun his politically correct madness via an Old Castilian language lost on all aside his follower and squire Sancho Panza. You remember poor Sancho don’t you; he was a poor immigrant farmer. You have to wonder what democracy will look like when our politically correct zealots are through manipulating tribal and cultural whims to satisfy their whims for political power.
3
@Wolfgang
Well written but totally misguided. Cognitive behavioral therapy has made strides against paranoid delusions. Or just take a break from right wing hate media.
7
Gerrymandering is really sleazy. Ugh.
4
Since his assumption of the presidency and throughout his campaigning, Trump has been a minority leader, serving only his base. Of course the rest of the country rebelled this year, and rightly so. Democrats won by any means necessary, including appealing to the center, the left, to a variety of classes and interests - anything to overwhelm a system stacked against us by a minority who refuses to admit they're losing.
What Democrats now must do is unify and
not be just for the middle class, the poor, various splinter sub-groups yearning for a voice. We must ensure that all Americans, mainstream and otherwise (yes, wealthy liberals, too), have a home in the Democratic Party: "We hear you, we include you." The message must be the common good of all of our country, reaffirmation of the social contract, factual truth, genuine justice, understanding and tolerance, and real liberty and freedom rather than trumpist "freedom," "free" to follow him and only him.
If we Democrats lose sight of this big picture; if we become preoccupied with taking down Trump politically vs. passing meaningful legislation that will promote American values and infrastructure; if we don't unify behind new, exciting, and inspired leadership; and if we don't anticipate all eventualities as Republicans do, then Democrats will always wind up on the outside looking in. I'm tired of that; aren't you? Yes, we won 2016's battles, but the war for the soul of our country goes on. Let's be smart as we forge ahead.
3
Could we stop with the “always losing,” wails? It’s not like 2008 was a thousand years ago...
3
I'm glad to reside in a state where federal-level gerrymandering is not possible...
1
Gerrymandering has actually backfired on the Republicans because once-safe Republican seats became vulnerable. This result has been predicted several times in recent years. Google "gerrymander backfire"
1
The Democratic leadership and freshman just elected (including sherrill and malinowski in New Jersey) had better heed the fact that the victory is directly related to disgust over trump. Progressives have a long list of wants, from protecting the environment to women's issues. But at the very top is impeaching trump and crippling McConnell. In pursuit of those goals there cannot be division or we'll reelect the odious trump and the right wing radicals. Get non partisan after trump is finished. Until then be partisan as a razor.
1
Never before has the fact that the uneducated rural (sorry for redundancy) voters have differential impact on outcomes had such a damaging effect on the country. Time to move to one person one vote-end of story.
1
Am I the only one that finds it somewhat strange that whenever a recount is found necessary in am election, it always seems to benefit the Demo....I mean, the communist party?
2
@John
So you're saying that George W. Bush was a Communist who won the recount in Florida in 2000?
Give me a break!
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@John And, whenever an election winds up in federal court it always seems to benefit the walking dead, Republicans.
49
@John. Maybe because the Republicans have been manipulating the original count?
52
Demographics are against the Republicans. The media are telling all women to vote Democrat. The media are telling all minorities that the Republicans are bad people. The media are telling everyone that the Republicans are against healthcare. The media are telling old people that the Republicans will decimate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Democrats are telling everyone that they will provide healthcare and financial security for everybody by taxing the rich Republicans. Free stuff is good stuff!
The only possible way Democrats could lose the 2020 election is by running a candidate that is too far to the left (the current term is progressive - I guess that means someone who wants to uphold the U.S. government institutions and traditional societal freedoms is not progressive).
1
@jrgfla Don't blame the media. Blame the Republicans. They're the ones who are running up the deficit by cutting taxes for the wealthy, pledging to end insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, raping the environment, and promising to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid while spending more on fighter jets and missiles and foreign battles.
10
Are you serious?! The "media telling women to vote Democratic"....We do not need the media to tell us how to vote! We have our own brains, with which to discern which party IS for America and which is not!
The Republican strategy of hate, lies, fear and division backfired BIGLY on Donald and the GOP!
Plus there's the historical facts that when a president has low approval ratings (Trump is at 38%) they lose in the midterms!
9
@jrgfla Perhaps if Republicans weren't trying to glorify the Confederacy they might win some more Black votes. Perhaps if Republicans hadn't passed a tax cut for the rich and then had the nerve to say that the resulting deficit will need to be paid for by cutting SS and Medicare and Medicaid, they might win some more votes.
As Krugman and others have pointed out the actual Republican economic and political agenda is remarkably unpopular so Republicans need to work overtime spreading lies and hate.
6
Democrats can win Ohio with Sen Sherrod at the top of the ticket, and if they go back to their New Deal roots. Simple as that.
6
Regarding gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement, it’s clear the Republican agenda isn’t popular with the average voter otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary for them to cheat in order to win elections.
9
The gleeful and triumphant word on MSNBC all last was last night that thanks to these Chinese-water-torture-like election returns, Trump is hunkered down in the White House like a whipped dog and refusing to come out. Based on all the SPCA fund raising pictures of abused animals I get in the mail for donations, it is always my impression that the whipped dogs shown were always more the victim than the culprit. MSM is certainly not kind to animals then.
3
Then what? Democrats have a suicidal teendancies. Republicans, for all their awful diverse beliefs come together, become Trumpians to get what they want as ong as each group gets what it wants. Some want big tax cuts for corporations and top 1%ers, some want Christian fundamentalist judges, some want white superiority, and spo on, but eavch group gets something. Democrats? Each group thinks if it does not get EVERYTHING it wants, it wall nt support anyone eles'e agenda. Wise up.
1
What have the Republicans done for America? Besides taking away healthcare from 24 million Americans and giving a big tax cut to the 1%?!
3
Statistically contested races should break out 50:50. If one side gets more they are cheating... like discovering tens of thousands of suspect ballots.
These kinds of shenanigans delivered Chicago for decades to Democrats.... and where has this left Chicago. The murder capital of America.
Corruption in votoing begets corruptoion in everything else... and that is something all Americans should agree on regardless of party affiliation!
2
No President in my lifetime has been as corrupt as the current one.
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Are you referring to those suspect ballots from the military or mail in ballots or provisional ballots that Trump doesn’t want to count?
3
Corruption, cheating and fraud is rampant in the Republican Party! Let's call it out!
TRUTH!
4
Republicans "tenacious" hold on Florida has reached its peak. 1.5 million ex-cons will be voting in 2020. It's hard to believe they will be voting for the "law and order" morons.
What's still sad about all elections is the fact that like Florida, we still do not have an efficient system in which to record votes. Paper ballots? That still exists? Sorry, if our banks can handle our money with reasonable competence, and everything we do there is via computers, this should have been fixed long ago. It's another inroad Democrats should hammer former or current Republican Governors & Secretary's of State etc. These folks have decided "starving the beast" was a good course of action for years, and yet recording the people's vote was not so important. Or maybe they did know it was important? Hmmmmm....
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@M I want ONLY paper ballots, always as a backup. Electronic is too easy to hack. Elections and banks are quite a different issue, actually.
5
@M
Paper ballots are the only way an election can be accountable. All computers can be hacked including your bank's computers.
4
@M...The Democratic Party...The Party of Ex-cons...That has a nice ring to it. As for the election debacle in Florida, 55 counties did their jobs in an orderly, efficient, and yes, lawful manner. On the other hand, only two Floridian counties can't seem to get the hang of counting votes. It's surely just a coincidence that those two are heavily Democratic. Shades of old Chicago.
1
Gerrymandering is a terrible cancer on our nation. Any candidate, Democrat or Republican, who talks about "bi-partisanship" but does not support eliminating the ridiculous "creeping fingers" of these maps is a fraud.
10
Need to clarify, that the majority of heavily gerrymandered states are run by the Republicans. Who can't win unless they cheat, case in point, Georgia, where voter sully has been rampant; Texas where one county disenfranchised African-American college students, in a small town where the college is located! They had to go to court to fight for their right to vote. Another case, in North Dakota where Native Americans were denied their right to vote because the state legislature run by the GOP changed the rules for voter ID!
One party lies, steals and cheats...and it is not the Democrats!
6
Which party wants fewer, rather than more American citizens to participate in elections? The answer should tell anyone with a even modicum of intelligence which party can't win truly fair and democratic elections. And it's easy to understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots, and for gerrymandering that assures minority rule.
GOP politicians don’t dare say outright that only Republicans should have political rights, as Donald Trump has, at least not yet. But if you follow the current actions prevalent on the political right to their logical conclusion, that’s where you end up. The truth is that what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and plutocracy. And the plutocrats know exactly how to use the haters and teabaggers in the state legislatures to accomplish their goal.
14
The fact remains that the Blue Wave was a disappointment, esp when compared to the 2012 race when Repubs picked up over 63 seats in the House.
The Dems actually LOST ground in the Senate. Liberal pundits blame it on the increased power of rural voters in Senate races, conveniently forgetting to ask the question of why Dems can't attract rural voters anymore.
The Dems are still a hapless party, too fearful of losing their grasp of the corporate apron strings they've clung to since Bill Clinton shoved the party to the right.
They will never appeal to rural or financially distressed voters - now the largest voting bloc in the country - so long as they continue their corporatist, anti-democratic tendencies, ignoring popular policies like Medicare for all, increased Social Security benefits, a financial transaction tax etc.
3
This election is a comedy of the absurd; the US can't even figure out how to run an election efficiently, even after more than 200 years of them.
1
You can thank the Republicans for this!
2
Hey folks, you should read Linda's main comment for this article and just as importantly read Gracie from Australia's reply.
Very interesting, enlightening stuff.
1
“We didn’t lose the Senate, but losing by the margins that we did with a lot of these groups is unsustainable,” Mr. Winston said.
well duh. this is what they cheat at every turn, white male rule is over. if they think this was bad wait until 2020,
3
It would seem that Trump has been a failure yet again. Americans voted for good government and rejected the corruption, and racism and white nationalism and phony fear mongering that the Trump cult has been putting forth. Now Democrats need to deliver and force Republicans to work with them on solving the real problems that affect ALL Americans. Health insurance, crumbling infrastructure, sane gun control, humane immigration policy. There are solutions to all of the above. If Democrats tackle these problems then 2020 will be an even bigger rejection of the big mouth in chief.
7
gerrymandering is a disgrace and a stain on American democracy.
banana republic stuff.
5
We need a "National Unity Coalition Government" to get Trump and Pence out of the White House before the nation is coimplet6e4ly divided.
1
It is really interesting to see the Democrats win ever so slowly. This is very suspicious to me.
1
You can blame the Republicans for refusing to fund the state's with equipment!
1
This was not a wave, but a tide, bigger, stronger, and longer than a mere wave, it will sweep out the conservative liars, braggarts, serial adulterers, and vote cheats.
3
Why didn’t all of the severely gerrymandered states take the map to court for a redraw? PA did and won and the Democrats gained a significant number of House seats. Were they just too busy? Something else to do? Didn’t want to waste energy on this fairness thing? Any state that did not go to court over this deserves the losses that they received.
1
Mimi Walters (CA-45) is going to lose her seat likely by more than 4,000 votes when all are counted. Why? Was it trump losing suburban women? No, I don't think so.
Walters will lose because for more than two years, she refused any town hall meeting with constituents who disagreed with her ("Where's Mimi?") and instead met with donors and GOP bigwigs of the OC in private homes. These meetings are still on her website schedule! The deaf ear toward voices who disagreed with her was in full display and, therefore, her voting record reflected this. This clear fact energized a youthful opposition around an intelligent college professor who actually stood there and took tough questions. Who canvassed door to door. Who held fully public functions for all to see.
Now, the Loser, like her president, claims fraud and foul.
Mimi: go back to investment banking where you will be paid more and you wont have to listen to others. You can even get hired by trump to run some agency. That would be yet another place where you don't have to listen to anyone asking tough questions.
11
Trump and Scott are claiming fraud in the Florida election. So if Scott and DeSantis are declared the winners does that mean that they were fraudulently elected? Maybe we should have a do over as Trump has called for. While we’re at it let’s have a do over of the 2016 election that put the Russian stooge in the White House.
10
One Senate seat that appeared to be Republican ends up as Democrat. Not really a sudden tidal wave by itself I would posture. And, please pay attention to the fact the Republican in that race has done the honorable thing and Conceded. Not fight it out in the courts hoping for a partisan judge to save them, just accepted the will of the voters with grace and dignity. Voters ARE paying attention to these details and what is happening in Florida will hurt Democrats in 2020. Karma will insure at least one more SC Justice needs to be replaced by 2020 and guess who will pick the Nominee and vote to Confirm?
2
The urban-rural split is very real, and will only exacerbate over time. Here in a North Carolina, the split — and highly partisan Republican gerrymandering — is arguably the major factor blocking the state from turning blue, clearly the preference of urban and suburban voters who see education spending, environmental protections and other pressing issues kept under lock and key by an extremely radical Republican majority in the NC General Assembly.
Every day, some 600 people move into the Charlotte metro area. Dems now hold all the County Commision seats.Similar trends are expanding the urban centers of the Research Triangle.
Rural, evangelical, hardscrabble voters are fighting this trend with every legislative and regulatory trick they can muster to hold back the tide of change. They’ve managed to hold back the wave, for now, but not for much longer. Which is why the fight, the anger and the bitterness is escalating.
120
Don’t forget about all the unethical voter suppression and cheating.
18
@PaulB67 My company relocated most of its tech to Raleigh-Durham and relocated employees as well, employees hired on the basis of tech skills. There has been some consternation as my employer and these talented employees grapple with being in a state that wants the business, but not the diversity.
14
To me the interesting thing is the South. I believe that the shift away from the democratic party that resulted from the 1964 civil rights act and related legislation peaked somewhere between 1996 and 2004, and ever since that time, and for a variety of demographic and migratory reasons the tide has started to ebb, particularly in the border states, first Virginia became competitive and then went blue, now North Carolina is becoming competitive and so is Georgia and soon so will Texas and possibly Tennessee. If present trends continue, and I predict they will as the older generation is replaced, the South will soon be split between the parties. Doubt me? Ask yourself if you would have thought 30 years ago that an African-American female would have even been a major party candidate in Georgia, let alone competitive in the election? Ask the same question for an African-American male in Florida. In the long arc of history, the tides are shifting and republicans are investing themselves in an ever-shrinking base. In my view, 2016 was the last big hurrah of racism and sexism. They won't go quietly or quickly, but they will go, and 2016 has awoken those who previously took progress for granted.
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@CraigNY
There were always still plenty of Democrats in the South after 1964+. Do be aware that a large part of the 1980 Reagan revolution in the south was due to the continued influx into the south of conservative evangelical and Catholic whites from around the country who relocated to the south for better jobs and cheaper housing than could be found in the NE, California and even the midwest.
10
This may not be a "crippling" setback for Republicans, but what the media isn't reporting is that an opposing party has NEVER gained so much with an economy that is so "good".
Record job growth with an asterisk (workers are underemployed relative to their experience, PhD's are working two or more jobs in retail the service industry, blue-collar workers are scraping by working more and harder for even less).
Trump's lies and dogwhistles (really a megaphone...everyone can hear it) to the white nationalists are having an effect...not a positive one for the Republican Party.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, the former lacking a spine, the latter lacking a soul have scoured the middle class for the last pennies in their pockets and given them, via mass tax breaks, to the rich.
No wall. No health care. No education for kids. Destruction of the environment. Hate speech. Division.
Yes, throughout it all, it's astonishing that the country hasn't come together against Trump. But he is doing real and lasting damage to the country and the Republican party.
Let's not take our foot off the gas progressives, democrats, greens, Berniecrats, moderate conservatives, and those with honor and integrity. Let's turn this one election into many.
And get back on track.
165
Speaking of Greens, they got 50,000 votes in the AZ senate race; more than the margin of victory for the Dem. the Rep could have easily won and it would have been the Greens fault. Stop voting third party!
10
Numbers will continue to move in favor of Democrats as the vote count continues. Things were always grim for Republicans, they just refused to accept it. Republicans actually thought there'd be no consequences for selecting a sexual predator as their candidate and then enabling and protecting him as he viciously and personally attacked any who legitimately criticized him for destroying American democracy. Trump attacks everyone, but the highest number of these attacks were borne by women. Still, Republicans believed educated and successful American women could be easily intimidated and would just take it.
The story here begins and ends with women. We're constantly being bombarded by demographic trends which are certainly changing, but the narrative that this was somehow a victory because of the rise of non-Christian people of color is simply untrue. Over 100 women have won in the House, and that doesn't even include all the women who won on the state level. In 2018 every major elected office in Michigan, including Governor, Senator, Attorney General, and Secretary of State, was won by a woman. It is unfortunate that this article doesn't explore the trend, and barely even mentions it.
It tells you something that my elderly father, not exactly a feminist, said before the election: "I hope all these women get in. Trump thinks he's a tough guy because he's spent his life pushing little people around. He can't handle these women. They're furious and they aren't afraid of him."
166
@Robert B Your father and that previous generation have better sense than the Me First crybaby generation. I’m all for my daughters and granddaughters and their guys turning around the greed and craziness.
11
Every state should be treated like a purple state.
Doug Jones won in Alabama. Alabama!
Jon Tester won in Montana.
Joe Manchin won in West Virginia.
Kristen Sinema won in Arizona.
Jacky Rosen won in Nevada.
Beto O'Rourke almost won in Texas.
Every state has cities. Every state has young people. Every state has LGBTQ people. Many "red" states have sizable African American populations. Many "red" states have sizable Latinx populations.
Let's stop treating every "red" state as though it's only citizens are conservatives, Evangelicals, and those who live in rural areas.
But, the progressive wing of the Democratic party needs to remember that there's power in control of the gavel. Joe Manchin isn't progressive by any stretch of the imagination but that's okay. All that matters come January 2021 is that there are at least 51 senators with a D next to their name. If there are, Democrats will chair the committees and set the agenda. Control of the agenda does not require that every Democrat in the Senate march in lock step on every issue.
Treat every state like a purple state and let's contest some races in 2020!
152
@John Good points. Only the Republicans seem to march in lock step, though. Democrats are too diverse in people and ideas to march in lock step (thank goodness.).
13
@John I only wish the Dems would realize your important point. Howard Dean understood it when he was Chair of the DNC and vowed to be in every state, but as soon as Rahm Emmanuel took over, and got rid of Dean that ended.
6
The backlash against this ignorant and racist and corrupt man in palpable. Here in PA’s 7th ungerrymandered district, we elected a Democrat for the first time in 20 years. I demonstrated at Senator Toomey’s office almost every Tuesday since the inauguration. Every week the passing cars sounded horn honks of support, especially women drivers. You could sense this was happening everywhere, and a ripple of resistance was growing into a wave. Trump will insure this continues by simply being himself, if indeed a “self” does inhabit that body.
224
But if Trump starts a war before the next election he will become a “war leader” and the knee jerk American voter will forget everything and give him another term.
4
What seems to be lost in the media reporting on the election results is that (a) even in races won by the GOP candidate, in many cases the margins were slim to barely eking out a victory; (b) there are still ten undecided House races, all with margins of less than two percent and many with margins of one percent or less; (c) the Dems picked up about 350 seats in state offices and legislatures; and (d) the Dems were defending 26 senate seats, so even if the GOP picks up a net of two (taking into account the dems' two pick ups in NV and AZ), that's an astounding performance on the part of the dems and an abysmal performance on the part of the GOP. Especially when you take into account the fact that the GOP haven't yet managed to mess up the great economy they inherited from Obama AND they stoked their base to a scale of 19 out of 10 on the racist, immigrant caravan, culture war red meat AND they lied about, well, everything, from supporting prohibitions on limiting coverage for those with preexisting conditions to the impact of their tax cuts on the economy to the threat of refugees and asylum seekers to Brett Kavanaugh's virtues as a human being to the clown in chief's success as a so-called President. All in on, and outstanding result for the Dems and a drubbing for the GOP.
245
So well put, Oscar. Tonight, you are my hero.
26
I voted for Kyrsten Sinema to send a message to the GOP that Arizona is NOT a red state today.
We no longer want to be ruled by clubby white men who think they know what's best for Arizona—especially its women and people of color.
The women of Arizona truly rocked last week's election. I am so proud of them!
278
Congratulations Arizona! See what happens when we all vote? So happy to read your comment!
4
The Republicans had a unique opportunity to lead, but they failed. They failed so big, even their voters noticed. They did not improve health care, education, housing or salaries for most Americans and they could have. They could have passed a single issue DACA reform bill that would have shown they cared, but they didn't. They could have created an infrastructure bill, required higher minimum wages, and allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but they didn't. Instead their big accomplishment was to give the people who have been benefiting the most from the economy even more money.
Let us hope the Democrats bring some sensibility to the new Congress so they can show they earned these victories this year, and are deserving of even more support in 2020.
442
@Joe Barnett - Certainly the demographics of the Democratic victories are strategic. Whether that can be expanded and contribute to a Democratic victory in 2020 remains a outlier.
5
@RenegadePriest.....Falling grain prices, rising healthcare costs, the immigration boogeyman becomes transparent, the Mueller report, no progress with North Korea, support of the Saudi's loses favor, international opinion of Trump becomes apparent at home. My bet is that Trump will not be able to win the Republican nomination in 2020.
43
@W.A. Spitzer - Hmmm will the choice be President Trump or Sen. Lindsey Graham, then?
5
In races for the House, Democrats had to vote in numbers high enough to overcome gerrymandering in many districts and we did; we took the House. Democrats will change laws to correct Republican gerrymandering, and establish a level playing field for both parties in all districts. Democrats will begin to campaign in districts where they haven't in years.
In 2016, Democrats out-voted Republicans by approximately 3.7 million votes. Trump was elected by the electoral college, not the people. Clinton was elected by the people. Never say Democrats are lazy voters.
Georgia is now a purple state because Abrams is insisting on the pesky Democratic concept of "All votes should be counted." She knows she won't win. Her best hope is for a runoff, but It isn't a stretch to say that Kemp won because he was the overseer of his own campaign as Secretary of State, and blatantly used the conflict of interest to suppress votes. Had he not done that, Abrams might have become the first African-American woman elected governor in the history of the United States.
