by Ted Landau
There are victories. There are big victories. There are overwhelming crushing victories. And then there is what happened in the midterm elections last night: a Democratic victory so deep, so wide, and so thorough that we need to find a new scale with which to measure it.
The Democrats went to 11 last night.
Yes, the Democrats will control both the House and the Senate starting in January. And they will have a majority of the country’s governors for the first time in sixteen years. This is huge! Absolutely. Almost unbelievable. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll see the even greater epic scale of the victory: Democratic wins in red districts that weren’t even thought to be in play, ones where Trump won by double digits two years ago; House victories in some of the most gerrymandered of Republican districts (including Texas, North Carolina and Florida); margins of victory that were unthinkable just two days ago; a Senate majority that is greater than were the most optimistic predictions (most pundits were hesitant to predict that the Democrats would capture the Senate at all).
When all the counting is done, Democrats are expected to hold 258 House seats — 40 more than they needed to have a majority! In the Senate, Democrats will have at least 54 seats…and could push it to 56…if they eke out victories in Alaska and Mississippi (both still too close to call).
A blue tsunami; an earthquake; a wipe-out. There doesn’t seem to be a phrase apt enough to capture what this all means.
Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan — despite all the last minute controversy. Susan Collins lost in Maine (at last!). Adam Hamilton won the Senate race in Kansas — the first Democrat to do so since 1932! Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham in South Carolina.
And then there was the volcano eruption in Texas! James Talarico won the Senate race, defeating Ken Paxton. Gina Hinojosa ousted Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to become Texas’ first Latina governor. Democrats also won the offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general. And House seats were flipped, despite the gerrymandering. They even took control of the state House! This all shattered a 32-year-long Republican grip on the state. Now, the nation’s most populous conservative state is threatening to turn blue. “Texas may never be the same.”
Finally, a word about Indivisible. Indivisible National targeted numerous Senate and House races. For the Senate, for example, Indivisible focused on 9 key contests. How did we do? Democrats won 7 of them — and still have a chance to win an 8th (Alaska)! We ran the table!
As for Trump…
During last spring’s primaries, Trump intervened to promote his own ultra-loyal sycophants — over more rational alternatives. The most glaring example was Ken Paxton ousting John Cornyn in Texas. Trump gambled that winning a primary in a state like Texas would guarantee victory in November. So why not push for the most extreme and corrupt candidate? He lost that gamble — big time — as Talarico won by a double-digit margin! The pattern repeated itself in almost every other instance.
Undeniably, the election results were a repudiation of Trump and his MAGA agenda. More than just Trump being blamed for a lack of affordability and an unpopular war — it showed that Americans were fed up with Trump’s corruption, his favoring of the wealthy, his pet vanity projects, his incompetence and his disdain for democratic principles. “Finally, the president’s actions had consequences.”
And let’s not forget Elon Musk. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get people to vote red. In the end, “voters handed him a stunning defeat.”
Trump has turned out to be as much of an authoritarian-wannabe as we feared he would be back in 2024. What turns out to be somewhat of a surprise, however, is how well our institutions (especially the courts) and the American people would successfully push back. Hopefully, when history looks back on this election, it will be recalled as the first day of the end of the Trump era.
Going forward…
At least for now, it appears that Trump will accept the election results without serious pushback. The fears we had, that led to our preparations for when “when Trump crossed a red line,” will likely never be realized. The Democratic victory was simply “too big to rig.” We couldn’t be more pleased. We here at Indivisible East Bay are rightly proud of all the effort we put in to being prepared for the worst. But we are even more thrilled that, with all our hard work, we helped achieve the best imaginable outcome instead.
And yet…the future presents some cautions and uncertainties. Were last night’s results more a repudiation of Trump than a positive shift to Democrats? Can the Democrats sustain and build on these results? Where will we be in 2028?
Important questions. But at least for the next few weeks, let’s enjoy the moment. Let’s revel in a success that is…to borrow a term more often used in a different context….unprecedented! We crushed it!! Let’s celebrate!
Update: One last piece of good news: IEB-supported Randy Villegas easily defeated David Valadao for the House seat in California’s CA 22.
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