What just happened?
In this moment, when humility and curiosity are required, there are a few things I wish I would have seen coming.
For all of the hemming and hawing about people wanting to know more about Vice President Kamala Harris’ plans, this was never a campaign about policy proposals. What we learned is that a majority of voters are pissed off at the system, and at the government, and wanted change — whatever that looked like. Would a campaign longer than 107 days have made a difference? Maybe. But as long as the candidate was from the same party as the party in power, those headwinds may have proved insurmountable.
A majority of voters are pissed off at the system, and at the government, and wanted change — whatever that looked like.
The role of racism, sexism and the massive dysfunction of the information system are all issues worth exploring.
But there are also some additional tough truths.
Millions of people voted to protect abortion rights in seven states and then a good chunk of them also voted to elect Donald Trump, the very guy who put the three people on the Supreme Court who took that right away.
Trump did not get more votes than he did in 2020, but nearly every major demographic group moved his way, with the exception of white college-educated voters.
The most important groups of voters to listen to in this moment, in my view, are the ones who didn’t show up. The Americans who may have felt aligned with the Democratic agenda at one point, but now feel left behind or forgotten. These are not all white working-class voters.
Finally, no one should feel powerless in this moment. When Trump was elected the first time, he said he was going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. You know what happened? People got active. They called their members of Congress and went to meetings. They told their representatives, “You cannot take away my health insurance.” And guess what? It didn’t happen. Every fight will not be won. But there are leaders still to emerge, movements yet to take shape, and as much as there needs to be reflection, there is a lot of power we can find in this moment, too.
All eyes on the House
With Republicans winning control of the Senate, Democrats’ only remaining hope for a check on the Trump administration’s agenda rests on flipping the House. According to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, “the path to take back the majority now runs through too close to call pick-up opportunities” in Arizona, Oregon, Iowa and California.
But the numbers make it a big uphill battle. According to the NBC News Decision Desk, Democrats need to win 17 of the remaining races to reach a majority. Currently, Republicans lead in several of those uncalled races, including two razor-thin contests in Iowa and California.
Despite flipping two New York districts, Democratic gains were offset by GOP wins in the “blue wall” states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. With votes still being counted, it may take weeks of recount cases and ballot curing to get to a final result — and confirm whether Democrats in Congress will have any power come January.
Historic wins on Election Day
While the election results at the top of the ticket were incredibly difficult, on a brighter note, here are some of the historic victories we saw this Election Day:
- Lisa Blunt Rochester will be the first woman and first Black senator from Delaware.
- Angela Alsobrooks will be the first Black senator in Maryland’s history.
- For the first time, more than one Black woman will serve in the U.S. Senate at the same time.
- Andy Kim will be the first Korean American senator ever and the first Asian American senator from New Jersey.
- Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of Congress.
- Suhas Subramanyam will be the first South Asian member of Congress to represent Virginia.