Florida is losing its Republican grip. Republicans are resorting to cheating and lawsuits to maintain power.
We might not have seen the blue tsunami, but we're definitely seeing the Democrats shift the Republican mountain. I'm encouraged.
18
“The president’s strategy of sowing racial division and stoking alarm about immigration failed to lift his party...”
When you talk to Trump voters they don’t see that way. They believe the NYT and CNN are to blame, that the mainstream media tells people what to think (as if Trump doesn’t tell his followers what to think) and that Fox News is “fair and balanced.”
They don’t see that the tax cuts for wealthy republicans didn’t and won’t trickle down to them and that they are being hurt by the president’s tariff policies ( some know but believe Trump is looking out for them in the long run).
In light of this, the strategy for the Democrats in 2020 has to be about what they will do for these and other voters and not what a horrible person Trump is. Optimism should be the message, as opposed to fear.
15
@Oliver - Well my friend, tell me about the Democrats in NY. They just sold the NY soul for $2 billion to Amazon and Jeff Bezos.
@DEWaldron: And if the NY Democrats had turned down Amazon you'd have said they'd sold out NYC workers' jobs for their lofty principles.
2
In "aggressively gerrymandered" North Carolina, there were four statewide elections on the ballot, all for judicial seats on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. All were won by Democrats. What does that portend for the 2020 presidential race and the Congressional districts that the courts have ordered redrawn?
10
@LEW
It just means that more people who are inclined to vote for a Republican when it is a race they know and understand decline to vote for a Judge when they know nothing about them. I voted for all R's in North Carolina in the races I voted for. I did not put a mark in every single column though because I knew NOTHING about the judges involved. Dems are more inclined to just go straight ticket whether they know the people or their positions. D next to the name is good enough. Not something to be proud of.
It wasn't Trump alone that accounts for the Democrat's gains in Michigan. Under Republican leadership our roads have deteriorated to a level comparable to a third world country. And then there is Flint. While the media is not giving it much coverage these days, we are still very well award of the problems with our water infrastructure. In addition to Flint, problems with the water in Detroit Public Schools have come to light. Bill Schuette, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, was implicated in that crisis because he ignored reports of tainted water as Attorney General. He tried to make political points after the scandal went public by prosecuting scapegoats, but the public was not fooled.
Republicans have controlled Michigan through a gerrymandered map, but voters overwhelmingly supported a ballot initiative to end gerrymandering. In the future, one political party will not control Michigan; our elected officials will be a true representation of Michigan voters.
17
In my state, Democratic candidates overall won more votes for both houses of the state legislature, and got only 2% fewer votes for the US House. Still, the Democrats are the minority in both state houses and will only be sending 3/13 reps to DC. Just as the GOP needs to address their issues with certain demographic groups, the Democrats need to address partisan gerrymandering for the sake of future viability. Otherwise every election is an uphill battle.
10
No mention of the referendum in Florida giving about 1.4 million ex-felons the right to vote. Surely this amounts to almost 1 million more net Democrats eligible to vote in 2 years. If even 20% of them vote, the numbers would be enough to tip the state to the Democrats.
11
I personally know at least 8 Republican felons. The whole reason those laws barring felons from voting were created out of the myth that crime is committed by mostly non-whites. The difference is that crime committed by whites isn't covered on the local TV news. Except mass shootings, of course. There are many more crimes that are "felonies" than just violent crime. How many "illegal immigrants" scammed millions of people out of their homes using the banking system?
2
Hopefully the strengthening of Democrats includes the areas of ethics and spine. Stand up to the clown. Melania does. Her Chief of staff has publicly verbalized the need to get rid of one of her husband's assistant secretaries. The POTUS is clearly whipped by that which he grabs. Time to lasso and rope his discombobulated behind. He who separates mothers and infants and sends thousands of armed forces to head off an imaginary flood of criminal refugees cannot privately handle a selected family member's dissatisfaction? Definition of a bully? Correct! Now is the time to drag him to the middle of the playing field, hold our collective breath, strip his remaining garments and let the galaxy see him waddle back to his pen to be Muellered.
19
Yes. He should be remanded to his penthouse on 5th Avenue with the rest of his family. Exceptions would be Melania and the little guy could come and go freely.
The rest can order take out to be delivered.
Ohio is not going to save Trump in 2020. Jobs are still going to Mexico. As the article states districts were gerrymandered that's why it was hard to beat some Republicans there. As long as the Democrats have Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin Trump should be nervous.
I'm not sure why he made a victory dance last week. So far he lost two reliable Republican senate seats in Nevada and Arizona. He won three Democrat senate seats in Indiana, North Dakota, and Missouri. So he comes out with a net +1 senate seat so far. The ones in Mississippi and Florida are still up in the air. And already he and Governor Rick Scott are claiming fraud to brace themselves if they lose the senate seat in Florida. If they win they will never hold a news conference to explain why they won even though there was "fraud" according to them. Nothing but hot air by two desperate men.
Most of bills needed to pass in the senate require 60 votes. Trump will not get that. So far he got 51 that he used to confirm judges but that was stolen brazenly by Mitch McConnell. The senate needs to put back the 60 votes requirement to confirm judges and other appointees. Sooner or later the senate will revert to Democratic control. Then they will scream to bring back the 60 votes for confirmation.
17
@Wayne
I would like to share your optimism for Ohio's Democratic future here but I will for the life of me never fully grasp why the working base of voters in Ohio vote for Republicans. The Trumpies I hear speak nonsense such as the Clintons had someone murdered and got away with it. They spout all sorts of crazy claims that have no real hard evidence for anything except that they hate Progressive Democrats, Open Borders, Sorros and, of course, Hillary Clinton. Their reasons for supporting Trump make about as much sense as claiming in defense of him that "He's not a politician" or "He says what's on his mind".
4
The year of the women and a gain for the Dems. Now is NOT the time to replace Nancy Pelosi.
I have not read or heard from the pundits what to me is the obvious.
Ms. Pelosi is the only one who can keep the caucus together and has the experience to stand up to Trump.
An inexperienced, very left leaning individual will get rolled by Trump and the repubs.
24
@joan
I must admit, Joan, that I have re-thought Pelosi and her adept skills for her position and party. I have thought very recently how maybe she should be replaced. Yet she's effective and that's why the Republicans spend so much time bashing and thrashing her. I'm impressed with her tenacity and unflappable determination.
She's a juggernaut. And she has class. In a perfect world she should be president. Actually she should be president without any qualifying statements.
5
@Clearwater
She is a Dinosaur. Dinosaurs were juggernauts too. They all died out. What is the good of being a juggernaut, when you are also a Dinosaur doomed to extinction.
The corporate establishment "center," constantly sold by corporate mass media, discredited itself with an extreme agenda of making global corporations (many not even based in the U.S. and some controlled by foreign governments) into pseudo citizens with a growing list of rights, and bending all policy for the benefit of those corporations. Right and "center" judges have been making corporations into people for over a hundred years.
The Party of Trump is taking U.S. subservience to global corporations to an even bigger extreme, and adding in blatant support for white supremacist, anti-Semitic, anti-lgbt, anti-non Christian hate and violence. Billionaire backers of Republicans like Trump directly finance hate groups, who dream up new conspiracy theories and memes, which Trump repeats, so they know he is still on their side. And while corporations are being made intro citizens (even though a corporation being a citizen of the government that chartered it is like being your own mother) the Party of Trump is trying to take away real citizenships by executive fiat, claiming it can interpret the Constitution from the Oval office.
Out of right, "center," and left, only the left consistently calls for following the letter and spirit of the Constitution, which calls on Congress to tax and regulate trade to pay for Justice and the General Welfare.
The left consistently works for the benefit of the 60% of the population that works for a living.
The left is aligned with moderates.
6
Trump is the best friend of Democratic candidates, and all indications are he will continue to be in 2020. I see no evidence that he is able to change. He has stoked fear and hate as much as he can, and like the boy who yelled the sky is falling the American people have figured him out. By 2020 we will have a recession due to Trump's trade war and the normal business cycle. I predict the worst is ahead for the Republican Party.
13
"Still, Democrats made few inroads into solidly conservative districts. The Trump-voting seats they won were predominantly in the suburbs and exurbs, with enough moderate and college-educated voters to offset Republicans’ strength in the districts’ rural precincts."
With the consistent edge that Democrats have when it comes to education level, it looks to me that the path to success for Trump and other Republicans in 2020 is to throw caution to the wind and embark on a strategy of trying to dumb down the electorate.
But wait!
1
Note; not all votes for the Senate are done either.
3
The democratic voters and the Democratic Party still haven’t gotten their act together as we now have an even stronger Republican Senate. With a president that is supposedly so unpopular, so many senators loyal to and working for trump, instead of being a check to his powers, they should have lost the senate as well. The rural areas, the supposedly religious evangelical and christian voters still refuse to hold trump accountable, still refuse to acknowledge his constant lies, and still fully support his hatred, bigotry, racism, and nationalistic views. As of right now, this divide between people and the un-united democratic voters will end up keeping trump in office come 2020. Everyone spouted this “Blue Wave” that never really materialized and democratic control of the House will do little to stop trump from continuing his assault upon our democracy making us a country who stands alone with the world against us with his control of the senate and unrelenting stacking of republicans upon our courts that will end up upholding everything he does.
Democrats have to stop fighting each other and stand unite behind democratic candidates, regardless if they are the candidate they wanted, regardless if they are progressive or traditional, and get out and vote. Especially the black, Hispanic, Asian, and every other immigrant or minority community. The vastly populated uneducated fools in the rural areas of the country will never let go of their racism so we need to stand together.
7
@Dave R
You are wrong. There was blue wave. True they didn’t flip the senate but Democrats won the House of Representatives, which is huge, by picking up 33 seats as of today, and flipped many state legislatures which, by the way, is how the Republicans put themselves into position to suppress votes( they won state races all over the country and passed laws that favored republicans).
So, again, it was a blue wave.
3
The take-away is that a majority of voters reject the Republican policies of massive tax cuts for millionaires and wealthy corporations with a massive and increasing national debt along with the inevitable cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and to numerous other highly popular tax-payer-supported programs, reckless deregulation of industries that pollute the environment, reckless deregulation of Wall Street, forcing women back to the days of illegal, wire-hanger abortions and forcing LGBTQ citizens back into the closet, and the Republican strategy of blatant lies, racism, demagoguery, xenophobia and an assault on democracy and on truth itself in order to get there. Go figure.
6
@David
I don't share your optimistic view that we are a majority of more highly moral people. The GOP is a cyclops with a vision that benefits, nearly exclusively, the wealthy and corporations.
Why were any of these contests even close?
Each party has become defined and polarized by the 1% they serve, from each end of the spectrum.
There are only a few more nails to set in the GOP coffin lid, they don't appear to be getting it. Dems need to get toward middle if they are to survive. I want to be ,but it is hard, to be optimistic.
Our social welfare, by that I mean the fiber of our social being, is flawed and presently exposed for all to see. The next two years both parties may be dead and will demonstrate whether our constitution is worth trying to save. 2020 will start a scary decade.
The important thing going forward is that the Republicans will hold the Senate, and we will have split, divided and contentious government for at least two (2) more years.
President Trump will have time to cool off, maybe settle down a little, perhaps nominate another Supreme Court Justice and go back on the attack against Democrats and the world as a whole.
President Trump has proven to be pretty formidable and he is an activist President on his own and in his own right. As long as he can mold government and America in his image and tamp down and suppress the Democratic gains made in these Mid-Terms, he will continue to make progress and economic gains for our country.
There is still a lot to be done to solidify his rule of one-man government in the name of one country. A lot can happen and take place in the next two years. The Democrats are never going to be a stable party and that bodes well for President Trump's re-election in 2020.
1
Trump won't be president at this time next year. He knows it.
3
Cool off and settle down is not going to happen. You can already see his anger building, and he is going to explode once the investigations and indictments start rolling in.
One hopes he will step aside, but that does not seem to be his nature. He will lash out, in increasingly extreme ways. The really scary part is the authority he has vis a vis military action. Who will call him out on an "unlawful" order. At least he really doesn't have a button to push, action is needed by others.
Still, its going to be a bumpy couple of years.
1
The GOP did okay in the Senate, or so it seems.
But it is worth noting, that although Romney is a Republican and although he won in Utah, it appears to me that he is perhaps the first real Never Trumper GOPer in the Senate. He may vote for McConnell as leader of the Senate, but unlike the rest of the GOPers in the Senate, I wouldn’t count on him to be an automatic vote for measures advocated by Trump. And I’m pretty certain that he would vote against Trump in an impeachment trial conviction.
Add on to that some of the Senators who will be defending themselves in blue states in 2020.
The Senate is GOP but it is melting even as McConnell and Trump rule.
12
@Tim Kane
So Flake wasn't a 'real' never Trumper? Seemed like the geniune thing to me.
If the mid terms mean anything besides a repudiation of the party of trump, it's that votes matter. Above and beyond health care, jobs, education, environment, it should be obvious that the number one priority of the democrats has to be voting rights.Gerymandering is despicable. Districts must be drawn by non partisans, not party hacks. Access to voting has to be ensured. Dirty party of trump tricks like keeping native Americans from voting because their resevation address lacks a street name, providing lots of polling places in white
Precincts while closing down many in non white areas, crafting rules to disproportionately deregister or prevent voters from being registered is a foul, foul outrage. And I say this not with a smug illusion of Democrat moral superiority, but knowing when the tables are turned as they so frequently are n American history, these same dirty tricks will be vengelully employed against rural and older voters. Now is the time to protect the voting rights of all Americans.
12
Florida was close. If the Dems continue to build a presence there, in 2020 they can make Florida a little bluer. The people there are not stupid. Trump's policies are not lilely to benefit them re: corporate tax relief, GOP attacks on "Obamacare". etc. There's room for more blue districts.
10
Ya gotta listen to the whole thing...
Seriously, it is highly relevant, highly useful, and - amazingly, as is often the reaction to titles such as this - a lot of fun to listen to. Ever have a teacher that made not just the obviously interesting but the more tedious aspects of learning/theorizing fun? I had an English lit teacher, but that's not as big a challenge as this. Anyhow, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn; same stage!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7-G9VrJr_k
Noam Chomsky & Howard Zinn "Is There Hope in This Desperate Time?"
Hint; yes, or they wouldn't have jumped planes and trains, taxis or rentals! And no, their objective is not glorified, over-educated "Welfare Queens", for the "Conservatives" among us!
If this election shows anything, it is that at it's core, Americans value the Golden Rule that is the centerpiece of every world religion and are appalled by Trump's love affair with Authoritarianism, much less his fundamental bigotry, immorality and pathological lying. This is a poor excuse for a role model of any kind, much less as the President of our country. You reap what you sow and McConnell, Ryan and the Republican party are getting exactly what they deserve for supporting this odious man who literally foments violence and mayhem at every turn. The sooner he is gone, the better, so we can get down to the business of solving climate change, passing sensible gun control and health care legislation to secure our parent's, children's and grandchildren's futures. The American people have had enough and the politicians who remain tone deaf will continue to pay the price. Anyone who could ratify Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary needs a good psychiatrist stat. She is Delores Umbridge in the flesh.
12
Democrats just can't see how they disgust rural voters. Democrats are increasingly lured away by the shiny intellectual penny instead of keeping their eyes on the ball. No one cares about plastic bags and microbeads and the moral righteousness of granting asylum or who pays for elective plastic surgery for trans people when rural kids are hooked on meth and heroin and they have no health insurance speak of and their paycheck has been shrinking over the last decade! Democrats are forever trying to solve first world problems when the traditional working class bread and butter issues have never been put to bed!
1
@Geraldine: Nonsense. You’re painting a stereotypical picture of Democrats, while in fact they are a big tent that has caring for common Americans, not just the 1%, in common. It’s the Republicans doing nothing about the meth problem, even protecting big pharma that caused it in the first place, and who allowed states to opt out of the medicare expansion that would have helped finance drug rehabilitation clinics and health insurance for the poor. That being said, global warming and polluting the food chain with plastics (which are estrogenic hormonal disruptors), also need to be addressed urgently.
13
@Geraldine
You have a very coastal and stereotypical view of Democrats that has little connection to reality. Remember that Democrats are the ones who did something about health insurance with Obamacare, and the Republican party is the one trying to get rid of it. And the Republicans are threatening to reduce "entitlements" like Social Security and Medicare, which we have paid into all our working lives. In other words, the Republicans want to steal from us to help pay for their massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
3
@Geraldine
The traditional Republican answer to the rural problems you mentioned: Straighten yourself out (personal responsibility) and get a job!
1
I for one am very disappointed in rural America, it would seem that this rural life style is not conducive to an open mind and an open heart. The Republican Party must have figured that out a long time ago and used this tactic to their advantage. I am tired of religious zealots and white nationalists and the Republican Party right now...
10
The Republicans that voted for Democrats last week didn't suddenly become, Pro Abortion, Pro higher taxes, Pro government job killing regulations and pro open borders.
These new Democrats didn't win , Trump lost.
See Trump delivered the goods...two supreme court justice, lower taxes, amazing economy. So the voters softend on Trump because they got what they wanted. Human nature.
Voters then voted against Trump solely because of his rhetoric.
Republican suburban voters will be back. They are Republicans, not Democrats.
1
@Joe Paper: They may be back after Trump is gone and someone like Mitt Romney, Nikki Haley, Martha McSally, or even Michael Bloomberg runs for president on the Republican side. But the Trump base won’t be interested in them - not boorish and bullish enough to their taste. They might actually be willing to cooperate with Democrats to get things done.
2
@Anna
We don't have to wait that long.
Trump will put up infrastructure, and the Dems have the house.
Lets see if they do a deal.
Hopefully they will and not use Trump hatred as an excuse not to.
1
Can Dems reach the 2/3 House majority? Hope so!
Voters need to pay attention not to what the GOP says, but what the GOP does.
What about that invasion from the caravan?...funny, but since the election we haven't heard diddly about this imminent danger...or was it really ever an imminent danger?
Where are they, all those tired, beaten down men, women, and children who've suffered so much in their home countries that they're willing to walk - on their feet, no nice transportation for them - thousands of miles for a chance to be safe?...surely, those "dangerous" people aren't truly a danger, or we'd be hearing the great liar and his spineless enablers still talking about it...and think about how you'd feel after walking thousands of miles...would you have fire in your belly and energy in your limbs to "attack" a country?
Further, why are U.S. military personnel being used in a manner in which they might be hurt, it's costing millions upon millions to send them to the southern border, and they're unable to do anything once they're there due to federal law...is that really how you want YOUR military son or daughter to be (ab)used?
This is our President and his GOP party...is that REALLY how you want your nation governed?
8
For 2 years,every comment I wroye ended, "Resist, insist, persist". OMG, the people, especially women of all classes and backgrounds, have. And are. And, I suspect, will.
Bless you, us, and get ready for Nikki Haley vs. Michelle Obama.
or Warren, or any of the 100 congresswomen of 2018.
1
Why does the media keep running pieces that say the democrats need a coherent message and other doom and gloom articles on the shortcomings in the party? Each day we have solid evidence that whatever the democratic party and their candidates did in this election cycle, IT WORKED. As to a coherent message, every democratic candidate I have heard say all the same things: 1) we went out and listened to voters; 2) we focused on bread and butter issues--e.g. health care, prescription drugs, education, infrastructure; 3) our goal is to govern, to work across the aisle...
9
"Democratic Gains Grow Stronger"
This will continue as long as the 'Voter-Suppression-R-Us' party, AKA the Republicans let every single vote be counted, despite the fact that many of the uncounted votes just might be Democratic.
4
Health care - is it a right or a privilege? The GOP says the latter.
GOP congressional leaders have made statements about how pre-existing conditions mean you've not led a moral life...that health care is not a right, but you have to earn it...and yet, how does one grow up strong and healthy, able to gain the education necessary, and hold a good paying job if one is always sick or even worrying about serious illness which may have struck a family - due to no fault of their own?
The GOP has voted nearly 70 times to repeal the ACA, yet in a decade hasn't come up with even the beginnings of an alternative to help the American people be cared for...why?...one might begin to believe the GOP doesn't mean to care for the American people - just the wealthy donors who keep them employed to do their dirty work in the world.
What the GOP at all levels say doesn't matter, because their views change as election cycles come and go...what matters is what they do...and what they've done for health care is try to take it away from millions, without providing any care for those citizens...and that's un-American.
6
It feels as though Winston's quote also describes where we are in our struggle to save democracy.
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Sir Winston Churchill, Speech in November 1942
1
I don't know that voting for John Kasich ears a sign of Trump strength in Ohio.
1
Many people hate the Democrats...some even going so far as to wear shirts reading "I'd rather be a Russian than a Democrat"...but which party actually HELPS you?
Democrats: health care for you and your family and your neighbors and everyone, so the nation can be productive; job training and education made easier to access, so the nation can be more economically successful; strong ties with allies and reciprocal agreements with friends around the world so that we all have each other's backs; and a revitalized infrastructure that includes good roads, fast digital access everywhere in the country, electrical grids and water systems that are immune to failure and foreign hacking, to name a few.
Republicans: health care as a privilege, there may be coverage but it may be too expensive for you to afford; job training and education for the white upper class, allowing those not traditionally headed to higher education to remain where they are without prospects for making themselves more qualified for employers; ditch allies, claiming "America First" and leaving us open to attack without support and economically creating many voids that will undoubtedly be filled by China, Russia, and other countries who may appear more trustworthy than the U.S.; and promised improvements to infrastructure that are turned into "we don't have enough money" after having saddled us and our descendants with the highest debt ever and giving that money to the rich.
7
A triumph for the pollsters. The results have come out almost exactly as they predicted.
8
Just as they did in 2016!
Remember that the pollsters make probability calls — and that their percentages ahead or behind come with margins of error. They were spot on in the popular vote percentage in the 2016 presidential election and their estimates for seats gained and lost were on target in 2018, too.
