The Red Wave That Wasn’t

The “red wave” many Republicans expected would sweep their party to power failed to materialize in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Summary

The “red wave” many Republicans expected would sweep their party to power failed to materialize in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Control of Congress remains up for grabs, but one thing is clear: Republicans underperformed. Badly.

• Neither the House nor Senate have been called for one party as of Wednesday morning. Many Democratic incumbents outperformed expectations, while Republican challengers came up short.
• Democrats won key Rust Belt governorships in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, while Republicans defended the governor’s mansions in Texas, Georgia, and Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis romped to victory in a landslide in arguably Republicans’ strongest race of the night.
• In Pennsylvania’s marquee Senate race, Democrat John Fetterman overcame a disastrous debate performance to defeat Dr. Mehmet Oz and flip a Senate seat for Democrats.
• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden would address the nation on Wednesday after his party’s surprisingly strong midterm performance.
• Voters appeared to punish former President Donald Trump and his preferred candidates, who underperformed across the map and lost key races even in districts or states Trump carried in 2020.
• Even considering Democrats’ overperformance, voters still appeared to be punishing President Biden and the Democrats for presiding over an economy wracked by inflation. While Republicans are underperforming expectations, they are still likely to retake the House.

• The New York Times tried to assess how, even while all the conditions for a wave were present, Republicans could only manage a “red ripple.” Democrats were able to avoid a shellacking by casting the midterms as a choice between Biden Democrats and Trump Republicans instead of a referendum on Democratic control in Washington and surging inflation and crime.
• The Washington Post reported abortion rights supporters scored big victories across the country on Tuesday. Pro-abortion ballot measures passed in California, Michigan, and Vermont, while an antiabortion measure failed in deep-red Kentucky.
• CNN identified the key races to watch that have not been called yet. The Senate races in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin are still up for grabs, as are a few dozen House seats.

• National Review reminded readers that “losing is a choice.” Nobody forced Republican primary voters to nominate weak candidates like New Hampshire’s “spineless conspiracy theorist” Don Bolduc and Pennsylvania’s disastrous Doug Mastriano. GOP voters played stupid games and won stupid prizes.
• The Washington Examiner had one big midterm takeaway: “Choosing Trump over DeSantis for 2024 would be political suicide. Trump’s handpicked candidates were disasters up and down the ballot,” while DeSantis “utterly dominated” in Florida. “Trump is a loser, and that has been clear in election cycle after election cycle.”
• Fox News noted the group of far-left House Democrats known as the “Squad” is likely to grow after the midterms. Newly elected Representatives Greg Casar of Texas, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, and Delia Ramirez of Illinois are all young, non-white lawmakers who support far-left policies and are likely candidates to join the “Squad.”

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© Dominic Moore, 2022