The biggest “Blue Wave” since the 1974 midterms, after Richard Nixon resigned due to the Watergate Scandal, has occurred this week.
It is also the greatest participation in a midterm election in 52 years, since 1966, when there was a lot of anger at Lyndon B. Johnson’s prosecution of the Vietnam War.
It is also an election in which the states that decided that Donald Trump would win the Electoral College–Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin–swung over to the Democrats.
This was an election in which the gender gap was the greatest we have ever seen, and more young people voted than at any time since the 26th Amendment gave 18 year olds the right to vote.
This election also saw suburbia swing to the Democratic Party en masse, and that is a major development long term.
We also saw many Republican Congressmen in California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and in the Midwest, lose their seats.
We witnessed Kansas reject the right wing views of past Governor Sam Brownback, and defeat Kris Kobach, a crooked candidate who worked to suppress voting rights all over the nation in the past few years.
All this occurred despite a good economy, low unemployment, and actions to promote voter suppression.
Donald Trump had said that voters should consider as if he was on the ballot, when he went out and campaigned all over the nation.
And the nation reacted with a sound rejection of Trump, with Democrats winning 7 percent more of the vote than Republicans, just as Hillary Clinton won over Donald Trump in popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
And let us not forget that Democrats have won the popular vote for President six of the last seven national elections, all but 2004, starting in 1992 and through 2016!
I have come across, outside of “The Progressive Professor,†reports, opinions, and discussion regarding just how blue of a wave were the 2018 midterm elections. I would count it as an electoral success for the fact that, after 2018 and with the next Congress in January 2019, the incumbent Republican Party will no longer hold the majority for control of the United States House of Representatives. But, even with the 2018 Republicans countering the 2018 Democrats for which party won more net gains in U.S. Senate seats, the Democrats retained their 16 governorships and won pickups of +7 (with, keeping in mind, the status of Florida). So, nationally, the shift was Democratic. The 2018 Democrats gained about +9 in the popular vote for the U.S. House. (That is, compared to 2016.) Last I looked, the 2018 Democrats gained about +5 in the popular vote for U.S. Governors. (That is, compared to 2014.) So, it was a wave election, to describe it more generally, that was in the direction of the Democrats.
A recent discussion about the midterm elections was had between “The Zero Hour†host RJ Eskow and guest Thomas Frank, author of “What’s the Matter with Kansas†and “Listen, Liberal.†They review the 2018 midterm elections, yes, but they also get into what they anticipate going forward. And they look toward the 2020 presidential election.
First Issue for Democrats Next Year: Election and Ethics Reform
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/13/first-issue-for-democrats-next-year-election-and-ethics-reform/
Getting Close To A Runoff In The Georgia Governors Race
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/13/getting-close-to-a-runoff-in-the-georgia-governors-race/