There is some good news for everyone who champions a representative democracy.Voters do listen to politicians and vote for them individually.How else can you explain Governor Hogan, a Republican in deep blue Maryland and Sherrod Brown in very red Ohio.There is evidence that voters do not vote simply by party.This challenges the parties to field decent, reasonable candidates who can appeal to a wide range of voters.
10
It wouldn't take much economic improvement to drown out the dog whistle din of Kavenaugh and machine gun rights in most rural districts. This could be accomplished partly by providing technology training in location independent vocations like coding and computer graphics to rural districts. It may not be a two-year political solution, but the political party which can claim enduring economic success in those many, many stubbornly poor deep red districts will certainly reap sustained support.
7
they call it a blue wave now . It is and it isn't since the margins are so close in so many elections that they could have gone could go either way . A divided electorate by only a few votes .
What is actually going on is local political parties often are a hair apart . Like Coke and Pepsi they split the market . No real difference in the product. Except Coke and Pepsi do not criticize each other and bring down the entire brand down with negative campaigns.
2
You've forgotten the *Pepsi Challenge*!
AND gerrymandered districts in NC have been struck down by judges and must be re-drawn prior to 2020. The final court decision came down too close to the election for re-drawing to be feasible- but it is a final decision-our state has one of the most R-advantaged gerrymandering in the country, thanks to the R playbook which the legislator followed once in majority (in 2010) but in this election we broke the super-majority allowing out D governor veto power that cannot be over-ridden- many newly drawn districts, particularly in big cities and college towns are assured to be won by Democrats in the future.
29
The current SCOTUS is mostly to blame for this by interfering with a law aimed at overseeing states known for blocking minority access to the voting booth.
The current SCOTUS is attempting to undermine 50 years of progressive accomplishments in civil rights. Removing Republicans from office is the only solution at this time.
When they lose a few elections, they'll get the message and start acting responsibly. Once that happens, maybe I'll consider voting for them.
Many who supported Trump in the presidential election are fed up with the style and substance of his leadership. Further his never ending attack on traditional American values is alienating many of his voters who were more anti Hillary than pro Trump.Since Trump can only campaign as the STAR his growing negatives should be encouraging for Democrats in 2020. His shtick his wearing thin.
36
@Milton Lewis This is one of the more accurate, succinct descriptions of the Trump era that I have read.
2
What you are witnessing is the fact that Americans are sick of Trump and his sycophants,they will not and or cannot put any brake on his worst instincts. So they voted in people who can and will be a counter weight to his insanity.
34
The problem is that in 2 years time it will shift back to the Republicans as Democrats prove again they lack the ability to get the job done.
The Democrats still believe in equality through taxation. Until they stop riding that horse, nothing will change.
3
The next time you can't get your street plowed out bc tax cuts and giveaways to corporations that contribute to the GOP in NY, let's see how bad the D party's sensible and fair tax policies look to you then.
5
The horse R’s ride is tax relief for the already uber wealthy. At some point voters will catch on.
4
@George
Stop with the gop misinformation. Democrats have never said they believe in equality through taxation, they have consistently opposed increasing inequality through tax manipulation. A fair tax is one where everyone contributes, not where someone like Mr. Kusher can earn $250 million and not owe anything.
6
So i read that wip Steny Hoyer could replace Nancy Pelosi as majority leader. I can only say, seriously?
He may be a good person but it is almost like the democratic party leadership missed the midterms last week. What world were you living in? The house turned blue with a clear message to all, not just Republicans. We want a diverse and more equal Congress. What is that so hard to understand?
4
Like the tsunami, the water heading out is just a prelude to things to come. It is still not a blue wave but it is not a ripple either. But before the Dems self-congrats themselves, please heed these words: "united we stand, divided we fall!" A lesson they have failed to learn after all these decades, resulting in a total wipeout in 2016.
9
I cringe when I think about another Trump term. Have we not been subjected to enough lies, rudeness, most abusive language, insults and embarrassment daily? Isn't there any decency left in the Republican Party and its voters? They were supposed to represent the "Moral Majority" and "Family Values".
30
@Dodurgali
"They were supposed to represent the "Moral Majority" and "Family Values".
Ha! The Republicans are falling in lockstep behind a man on his 3rd marriage, a man who slept with a porn star when his wife was at home with a baby. To those who try to equate Trump with Bill Clinton, I say it's not even close, and by the way, as a lifelong Democrat, in the Monica era, I called for President Clinton to resign, even though I had voted for him twice.
1
As a comparison between America, my native country, and France, my adopted country, are we any better off two years later with our new wunderkind French president Macron?
After less than two years from choosing an unknown as an alternative to Marine le Pen who terrified the voters as a scary right wing nationalist, the French are overwhelmingly disappointed with Macron and his authoritarian presidential attitude.
After Hollande, this makes two failed presidents in a row and the French don’t know where to turn.
My personal choice had been le Pen because I believe she is wildly misperceived as a fascist and has been seen as identical to her father, who is accurately seen as an anti Semitic racist.
Le Pen has withdrawn her Flexit platform for leaving the E.U. and will hopefully make a clean break from her fathers party forming her own party as Macron did.
Regardless of what happens with le Pen, the lesson for both America and France is to know the truth about your candidates before making a costly mistake in the voting booth!
4
@michael kittle
As background, I was born and raised in France and my adopted country is the US. I do agree with your conclusion about knowing the truth about candidates. I follow French politics rather closely. It is clear why Mme Le Pen has not succeeded in separating herself from her fascist/Holocaust denier father. It is because she is herself a closet fascist that ran an anti-immigrant and nationalist campaign. Not surprisingly, her party also receives financial support from Putin. I remember my French history well. The last person to run France with Le Pen's philosophy was Maréchal Pétain, hero of Verdun, a nationalist, racist and Nazi collaborator. As for Macron, his arrogance is due to his eagerness to see France evolve. It is stuck in first gear economically in needs of reforming its inflexible labor laws. Both countries have had failed presidencies. People need to learn about and participate in the political process if they are to elect capable leaders and deserve democracy. It appears US midterms showed it is never too late to learn the truth about leaders/candidates. As for the French not knowing where to turn, they first need to turn to a mirror and define the truth about themselves. For the US, after the midterms, Winston comes to mind :"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." For France, De Gaulle's " How can you govern a country that has 247 varieties of cheese?"
@Viking 1...thank you for your reply......Marine grew up with her twisted, angry father so it would be a surprise if she turned out any differently.
She has badly mishandled her political campaigns and should have long since realized that she must make a clean break from her father or she will never succeed. Her performance with the Macron TV debate was a disaster so she also seems to be receiving poor coaching.
Macron won because he was the only alternative to Marine. The voters are terrified of Marine but didn’t have a clue what Macron was like.
While I’m too hopeful about Marine you may be too hopeful about Macron. His poor judgment in insulting the French with his superior attitude only serves to increase hostility toward him. He doesn’t know the first thing about campaigning.
My only experience in political campaigning was to run for the board of supervisors in Marin County, California. My first lesson was to always to speak to the voters with civility and respect!
Whatever the final result both Republicans and Democrats need to work together for a better fairer USA.
Trump's election is a warning shot, even democracies can fail if the inequality in the society is too great.
Divided nations fall look across the pond at the UK its a lesson worth learning.
4
Republicans cooperate? What a joke!
Such a hope is like the lost traveler's dream over the hill.
1
If you voted Republican because you were scared of the caravan you really need to take a long hard look at your leaders going into 2020. Not so much as a peep from the great leader since the election. Oh, and your middle class tax cut Trump was pumping you up for, stating it was being worked on despite everyone having gone home? I hope you haven't forgotten it like Trump has now that the votes are cast.
38
This article fails to take into account the effect of age on voting preferences. Older white voters favour the GOP.
Assume roughly 320 million US residents. Assume life expectancy of 80. Then roughly four million US residents die every year. So every four year presidential term, sixteen million US residents die, almost all of whom are old.
When Trump seeks reelection in 2020, many of the old white men and uneducated old white women who voted for him first time around will be dead, largely replaced by 18–25 Mexican American, Central American and African American voters who vote Democrat.
Further, college-educated white women overwhelmingly reject Trump — they outlive non-college educated white women and their numbers will have increased by 2020.
Last, as the US countryside continues to depopulate and concentrate in urban areas, the GOP vote is diluted further.
Politics in a representative democracy is a numbers game. Voters die. Voters relocate. Time is on the side of the Democrats.
34
@Colenso Sadly depopulated centers make the GOP stronger. As constituents flee the backwaters for jobs and culture in populated states, those they leave behind hold more and more power - 3 empty states banding together with less than a million people are able to derail the entire country. If they get a minimum of 2 reps, then maybe it's time to take the cap off the house and give populated centers true representation.
5
@Colenso "older" supposedly I am 73 and I voted Democratic Party.
1
@Colenso
You fail to recognize that as younger voters age, accumulate wealth, get married, and have kids they tend to turn more conservative. They have more to protect from the socialist wing of the Democrat party.
1
Hillary Clinton: Please keep as far away from Democratic politics as humanly possible. Thanks for your help but we got this.
29
@Clifford. We need to say this over and over it’s time for the old guard to get out of the way!
1
@Clifford. Agreed. Clinton's time has passed. We need young blood. Kirsten Gilibrand would be a good choice.
1
She who destroyed all franken? No thanks.
A friend of mine was visiting from France during election season, and he was shocked to find out that we Americans vote on Tuesdays. (In France it's on Sundays.) He remarked: "How can working people make it to vote if it's on a weekday?"
Exactly. Just the way the elites and plutocrats planned it.
52
Even here in benighted Georgia we have early voting and absentee ballots on request.
1
Trust me: The Republicans already have their "think" tanks busy, busy, busy cooking up and testing new lies to co opt women and ethnic minorities into voting against their own interests!
26
US desperately needs electoral reform.
First-past-the-post is bad enough in general terms but allowing partisan delineation of districts and hence gerrymandering makes it worse. Then there is the bias in both the Senate and the Electoral College that favours small-population rural states. If you really want to protect that constituency, do it once, not twice.
It also mystifies me that the US uses badly designed electronic voting and counting systems. If you can’t do computerised counts transparently, accurately and with an audit trail, vote on paper and COUNT BY HAND. This works in Australia with a far more complex voting system and most counts are available the same day as the election.
Finally, partisan management of elections is ludicrous and an obvious conflict of interests.
The US was the first modern state to adopt popular franchise and the rest of us learnt a lot from that. But being first also risks baking in mistakes that did not prove fatal to the functioning of the system.
18
Someone please tally Trump's election rally batting average. Losing trips include: four to Montana, two or three to West Va., one? each Wisconsin and Ohio (Brown), one or two each to Arizona and Nevada. He apparently helped little or none in Florida, Georgia and Texas.
55
@Mike G How could a visit from him possibly help anything? Everything he touches falls apart.
17
Many interesting comments
It seems (as at least one commentator has noted) it is likely there is already a significant Dem majority. Even with the hostile gerrymandering, getting Dems and their supporters to vote is probably more important then trying to peel away more Reps. Certainly for the house (go for a super majority) and the WH anyway.
14
The Democrats in 2018 had an enormous advantage over 2016
and hopefully 2020:
Hillary was not on the ballot this time.
Many other issues could affect the election results, but the dominant fact is that a lot voters could not bring themselves to vote for Hillary, and Trump was the alternative to Hillary in 2016.
Hopefully the Democrats will not make the same mistake again in 2020.
33
Any gains the Democrats received, will be lost in 2020. Once the voters see how ineffective and liberal the Democrats have become the Republicans will gain back seats.
1
@WPLMMT
Really! You'd better hope that the Republican-generated record budget deficit does not come back to haunt them. Thus far, its a lead balloon. Another repeat of the 2008 spectacle, where the Treasury Secretary went on to his knees in front of Nancy Pelosi to beg for the Democrats to support the Bush bail out package (no Republican voted for it) will produce the same result in the Presidential election.
31
Silly. The country has drifted so wildly to the right that you’ve lost all perspective. Today’s Democrats are Nixon era republicans. Probably more conservative in fact.
9
@WPLMMT Democrats liberal? They've done nothing but implement warmed-over conservative policies. Even the Affordable Care Act was a conservative project, originally proposed by the Heritage foundation, then pushed by GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, and implemented by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.
10
One possible solution to all this mess created by the Republicans is to divide the country into two countries. The Red States, rural America, can be one country with all the MAGA Trump supporters and
Trump as their president. That way Kentucky or Utah would not be able to have such distorted Senate power over California or Massachusetts.
The Blue States would make up the other country
with their democratic president without having to be subjected to a Republican Senate, Supreme Court and White House.
20
@Nemesisofhubris A lot easier said than done. Before the civil war, many commentators predicted an amicable breakup. It was anything but amicable. Today's division is still a distant echo of that era.
2
@Nemesisofhubris States such as California maybe first to secede... but I guess for that to happen a lot of bad things need to continue happenning over too long. I guess and hope America, blue and red, wake up before then.
2
Trump does not have a "precarious" path to re-election...he has no path.
24
So long as the electoral college exists, so do Trump’s (likely) chances for re-election. Sorry, but math.
11
@TomJ Obviously, math. But the results do not look good for Trump (hence his week long temper tantrum) since he only won by 80,000 votes last time, and those deciding votes were from states that just went blue.
10
@TomJ Trump flipped six states to win. In four of those, he won less than 50% of the vote. Hillary isn't running in 2020. I like the Dem's chances.
7
Andy Kim is going to win the New Jersey 3rd district over the rich scoundrel insurance scammer and author of the famously failed attempt to repeal the ACA - like the liar in chief the betrayer and town-hall liar is Republican Tom MacArthur.
Andy Kim is the offspring of immigrants, has a background in national security, has worked for a decade in Washington, D.C.
24
Notwithstanding the Republican gameplan of turning the whole midterm electoral process discredited and thereby rob its democratic legitimacy as to be seen in their undue insistence on recounting and litigations despite clear verdict, the emerging picture of the midterm elections suggests that Trump and his toxic divisive campaign rhetoric proved to be a big liability for the party which could have been better without his voter annoying presence.
20
America's problem is and remains it antiquated system of electoral college and the Senate than tilts heavily towards rural America. A back of the envelopecalculattion shows that 40 senators (out of 100) from the least populated 20 (out of 50) states represent only ten percent of the population of the country!! And with filibuster rule, those representing only 10 percent of the population can and do hold the the rest of the country to legislative ransom. Thus the country holds it breath while Sentaors Suasan Collins and Lisa Murkowski representing combined population less than the population in a typical Los Angeles suburb, pontificate on their votes to give Brett Cavanaugh a life time appointment on Supreme court. Did our founding fathers intend to deny one-person-one-vote right to our citizens? Do we need to join ND, SD and WY into one state and split CA, TX and NY into ten or twelve states? Do we want a United States of America or a United States of Rural America for our future?
93
Our Founding Fathers did not even know how large our continent was and that we would grow as a country via large swaths of land via Treaties/purchases with Mexico and France.
They certainly never imagined there would eventually be an additional 37 states added to the original 13 states (colonies). And some like Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota would have smaller populations than many of the original states - yet still get 2 Senate seats each per the Constitution - and still do.
10
If the states have the power to divide then they should do it. Washington DC is never going to help. But once we get to 1000 states we should stop,
Re:Iowa. It is true that they lost all state elected positions and both legislative houses. However, the 4 Democrats running for U S House totaled more votes than the governor, winning 3 of the races, with two of those flipping from Republican.
This indicates that Iowan are willing to split their ballots. They like the Republicans for local issues but maybe they are sorry they voted for trump and don't like the direction at the national level. Speculation, of course
7
The cost of our health insurance went up nearly 250 percent this month, and our deductible went from $900 per person to $1500 per person. Certainly wiped out any "tax cut" my family saw. Democrats must do something about out-of-control health costs.
25
@Allison try healthcare costs with deductibles that are $7000 and premiums of over $1000 per month for 2019. The average American has no more than $400 in their savings account. Affordable Health Care it is not. Insurance Companies and their ultra effective lobbying efforts has enabled huge profits while providing inferior coverage for their members. It is extortion....shame on all state regulators for allowing this to occur. It is tragic that our legislators are enablers.
21
@Allison Why isn't that something the Republicans need to do? Democrats dot not have the power to fix it. It is a Republican problem right now.
7
@Allison Everyone KNEW the ACA wasn't perfect and needed to be worked on. We had a solid start to universal healthcare and very smart people were trying to address the fixes needed to continue to move it forward in a more beneficial way for all. Instead the Republicans couldn't accept this as a way forward, they had to ruin it for all! Now were looking at catastrophic payments with no end in sight.
This won't be an easy fix for democrats - Trump will make sure of that! He doesn't care about you and your family's healthcare bills and remember the great tax cut helps companies for years and years to come, but only 'regular people like you and me for a couple years...NO MORE!!!
17
Here's a big factor in favor of Republicans if Trump runs again (he has to say he's going to run, otherwise he would be a lame duck the day he took office). Many of Trump voters are very strongly supportive of him, as if nothing he could do would sway their support. Moreover, it it my personal bet that Trump activated between one and five million voters who otherwise would not have bothered in 2016. Most of those voters are likely to turn out for him in 2020, except in areas like Iowa where farmers have been hurt drastically by the tariff wars. (Iowa would go for him anyway, most likely.)
So, the Democrats can take comfort in the elections last Tuesday and they will have one of the biggest freshman classes in the House since the "Watergate babies" were swept into office in 1974, but the battle from here on is going to be harder. The more Trump tweets and acts chaotically, the more the Democrats will win. Indeed, by 2020, all but his most in love supporters might very well be tried of the constant disruption and unpredictability.
Just like Obama, Trump had the House and Senate for two years. Trump and the Republicans wound up fighting with each other as the Freedom Caucus continued its nihilistic way in the House, so Trump did not get a lot of what he promised. Now on moving forward, he will get much less.
10
@Doug Terry But unlike Trump, Obama with the house and senate fixed in a bipartisan way the economy! Trump was handed a perfect picture, and has proceeded to junk it up unnecessarily....I am not too optimistic these next 2 years won't put us in recession territory...
7
@Betsy
Yes, a recession sometime in the not distant future is likely. When things go "this well" there always seems to be a bubble somewhere waiting to burst. Low interest rates, along with a 1.5 trillion dollar tax cut that goes mainly to the wealthy, have been pushing the economy up, but what goes up...
As for Obama, remember the Republicans fought at every turn to stop his economic package. One of the compromises that Obama and the Democrats struck was to make the "temporary" G.W. Bush tax cuts, which also went mainly toward the wealthy, permanent. If the GOP had gotten its way, the nation would have been plunged into a deep depression and it would have all then have been blamed on Democrat's "overspending". As it was, Obama set Trump up to have a booming economy.
Over the last 50 to 60 years, the Republicans typically overheat the economy and then hand off a recession to the Democrats. Could happen again between now and the 2020 elections.
1
Demographically the Republicans are doomed, and they know it. In their dirty desperation tactics to corrupt and suppress the voting process, we're witnessing their last gasps as power slips from their grasp. This is not to say that the Democratic Party or its policies or track record are perfect; one-party rule wouldn't be desirable. But this is the demographic and electoral reality.
20
@Gary E. The republican party, in its current incarnation as the party of trump, needs to die. In its place should arise a new truly conservative or moderate-conservative party.
9
@Gary E.
Democrats want people to vote. Republicans are doing everything in their power to keep people from voting. Democrats are saying "Count every vote," while Republicans like Trump are saying "Election night results are fine, no need to go further with this 'count every vote' business."
1
Trump is wrong on the environment. Democrats will prevail in both houses in 2020.
25
North Carolina's Congressional districting map was ruled unconstitutional TWICE in 2017 and again in 2018; yet the courts refused to require the GOP-dominated state legislature redraw the maps due to the brief time (less than 2 months) between the latest court ruling and the Nov elections.
Be aware NC is a purple state, and once the congressional maps are redrawn to meet the 2018 appeal court's order we will have much more equitable and just representation that represents NC electorate.
19
God forbid that Trump should win in 2020. God forbid that he should even still be in office when we get to that time. Let us hope that justice will have caught up with him before then.
35
I am amazed at the resilience of Republican voters that in spite of a person like Trump Democrats are not able to pick up or swing larger chunk of voters to their side. If Americans cannot be made to understand the pitfalls of Trump running the show then Democrats and any other opposition have failed.This warrants a higher proportion of shift something of the order of 60-40 or even higher in favour of Democrats. This should not be won by redrawing the lines of congressional districts but by a clear change of heart of the American public. Groundwork needs to be done right from now on. People will respond positively if we go and inform them of the perils. We should abandon the anti- Trump only method but pin more on the hopes of better governance and longterm impact of Trump nationalism versus patriotism. Energise people for this.
7
This is the last election where North Carolina will have such an obviously skewed result.
The Supreme Court recognized how gerrymandered the NC map is--they allowed the state to use it this one last time simply because there wasn't sufficient time for a different one to be formalized.
I'd expect at least 2 districts to swing for the Democrats here in 2020, if not even more.
21
"Texas and Arizona are unlikely to be blue states anytime soon".
At least the latter may have already achieved purpality, though. And in a Presidential election, with even higher turnout, probably even more so.
Two other states that will not be easy to predict in a Presidential election--Florida, especially if a good number of previously disenfranchised felons register to vote, and North Carolina, whose demographics, if not it's gerrymandered Congressional districts, make it distinctly grape colored.
17
Republicans DO NOT have America's back.
Remember that.
56
Gloves off! Take no prisoners please. Treat Trump and his gang just as they would have treated BO. These people do not understand innuendo.
47
@Francis. I agree wholeheartedly. En garde, Democrats!
1
Women in the House now total more than 100. That is still less than 25 %. Things will get better when there are 40 women in the Senate and 160 in the House. But before we get ahead of ourselves, a word of caution from one who believed in women before many of them ever believed in themselves.
