So Now What?

Divided government spells disaster.

Republicans do not see a red wave. They are projected to take the House of Representatives by a very slim majority. The Democrats could retain a hold on the senate but we await the results of Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada.

Do you believe what went down?

Is the Republican Party too extreme or is the Democrats not doing enough to solve the problems?

Matter of fact, it is a stark warning to both parties. Tone down or lose your seat. While Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mary Miller continue to be noise, it appears that Madison Cawthorn and Lauren Boebert will be heading home. 

The race has not been called yet but Colorado race between Boebert and Adam Frisch, the Democrat appears to be leading against the Republican. Boebert a frequent noise maker did not expect this seat to be competitive given how the seat is a Republican stronghold

Marcy Kaptur keeps her gerrymandered Ohio seat. Emilia Sykes will join Shontel Brown and Joyce Beatty in the Congressional Black Caucus after her win in Ohio. Ohio has three Black lawmakers and they're women.

Greg Landsman defeats longtime Republican Steve Chabot in an Ohio gerrymandered district. Chabot was defeated before.

Well, I guess we will have J.D. Vance as Ohio's newest senator. He beats Tim Ryan who bet the farm on not having Democrats near him. Ryan messed up big time by bashing the party. It did not fare well for longtime moderate lawmaker. Vance who moved back to Ohio from California now will be representing a state that has become increasingly red.

Nan Whaley was crushed by Republican Mike DeWine.

Val Demings also goes down hard. She and Charlie Crist lost their races to Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis.  DeSantis, a polarizing Republican is considering a 2024 run for president.

Cheri Beasley who almost pulled it off lost to election denier Ted Budd.

Beto O'Rourke loses to Greg Abbott.

Stacey Abrams loses again to Brian Kemp. 

It appears that Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker will head into a runoff election.

Maryland has its first Black governor. Wes Moore will be governor of Maryland.

Massachusetts Democrat Maura Healey became the first woman elected as governor, as well as the first openly lesbian.

Guam's open congressional seat goes to Republican James Moylan. He will be the first delegate for the U.S. territory in over 30 years.

John Fetterman has put Dr. Mehmet Oz out to pasture. Oprah, President Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama amd his two former Democratic rivals helped carry this oaf to victory.

Maggie Hassan defeats Don Bolduc in New New Hampshire and keeps Democrats hopes of retaining the majority.

The outcome of races for House and Senate will determine the future of Biden’s agenda and serve as a referendum on his administration as the nation reels from record-high inflation and concerns over the direction of the country. Republican control of the House would likely trigger a round of investigations into Biden and his family, while a GOP Senate takeover would hobble Biden’s ability to make judicial appointments.

Democrats were facing historic headwinds. The party in power almost always suffers losses in the president’s first midterm elections, but Democrats had been hoping that anger from the Supreme Court’s decision to gut abortion rights might energize their voters to buck historical trends.

AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the national electorate, showed that high inflation and concerns about the fragility of democracy were heavily influencing voters. Half of voters said inflation factored significantly, with groceries, gasoline, housing, food and other costs that have shot up in the past year. Slightly fewer — 44% — said the future of democracy was their primary consideration.

Biden didn’t entirely shoulder the blame for inflation, with close to half of voters saying the higher-than-usual prices were more because of factors outside of his control. And despite the president bearing criticism from a pessimistic electorate, some of those voters backed Democratic candidates.

Overall, 7 in 10 voters said the ruling overturning the 1973 decision enshrining abortion rights was an important factor in their midterm decisions. VoteCast also showed the reversal was broadly unpopular. About 6 in 10 say they are angry or dissatisfied by it, while about 4 in 10 were pleased. And roughly 6 in 10 say they favor a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.

There were no widespread problems with ballots or voter intimidation reported around the country, though there were hiccups typical of most Election Days.