Four years ago, when the GOP reclaimed control of Congress, the "red wave" turned out to be little more than drizzle, as the party did just enough to gain control.
Tuesday, it went the other way, and, did it ever. MSN referred to it as a "blue tsunami". Oh, sure, Republicans won some regional races, like Byron Donalds succeeding Ron DeSantis as Florida Governor, and Sticker Mule founder Anthony Constantino inheriting Elise Stefanik's seat in the 21st Congressional District here in NY.
President Donald Trump kept telling supporters to "pretend I'm on the ballot". Unsurprisingly, around midnight Eastern time Wednesday morning, Trump backtracked, whining that because he wasn't on the ballot, the GOP got spanked. Some examples:
Here in NY, Governor Kathy Hochul routed Trump clone Bruce Blakeman by 20 points, according to media reports. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa upset Greg Abbott to become Governor, the first Latina to hold the seat. James Talarico, who gained national attention at the beginning of the year, defeated AG Ken'L Ration Paxton in the race for Senate. In Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ascended to the Governor's mansion. Troy Jackson sent Susan Collins into likely retirement in a race for Senator in Maine. In New Hampshire, despite native son Paul "Triple H" Levesque being brought in by Turning Point USA to help encourage GOP voters, second generation politico John Sununu fell to Chris Pappas in the race for Senate in the Granite State.
In higher profile races that gained national attention, Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy to become Ohio Governor, and Sherrod Brown defeated Jon Husted for Senate. To be fair, Husted was done in by Trump's bizarre obsession with the candidate's buttocks. Abdul El-Sayed earned a Senate seat in Michigan, despite the rhetoric coming from the likes of Trump and Just Dumb Vance.
In South Carolina, Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham, failed to secure a full term, losing to Annie Andrews. In North Carolina, Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley for Senate. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton took down Roger Marshall for Senate. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola told supporters the final results of her Senate race may not be final for a few weeks, anticipating continued challenges from the oldest sore loser in America and the Department of Injustice.
In the final analysis, the strategy to run ads for races in Ohio, Michigan, & Texas nationally during sports, like college & pro football, for example, backfired on the GOP. The heavy emphasis on lies & nonsensical rhetoric backfired. Republican deflection of blame for high prices to the Democrats backfired. Now, it's the Democrats who can quote the last universally popular Republican President, the late Ronald Reagan, and declare, "it's morning again in America". It sure is.
No comments:
Post a Comment