It's a long way from 1920 when women first enjoyed the right to vote but get over the excitement of winning and recognize in the next 6 weeks to use the time before being installed in Congress to read, think and understand two things of importance - leading and governing. If you master those two things you will be light years ahead of the men who rarely took time to read and understand what leading and governing is all about. And remember this: the country is made up of 325 million - 40% Republican, 40% Democrat and 20% independent and others. We are all Americans and human beings before we ever became politicised. I hope your endeavors and your skills will be used to advance all Americans. We need a Congress who thinks of others.
14
@Tom osterman. Women fresh in Congress need to remember that they need to work together and with the system to get RESULTS.
Thinking about the 2020 presidential election I can't think of one "blue" state that will turn "red", but ten "red" states are vulnerable: PA, MI, WI, OH, NC, FL, IA, AZ, TX and GA. And it will take winning in just a handful of them to deliver the WH to the Dems.
22
I do not trust politicians to manage MY tax "donations" to Uncle Sam. "Only the "Little People" pay taxes."---the late, very wealthy New York City hotel heiress Leona Helmsley. Congress has FAILED for over a decade to give a decent cost of living adjustment to retired and disabled workers on Social Security--we "Little People" who worked and paid our dues to Uncle Same in taxes--while rewarding themselves generous raises with OUR tax money. This election year, we finally got a 2% COLA---enough for me to buy ONE daily 53-cent cup of senior coffee at McDonald's, and TWO McDoubles or THREE McChickens per MONTH off the $1-$2-$3 Value Menu. But I DO get a free refill on the coffee:) When the late Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, heard that "The people are starving, they have no bread," Queen Marie suggested, "Then let them eat cake." Nowadays, the rich folks say, "Let them drink senior coffee!" Congress, how about giving us "Little People" a RETROACTIVE COLA = to what you have awarded yourselves for the past decade? My Friend The Leprechaun will be very happy!
16
Cognitive dissonance--51 gets it done. Country still markedly divided and will remain so. Cultural Marxists still don't have the White House--and will need more than the DNC Politburo-dominated cities to win. So it goes till 2020.
2
@Alice's Restaurant: Do you ever get out of the country? Do you realize that even the most left-wing Democrat in the US Senate would be considered Conservative in Europe?
36
@Max Brockmeier
Been Paris in Rome last year. You haven't clue.
1
@Max Brockmeier
So what--Stalin ran USSR. Pick your datum. Among a number of other places in both, was in Paris and Rome May-June 2016. Got into discussion with many locals and predicted both Brexit and Trump to their horror and dismay. Just smiled--no question, gonna happen. Read much about the Right in France, Germany, and Italy. Spent nearly a month in northern Italy late 2017--and you?
2
When will the D's see that suburbs are full of immigrants, people of color, LGBTs, and other groups DJT and the GOP have alienated?
Please, stop pandering to the imagined R voters they can try to peel away and start appealing to who really lives in America.
17
People are starting to realize that Trump is a fraud once they tune out Fox and Friends. He is not a Nationalist, doesn't care about sovereignty, probably doesn't even know what it means. He's a dollar chasing globalist who couldn't care less about the country he is living in. Taking away healthcare , raising the cost of imported goods to protect dead industries , weakening our institutions , and forming special relationships with ethno-nationalist and despotic countries will not benefit most people living in this country. The Republicans will pay for enabling Trump's clown act.
47
@John Reynolds
What is wrong with being a Globalist? Why would anyone want to be a Nationalist? Being a Nationalist isn't something to be proud of.
“The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does , and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does ; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility while the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to a war .”
25
@Jay I'm not criticizing globalism, but calling out Trump's phoney America First rhetoric. Most of his money comes from outside of America and creates no wealth for most people living here outside of his lawyers and accountants.
Forget 2020 and Trump. He is going mad. The pressures on him have been and will continue to be exponential. His taxes and finances, his failures and worse of international relations, his crudeness and unfeeling outbursts towards women, men and women of color of every background . . . there is not one success or positive contribution. His chaotic staff, his use of family, the list is as long as topics.
I cannot fathom any projection. Let's live with what we're going through now. Then we will see. Give the election cycle of 2018 a chance to even start.
16
I don't understand rhat Gerrymandering...it sounds very much like cheating to me
16
@Canadian72 LOL - it is!
10
The pundits seem to forget there are two independent senators. Bernie Sanders is one and has caucused with the Democrats. Mitch better watch his back.
5
Given that GOP turnout was at record highs for a president with record low popularity, I would say that Trump’s turnout model was a great success.
Fear works, and the Democrats need to use it as effectively as the GOP if we’re going to win in 2020: fear of robber barons, fear of amoral leadership, fear of losing our status as the world’s leader, fear of lose of the environment, healthcare, and pensions. Fear of attacks against our right to free speech, fear of a minority of voters controlling our legislation, fear of the alt-right, white nationalism, and outright racism. Fear of the lose of democracy.
There’s a lot to fear now that the GOP is in charge. It’s time for Democrats to double down on the anger and fear the electorate feels.
9
@Josh Wilson I think the country is over-dosed on fear and has entered a state of numbness where the fear is losing its effect by having been inflicted upon anybody with a TV for far too long. Phew! Time for a new response. Hopefully the numbness might lead to at least a brief window of time in which something resembling reason might cut through to the enraged chanters of meaningless slogans, and calls to fight against people who aren't running for anything and haven't been a candidate for years. So much easier to keep pillorying the old (retired) enemies - - much easier than actually doing something to improve living conditions and hopes for your supporters. More fear is not going to win the Democrats anything. Real caring, and the resultant helpful legislation and agenda will move their argument front and center for the electorate of 2020.
3
@JD I'm angry and afraid precisely because I do care.
Love this news! I’m so proud of the Democrats!
On top of this I’m reading BECOMING - Michelle Obama’s riveting memoir. Pinch me.
13
Dear Friends,
Please keep a very close eye on Florida recount. There are serious shenanigans happening to alter a likely Democratic win in Senate seat by the sitting Governor who happens to be the Republican candidate.
Don't dismiss the process as... oh it's Florida. It's vital that all votes are counted as they were not in 2000 and we are still paying the price for that electoral fraud.
I'm convinced that if all votes are counted Senator Nelson will prevail.
Let all the votes be counted! If the recount deadline needs to be extended... so be it.
Democracy wins.
39
"Republicans demonstrated a tenacious hold on two of the country’s biggest swing states, Ohio and Florida." one could quibble with this assertion, especially the FL piece.
9
rigging votes does not make you popular , just more corrupt!!!
10
"And Republicans demonstrated a tenacious hold on two of the country’s biggest swing states, Ohio and Florida, giving Mr. Trump an important foothold on the presidential map."
NOT TRUE: 1.4 million ex-felons regaining the vote in Florida will almost certainly change this.
26
"The president’s strategy of sowing racial division and stoking alarm about immigration failed to lift his party...".
Who says it failed? It just didn't lift them enough to win overall.
It seems to me the Republicans had 3-prong strategy: 1) fear of Democrats 2) fear of Immigrants, and 3) fear of the monster that's STILL hiding in the bedroom closet.
Was there something else that I missed?
16
@Jeffrey Levine
And Democrats had the equal and opposite 3-pronged strategy: 1) fear of Republican voters; 2) fear of even Democrats who oppose illegal immigration and waves of economic migrants; 3) fear of what Trump will do next.
I don't think Democrat voters fell for the partisan hoopla fearmongering but instead voted for pragmatic, energetic moderate Democrats who promised to get to work fixing the infrastructure and to keep local trains running on time.
4
While I'm glad rational adults have regained some power in our capital, there are still grim times ahead. Our nation is still being held hostage by the Republican Party and Trump when it comes to our response to the threat posed by global warming and climate change.
We can't afford for this near criminal absurdity to continue much longer, but I don't see how we're going to get past the next step very quickly. The next step is that Republicans in Congress collectively need to admit they have been wrong. And then they need to help Democrats come up with the complex and varied response that is needed to both cut carbon emissions and keep our economy in good shape while a challenging but exciting transition takes place over the next several decades.
20
The market is very close to making these decisions for all of us. There will be major break throughs on energy storage and super conductors that will make it possible to free ourselves from the existing energy infrastructure.
But it will be a battle royale as the old guard is still sitting on 25 trillion dollars of fossil fuel assets.
It will take a generational conflict to decide what the future will be but in the end the energy industry will be transformed.
The only question is how much collateral damage the planet must endure before the transformation happens. Trumps regressive policies have mobilized the old guard ensuring that it will be a long and costly transition.
25
@Don Blume The republican-controlled Senate will continue to push through young conservative judicial appointments at all levels. Even after McConnell, Graham and their ilk retire or are voted out this "legacy" will live on for MANY YEARS.
If Democrats won't walk lock-step together and negotiate amongst themselves to speak with one unified voice, then their mid-term gains will be like chaff scattered by the winds.
9
Over a million and a half convicted felons regained their right to vote in Florida in 2020. Don't overlook that fact.
16
@Jackie Geller: As it should be. They weren’t sentenced to disenfranchisement by the judge.
19
Jeez Jackie,
Don't shoot yourself in the foot! Probably three quarters of them voted Republican. This current iteration is one of the most corrupt ever.
2
The fact that the US doesn't have an independent body that runs elections and draw electoral boundaries blows my mind.
The concept of gerrymandered districts drawn along partisan lines and having an election overseen by the guy running for governor (in Georgia) - who also has the power to suppress votes! - is equally disturbing.
But having a sitting president put Florida under pressure to stop counting (or re-counting) votes takes the biscuit.
I can't imagine how America even begins to address some of these structural issues.
117
The irony is that we send “observers” to oversee elections in third world countries because we claim to protect the Democratic principle. Ha!
23
@Kath Yes, Isn't this a joke? The United States, bastion of democracy has elections tainted by the ruling party who is able to draw the district lines to their advantage, not have conflict of interest rules in place allowing a secretary of state (in Georgia) overseeing the election he is running in and having a current governor (in Florida) calling his own state incompetent because they want to count all the votes on an election he is running. And the President not encouraging a fair count.
I did not even touch on the Russian interference in our election process and the very real possibility that our current president was put there by the Russians.
We couldn't have imagined that the US had devolved to this!
14
@Kath Hi Kath - totally agree. It might be low-key, but the Australian Electoral Commission as impartial boundary marker/organiser/arbiter is such a huge asset to our country. It's also national - no hanging chads or a muddle of 50 separate systems.
Right now, and reading here just outside Canberra, I'm still gobsmacked at the report of a States-side county polling place where voters couldn't vote for over 2 hours because … no extension leads, so no power for the voting machines!
And it gets worse. To compensate, a judge ordered the booth to stay open an extra 2 hours - now the Repubs are challenging every voted lodged in that extension-time as "invalid".
Sadly most Americans aren't even aware of other options. When it comes to elections, Australia truly is 'the lucky country'.
3
Looks like Trump got tired of winning.
23
Good to read such encouraging news. And now, Dems: Build, build build! Put out bills that act on what polls show increasing majorities of Americans want. Healthcare, wages, voting rights, justice, taxes, immigration, jobs, infrastructure, the environment--the list goes on.
Show that the Democratic Party will give the people what they want!
Lead, lead, lead. And build, build, build. An enormous coalition is waiting.
65
The Blue Wave:
In 2018, Donald John Trump’s first mid-term, the Republicans lost 26 seats in the house. They gained 3 seats in the Senate.
For comparison:
In 2010, Barack Hussein Obama’s first mid-term, the Democrats lost 63 seats in the house and 9 seats in the Senate.
In 1994, William Jefferson Blythe’s (Clinton) first mid-term, the Democrats lost 54 seats in the House and 9 seats in the Senate.
While I’m on it... in 2016 Hillary Rodham lost while receiving a little less than 3 million more popular votes than her opponent.
In 1992 Bill Clinton won while receiving nearly 20 million LESS votes than his opponents. Bill Clinton won with about 53% of the American people voting AGAINST him.
Democracy!
1
@Johannes de Silentio, Bill Clinton mopped the floor with both Bush & Ross Perot. They got 43% ; 37.4% ; & 18.9% respectively. He won the popular vote & the electoral college by a big margin. Bill got nearly 45million votes; Bush got 39million ; Ross got nearly 20million .
Anyway you twist & spin it, he won big in a 3-way race
21
So what’s your point?
In the house races Democrats received almost 53% of the over 105 million votes cast.
In the Senate races Democratic candidates garnered 12 million more votes than GOP candidates.
Only our archaic constitution that gives residents of North Dakota 70 times the representation in the Senate than California plus the Gerrymandering that preventing Democrats from picking up one seat in N.C., OH, or WI even keeps them in the game.
In a fair fight the GOP doesn’t make it out of the first round.
26
Seems to me that one southern state has had ballots show up mysteriously in other past elections, and the 2018 mid-term is just the latest. What some folks won't do for power. And why others, already in office, allow it to continue. Rather sad.
8
Is "seems" a good instrument for seeing into the cries and wispers of dystopian hunches, or is it a comment on the observer and her powers of vision or mystification? "What some folks won't do for power!" — that SEEMS to cut both ways.
6
@old sarge
Florida isn't southern.
1
Republican voters do not respect women. Period.
Hopefully more and more women will vote in ever increasing numbers in all future elections, and that once and for all, Republicans and their ilk will be put back into their caves and kicked back to the stone age - where they belong.
35
@Ed
Religion doesn't respect women + most males do not respect women. Those two merged to lead the Reagan Revolution and then take over the GOP in the 1980s via the Gingrich and so-called Moral Majority.
6
Well, if America cannot transcend its racist roots, and its serious misogyny, then I suppose it deserves what it gets in the coming decades if it votes to keep us divided and at war with each other.
There is no law that says America cannot fall the way Russia fell, one greedy oligarch at a time, one bought off Congress at a time.
Hugh Massengill
7
@Hugh Massengill: the outraging truth is,
racism and misogyny are not "only in america".
it will take centuries to overcome both.
[if climate change gives us enough time to try.]
3
@Hugh Massengill,
nov 6 gives me hope, but sadly I think it will take some time. Fear and hate is not the answer, and we must be eternally vigilant lest those take root. We are getting a very scary lesson about this right now.
2
Win the battle. Lose the war. Voters want CHANGE! That has been the issue since “W”. If, the new Congress can’t bring change in 2019, we’ll change again in 2020- - and Trump wins again.
It’s the ancient Chinese cures, “Be careful what you wish for!”
1
@Poppa Remember how the Republicans won the Congress in 2014, didn't get anything done because they were stymied by Dems in the Senate and White House, but still made a case for voting for their inexperienced candidate in 2016, who won the Electoral College (though they lost six House seats)? Democrats will have to decide if they want to follow the same strategy the next two years. Pass legislation in the House, if necessary, over and over again, only to see it bottled up by Mitch McConnell and threats of presidential vetoes and then run their presidential and Senate candidates in 2020 with the argument that Democrats tried to do something positive but were stymied by Republicans. Who knows whether that strategy would work for Democrats or not? What will not work is voting to repeal what little has been done in the last two years without having a replacement to put in its place when you get power in 2021. For example, you don't vote 55 times to repeal the Trump tax cut for the rich without offering another tax plan (one that is more practical than the plan to replace the ACA that Sen. McConnell cobbled together in haste) at the same time. Democrats need to show what they are for and it can't sound fishy. If the ACA doesn't need to be completely replaced, but only tweaked, how? Explain in detail. The country just showed it is ready to listen.
5
The mid-terms could also be interpreted as a warning to Dems considering a run at Trump, assuming he is still in office in Nov/20. Broaden your message & reach if you want to keep the suburban & women's votes. Take NOTHING for granted!
26
A counter-gerrymandering proposition passed in red Utah and districts will be redrawn by an independent commission -- and if it passed there, it can pass anywhere.
84
Excellent comment. This democracy is something we should all be fighting for together. Both parties have exploited gerrymandering and its a disgusting stain on our democracy. We should be fighting to protect our democracy from gerrymandering and from foreign interference and from voter suppression. Surely this is something every decent American agrees with. We do still have things in common. Let’s start working on those issues and build from there.
44
This comment captures my own sense of what we citizens need to do to protect our democracy and the promise of social and economic justice. It is within our grasp.
14
The Republicans passed the budget busting tax cut for the wealthy because they were told their allowance would be cut off by their biggest benefactors if they did not. That, and a bunch of court appointments, were their only "accomplishments" while they controlled the entire legislature and the executive branch.
For the next two years, unpopular and self-serving laws are a non-starter thanks to the Democratic majority in the House. The entire Republican strategy comes down to stacking the courts, defying the laws they don't like, and trying to get away with unpopular policies if courts do not shut them down. The economy is already slowing and there are many warnings that the means of bailing out the rot that Trump has presided over are inadequate at best.
They will point fingers and rant about liberals, Democrats, and immigrants when the roof starts falling in on them, but to voters who want shelter from economic and public policy storms, that distraction is unlikely to carry the day for Republicans. Instead, we will get treated to a scorched earth strategy as the GOP counts down the days until their likely reckoning.
This is going to get ugly before gets more just.
42
@Hugh Wudathunket "This is going to get ugly before gets more just."
And that's the optimistic outlook !
12
Republicans are reaping what they sowed. Their hateful tactics and Trump's message of fear and hatred bought out moderate and left-leaning voters in huge numbers. They defeated themselves.
28
@Barbara
So, it was eactly like people burned by Obama's ideas voted for Anything-But-That-Again?
@L'osservatore Possibly. And as it happens, Trump is getting the same treatment now. AMericans don't like him (except for the sheets-and-cowls crowd).
10
@L'osservatore
Conservatives RAN on Obama's ideas in 2018.
6
Republicans you have only themselves to blame. Your nomination of a thoroughly unqualified, lying bigot with a history of bankruptcies and admitted economic fraud has to be the most irresponsible act by a political party in our county's history.
Republicans in the House do yourself a favor, preempt the Democratic majority of the next Congress and impeach Trump yourselves this month. The Senate must then by law immediate try Trump. Impeach Trump while you still have control of your own destiny. Many of your own members lost their seats entirely because of Trump. They owe Trump nothing. Get a spine while you have any relevance.
38
Trumpites. Consider the 25th amendment to save your party
24
The 'Blue Wave' keeps rolling in...
11
So, Republicans won't have a free hand in fooling voters through redesinging the electoral maps.
12
Taxation without representation is tyranny
6
@Anonymously which is why Puerto Rico, Washington DC, and possibly even American Samoa and Guam should all become states. How can you be called a citizen when you can't vote for president and your representatives in Congress don't have a vote?
20
I have a new slogan for the Democratic Party: Take America’s Democracy Back Again!
22
A critical election take away is that mail in ballots are extremely popular with voters and that current regulations can significantly impact which ones are counted. These regs may include what pen is used to complete them, when they are post marked, when they are received by mail (which can be out of the sender’s control), and how they are validated. Most critically, the process of verifying signatures is unclear and checked in ways that are subject to partisan decisions. There are better ways to verify that mail in ballots are valid, and we need to adopt them before 2020. Let’s start with an investigation of how many mail in ballots were not counted in this election, by state, so that we understand the extent of the problem. Such an investigation will also reveal practices that work versus those that suppress votes.
29
@DB Revealing the practices is not the problem. Doing something about them is where we seem to go off the road.
4
It is refreshing to know that despite the forces of evil at work in America some decent people are winning.
They are not twisted self serving GOP intnt on their own wallets.
They are not the Base Base.
They are not the big hero too scared to face their critics in France.
They do not wait to get home to hide behind their twitter feed pumping out infantile lies where they can't be challenged.
They do not vilify their own countrymen in the midst of a terrible inferno and propose to deny them aid.
No, they are the people who have had enough of lies and blatant corruption and the rising tide of hate crime fueled by people not fit to run anything, never mind a country.
Rememberance is not just two world wars and more.
It is the fight for America now and until 2020 when decent people drain the real swamp.
37
Does anyone know the timetable for undoing the gerrymandered districting in the worst states?
6
@Steve Congressional districts are redrawn after the Census, every ten years. 2020 is a census year.
9
@Larry Segall. Which is exactly WHY Repubes are desperatly trying to re-write the Census itself. Demanding citizenship questions be on there is sure to deny proper representation in Dist4icts, and serve as a means for ICE to destroy more families.
5
@judith loebel ICE has been misused and should be reformed to remove undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes or who are newly arrived and have not yet established themselves in this country. That was Barak Obama's policy when he stated in a State of the Union address that illegal imigration was a threat to national security. Betwen 2009 and 2015, 2.5 illegal immigrants were deported. Ninety-two percent of deportees had criminal records in 2015. Personally, I like that number.
"And Republicans demonstrated a tenacious hold on two of the country’s biggest swing states, Ohio and Florida, giving Mr. Trump an important foothold on the presidential map."
The above statement is complete nonsense. Felons can now vote in Florida. No Republican will win a statewide election in the near future.
9
@Keith
Florida's Amendment 4 restores voting rights to former felons who served their sentence, including parole and probation, with the exception of those convicted of murder and sexual offenses.
Hope that clarifies things.
10
Two notorious prisoners in Florda registered Republican : the Parkland shooter who just turned 18, and the pipe bomb mailer.
7
Neither will be free to vote in the 2020 elections. They’ll both be behind bars for quite a long time.
2
Democrats should impeach Trump and all the conservative SCOTUS Justices. Launch those investigations into every directive Trump issues.
Democrats should be able in the next two year launch thousands of investigations. Still waiting for Trump to fire Mueller and Rosenstein.
4
@Mr Chang Shih An There is no point in the Democrats impeaching anyone. The GOP Senate will not convict.
4
@Mr Chang Shih An -
On what grounds?
1
@Mr Chang Shih An. Understand why you say 'impeach' - but investigations are a smarter way to go.
Remember the old real-estate rule: position, position, position. The new Dem house should adopt a 3-word mantra too: subpoena-subpoena-subpoena.
If Trump had made those awful, hateful statements about California and her citizens being responsible for the wildfires currently destroying everything in their path, I doubt that there even one Republican would have retained or gained a seat. Could a more vile, reprehensible person have been elected President? Never forget, Trump has no one’s back except his own.
33
Why do you think this particular comment was any worse than dozens of others the "Bigot-in- Chief" has made? A significant element of any wartime strategy is to dehumanize the enemy. This would apply to the roughly 40 million residents of California, irrespective of party affiliation. They are undeserving of compassion, and fully deserving of blame, because they're not really humans. They're Democrats.
