America waited on bated breath for the results; months of political discourse and anticipation finally came to a head on November 8th. The red wave seemed imminent as the polls had suggested a red wave on the scale of 1994 or 2010 was coming: republicans up in critical races that would determine the chambers in states like Pennsylvania and Nevada, the democrats braced for impact. Polls closed at 6 pm in Indiana and Kentucky as their expected results followed. At 7 pm, polls closed in various vital states, Florida, Virginia, and Georgia, holding crucial keys to the control of the chambers. Preliminary results in Florida confirmed the expected, a massive red wave that would swallow the Democratic Party whole, Republicans up big in the governorship, house races, and Senate races. Then came 7:30, results continued to trickle in, and at 8 pm, more results followed by then a shift in the air became apparent, and the mood that would define the midterm elections settled in. “Where was the red wave?” Republicans were down in critical races, and democrats closed in where they were leading and held significant leads in their own right in several crucial states; Don Bolduc was down double digits in New Hampshire, what the polls considered a tossup race, Dr.Oz in Pennsylvania, underperforming President Trump in areas where he had to do better another race deemed tossup; that was in the Senate. In the house, the story was the same: important Republican targets started to fall the other way, RI-02, OH-9, IN-1, VA-07, all falling into the democrat’s column. As more polls closed, the aura that had settled over the narrative of the election stayed the same; where was the red wave? Outside a few exceptions (New York, Florida), the “wave” did not materialize, and Republican hopes at large majorities, or even majorities for that matter, evaporated as the night trekked on. The night winded down, and the blame game ensued to answer the question in the mind of Republicans and even some Democrats, “What happened?”.
Republicans started to throw out causes for their shocking underperformance, abortion, Donald Trump, and bad candidates, all accusations thrown around within the party. To put the result in perspective, this is the best midterm performance since 1998 and in state offices since Roosevelt. How did the Republicans underperform so badly? The answer remains clear, extremism was rejected on the right and left; election deniers that promoted the big lie fell in margins ranging from small to large; Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Kari Lake in Arizona, and Adam Laxalt in Nevada fell to defeat. Left-wing candidates like Summer Lee in PA-10 underperformed. America’s distaste for extremism showed strongly on November 8th, so the country must be grateful while keeping in mind a hard reality. The reality is that tribalism and polarization reign in our country Democrats and Republicans still largely voted for their candidates, and independents decided many marquee races. Mindful of this reality, it is time now more than ever to create a bridge of wills for all Americans to unite and move forward with our country. It is essential for the security of our future and the survival of our nation. Results below.
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