E.J. Dionne, Jr., has a pretty good idea of what the agenda for House Democrats should be:
Expanding health coverage, reforming our democracy, restoring upward mobility with well-paying jobs, curbing gun violence and moving to repair our immigration system.
Oh, yes, and protecting our constitutional republic from President Trump while rooting out corruption. [snip]
Yes, many of their ideas will die in the Senate. But Republicans in that increasingly unrepresentative body should be made to pay a high price for thwarting progress. If the cost proves high enough, some good things might happen before 2020.
This is not about Democrats going “hard left,” a phrase we’ll hear a lot on Fox News. What unites the staunch progressives and their less overtly ideological brethren who won many of last week’s contests is a desire to demonstrate that government, used intelligently, can make life better for the vast majority.One other specific item we would add: safeguarding our elections from the voter suppression tactics Republicans use to undermine democracy, including standardized, verifiable, transparent voting systems and mechanisms.
Even though the damage has been done, the schadenfreude, it still burns:
On Tuesday, voters handed Democrats the House of Representatives — and may have also rendered a verdict on President Trump’s signature tax cuts.
The House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees taxes and trade, saw four of its Republican members lose their seats. Those four defeats come after five other Republicans on the committee already left mid-term or decided to retire.
With three more committee members running for other offices, come January, half of the 24 Republicans who wrote the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will no longer be in Congress. (our emphasis)Sad!
Our hats are off to the often- maligned young voters, who played a major role in the Democratic blue wave with their energy, activism and votes:
As the Center For Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) reported on the day after the midterm elections, voters between the ages of 18 and 29 turned out in their highest number of the past quarter century, with exit poll calculations suggesting a sizable bounce from turnout in the 2014 midterms. Per CIRCLE: “The substantial increase in youth turnout is in many ways the culmination of an election cycle in which young people had an extraordinary impact through their activism, emphasis on voter registration, and—yesterday—overwhelming support for Democratic candidates.” (our emphasis)(An aside: Why would anyone still be asking, "Was it a blue wave?" Maybe it's our supposed gatekeepers of truth premature, false narrative? CNN's Brian Stelter looks at how the media was quick to downplay Democratic gains in the House on Tuesday, establishing an early narrative that supported Trump's absurd claim that he was victorious -- as Masha Gessen has noted, the institutional media will not save us from the authoritarians.)
Steven Rogers shows us what a blue wave looks like downballot:
Democratic gains in state legislatures reclaimed more than 250 of the many seats lost during Barack Obama’s presidency. Democrats took functional control of an additional seven state legislative chambers, while Republicans took control of only one, the Alaska House. In addition, Democrats gained enough seats to deprive Republicans of supermajorities in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. This will keep Republicans from having enough votes to override the vetoes of Democratic governors of those states. Democrats achieved supermajorities for themselves in seven chambers.CNN is estimating the gains to be closer to 300, btw.
An example of how well Democrats did at the State and local level, our Republican governor easily won re- election in Maryland, but elsewhere, it was bad news for his withering party:
[Gov. Larry Hogan] faces a Senate with more left-of-center Democrats and a House of Delegates with an even larger supermajority — Democrats picked up at least five seats in that chamber.
Democrats will also lead all of the suburban power centers. Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh (R) lost to Democrat Steuart Pittman, even though Hogan won that county by 40 percentage points. In Howard County, where Hogan’s margin of victory was about 14.5 percent, County Executive Allan H. Kittleman (R) lost to Democrat Calvin Ball.
Democrat Johnny Olszewski Jr. won the executive’s race by a wide margin in Baltimore County, where Hogan captured 62 percent of the vote and vigorously campaigned for the GOP candidate Al Redmer. Democrats Angela Alsobrooks and Marc Elrich won the top jobs in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, respectively... (our emphasis)Victories like that are the largely untold stories of the 2018 blue wave.
Nate Silver crunches the numbers on previous wave elections:
For comparison, the House popular vote in things that are widely considered to be wave elections:— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 10, 2018
2010: R +6.8
2006: D +8.0
1994: R +7.1
So if we wind up at ~D +7.5 or so, we'll be pretty much exactly in line with those years. https://t.co/BMil3Uuw8j
He also looks at how votes for Democrats in House races would translate into an Electoral College stomping:
So here's an updated map showing House popular vote winners, mapped onto the Electoral College. Dark blue/dark red means the party won by >= 5 points, light blue/pink means it was close. pic.twitter.com/nehg9YEZ6u— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 11, 2018
Conclusion: It. Was. A. Wave. If you see analysis to the contrary, it's by a hack, a troll or a nitwit (or all three).
As always, we recommend you check out Infidel 753's link round- up to blog posts of interest -- a great way to start the week.
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