Don't underestimate forbearance and outright bigotry of many of his aptly named "base".
4
I keep picturing a struggling brontosaurus on its back. Losing strength. But still pawing the sky with its big, cumbersome, though weakening legs, making bellowing noises. Waiting for a giant blue comet in 2020 to come put it out of its misery.
Then the world really starts healing itself.
26
@bigtantrum This picture is moving me very deeply...in 2020 eradicate the GOP and lock Trump up!
7
When you mention the advantage small populated states have, it brings to mind the question: 2 Dakotas , why ?
15
Don't know why your're so bullish GOP in Iowa where three out of four seats went for the Dems and the seat Republicans won - the white nationalist Steve King - had his margin reduced from 23 to 3%. I would bet the farm that this is his last hurrah. I think that when Joni Ernst runs for reelection she's going to get a lot of questions about the big hog that she didn't use her hypothetical scissors on. You also fail to note that North Carolina is getting a Pennsylvania style redistricting by the courts even if they thought it would be too disruptive to implement for this past election.
18
@Milliband
You are right about Iowa. Half of Iowa’s districts switched from red to blue, and now are represented by young women. Can another state make that claim? We’re still trying to figure out the Neanderthals who keep re-electing Steve King in the 4th.
20
What's the bottom line? No pundit to my small knowledge has done the math yet that I can find.
Example: If the House impeaches trump next year for e.g. Mueller probe results, collusion, taxes, russian ruble laundering etc etc (beyond "reasonable doubt")
What would the Senate vote be on conviction,
given (scenario) 47 Democrats, Bernie and Angus King (Maine, that's 49) voted to convict? Would Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) or some other Republican senator vote their conscience, or stay "partisan-over-country" Republican?
Could Pence over-ride with a "tie-breaker?" A Ford-like pardon?
Just askin' .... I've looked everywhere for a projected tally and so far found nothing. I think it's a question that should now be considered and answered.
If when (worst-case) cornered trump "wags the dog" with a war for distraction, would the military actually obey and launch attacks, (nuclear / non-nuclear)? Serious stuff to ponder imo.
3
@davequ, The Constitution requires 2/3 of Senators to convict so it seems unlikely. Mueller would have to come up with a smoking machine gun to turn around enough Republicans to convict him. Oh, and then we get Pence who is scarier in some ways.
9
@davequ I think the smart thing to do is to very publicly produce legislation like sensible gun control, healthcare, jobs and infrastructure bills, and much more that the American People want...heck, throw in a permanent tax cut for the middle class attached to a tax hike for the rich, and then let the Republicans try to explain why they are refusing to sign on to every bill that the people actually want and asked for.
On top of that, don't impeach Trump. Leave that to the Republicans. It's their mess so let them deal with it. Let 2020 come around and see what the people of the country say. Come out publicly and say that it's up to the country. Then Trump and his cronies can't cry foul, except at the people who are voting him out. And then maybe the country can find a little peace...at least the majority of us.
14
@carol goldstein
Thanks for the reply. Yup, remembered the "67" majority needed after I originally posted. (duh) I'm sure there aren't 8, 7, or even 6 republicans in the Senate that would put country over partisanship. And the Supreme Court now? Doubtful as well.
And maybe a Pence presidency might be scarier in some ways, but I doubt he would "wag the dog" as I'm sure trump will if necessary.
OK, Democrats, take it down a notch from total satisfied bliss. The job and the work must continue unabated.There are still clouds on the horizon, and as a recent guest op-ed here made clear, the identity politics crowd is still doing its best to confuse us into thinking its just about African-American turnout.
But from this point on if the Senate is to be recaptured it can't be just about that. Democrats need to reach people who are hurting and may not have a masters degree or watch PBS, and favor barbecue sauce over kale smoothies. Moreover, Florida and Ohio are still very dicey for Dems and close is only in horseshoes, not elections.
The DNC chair is determined he says, to build a 50 state party. That means being competitive in states without substantial numbers of people of color. You can't turnout people who don't exist in such places identity politics warriors. Common sense and electoral reality needs to replace your admirable but misplaced argument that people of color can win the day and that's that.
Demographics in the Senate races say otherwise. Wise up and let's work for all people and all classes and stop the sifting of voters into tribes. That's a despicable tactic of Trump and the new far right GOP. It should not be emulated.
5
and now Putin has lost his best friend, Dana - clearly a loss that's not a loss.
11
Big takeaway message is that the Dems need to be 'splainin' why they are the part for the people to rural folks.
3
@RMartini
Wyoming will be a tough nut to crack.
1
@Puny Earthling I Know! We need help out here! If the dems have a message that resonates in Wyoming, it will resonate everywhere!
did you say "the picture has grown grimmer"? not for some of us--for GOP I suppose so
2
GOP is toxic;races they won were by slim margins. 2020 will be a bloodbath for GOP after 2 more years of Trump hate and chaos. Ray Sipe
8
If the GOP succeeds in overturning Roe vs Wade there may be a big effect on voters. The right-to-lifers have always been more politically active and visible but how will women vote if their right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is abrogated? And if the GOP makes birth control difficult there is likely to be a huge electoral backlash.
21
Here in Michigan, an anti-gerrymandering proposal passed by wide margins. For that issue, it doesn't really matter that a Democrat won the governorship because an independent commission will be drawing the lines for our next redistricting.
23
"David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises congressional leaders, said his party should not use victories in the Senate to paper over severe losses with women, young people, independent voters and Latino voters, and Democratic gains with suburbanites and seniors.
“We didn’t lose the Senate, but losing by the margins that we did with a lot of these groups is unsustainable,” Mr. Winston said."
Oh, c'mon. Those groups haven't been interesting to the Republicans for a while, except the seniors. And the party's record on conservation and environment shows that "sustainable" is just a dirty word for them.
7
The true "wild card" in the 2020 election will be Trump himself. Looking at the downward arc of his Presidency to date, it is entirely possible that he will become so erratic, irrational and dangerous that Democrats will sweep into the White House in 2020 - as long as they don't self-destruct. Trump's base isn't getting any bigger and even with the Electoral College working for him, his behavior will finally turn much of America against him.
13
Are you trying to say “Select” is beginning to wear thin and especially on the fringe voters who used to think “They all do it”? Cause nobody does corrupt or stupid better and longer than Donald...noooo body!
2
If the GOP has any brains at all it will lead the investigation, impeachment, conviction and jailing of the odious president.
15
Voter suppressing and gerrymandering your hold on power is so white supremacist republican. Fortunately, the people of Florida amended our constitution returning to 1.5 million of our fellow citizens with a felony criminal record their right to vote. See ya in 2020
10
@Joe B. "See ya in 2020" You seem to be taking a lot for granted, but we older folks thank you.
I do not understand why SD voters did not elect Billie Sutton for their Governor. He is pro life, pro gun and a rancher. He lives 45 minutes from Pierre and can drive there. He is representative of SD through and through. He even had a deputy Governor selected who was a Republican. He wanted to expand Medicaid for those in need in the State. He had a rodeo accident some years ago that left him partly paralyzed. It has not stopped him from wanting to serve his State. I think that his health issues have made him compassionate to those who need health care. It is tragic that he was not elected.
9
@Kris I have to laugh every time I see someone described as 'pro-gun' AND 'pro-life'. (the latter actually means 'anti-reproductive rights for women')
7
@Kris
He had a “D” by his name. To many, that trumps reason and logic. Unfortunate.
If you want irrationality just peek over the border to our 4th district.
2
@Kris: "pro life" = bring people into this world
so that "pro gun" can shoot them?
4
Overlooked in all the coverage of the House elections are the results yielded by the Democrats in state legislative races. Here in New York, the Democrats clobbered the GOP by flipping some six or seven State Senate races. A number of these victories occurred in suburban areas, which have been Republican strongholds. There is no doubt in my mind that New York Democrats owe at least some of their gains to Trump. Ditto Connecticut, where Democrats decisively retook the State Senate.
14
The only way that republicans can hope to retain control across most of the sunbelt and upper midwest is through gerrymandering and voter suppression, which explains their robust painstaking efforts in that direction. All one needs to do is look at the political orientations of those under 40 to clearly understand America's unstoppable move toward a political climate that holds the interests of the electorate over the desires of the oligarchy.
27
Last I looked the Democrats received 5 million more votes in the house and 14 million more votes in the Senate than republicans. However Wyoming with a population of 600K has 2 senators, the same as California with a population of 40 million. This along wit gerrymandering and voter suppression, It seems like America hardly represents a democracy.
36
I must just note here the Wyoming comment about the state having 2 Senators but only 600k population, this is literally point of the Senate. It allows for smaller states to have equal representation in the upper house. The House of Representatives is designed to give more Reps to States with a higher population and less reps to lower populated states. Look up the great compromise for more info.
2
@Michael, however up until 1920, house seats were added as the population grew. But no seats have been since then. Undemocratic, unfair, unrepresented.
12
Democrats need to figure out how how to be competitive in all 50 states. Nothing more than that.
1
All this means is that the Country is finally catching up--relative to our Representative officials--to what America actually looks like. Beneath the bread and circuses that have embarrassed us for the past two years, the real US is modern, inventive, and dynamic. And ready to go.
11
In summary Trump has finally reduced his slice of the voter pie to such a small piece the GOP is in danger. A pivot is not in the cards. Trump is locked into positions, his tweets and tent revivals pronouncements represent the sum total of the man.
23
It's worth noting what Democratic "losses" in the U.S. Senate races really look like:
Democrats won over 14 million votes more than Republicans in Senate contests nationwide.
Democrats actually won over two-thirds of the 35 Senate races. They prevailed in 24 contests; the GOP has only won nine, though they hold a precarious lead in Florida and are the favorites in the Mississippi run-off.
Democrats have won seats in this class of Senate seats for the last 18 years. They picked up 5 seats in 2000, 7 in 2006 and 2 in 2012. That they lost only (at most) two seats after such a string of successes over the past two decades--they had 26 seats at risk this year while the GOP had only nine--is actually quite stunning.
And the Democrats picked up two seats in the sunbelt. Only one potential loss (Florida) is outside a deep red state. The other Democratic losses were in North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana and (potentially) Mississippi. If the GOP couldn't win in those states, they really are doomed.
12
@pczisny Thanks for the math info above. This is key to the a more (small 'd') democratic future.
As the recent Dem victories in State admins start to unpick Repub gerrymanders, 14mill+ margin of Senate voters will be joined by so many more.
By 2024 US might even get close to some kind of local/national equilibrium in voting - ie real (big 'D') Democracy. It's worth working for.
1
“ With the inauguration of Democratic governors in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, Republicans will not have a free hand in redistricting after the 2020 census.”
Now that’s an interesting description of democracy: it depends on governors being Democrats. Wow.
5
It’s because all or almost all recent gerrymandering is the consequence of Republican actions.
13
Wasn't there somewhere in your constitution that all men and women are equal? Then why isn't gerrymandering long since forbidden and listed as fraud? It's not just stealing votes, it's stealing dignity and citizenship.
167
@matteo Men and women being created equal is in the Declaration of Independence and not our Constitution. Therefore it is not operative law. We do have a Constitutional clause mandating equal treatment under the law. For gerrymandering, our highest court has sidestepped the issue or said it is for the political branches to figure out. However, lower courts have recently been buying into new legal and empirical theories and striking down extreme maps.
13
When gerrymandering goes beyind aiming a party and race, then gender is an iaaue in gerrymandering. And the Declaration says that MEN are created equal, not women; it is more in the Constitution and the law derived from it that equal rights for all are to be found.
2
Interesting point. Gerrymandering is clearing an attack on democracy and fairness that everyone can see. But lawyers and judges seem to find it invisible because to them it falls between the cracks of constitutional language. All of these technicalities that the GOP uses exist only because the lawyers of both parties say they do. It is time for the constitutional lawyers to man up and enforce the meaning and not just the wording of the law.
1
The next wave to look for is that of republican congressmen, and maybe some senators, deciding not to run in 2020 or even leaving office before their term is up. And the really big question is if trump himself, looking at a likely loss, will choose to run again. It’s a plausible scenario that he pulls out at the last possible moment before the primaries if the Dems look to nominate a strong candidate unburdened by the baggage and unpopularity of their previous standard bearer. trump might feel better retiring a winner than taking a humiliating loss and since he has no loyalty to the gop he won’t care about leaving them In the lurch without a viable candidate
20
I originally thought Trump might quit but I now believe his faith in his own wonderfulness is real and unshakeable. If his base continues to adore him and Fox continues to praise him he will run in 2020. The horrible thing is that his faith in himself keeps being justified by things like winning the election. When you manage that it’s hard not to think you can do anything.
6
I think you missed a key issue in this analysis: Kavanaugh. For many women that I know, the Kavanaugh debacle was a huge factor.
97
I don't think that's true, I didn't forget,
I was wholeheartedly disgusted by the Republicans behavior and sham of a confirmation- like this (clearly not qualified enough) individual has a right to be be raised to the highest court in the land...I assure you, myself and other Democrats kept that VERY MUCH in mind when casting blue ballots...and proudly I might add
it escapes me where Republicans get the gall to claim HE was wronged...what universe were "you" observing from??...and what type of brain damage do you suffer?...oh, never mind its called Trump/Fox News
9
It will all be a waste if the Dems think this is a mandate to investigate and not to legislate.
26
@marrtyy
To "legislate" would require reasonable cooperation from the Republican-dominated Senate--whose leader, Addison ("Mitch") McConnell, has repeatedly shown himself to be neither reasonable nor cooperative. So good luck on that score.
But the Democratic House can investigate even in the face of Republican intransigence. And there is surely enough to investigate with respect to Trump's political, financial, and personal behavior.
18
@marrtyy
They can do both.
6
It’s a mandate to do both.
5
When the Mega tonnage of unsold American Soybeans rot out I expect some midwestern states to flip Democratic..
71
Unfortunately, Prop4, the anti-gerrymandering prop in Utah, seems to be going down to defeat. Utah's districts are beautifully gerrymandered.
12
Latinos, women, young people, independents . . . the Republicans' antics and those of the president lost them lots of voters in another important demographic: decent human beings.
72
I bet Congressional women will be the " Woman of the Year 2018 " in Time Magazine.
11
“The Sun Belt is looking purple” and yet no real mention of long-purple Colorado, which saw its biggest blue wave in decades. Dems now control all major statewide offices, elected the nation’s first openly gay gubernatorial candidate in Jared Polis, and flipped a suburban House seat controlled for years by the GOP. Purple mountains’ majesty has taken on a distinctly bluish hue.
137
Why does everyone forget Kate Brown, openly bisexual governor of Oregon. She’s won re-election.
10
@ColoradoGuy
Not to mention New Mexico, which has been "basic blue" for a long time, and which this year captured the governorship and the last remaining Publican district in the House.
13
@ColordaoGuy: Texas is next, especially if we can get out from under the Republican gerrymander. The Dem candidate running in the 10th congressional district against the richest man in Congress garnered nearly fifty percent of the vote in a heavily gerrymandered district that covers hundreds of miles from Austin to Houston and lost by just two percentage points. It's a district designed to be 45% Republican, 35% Democrat, and 20% independent. The last person to run against him didn't even manage to get forty-five percent of the vote two years ago. In 2020 Texas Republicans will be running scared.
5
We took back 35 top seats and nearly 400 state seats. We gained nearly 10% in the popular vote and next cycle it will be red seats up in the Senate...
Trump coming out guns blazing misread the situation.
If the trend continues in the next cycle republicans lose the Senate and the presidency. They're going to have to push back on Trump or they lose it all... plain and simple.
For the first time in three years, I feel fairly secure about things... barring war or a possible third pick on the court, Trump is essentially neutered now and he can't resist maintaining his unpopularity.
He can't fire Mueller without further alienating his party to the rest of the thinking country, and he won't be able to stop the results from coming out which are guaranteed to be damning. The trend will continue of him being the most popular republican president, ever, while the republican party continues to slide in the general public's opinion. They aren't gaining numbers... they're bleeding them... between moderate never-Trumpers to red voters that intentionally voted split ticket to check him...
We're going to be in cleanup mode for some time after all of this... but there are reasons to hope.
But don't get complacent.
40
@J
unfortunately, none of what you say really well make too much difference because the composition of the supreme court is all that the GOP was after. They have used Donald Trump as their puppet, and they have succeeded. Since it is the Senate that approves nominees to the Supreme Court, if Ruth Bader Ginsberg‘s health prevents her from continuing on the court, it is a given that yet another orthodox Catholic will be named to the court, and that will make a 6to 3 majority. Since the supreme court is after all the law of the land, everything else is secondary.
4
The astounding part of this bizarre reality is that any sane person would even consider voting for an uninformed, functionally illiterate conman and pathological liar to be president AGAIN! What country is this?
118
@D. Ben Moshe Welcome to the hysteria and paranoia of the Republican Party faithful.
24
@D. Ben Moshe
But we are a functionally illiterate uneducated nation.
7
Interesting point that others have implied as well. This election suggests that actual mental illness is widespread in this country and that it is growing. Since these mentally ill still have the right to vote what should the sane do about it? What happens in a democracy when the majority are insane? Should the minority accept self destruction if that is the will of the majority? And what can they do besides accept it?
1
A few election cycles ago, California rejected gerrymandering and opted for a non-partisan council to draw party lines. Ever since, our elections have been a truer reflection of the wants and needs of the populace. When will the rest of the states catch up to the California model? It's really the only way to go.
162
@Taranto Canada and its provinces have used non partisan bodies for years. It also has election bodies which are not under a political body (unlike, say, Georgia).
16
A number of states voted for this model on Election Day, so there is hope!
20
@Taranto - Michigan voted on and passed its own non-partisan district creation commission despite intense opposition from the ruling republican party. Hopefully Michigan will get the elected officials the majority actually voted for in four years. Unfortunately it won't help for to 2020 election.
7
All who argue that the Republicans will continue to hold "rural" areas need to consider this - the majority of new Latino citizens remain in rural and semi-rural areas where Republicans think they'll hold the upper hand. It explains clearly why Trump and his Republicans fear immigration so much and why they are trying to halt it.
Regardless of those efforts, the Rural Republican is also getting older and, although the very old and young Democrat-leaning aged voters are dying off and the young are moving from rural districts, they cannot maintain a clear Republican impact. As the population drops in these areas, the Census will record the drift. They will loose House of Representative seats which are based on population unlike the Senate. They will also lose in the electoral college. Therein lies the Republican-led redistricting/gerrymandering across the nation.
So, Republicans, I would advise you to (1) get those middle-aged farmers to resume breeding more replacements (who also are likely to move away after high school) to keep up rural populations, (2) ram through laws to prevent migration of rural youth to urban areas, (3) completely close U.S. borders to all immigrants who are likely to settle in rural areas, and (4) bend over and kiss your ignorant keesters goodbye: because - I will tell you this - if the Republican party continues on the path it is on where all the aforementioned are tactics besides the last bit of advice are used - the last bit is all you will have.
43
@Angelsea You have captured the essence of the thing.
3
"... the picture has grown grimmer since [the midterm election]..."
Grimmer for Republicans maybe, but not for the country, the Constitution and the rule of law. Thank goodness!
43
@Lorraine Yes, why was this not written as "The picture has grown brighter ....for Democrats"?
4
Ohio offers a path for both Trump support and respectable Republicanism. Every Ohio Republican I know describes him or herself as a "Kasich Republican": anti-Trump, conservative (incl environment), balanced budget, civil, etc.
10
If Ohio Republicans are anti-Trump, why did 2.8 million of them vote for him in 2016?
1
@Zeb Tainto
Yes, Kasich, a wishy-washy fence sitter. And that’s the best that the Republican Party has to offer. Shameful.
2
It is not possible to support Trump and be respectable
3
Both Clinton and Obama lost big in their first midterms before going on to being re-elected. In Clinton's case, the GOP Congress saved him by pulling him back from the left into the Center (and his secret advisor Dick Morris) For Obama it was much the same, the GOP majority saved him from being even further left. Trump of course is a completely different President. Trump won't pull back to the Center, he will double down on Trumpism and try to alienate even more people. In short, Trump won't correct to get re-elected like Obama and Clinton did, he just doesn't have it in him.
11
@Craig G
How can he have it in him, when there is nothing inside of the man. An empty shell.
1
Donal Trump has succeeded beyond anyone's dreams at one thing: Turning out record numbers of Americans to vote in a midterm election. Terrific, wonderful, tremendous, beautiful voters!
Why isn't he bragging about that? (Oh, that's right - more of them voted for Democrats overall than Republicans.)
Time for a new baseball cap for The Donald: MAVA - Making America Vote Again!
30
This wasn't as much a blue wave but a historical pink wave. When it is all said and done, this pink wave if sustained is an evolutionary wave in American politics and a potential minority status for the party of plutocrats for decades to come. Watch California, as we go, so will the rest of our nation, despite the kicking and crying of the red states!
11
Is it any wonder that US A rates 51st in the democracy stakes, between Colombia and Peru? With its gerrymandering being acceptable, and the corruption being shown by officials in Georgia and Kansas, this is how “democracy” is in the States. Until such issues are removed from the hands of elected officials, democracy will continue to go down the toilet. As a mature nation, it is way past time for these issues to be addressed. The storm over election counts is an embarrassment for your country, and all who find this acceptable, need to engage their own brains and think about how they’re being manipulated. The USA has some major issues in their form of democracy and they need to start being addressed now, as these are only going to become more exaggerated as population and distribution of people changes. This can only become more troublesome and dangerous for democracy.
9
@Peter James
How right you are! As an American, I find my country now intolerable. I have, of course, voted in absentia, but have chosen in my old age to live out my life elsewhere where I can feel safely surrounded by citizens of a democratic society
2
Time to undo the mess of the Senate. Merge the Dakotas into one state, merge Montana and Wyoming, and add DC and Puerto Rico as states. Keep a nice neat 50 states and give representation to millions of unrepresented US citizens. Time to shift the balance from acres to people.
78
@Peter
We need a limit that might be reached by tying each state's Senatorial portion to a 2-part formula: Up to 7 million or c. 1/50th of the U.S. population, you get 2 Senators. Beyond that, for every 7 million, a state gets 1 more per 10% of the national population it has. California gets 2 plus 3 or 4. The 20 states with 70% of the roughly 350 million people get 40, as they do now, plus they share 35 new Senators, while the 30 other states retain their current 60 votes. The Senate ends up with 135.
And we remove the VP's tie-breaking power, ditch the Anti-Electoral Kindergarten, repeal Citizens Unite by Greed, and see real debate with more honest votes. Senators are elected "at large: in every state, and ALL people over 18 can vote. All machines are impounded by a bipartisan committee and judicial oversight is mandated. Of course, no person up for election can serve on a voting supervisory panel.
SCOTUS? Try an ABA investigative committee so ONLY legal scholars can query candidates. No tv circus. Vacancies cannot last more than 90 days.
3
Right. Who has the power to do that?
1
When will the United States create a federal voters registry? Nothing has been done since the Bush/Gore fiasco. Why are federal elections decided by biased county officials? In Canada we have a simple method of registering voters. When filing our income tax returns we simply check a box allowing the federal Canada Elections to register us to vote. Elections Canada sends all registered voters a card letting us know where and when we vote. Elections Canada is a stand alone entity with no political association. Electoral polling officials are taught ways to help people to cast their vote not to suppress their vote. I've been suggesting this alternative to the USA since the disgusting race affected by the Republicans in Florida.
68
@Tom
Canada is a civilized democracy
8
Voter suppression is a means of control. Republicans can't win on a level playing field. This is a feature, not a bug.
6
If the stock markets suffer a major setback in the next year or so Trump will be done for. That’s the only thing he’s really got going with suburban voters who are loving how their 401k statements are looking right now.
He’s one bad Monday morning away from oblivion.
26
It's hard to get excited about the true issues raised in this article. Trusting the vote has become so hard, our voting machines so vulnerable, and no one seems able to do anything to secure the vote.
Could those teen aged hackers just hack away, making write-ins win every race? Would that prove something once and for all?
1
That is a very wild exaggeration. Voter fraud has been extremely rare.
2
Well, it all looks relatively positive for Democrats in 2020.
Just like it looked in 2016.
Let’s be clear, Democrats didn’t really win this time. Republicans lost.
With the awful embarrassment of Trump leading the party, Republicans should have been crushed. Instead, they were merely beaten.
So now is NOT the time to say, keep up that winning strategy Democrats! Because it’s NOT a winning strategy.
Now is the time to say, “We got lucky that the Republicans are putting themselves beyond the pale of decent society. Let’s use this time to our advantage and rebuild a new party for the future.”
However, I fully expect Schumer and Pelosi to be returned to party leadership next year. Therefore, I look forward to a so-so election in 2020.
3
@Objectively Subjective There is some truth that Trump lost, but Democrats did win. Exciting candidates, a strong issues based campaign centering on health care and integrity, and a great get out the vote strategy. With the right candidate, the Dems may be looking at a sweep in 2020.
9
2020 will be as much about who, and what, the Democratic alternative is as it will be about Trump.
5
"Other Midwestern swing states, however, were a mirror image of Ohio, with Democrats achieving sweeping wins across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota."
Pennsylvania is NOT a midwestern state. It is part of the Mid-Atlantic region. Pittsburgh and Erie are closer to New York City than Chicago. And the state has voted Democratic in presidential elections for a long time now, except for 2016 (where Trump won by about 20,000 votes - that's all).
The state is slowly turning blue, with four women winning House seats as Democrats. The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and one senator (plus 7 judges on the state Supreme Court) are all Democrats.
Don't compare Pennsylvania to Ohio or Indiana. There's quite a difference. And PA will be a swing state in 2020, this time for the Democratic presidential candidate. Count on it.
21
Can we stop calling Pennsylvania a “midwestern” state. Perhaps in the context of this article the state has more in common with Iowa than say NY or NJ (though I beg to differ), the fact is that PA is a Mid-Atlantic state, and also is very similar (in terms of voting) to VA (rural areas red, suburban purple) or NC (cities are blue oases in otherwise red states).
8
@CMT
Philly is certainly mid-Atlantic.
But we must remember what James Carville said: Pennsylvania is Philly and Pittsburgh, and Alabama in between.
---
I say this with no disrespect. I live in deep-blue Atlanta (surrounded by Georgia). I grew up in a blue part of NC when Jesse Helms was our senator.
3
President Trump's behavior is a mirror image of the growing malaise the Republicans are experiencing. That election night the damage was done, and Trump, ironically, has been equaling the damage he didn't even know had happened yet. The Gonzo press conference, the firing of Sessions and hiring of Whitaker, the pouting in Paris, the conspiracy theories in Florida and the down time on 'Arlington' Day are all reflections of the angst that has been developing in the President.
13
Democrats can win Ohio if they deploy Sherrod Brown's strategy of standing up for workers of all stripes. The state has always tilted slightly to the right, but Brown won another re-election easily. The new governor, Mike DeWine, is a moderate Republican won a smaller victory and picked up a lot of people who can't stand Trump but liked the steady hand of moderate John Kasich.
The assertion that Ohio is some kind of lock for the GOP now is a myth with no more truth than Wisconsin now being a lock again for the Democrats. They beat Scott Walker by a single point.
If the Democrats develop a serious strategy to help the people of the Rust Belt, they can win both Wisconsin and Ohio, along with Iowa. If they don't, they can easily lose all three.
8
There are 4 reasons to vote for Trump or his GOP acolytes:
1. You're wealthy, and want more money.
2. You're a radical fundamentalist, and want a radical fundamentalist Judiciary.
3. You don't like foreigners, or minorities, and want them suppressed.
4. You're uninformed.
These are not mutually exclusive groups.
234
@Paul - And yet you cannot dictate who citizens will vote for.
Here's your sign!
@Paul
I would put #4 at the #1 spot.
10
What worries me is that despite the GOP's efforts to win by gerrymandering, flooding the media with false information, and voter restriction laws, they will only try harder next time around. Remember, if Trump's nationalist party cannot convince you of their brilliance by lies, they may try convincing you by force. Removing the WH press pass of Jim Acosta for no reason other than the President didn't like his questions, is only the beginning
38
The silence from mitch mcconnell is deafening.
As the majority leader in the Congress and WH ruled by his party the list of accomplishments is truly embarrassing.
If ever there was any doubt that mitch mcconnell is bought and paid for, the last two years should have cleared it up.
It is beyond doubt the mitch does what is best for the conservative movement only and could care less about the needs of anyone in KY or any other state.
The proof: he had the legislative power to do whatever he wanted for 2 years!!!
He showed us what was important to him!
22
@Is_the_audit_over_yet - Actually Sen Mitch McConnell will most likely still be Senate Majority Leader. no need for him to comment.
It is really up to the Democratic House to produce legislation.
3
Obama lost 60 house seats in the midterms, and went on to win a second term, so I wouldn’t put the cart ahead of the horse and assume this affects Trumps 2020 chances. Remember , the only two times a sitting president held on to the House in midterms was (1) in a time of war
8
@XLER Yeah, the article pointed out your exact same point explicitly. Did you read it?
6
When Proposal 2 passed on the ballot , Michigan jerrymandering was voted out .. A neutral panel will draw district lines ... A musy in all the red states! Make the electoral process fair and transparent! It matters !
11
@paul - Indeed all States should form a commission to review districts - before Court-ordered reviews. Citizens should demand this.
11
@RenegadePriest - Was there not a State which had a gerrymandering review on the ballot?
Well every State should want that.
3
Trump is doing a nice job of destroying his ability to be re-elected. Be patient.
10
@DENOTE MORDANT A lot of that will depend on the Democractic nominee. I can tell you as a slightly left of center Democrat that I am not excited bout Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kristen Gillibrand, or Corey Booker - especially after their ridiculous grandstanding lately.
Will we have an electable candidate??
5
Add Bernie to that list
1
@Clint Well, if you don’t vote for the Democrat, then the candidate won’t win. And we will be far worse off than now. Without Democratic power, your ideological purity won’t matter. With Democratic power, some of your ideological views may become mainstream, just not in pure form. Otherwise, with Republicans in charge, progressive ideas may just be “blowing in the wind.”
2
Just one nit to pick with Mr. Burns' article: He quotes Lt. Gov.-elect of Ohio, Jon Husted, who has been Ohio's Secretary of State since 2011, without noting that, in that office, Husted has been one of the most aggressive officials in the GOP's full frontal assault on the voting rights of minorities throughout the country. Husted's legacy of purging minority voters on illegitimate and spurious grounds, severely limiting polling places, voting days and voting hours in minority communities and other similarly discriminatory acts is a disgrace.
Given Husted's leading role in voter suppression, by simply quoting him about the urban/rural divide in voting preferences, Mr. Burns leaves an incomplete and misleading impression about the full explanation for voting outcomes in Ohio.
16
On the West Coast we are familiar with the sneaker wave. It rolls in looking like the preceding waves, but just keeps on rolling until it soaks your feet or knocks them off them. Rather than a tsunami this election was a blue sneaker wave, still rolling, still knocking down Republicans.
20
Some years ago it was accepted wisdom that the Democrats could not win the presidency unless there was one Southerner on the ticket. Now the Democratic reality is that there must be at least one woman on the ticket, and preferably at the top.
4
@Michael
Are we really that narrow minded?
1
Overcoming rural American opinions will be a significant challenge for the Democrats. There are several obstacles to overcome.
In the county where I live, for example, many local offices rarely have a Democrat, or any opposition, running. Candidates run unopposed and, in cases, some seats are "passed" from one generation to another.
Democrats a seen as liberal outsiders, along with many other adjectives. Folks are often locked into that mindset, regardless of issues.
Rural "liberals" seem to be old/older or much younger (under 25). The older ones are passing and many of the younger will move away as soon as possible. Which leaves a concentrated anti-Dem core, often single issue voters (abortion, gun rights, conservative religious). They have had a taste of serious power now, swaying significant numbers to even moderate positions is not going to be easy, particularly with no one to lead such movements.
I miss the moderates, from both parties. I miss the flexibility, versus the polarization. The rampant fear and ease of spreading vile half truths and outright lies leaves me to wonder what needs to happen to knock some sense into our collective minds and hearts.
20
@doktorij
You could be describing Morgan County, West Virginia, where I live. My local Indivisible group managed to get two Democrats to run for County Commission and State House of Delegates -- but they were handily defeated, as was the wonderful Tally Sergeant running against our Congressman, Alex Mooney, a zero, despite her running on health care -- so desperately needed by West Virginians.
It's a glum situation for the disadvantaged people stuck in these places.
14
@doktorij
Keep trying. The effort is worth it in the long run.
Michael Dukakis carried West Virginia as recently as 1988. And Doug Jones won in Alabama last year.
5
Pew Research Center (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/14/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/): "In 2016, the percentage of women giving birth in the past year was higher among immigrants (7.4%) than among the U.S. born (5.9%)." And: "Looking forward, immigrants and their descendants are projected to account for 88% of U.S. population growth through 2065, assuming current immigration trends continue." You do the Math to calculate Republican's future shall the continue down this road.
2
@Xavi
Unless you are Native American or born abroad, we are children all immigrants.
2
@Still Waiting for a NBA Title
Do you think native Americans sprung out of the American soil? They immigranted here too, just longer ago, and not necessarily first.
1
@Still Waiting for a NBA Title - Love the nom de plume! West Valley City!
Xavi - and yet the Red Flood is pretty extensive.
There was no Blue Wave.
The Democrats did everything they could to turn out the vote
and failed to take the Senate, where incumbent Democratic
Senators lost.
The High Water mark of Trump-Populism may have passed
but this article has failed to seek to understand why so many
still support Trump.
3
@John Brown
That wasn't the point of the article. And yes, there was a wave, and it would have been more impressive save for gerrymandered Congressional districts. It just wasn't big enough to save incumbents in red states such as North Dakota.
8
@ John Brown. It’s just math. A blue wave happened. Period.
Let’s keep it simple. Prior to 11/6 the Dems had no majority and no subpoena power to check this administration.
Now they do!
One can argue the number, but a shift (wave) has taken place and there is new landscape.
The next “wave” will be bigger and permanent as the demographic makeup of the US continues to change moving away from old white guys.
7
@John Brown actually "The Blue Wave" is a simple motion of the hand that says good-bye to trumps crazy reality TV show.
Watch closely for the next few months as trump becomes even more ineffective and nuttier than ever.
Goodbye trump, hello reason!
6
Over the next two years, as voters in Trumpland age, get sick and get closer to retirement they'll begin to understand that scaling back "entitlement" programs means them. I hope that when the climb down from the tractor they don't twist their knee and come to find out that their now preexisting condition has made it all but impossible to get healthcare.
37
First, why do you and other political writers call PA a mid-western state? We here don't think so!
Though our far western border is with Ohio, our nearest neighbors are NJ, NY, and Maryland, and our eastern border is the Atlantic Ocean. Pennsylvania is a Mid-Atlantic state, and culturally it has more in common with the Northeast region than with the mid-west. (Thankfully, we don't have their weather either.)
Second, in discussing Florida as a key state in 2020, why isn't anyone paying attention to the enfranchisement of 1.5 million ex-felons? Since they will probably lean heavily democratic, they will put a huge thumb on the scale if the Democratic Party does what it needs to do - register as many ex-felons as possible.
10
Gerrymandering is still the heart of the GOP tyranny in some states. In North Carolina the GOP won 50.3% and the Democrats won ca. 49% of the popular vote for the House of Representatives. Yet, the GOP won 10 of the 13 House seats (77%). Judge after judge, both Democratic appointed and GOP appointed, have ruled the NC gerrymandering illegal. But the five Catholic GOP Supreme Court justices refuse to rule this unlawful. In the last case in July 2018 the five GOP justices punted, sending the case back to the lower courts. Their obvious purpose was to give the GOP the advantage in the November election.
20
The midterms certainly do represent an abrupt shift, one than convinces me that the collective consciousness of the electorate inherently recognizes that “leadership” based on lies, insult, hate, and division is simply not healthy or sustainable.
For anybody.
Sort of like the way white blood cells gather and rush to the site of infection.
However, the patient (the small d democratic republic that is America)is still at grave risk.
Continued treatment and stronger medicine is needed.
Orange pox is lethal and can spread like wildfire if not taken seriously and addressed with immediacy.
Be vigilant.
10
Re: Gerrymandering. Have to hand it to the GOP. They seem to be in control every time there is a census & use their advantage to align districts in their favor. Democrats need to smarten up & win elections in 2020 so they can regain control of those gerrymandered districts.
8
Very important article, NYTIMES. Thank you for it.
That said, the Democratic Party, state-by-state and nat'lly, must build on these gains. If they cannot, then this electoral outcome bringing them the power of the House will amount to naught. Voters are fickle. Only honest-to-goodness coalition building among different blocs of voters - by Democratic reps., in the states and the House - and the delivery by Dem. states of policies designed to improve people's quality of life in realtime [e.g., healthcare and good public schools] can accomplish the feat [of voters committed by party, aka partisanship].
As with these elections [kudos to Nancy Pelosi], so moving forward. In the House they need to stay focused on practical matters, while allowing the investigative committees to wield subpoena power when necessary.
Trump and his GOP associates [et al] will scream and throw temper tantrums 'til 11/2020 arrives, but as Schiff has already said, "Trump has been on a war footing with the Democratic Party" for some time, since at least 2016 when he won the GOP nomination.
In 2018's midterm elections the Dems. proved they are a big-tent party, from modetrates pitching themselves in states with many conservative people, to progressives pitching medicare-for-all.
The GOP under Trump, on the other hand, is a cultish party with supporters regularly demonstrating their affinity for the leader's bullying displays. This is not likely to end anytime soon.
4
"Democrats may also have a tougher time winning some of these districts in a presidential year, when voter turnout is even higher"
There's no reason I can see that would benefit the GOP. The reason Dems did so well in the recent midterms is because they showed up at similar percentage as Republicans. When a Dem is pres. the GOP usually shows up at a considerably higher percentage.
Both Trump lovers and Trump haters were highly motivated to vote in the mid-terms and both should be even more motivated when Trump's job is on the line.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/do-republicans-really-have-a-big-turnout-advantage-in-midterms/
There is a long ways to go, but the greatest danger to Dem chances is if they foolishly pursue the wrong strategies between now and then.
5
"...The best news of the night for Mr. Trump may have been his party’s triumph in Ohio. Republicans won the governorship there, along with every partisan statewide election, save one: the Senate race, in which Sherrod Brown, a POPULIST Democrat, was elected to a third term".
Democrats have their answers right there. Senator Sherrod Brown wasn't afraid of being himself. Obama wasn't afraid of being himself.
Look at both Democrat candidates who lost in past presidential elections: Kerry, Clinton. They were Republican light. What differed those candidates from the GOP were abortion and LGBT rights.
Voters like authenticity. Just look at the people who won last Tuesday.
7
This year, Florida Election officials are matching signatures, from their voter registration file against signatures on provisional ballots and Vote by Mail ballots, to verify the identity of voters thus avoiding illegal votes. They have said there must be a complete character match of the voter’s name for the vote to be considered valid. Even a period out of place (such as after a middle initial) would cause a non-match. This seems to me to be opening a new opportunity for election officials to introduce fraud into the election. I believe the process for matching names would be as follows:
They have a digital file of registered voters. Names on that file will be matched against names on a new file of names created during the voting process. It would be so easy for a software programmer to edit the file of registered voters inserting an extra character into the person's name. That would cause a non-match. After the election was over and the winning candidate was determined and agreed upon, the election official would just restore the original registration voters file as it was before the election and nobody would be the wiser. A programmer could insert iteration into the software to cause as many non-matches as were desired to win a race.
3
For 2020 the Democrats in the House must make sure the public clearly understands who is obstructing legislation and why; identify where corruption lies and who is behind it; point out violations of the Constitution, treaties, and agreements; and clearly show who is gaining from Trump's economy and who is not.
11
Not sure that Pennsylvania should be considered a Midwestern state. It's population center has always been East and South of the Appalachian Mountains. More than half of the Commonwealth's population resides in the 12 most Southeastern counties - comprising less than 15% of its land area. From Philadelphia, one can be in downtown NYC in less than 90 minutes and in DC in a little over two hours by train. I have lived in Eastern Pennsylvania all my life and I don't know of anyone who considers themselves a Midwestern.
7
I can quickly and easily make secure transactions that show up in my bank account within minutes. We need to get away from these various voting and county machines, and move into the future. I trust that a lot more than I trust citizen volunteers hand counting mail-in and disputed provisional ballots.
16
I’m glad that Latino-Americans are finally beginning to make their electoral presence felt. Democrats are making solid progress in the Southwest due to strong support from Latino-Americans. While clearly a diverse demographic group, there are still millions of working Latino-Americans in the middle and lower classes who would be responsive not merely to a pro-immigration agenda but to a progressive economic agenda that features living wages, guaranteed income, free public college, and affordable healthcare. To continue the Democratic Party’s electoral progress, Democrats must prioritize getting Latino-Americans registered as Democrats, educated in civics, specifically in the political process and current issues, and actively voting in local, state and federal elections.
10
@Howard Gregory If you listen to immigrants, you will discover that many people from Cuba and Mexico, and other nations, who came here through the proper channels are pretty strongly against people coming here as undocumented immigrants. I was surprised at how many did not favor creating a pathway to citizenship or even protection for Dreamers. I would not say that all Latin American, Mexican and Cuban voters are Democrats. Many are Republicans.
6
In any other country where the ruling party was allowed to run the election, decide who can vote, set up obstacles to prevent people they don't like from voting, draw the electoral boundaries however they like, then count the votes (but not necessarily all of the them) and finally declare the winners, The United States would be calling loudly for intervention, reform and the installation of democratic processes.
254
@Michael O'Farrell
...and calling it a "Banana Republic"
19
As an instrument of representative government, the US Senate is fundamentally flawed. The basic concepts of majority rule and governance with consent of the governed cannot tolerate a circumstance where voters in small or sparsely populated states have dramatically outsized political power. California, with 40 million people, gets two Senators. The populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska combined are about 10% of California’s yet they collectively have 8 Senators. The principle of protecting the rights of the voting minority is important – but not to the degree where 4 million people have 40 times the voting clout of 40 million people.
This is only going to get worse. The blue states with larger populations and stronger economies will continue to grow and the population imbalance will become even greater. If current demographic trends continue, in the next 10-20 years we will have a situation where 70% of the US population lives in 20 states. That means 30% of the population could have a voting majority in the Senate. That is not democracy.
265
@Joe Bob the III
In fact, though the complaints about gerrymandering are focused on the House, because that's where political power was used to mis-shape the Congressional districts, the Senate's disproportional representation is actually a worse example of gerrymandering because it was done by the Founding Fathers and will be much more difficult to undo.
55
@Joe Bob the IIIn So how do you fix this? Constitutinally? Isn't that what the House is supposed to redress? And why Wilbur Ross is suggesting the citizenship question? My suspicion is that if we can curtain gerrymandering and voter suppression, the system will work well enough. And yes, it's time to revisit the value of the Electoral College, given its outdated reason to be.
16
@Joe Bob the III
"The basic concepts of majority rule and governance with consent of the governed cannot tolerate a circumstance where voters in small or sparsely populated states have dramatically outsized political power."
Under "majority rule," 51% of the people could vote to take all your stuff and put you in prison for objecting. The founders hated the idea of majority rule and set up a Constitution that prohibits it.
4
The only way to overcome gerrymandering is to boost voter turnout so high in 2020 that they completely overrun any kind of advantage those lines provided, and there's still plenty of room to improve voter turnout.
30
@ziqi92 But the advantage is still there ... If 100 % of people vote , the advantage of Jerrymandering would be more pronounced !
2
Gerrymandering involves concentrating Party A in a few districts and spreading Party B over more districts - works for B as long as it's not overwhelmed by a wave, as seems to have happened in a few districts. Agreed if 100% of voters voted, some gerrymandering might still prevail, but probably less, depending on the distribution of A&B voters.
2
Republicans hate democracy. As a result, they will employ any means possible to attain power including voter intimidation, voter registration road blocks, voter ID made as difficult to obtain as possible, voting machines with proprietary software to rig vote counts, and Russian bots promoting fake news and conspiracy theories.
This is war by other means. Anyone who actually believes in democracy and the right of each citizen to vote had better do whatever it takes to get registered and vote in each election to turn back the hordes of fascists who support Trump. Otherwise, the autocrats and white supremacists will destroy the constitution, and with it, the USA.
If you thought the fight was over...think again. The mid-terms were only one battle in this ongoing war. Better steel yourself for the next two years as it will not be pretty. Trump wants to follow his mentor, Putin, and become a dictator. Everyone needs to be engaged so Trump can be prevented from dissolving the rule of law and taking control.
It's going to be a bumpy ride.
115
This war was started by Reagan and the GOP has been fighting hard ever since. The Dems have only lost because they are habitually asleep. So how do you get a soldier to wake up when he is sleeping on a battlefield? Can an army win with soldiers who do not care? Democracy goes not to the majority of the country but to the majority of those who take the time to vote. The GOP wants to win, the Dems could care less, how are you going to change that?
1
Not to mention the incredible success of women in this election is a huge omission. Women roared and marched and voted. The Republican Party defines impotence and weakness; let alone whiteness. Their time is up, and being nice in the next two years, to all the Democratic women who won large and small, is not going to change anyone's mind that any Republican has their children, their aging parents, their aging infrastructure, their crumbling schools, or their soldier sons and daughters at the top of their agenda. The Party of Trump is a cowardly worm, crawling into the rural, hidden, places of America, hiding in voter suppression and gerrymandered victories embraced by the past, adoring the lures of racism, bigotry and violence. Millions of American women said no more, not ever, done.
136
Call me when half the country stops supporting Trump. Until then it doesn’t matter how many women get elected.
2
Once again, the only way the GOP can " Win ": Lie, Cheat and Steal.
Seriously.
37
I’m so confused. Mr Trump said the midterms were a “win” for him and the GOP. Hmmmm.
9
Do you even understand how math works? Dems who won House seats by winning more populated areas are in good shape despite losing less populated rural areas because they won where there are...more people.
5
Trump’s effect on the liberal and moderate segments of the American electorate reminds me of a famous quote by Admiral Yamamoto, who planned and directed the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
“ I believe that all we have achieved is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill it with a terrible resolve.”
74
Americans; especially American women; are tired of GOP hate; racism and anti-woman stances. Republicans push hate and fear; we are tired of GOP hate and greed. Tax scam benefitted business and the 1%.The deficit is exploding. Democrats will save our health care; save Medicare and save Social Security; all of which the GOP planned to take away. GOP strength is in rural; under educated areas; GOP uses their electorate as suckers. GOP rural voters are the ones hit hardest by tariffs. Economic collapse is coming; stock market sliding is first warning sign. Will GOP rural; under educated base stick with them when Depression hits? Ray Sipe
24
Rural America is an aging America. All good politics is local politics. Trump's policies will continue to damage farmers and other small businesses, and the small town economies that depend on local prosperity. Trump's policies will continue to threaten the health care and retirement of middle and low income people without much of a safety net. Good strong Democratic candidates who focus on local issues and local solutions will run strongly against those offering spurious solutions to spurious threats, if they have the discipline to stay on message and not get sucked into nationalist drama or corporate shenannigans.
19
The gop is shooting themselves in the face. Not foot. If they behaved even a little less crazy they might be able to stop the train wreck that they will inevitably be in. The calls for retribution will be far more severe the longer this goes on. I personally would love to see Trump, Spence and Kavanaugh removed. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and other hate mongers must be shut down. Laws need to be changed to prevent another trump from ever taking power. Popular vote for one thing. Like I said the retaliation will be far more severe. Self respecting republicans must stand up to their parties disgusting behavior. Save your ship before it sinks.
I have to keep reminding myself that most voters aren’t stupid. Even though trump acts like they are. They know he’s a liar and eventually will tire of defending his endless insanity. His demonization of every American that disagrees with his every lie or cruel act should offend everyone, including the right. If you’re a Republican I recommend supporting the Democrats to remove all those crazies from your party. The sooner you do so the easier it will be on all of us.
22
All of this went down during a busy couple of weeks for me, so I've only this moment realized how incredibly relieved I am. The most important outcome of this election is that America is not quite as far down the road to unfettered corruption and authoritarianism as we thought. It was at least possible for voters to deliver a stinging blow to this administration. Please, please Democrats, don't lead with compromise. This is life or death for America. Knock them down and don't let them get back up again.
107
Obama was the king of compromise and he is gone. But Pelosi and Schumer still think compromise is the bees knees. Be prepared to watch the Democratic wave squandered by the weak leadership left over from the Obama years.
Sounds like some of you Coastal Elites need to take one for the team and move to the Midwest to help swing those red states more blue.
8
@D. Baker
But we can't find jobs there! Lived in the Midwest for 16 years and moved to blue-state MD two years ago. For a job.
5
@D. Baker With Housing prices being what they are on the coasts, that’s already happening. Cities like Nashville, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis are seeing a big influx of New Yorkers and Californians.
2
The repubs are a mafia and care only about the wealthy, this most any thinking person knows with minimal life experience.
And sociologists and psychologists have known for decades that far too many people let other people do their thinking for them, and simply vote based on the group they identify with.
Facts and reason don't matter, just vote against an imagined enemy and for no taxes, and for that fairy tale called "trickle down".
So tump and many red senators will likely win 2020 in most traditional red states. Frightening ... but there you have it.
So the next election will be fraught with danger for those of us who care about average people, fairness, decency, and regulating pollution and industry monopolies.
And who care about the environment, the infrastructure, health care, the collective good, fair taxation and listening to scientists and true experts for guidance, etc.
Even though it may be close, I predict tump will not be re-elected, I think enough dems, independents and those sick of the current insanity will just tip it away from the fascist.
He may come close but he won't win. But we all have to do our part to insure that of course. Let's do it!
9
@dre -
One can only hope so. Absent any legislative wins that clearly support other than the top 5% of Americans, Trump’s current strategy will hopefully be starved of any accomplishments for Republicans to run on.
Ironically, he may have to depend on bipartisan compromise with House Democrats in order to pass legislation on key initiatives like infrastructure, lower drug costs, healthcare, and education. He may not like it but he can’t fight new House investigations and continue his xenophobic and racist rants and still win.
Americans are not stupid, for the most part. Without visible positive impacts to their lives, they’ll eventually tire of all talk and no walk by this administration. At the same time, House Democrats mustn’t overly pursue retributive investigations at the expense of creating constructive, actionable policies that enhance citizens’ well being and reduce inequalities.
It’s not so much a fine line as a smart one. Show that power can be employed effectively for good purposes rather than on behalf of donor interests. Maybe that’s too much common sense, but we must reconnect the interests of constituents with those of their representatives.
2
American democracy has become an oxymoron.
On the one hand there are elections for a bewildering number of offices from county insurance commissioner to, worst of all, elections for judges and district attorneys, positions that encourage lawyers to vie for keeping the US the world leader in punitive justice and child poverty, and slave labour through the prison industrial complex.
On the other hand the electoral college, gerrymandering and floods of money keeps electing parties and candidates without regard to the actual election results. The U.S. is a plutocracy, not a democracy, whose elections constantly confirm the primacy of money over citizens.
A Supreme Court which should defend citizens renders decisions to make the people subservient to the ruling oligarchs electing candidates who lose the popular vote like Bush and Trump.
In Canada we have eight week elections with five parties putting forth policies. There is choice and the election system works under nonpartisan commissions which limit expenditutes and draw constituency boundaries.
Now your system has elected a vile, contemptible man and ignorant idiot who is an unmitigated disaster and who makes nuclear war and climate disaster far more likely.
Canada and the U.S. have integrated economies to our common benefit.
And you have a president who repeatedly states the lie that Canada runs a trade surplus. When confronted with the lie Trump just makes it worse.
29
It’s making Trump very nervous. He is becoming very cranky.
25
Trump touts the great economy, the stock market, the tax cuts etc., and somehow still got beat bad. Now Mr. Trump, imagine you inherit the worst economy since the great depression and also happen to be African American....I am guessing you would have lost 150 seats in the house!
12
If only the one-trick-pony voters in Indiana and North Dakota didn't dump their Democrat Senators, we'd be able to sign and stamp McConnell's termination papers.
32
One factor I don't hear mentioned is how heavily gerrymandered the districts became in 2010 and how do you compare votes made now in those districts to before they were gerrymandered. In addition, many Governorships were won which will disallow Republicans from continuing to tilt districts to the GOP with the results of the 2020 census. Factor in Florida allowing 1 million plus new voters and the Democrats win even with the strength of the economy and this could be called nothing but a huge win by the Democrats.
6
It is curious every vote recount benefits the democrat party.
And that is the reason FL vote recounts are being tortured. The recounts will stop until the attest democratic candidates were victorious in the elections. Whether the votes recounted are valid or not, is not the point. Whether they are found weeks after the election is not the point.
Er, unless they are from military overseas. Those votes are to be deemed ineligible for recount or counting them all together.
@F1Driver. When the GOP strategy is to disenfranchise people and make voting difficult for certain voters, that’s the price you pay. Many voters in Georgia were knocked off the rolls by Brian Kemp, who no doubt had his candidacy in mind. As a result, many people voted by provisional ballot, and these have to be sorted and validated, or not. The GOP also devoted less in the way of resources to heavily Democratic urban areas, so election officials have to do more with less. Count, baby, count!
3
Time for Senate representation for Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico!
More Americans live in Puerto Rico than: Iowa or Utah or Mississippi or Arkansas or Nevada or Kansas or New Mexico or Nebraska or West Virginia & Vermont & Wyoming combined, or Idaho & Hawaii combined, or Maine & Rhode Island & Montana combined, or Delaware & the Dakotas & Alaska combined.
36
Maybe Trump is more popular in rural areas because there is less anonymity in communities with low populations, and people can't get away with lying as easily. People in these areas are, therefore, more honest themselves, and may just not believe that anyone, much less a prominent national figure, could lie so blatantly about important matters. They probably don't want to believe it, either. It would shatter their world. But democrats, for the good of the nation, must penetrate their denial and make them recognize the horrible truth.
9
What about the Southeastern US? Does Cunningham’s win in SC not provide a connect the dots pathway along the coast from Maine to Miami?
5
With blank ballots fraudulently filled-in and legitimate ones dumped by the loads almost a week after the elections prove basically corrupt Dems are hard at it again- send in the National Guard.
1
@blog.com Republican conspiracy theory writ large there. Please show us those blank ballots and legitimate ones that were dumped first; then show us how the Democrats are the ones behind it all. A little hint; the bags of votes not counted were votes arriving after the deadline in Democratic leaning counties; not exactly something that would support the Democrats holding them back.
4
There is nothing to substantiate your claim other than a few disgruntled members of the GOP including the biggest liar of them all making false accusations. All votes should be counted, right?
6
There is a statistic that might shed some light on the degree to which gerrymandering of House districts perverts the will of the people and that is a comparison of the popular vote in a state and the percentage of House seats held by each party. It would be nice to see those statistics for all 50 states.
3
I watched some of CBS News' election night coverage. I noticed participants in their roundtable chats kept referring to the Republicans' use of "identity politics," rather than the more truthful and accurate "racism." By trying to remain "impartial" and refusing to tell it like it is, CBS helps legitimize racism as a legitimate political viewpoint.
12
Gerrymandering is patently unconstitutional and anti-democratic. Let's see if the Roberts' Court is in Trump and McConnell's fascist back pockets or if it is going to take a stand to keep the United States of America a functioning democracy. Gerrymandering needs to be reversed. Have some guts, Mr. Chief Justice.
22
This could offer some possibility that our human civilization and species survive.
But there remains the probability that the Oligarch-Money Mobsters and their devoted believers in the god delusion will ignite self-driving forces of climate change that will kill of our descendants.
5
After firing Jeff Sessions and now going after Kirstjen Nielsen, it appears that Trump has decided to double down on autocracy. Doing so will of course leave him further isolated and unhinged, so here's to hoping there's a 2020 to vote him out.
5
Congrats to Dems and the left for delivering only 2.6% of the vote to the Green candidate in the Arizona Senate race, which this time was not enough to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
4
One GOOD thing is that the voter base is getting younger, and the young folks will NOT waste thier time with racists and homophobes.
Young people don't want to drive cars ( like grandpa with his guzzler Pontiac), or live in ruralia where there are only minimum wage jobs (and 'the farm" uses computers today, not farmers), work in the packing plants or chicken plucking factory ( immigrants who they WELCOME to the US will do this as a first step up...)
Also... the TV media that young people watch today is all multicultural....even the commercials. Time is marching forward in spite of the GOP and Trump.
Other countries have YOUNG vibrant open minded leaders who embrace the future.
I think the days of grumpy, sour, venal white old man politics is coming to an end. No one wants some bitter old man yearning for 1970 to return.
Trump voters who have been promised the moon will slowly realize that the dirt mines are NOT going to flourish again ( coal), the 1000 person factory where you go in the door at 18 and out at 62 with a lifelong pension is gone, and you will most likely be working beside someone who is ethnically different than yourself. Get over it.
In Pence's home state of Indiana, NIPSCO is CLOSING all it's coal plants. The RV plants that employ hundreds are feeling the effects of tariffs....I can't understand how Indiana supports this administration.
They can SEE that the promises DON'T align with reality.
Wait til tax time and they see how they were duped.
58
@Ignatz As I've said before, there are people who are happy to live on their knees as long as they can do it on the back of someone who's face down in the mud.
1
Spanberger's victory is a HUGE deal, turning a red district blue. It happened in Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and California, and may happen yet in Mississippi. If my experience is any indication, voters who once were willing to support Republicans have been so burned by the GOP's scorched earth policy that they will NEVER push the R-lever again! Republicans and their Russian handlers are a clear and present danger to this country. We have let Trump-Putin threaten our very existence. Fight back or die!
8
For Democrats the best strategy going forwards is to support the Republicans in every way in their efforts to kill Medicare in the red states. It’s the old folks who will die off first, and they’re the Republican base.
2
Demand for hate and fear peaked 2 years ago. Love and hope are on the rise again.
The Map can't save the Republicans.
6
Why is that contested election results always happen when the Democrat candidate is losing?
1
@Mr. Moderate Because the republicans didn't suppress the vote to their standards
4
Hmmm...strange. You forgot to mention the most important wins of the night for Democrats - in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, the three states Trump picked up to win the presidency. We flipped governors to the D column in WI and MI; flipped 2 MI house seats, 3 PA house seats; kept Democratic senators in all three states. Without these, Trump can't win. Let's keep up the momentum there and in the Southwest.
8
2020 will be a massive GOP defeat. This year is just a preview. After 2 years of the newly elected Democratic House, the conclusion of the Mueller probe and a likely recession coming, the Trump GOP will lose badly both in Washington and in the states.
Without their gerrymandered state maps, starting in 2022 the GOP will he flung into the worst place they have been since the post-Watergate 1974 election.
8
Democrats should be careful about projecting 2018 onto 2020. Remember that in 2010 the Democrats were steamrolled in the midterms, yet Obama won reelection in 2012.
Also, Trump has a big card to play -- the war card. Nothing rallies people around the president like a military conflict.
1
I don't understand this fixation on Florida. Adding 1.6 million people, convicted felons who were previously unable to vote, to the voter's rolls should fundamentally alter the electoral map in that state. So long as Democrats can continue their efforts to register voters and get out the vote, Florida may well become a reliably blue state well into the future.
5
I guess it wasn't a blue wave that you would surf but rather a very slow moving blue tsunami that started somewhere off the coast of Maine, extended in width down to Florida and is creeping across the nation and rising as it goes....from sea to shining sea if you will.
And from the first scary moments of early returns last Tuesday night to this morning I have been feeling better and better.
10
What happened to KS? Worth a mention, no, or did I miss it.
3
The pundit analysis have flipped back and forth so many times since the election, one might be inclined to think the pundits actually have no idea what they are talking about. It’s almost as though the pundits are distant observers looking at a distorted image through a telescope and guessing what they are seeing.
For those who have had enough of Trump’s lies, cruelty, and kleptocracy; and want America to return to sanity, don’t let the punditry make you dejected or make you complacent. Just ignore it. Why does it matter? The work’s still the same. Donate if you can spare a few bucks. Volunteer if you can spare some time. And above all, keep on voting. Vote, vote, vote.
5
From today's NY Times: "...Mr. Trump’s party remains ascendant in rural America, giving Republicans a durable advantage in the Senate, where less-populous states have influence greatly disproportionate to their voting numbers."
Nothing new. Farmers go where most of us go: "Follow the money." As long as Congress keeps bribing them with subsidies they will vote with their pocketbooks. They have no other meaningful agenda that I can see.
6
Of the last five presidential elections, the Republicans won the popular vote only once. Yet we've had three Republican presidential terms.
Let that sink in.
32
Ah, gerrymandering - the cudgel the GOP uses to "win". It's illegal, but who cares? To paraphrase Trump, when you're in power, you can do anything. You can redistrict your state and win. You can suppress voting and win. You can accuse the other party of fraud, stop vote recounts, and go on national television attacking the other party, the media, and imaginary enemies and win. Who loses? America.
We brag about our democratic process. We insist that we have free and open elections. But do we? In Trump's America over the past two years, the loudest voices, the deepest pockets, and the dark influence of Putin's Russia won. The most pernicious beliefs - nationalism, protectionism, ethnocentricity - those "ideals" triumphed over concern for human beings, kindness and generosity of spirit.
But a new day has dawned. Let us move forward with honesty and goodness as our guides. I have great faith in our newly elected Congress. Please don't let me down.
21
The GOP was lost the minute Trump opened his mouth as the newly elected president. He won by luck, but the spin masters has tried to paint him as a strategic mastermind. He’s been a - very severe - bump on the road towards the goal of perfecting the republic.
3
The Dem victory in the House is a public mandate to oppose Trump and his policies. Let the investigations begin.
17
@Casey I say send the senate a revised ACA bill
protecting preexcisting conditions, a step toward Medicare for all and prescription drug reform and let them vote it down.
6
You suggest that Iowa is trending red but the numbers suggest the opposite. In rounded numbers 2014 showed Republican Congressional vote was 594,000 to Democrats 499,000.
2016 R 814 D 674
2018 R 608 D 658
That looks to me as if the trend is blue. Am I missing something?
1
Doesn't NC have to redraw their congressional boundary lines before 2020? Didn't a judge order that?
2
I wonder if any conservatives of conscience -- assuming any are left -- are considering leaving the Republican Party.
Senator Collins? Senator Murkowski? Senator Gardner? This may be your last chance to redeem yourselves, and do what's best for the country before 2020 rolls around.
Why keep providing cover for Donald Trump? He is destroying this country and everything we believe in, liberals and conservatives alike. If you broke away from him and his criminal gang, it would be a very good and courageous act. Think about it.
5
This article does not mention the Utah 4th Congressional seat is still not final - Incumbent Mia Love (R) is losing to Ben McAdams (D) by 5000 votes.
Utah County is having troubles counting the mail-in ballots which all registered citizens received prior to Election Day.
But Utah citizens are not complaining because we know we have a transparent process.
3
With regards to Trump's tweets regarding the count/recount in Florida, it amazes me how local control is such a bed rock principle of the Republican philosophy - except when it isn't.
8
Trump is going to make the GOP radioactive for at least a generation. Short-term gain, long-term loss--and richly-deserved.
7
Well, Trump won running as a populist which turned out to be a bald faced lie and maybe the members of Cult 45 may eventually come to see the results promised by the liar-in-chief really didn't help them. Instead of running another establishment/corporate candidate the democrats need to run an actual populist with ideas that are wildly popular across all demographics and tell the public like Sanders did "you'll have to give me a coalition of politicians that can get these things done, I can't do it alone.
Maybe a Klobuchar/O'Rourke ticket could fit the bill. But then again Clinton is running again and after all it is the Democrats so don't hold your breath for thinking outside the box.
2
I'm thrilled with the outcome of the election. I think the most amazing result was having to listent to McConnel warn the Dems against having investigations. That I thoroughly enjoyed. He's in for a treat.
23
It is not stated why rural areas would favor Republican candidates in general. The effects of the Trump tariffs have had a serious effect on the income of farmers whose crops are no longer being exported. Is Fox News compulsory viewing in those areas? Is the NRA particularly influential? Are medical expenses of no concern for some reason?
2
Until gerrymandering is eliminated and the Electoral "College" (hardly a repository of knowledge, as the name seems to imply" is stricken from the Constitution, there will be no such thing as a truly democratic election for president. In order of harm done to the nation, the latter needs to be dealt with first; in order of damage wrought on the individual states, gerrymandering is the priority. Fortunately, both can be dealt with as "the" leading priority without one issue impeding any progress made on the other.
But this may take some time. Until the Republicans suffer through a presidential election or several where their candidate prevails in the total vote but succumbs to the Electoral College, it's unlikely they will support the elimination of their second-favorite part of the Constitution. As things currently stand, it'll be a cold day on the far side of the River Styx before that happens. And with Trump's courtpacking, we are not about to see many gerrymander cases being decided in the country's favor for a long, long while.
3
It took the GOP this long to realize that their strategy is unsustainable?
5
Ohio will no longer be gerrymandered after 2020 and the census. This *might* make a difference in the future, but, unfortunately, not in time for the 2020 presidental election. Afterwards, though... It would be nice to see gerrymandering eliminated completely. Then and only then will the elections truly represent the diverse nation we are.
3
The Senate race in Arizona in 2020 could be exceptionally interesting. If John Kyl retires before then and moderate Repub. gov. Ducey appoints McSally to finish out his term, she could find herself running against the very popular ex-Repub. Grant Woods.
Given such a scenario and her recent loss, it will be interesting to see if McSally continues to tie herself so closely to Trump.
1
It's funny how so many Republicans won on election night, but then lost when when new pro-Democrat votes were "discovered" later.
The Democrats are fortunate that this phenomenon consistently favors their candidates. If this pattern holds they will be unbeatable in 2020.
@Wiener Dog Republicans "won" on election night because much of the vote count in their favor came from the lightly populated districts that were able to report their vote counts quickly, particularly in states where paper ballots or mail-in ballots were used.
5
There is absolutely nothing to substantiate your suggestions. If so the GOP would file claims of fraud instead of mouthing off on Fox News. I believe one judge told Scott of Florida to stop the phony rhetoric. Some can not imagine many of us are fed up with the lies and nastiness coming from Trump and his minions.
6
worth noting as well that even without a Democratic governor in place to guide redistricting in Ohio, Ohio voters passed a bipartisan anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative last spring that will take effect for congressional districts drawn in 2022. Jim Jordan and his ilk can kiss their hand-picked districts goodbye, and extreme gerrymandering in the Rust Belt may become a thing of the past (at least for the next few decades).
2
looking to the future-it will be an anyone but Trump republican primary process for the 2020 election, I suspect Dan Crenshaw newly elected Houston area congressman will be Drafted by G.O.P. insiders.
much like Obama, Crenshaw has no negative record involving political works rather he is seen as a well educated war hero.
I will wait and hear him out on policy.
"If Democrats cannot cut into Republicans’ strength in areas far from major cities, they may struggle mightily to take back the upper chamber in 2020."
I think it's more about "cutting into" the systemic unfairness that gives these voters a disproportionate say. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, unfair representation in Congress, etc, are signs democracy is not what we have - we gave a tilted system that disempowers the majority.
4
Please also point out that not only did Michigan voters elect a Democratic governor, attorney general and secretary of state, we also passed - by overwhelming margins - a ballot initiative that will set up an independent commission to determine voting districts!
24
As a whole so far, Democratic senate candidates have received 14 million more votes than Republican senate candidates (roughly 48 million to 34 million), and yet Republicans added senate seats. It is another instance, like the electoral college, where rural voters in small population states have a greater voice in our democracy than urban and suburban voters. The vote was not even close to the ringing endorsement of Trump he claims.
4
But did people vote for for Democrats because they realized Republicans don't work on behalf of the middle class, or did they vote for Democrats because they require minimum standards of decency that Trump does not meet, but most Republican candidates do?
Good-bye Mimi.
Good-bye Mimi.
Good-bye Mimi - we love to see you go!
I contend now and will always contend that this election was a major loss for Democrats. As long as there is a single person in the house or senate that supports Donald Trump, America as a nation is lost.
3
In regards to Ohio maybe the Democrats should have gone with Dennis Kuchinch rather than Richard Cordray for the Governors Race. Look at the Ohio Senate Race noted Progressive Sherrod Brown handily won his re-election to the Senate 53.2% to 46.8%.
3
"And Republicans demonstrated a tenacious hold on two of the country’s biggest swing states, Ohio and Florida, giving Mr. Trump an important foothold on the presidential map."
Really? At press time, there are still recounts in Georgia and Florida, not to mention other states and races. It's not over until the last person turns off the lights and shuts the door.
1
This is very heartening news and hopefully the Democratic House will move in a more progressive, yet tempered direction in order to continue to turn "red" states "purple(ash)." Yet, with more and more educated and highly skilled workers moving to the 15 most progressive and forward cities in the country, the hollowed out states that will become more and more rural, white and lower middle class to poor, will actually attain a greater degree of power via the Senate. By 2040, only 30% of the population will control 70% of the Senate, a lopsided figure that will pit the forces of modernity against the reactionary Trumpish cult, or whatever remains of it by then. Dire minority rule of a progressive, multi-cultural majority is a recipe for disaster. Many states have seen that on the horizon and have sued the Trump Admin. dozens and dozens of times over the past 22 months in order to assert "states' rights" for issues from gun control to environmental protection under the 10th Amendment. So there is hope...up to the point the Supreme Court gets the final say.
1
As our population becomes more urban, states with tiny populations wield more and more disproportionate influence. A tiny dog is wagging a huge, and growing, tail. That is not sustainable in a democracy.
Hillary won by nearly 3 million votes. There's no reason that the person who lost by that many votes should be president. No reason that's consistent with representative government in any case.
Both the Senate and Electoral College need to be reformed. Abolishing the Electoral College would be a good start.
5
@Justin The Senate can not be "reformed" if by reform you mean that states wouldn't have equal votes. Equal suffrage in the Senate is one of the few elements in the Constitution which CAN"T be amended. Article V lays this out.
"and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate."
So unless every state agrees to making the Senate look more like the House change won't happen. It wouldn't matter if the Senate vote was 98-2 on that matter. Short of writing a new constitution, small states will have equal votes to large ones.
1
Another interesting aspect may be the dynamics of a still very thin GOP majority in the Senate. The President alienates as many traditional Republicans as he somehow seduces. If scandals continue to accumulate with more and more erratic Trump responses, how long can party "leadership" keep rational actors with increasingly purple constituents in lockstep? It would be nice of the Senate reverted to - in John McCain's words - "regular order" rather than hard line party discipline.
2
It took some times to see the results, but it took no time for this paper and others to pronounce the path as centrist (read Republican Lite) instead of Progressive despite the fact that many who won ran on unabashedly Progressive platforms.
I do not worry about Indiana- it has always been Republican. Ohio historically has been more of a Republican state than a swing state.
The areas becoming more Republican are areas that are deeply churchy. By churchy I do not mean faith - I mean culture and identity. For many, Christianity is just an identity tribe and has little to do with grace, mercy, charity and redemption.
3
This is only the beginning.
Once the findings from the special counsel are out, the power will shift irreversibly to the Democratic Party for the next few elections.
Any glimmer of hope for DJT and his followers had for 2020 ended on 11/7.
It’s taken a week and a few more “too close to call” losses for it to sink in.
Anyone that understands democracy knew this even before the midterms last week.
Again DJT is late to really figure out what a majority of the electorate already knew- DJT is done.
2
The rush to make definitive conclusions once again leads to embarrassing headlines. The media today is all about getting it first, instead of getting it right.
It reminds me of the 2012 post-elections headlines alluding that Obama might lose the popular vote (even though California’s votes hadn’t been counted yet).
2
I disagree with this opinion piece, and I would not look to Florida as a "purple" state in 2020. The republican gubernatorial candidate was as Trumpian as you could get - for god's sake, his campaign ad showed him teaching his son to build a wall. This did not turn voters off; to the contrary, it rallied enough republicans up to be able to win the election. This tells me that Trump's approval is very high in Florida, and that the Floridian electorate will come out to re-elect him in 2020, no matter who the Democratic candidate is.
What the democrats need to focus on is retaking Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. They need a relatively moderate candidate that appeals to the moderate voters in those three states. Somebody that does not have extreme policies, has no proverbial baggage, and is unquestionably competent enough to handle the job of the presidency.
If the electoral map stays exactly the same in 2020 as 2016, except for PA, WI, MI turning blue, then the Democrats will get 278 electoral votes and win! Progressive candidates will only turn independents off in these three states, and will only turn on the electorate in states that are already on-lock to be blue (NY, MA, NJ, CA, etc.).
The result in the Senate demonstrates why the electoral college must be abolished. In the current system, the flames of bigotry can be fanned to produce wins in the Senate and White House. If urban and suburban areas had to be won to win the White House, both parties likely would adopt inclusive messages that would filter down to Senate races as well. Many rural voters say they fear being marginalized, but if the parties are splitting urban and suburban voters relatively evenly, the rural areas will provide the margin of victory. Also, the values of rural populations are not that far removed from the those of their urban and suburban peers. An inclusive message can energize both; the only losers would be the bigots, both urban and rural.
1
"The division in the Midwest — between more urban, diverse states and more rural, agricultural states — presents challenges for both parties.".....Maybe, but thanks to Trumps great negotiating skills, Chinese tariffs have put the price of corn and soybeans in the dumpster. Two years hence, if nothing dramatic happens to improve grain prospects, Republicans are going to be in a world of heart in farm country.
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I'd like to thank Nancy Pelosi, whose leadership was essential for these victories. Staying on message was a successful strategy. New members would do well to express their support for continuing that leadership.
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@Joe Barnett,
Pelosi may be a good speaker for both Democrat and Republican interests.
1
If we are going to restore any semblance of representation of actual constituents instead of interest groups then we must do three things. One, term limits and/or limit consecutive terms. What I mean by consecutive terms is that someone can hold office as many terms as they want, they just can't do it consecutively. This gives good representatives the chance to hold office longer but also helps prevent entrenched power. Two, campaign finance reform. As long as candidates are desperate for funds they will do lobbyist bidding. Three, end gerrymandering. This will probably be one of the most difficult. There might be some varying solutions. A constitutional amendment could be pasted that provides an algorithm to maintain geographic integrity within a district. This would really represent the least change. Weighted voting could also be used. Basically, representatives come from a fixed geographic location but their vote is worth more or less depending on the population in that area. Another idea would be that all representatives run state wide. This might be interesting as representatives might be selected more based on demographics, class or special interests than meaningless lines on a map drawn by partisans.
1
One clear lesson from the past week is that most states are poorly prepared to administer elections with high numbers of early votes and absentee ballots. Some of it may be counting strategies, but it looks like state really need to devote more resources to elections. An all mail-in strategy like Oregon and Colorado employ may help, but that would also require resources to implement.
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@Cfiverson -- As a former resident of Oregon I believe the resources to implement will be relatively small, although the set-up could be moderately pricey. Beyond that, mail voting is easy and quick to count. It's worth it anyway, no matter the cost.
2
Today Trump tweeted some vicious insults against President Macron. In the past Trump has called Trudeau a liar and called Canada a security threat. He wants to be "best friends" with Putin and says he and Kim Jong-un "fell in love." France has been our friend since they financed the Revolutionary War for us. At Yorktown, the final battle of that war, three out of four soldiers were French. They have been there for us and we for them.
Trump is destroying our friendships with all our past allies while playing kissyface with men who will play him like a fiddle. Americans are waking up to the fact that Trump is destroying the base that has been there for us since WWII.
One day Trump will wake up and find he has no friends. Will America be friendless because of him? Putin and Kim are not our friends. They don't care about the US and the American people.
We need a president who knows an ally when she/he sees one and knows an enemy when she/he sees one. Trump doesn't.
Right now the best thing Repubicans can do is take Trump's twitter feed from him. If they can't control out-of-control Trump, then we need to vote in people who can.
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Even worse, our troops are sworn to defend Trump's incoherent foreign policy, but now today's friend is tomorrow's enemy and vise-versa. It used to be these men and women were defending a principle, now they serve at the whim of Trump's digestion.
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@Linda
Trump already has no friends, so it doesn't matter to him. He just wants to do to the world what his father did to him.
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@Linda Maybe Trump thinks he's following the dictum "keep your...enemies closer" but who does he think he's fooling?
5
Term limits now. There should be no 30-year incumbents anywhere, of either party. This is a reform that could get bipartisan support.
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@Nikki
Invariably, it’s the people who involve themselves the least in electoral politics that — on those occasions when they pay enough attention to notice — are dismayed by recent results, turn to term limits as a solution.
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@Nikki: I vehemently disagree. If I like my elected official I want the right to vote for them as many times as they care to run. If the official ceases to adequately represent their constituents then voters need to do their job: pay attention and show up to vote. Term limits are an excuse for disinterested and low-information voters to abdicate their civic responsibilities.
The fatal flaw with term limits is they cap the tenure and experience of the only lever of political power we get to vote on. Think about who isn’t subject to term limits: lobbyists, Pentagon brass, and civil service employees. In many regards legislating is a job like any other where skill and experience matter. It makes no sense at all to cede that ground to the unelected power structure and limit the one group that is directly accountable to voters.
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@Joe Bob the III, The President has a term limit. Why not local representatives? Instead of two years for a member of House extend it to four or six, but only two terms.
6
Republicans always get upset when their voter file purges, voter ID suppression laws, broken voting machines and vote-rigging fails to deliver the rigged results that have sustained them for decades.
Cheating has always worked well for the Grand Old Phonies.
And now, democracy is starting to give this deplorable political party a swift kick in the political groin.
Republicans can't stand democracy; it makes them extremely uncomfortable.
Go to Russia, Republicans, and rig all the elections you want, you completely treasonous scoundrels that detest the will of the American people.
D for democracy; R for Russian-Republicans.
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@Socrates This country, which was founded by immigrants and became great due to the hard work of slaves and more immigrants should recognize and appreciate its roots -- apologize for slavery, and record our history accurately. And make sure ALL PEOPLE can vote! When people reach the age of 18, they should automatically become registered voters. I can quickly and easily make secure transactions that show up in my bank account within minutes. We need to get away from these various voting and counting machines, and move into the future. I believe it was JP Morgan that implemented purchasing cards to replace the former "food stamps" paper money system that helps welfare recipients buy food in stores. We trust the Medicare card system that directs online payment for health care and prescription drugs. People are able to register to vote and make address changes online. I would trust registered voter cards and online voting much more than citizen volunteers hand-counting mail-in and provisional "disputed" ballots. I'm willing to wait for weeks if we need to in order to make sure every vote is counted -- Because voters want all of their voices to count! Military personnel stationed overseas have until Nov. 16 for their ballots to reach an election office. I especially want all military votes to be counted! I did not realize that my mail-in ballots are mostly not counted in many elections. I think I need to start voting in person, during early voting days...
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@Socrates
Bravo! For more documentation of many harms caused by Republican policies over the past decades please see
https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
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@mjpezzi
You are correct the about using in person early voting, mail in ballots in my state (Virginia) are counted after the election too. Our current state voter rules also require a sanctioned reason to vote early. There are many reasons, but, it still is too restrictive. It further complicates voting unnecessarily. Automatic registration would be wonderful and free up a lot of man hours spent informing citizens about the intricacies of each states systems. Direct online. registration/address change helps greatly; however, it needs to be publicized more widely. I have worked for years registering and informing voters via the Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters is active too, but the lack of knowledge in the public, even in highly educated counties like mine, is higher then it should be. My organization created a voter information card explaining absentee-in-person (as it is called in Va.) rules, locations, hours of operation, plus additional info on everything voting, but we can only reach so many voters, which is why automatic registration and unrestricted early voting would be such a boon to participation in every state.
2
The standard republican tactics of voter suppression and rigging voting districts is clearly working at least to a degree. The congressional district of my friend in Washington state is a local example of gerrymandering.
When a party can't win an election based on its record and stance on the issues, why should it be possible to win by under-handed means? That is not democracy.
That a significant percentage of American voters is okay with this is a serious ill for our system of government.
I look to the Democratic party to make the case for fair elections and leadership to unite us in a renewal of democratic governance as envisioned by our founding fathers.
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@Steve W Yes. And they thought "healthcare" would be an unbeatable issue. Ain't seen nothin yet to what a plan of real political reform will do.
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@Steve W
Certain Americans do not care about fairness, decency, or democracy. They care about winning by any means necessary. When one side cheats, the other side abides by the rules, and there is no referee, guess who "wins".
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@Steve W I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist but I think Scott protests too much. Could one or more of the vote tallying machines in the Democratic strongholds have been programmed to not change votes but provide the under voting that we read about and Scott knows it(he was the leader of the company that perpetrated the biggest Medicare fraud in history)? Not too far fetched.
13
In the entire article, only once were women mentioned and with respect to Republican pollster David Winston's remark. While demographics are changing, and clearly for the Dems, women will always comprise slightly over 50% of the voting population and are moving heavily, thanks to Trump, for Dems. Good article, but this number is the key.
I used to work in the Congress, and I can barely fathom 100+ women elected. Trump has mobilized a vast force in opposition. People said after the Women's March after the Inaugural, go vote, go run. They did both and won.
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@Dave I think perhaps women have just made a fateful decision, to move past the anti-woman women like Phyllis Schlafly of old and the Laura Ingrams and Ann Coulters of our time. Women are moving in larger numbers than ever toward women as their leaders and role models. Enough men are following suit to make this a huge generational shift.
It may be a permanent shift.
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Women have always been a slight majority in terms of population. They are wiser, more thoughtful, and less malicious/mercenary, so one would think republicans would have died out a long time ago.
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@Dave
I suspect they assume women voters only care about abortions. If polz don't want to talk about about abortions, they pretty much ignore women voters.
8
Republicans "should not use victories in the Senate to paper over severe losses with women, young people, independent voters and Latino voters, and Democratic gains with suburbanites and seniors," says a Republican pollster. They don't have much choice but to paper over those losses because the Republicans are locked into a strategy that welds them to a white racist base. Any outreach to the above groups will only loosen the hold of those who have flocked to the GOP out of a sense of white identity. I personally won't be happy until the Republican party is as weak as a kitten that I can drown in my bathtub to borrow the phrase of a conservative hack.
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@Tim Nelson I cringe at the kitten image, no matter who said it.
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@Tim Nelson....oh don't use the kitten drowning analogy... kittens are cute and soft and cuddly and lovable - the GOP is none of those things... need to drown something despicable...hmm what could that be? whats despicable enough to want to drown.... - can I get some suggestions here? Even rats are lovable... the GOP is NOT
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@Tim Nelson
Hmm, is this the same Republican 'white racist base' that voted for President Obama once and in many cases twice in places like Indiana?
Perhaps in the bubble of Seattle your comments about Republican voters may seem true, but in most of the country they do not.
There are good people in both parties and even more who are Independents (the fastest growing demographic).
2
Women, people of color, those of faiths other than Christian, LGBT....these are the candidates that were elected for these positions. It's moments like these that truly celebrate what it is that makes this country great; not some red baseball cap to worship a thin-skinned, amoral, wanna-be dictator.
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@Evan No one of those "identities" is what matters. What matters is that these characteristics, any of them, are indicators the candidate probably isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing.
14
@Robert David South For me, those aren't "identities". It is instead, WHO these people are. I do agree with your "wolf in sheep's clothing" statement however.
18
@Evan
No their identities didn't get them elected. Their unapologetic embrace of left economic policy, and their demands for economic-social, and environmental justice got them elected.
The fact that their identities didn't disqualify them from winning, in the face hatred for these identities from the right, shows that, contrary to the lies from the fake corporate center we are a left leaning country. We just have right leaning politicians because that is what secret dark money donations play for.
Left to win.
9
In Florida the Governor's race and the Senate race are being recounted with razor thin margins. Same for the Secretary of Agriculture. All state wide offices. But felon voting rights have at long last been restored. One in five black voters could not vote because they were incarcerated with a felony and at much larger rates than the white population. This is going to shift Florida more blue. If I was Trump I would be sweating Florida right now.
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@Anthony I hope those voters will remember which party pushed overly punitive laws that led to so many of them becoming felons over minor drug infractions. The same party that then disenfranchised them and tried to suppress their votes.
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@M. I hope you realize that the (D) President Bill Clinton years, backed by Senator Joe Biden as his point man in the Senate, were the years of "welfare reform" and "criminal justice reform" that created increased poverty and mass incarceration. I'm a Democratic voter, but I would never vote for any Clinton Democrats.
15
@mjpezzi
So, to vindicate the rights of those hurt by welfare reform, etc., you would allow the party who hurts the same group even more (by, e.g., disenfranchisement) to stay in power?
35
We shouldn't have to go through this uncertainty with the voting process every election. Democrats need to take the lead (well in advance) to ensure that voting is fair and secure in 2020. And we need to see attorney's (from both parties) volunteering their time at every single polling site.
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@Tom, It does not have to be attorneys. Pollwatchers can be educated over several evenings on the state-specific rules governing interactions of voters and polling place workers. Pollwatching at its best is a mediation skill. Experienced non-attorneys can be much more useful than attorneys new to election law. I write as a nonattorney who used to run election day operations for Democratic candidates. Of course an attorney is needed when a voter or campaign must be represented in court.
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@Tom Good luck with that. The only way the Republicans win these days is through voter suppression, intimidation, and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud (other than their own). It would be wonderful indeed if attorneys from all parties banded together to safeguard our electoral system. But I cannot identify a single GOP lawmaker who might make that his or her laudable mission, can you?
19
Some of the biggest news is the states that passed anti-gerrymandering measures. Add to that the restoration of voting rights to 1.4 million people in Florida and there was some progress made on achieving more democracy. Of course the Republicans will continue to try to make it harder for people to vote and less fair when they do, but if Democrats run on a platform of democracy they win.
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@Roy Perhaps the House will propose that Election Day be a National Holiday? The Republican naysayers won't look particularly good if they refuse to pass such a bill in the Senate. Not that we need any further proof of their intent to suppress any vote not intended for the GOP.
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@Roy Writing from the UK, where God knows we have our political problems but gerrymandering and voter suppression are not really amongst them (NB the GOP's translatlantic pals our governing Tories are trying to introduce voter ID - at present none whatsoever is needed and voter-impersonation fraud is, like the US, next to non-existent), this is one of the most incomprehensible aspects of US politics. I'm aware it's rooted in US history but so was Jim Crow and property qualifications and no-one (well, perhaps Stephen Miller) is arguing for their restoration. The blatant partisanship of redistricting and efforts to prevent specific (Democratic) groups from voting boggles the European mind.
The good thing, judging from this cycle's results in MI and elsewhere, is that most voters seem to hate it too - so if bipartisan coalitions can get anti-gerrymandering ballot propositions up in Ohio, Wisconsin, NC., etc., then the GOP's number will be well and truly up and for good. Do all states allow legislative initiatives on the ballot?
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@Barry Every 20 years in Florida, a committee meets, chosen by the current governor (this year the R- Rick Scott did not pick members from both parties, no surprise there. They do a listening session across Florida and decide on Amendments for voters to consider. The other way amendments can get on the ballot is via petition drives to get more than 200,000 signatures. Then the measure needs 60% of the vote. That's why it's a miracle that Constitutional Amendment 4 -- providing for an automatic restoration of ex-felon's right to vote, once they had paid their debt to society (except in cases of murder or sexual assault - which would still go to the governor's panel for approval.)
10