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Welcome to the postseason

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Welcome to the postseason

Nov 09, 2022 | 8:00 pm ET
By Kate Queram
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has plenty to smile about. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has plenty to smile about. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

We’ve made it to the other side, fam! Are we swimming in a red wave? Are we surfing on a blue tsunami? Do you have no earthly idea what I’m talking about? Read on to learn more!

(God, I love elections.)

The Big Takeaway

By the metrics, Democrats should have fared poorly on Election Day. Prices are up, their leader is unpopular, and their messaging was, as usual, a mess. None of this boded well ahead of the midterms, which are almost always a disaster for whichever party holds the White House. It’s no wonder that Republicans expected a bloodbath.

But the so-called “red wave” never made it to shore. As of Wednesday afternoon, Democrats appeared poised to retain control of the U.S. Senate and stood a chance, however slim, at maintaining their advantage in the U.S. House. They retained governorships in a handful of key states (Kansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) and increased their power in Minnesota and Michigan, where they also bested election-denying GOP challengers in races for both secretary of state and attorney general

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has plenty to smile about. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has plenty to smile about. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Among the noteworthy victors: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who flipped a U.S. Senate seat in a contentious race with TV doctor Mehmet Oz; Wes Moore, the first Black person elected governor in Maryland’s history; and Maura Healey, Massachusetts’ first female governor and the first openly lesbian governor in the country.

As predicted, some races remained too close to call. It could take days or weeks for final results in U.S. Senate elections in Arizona and Nevada, where ballot counting continued into Wednesday. A third Senate contest will likely be decided in a runoff next month in Georgia. 

Still, Republicans notched a few decisive wins. More than 200 election deniers won races for state and federal office. The party cemented its power in Florida and Wyoming and held control of open U.S. Senate seats in North Carolina and Ohio. GOP candidates in the Buckeye State also swept races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, clinched three Supreme Court seats and flipped a handful of legislative districts.

There were a mix of factors at play here. Turnout was astronomical, which experts attributed in part to participation by voters who were motivated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. That issue unequivocally favored Democrats, who also benefited from a slate of far-right candidates, many of them campaigning on election-related conspiracy theories and lies that failed to sway (or actively repelled) moderate voters. A few of those candidates invoked fraud to explain their losses on Tuesday, but others conceded within hours. (Donald Trump, the architect of this particular GOP mess, has yet to concede his own no-longer-recent election loss.)

His next move: Ignoring the election he lost in favor of announcing his intention to run in the next one. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
His next move: Ignoring the election he lost in favor of announcing his intention to run in the next one. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

After surveying the electoral wreckage, at least one Trumpy Republican was ready to cut ties with Trump himself. Virginia Del. Tim Anderson, a gun shop owner who often uses the judicial system to advance conservative causes, said Wednesday that Trump’s influence was no longer beneficial for the GOP. 

“He will lose Virginia. Just like he’s lost two other times. And he’s going to bring us all down with him,” said Anderson, who recently tried to stop private bookstores from selling two titles to minors because he, personally, considered them obscene. “I should have said this two years ago.”

Because he’s believed this all along, you see. In fact, according to Anderson, many in the GOP have always said that Trump was bad for the party — they just said it privately, for unexplained reasons that probably have nothing to do with “power” and “because he helped us win” and also “power.”

By going public now — an act of bravery, coming as it does a full seven years after Trump descended on a golden escalator to say that Mexicans were rapists but less than a full day after his influence tanked a bunch of legislative races for Republicans — Anderson hopes to inspire more Republicans to speak up. Should they do it for the good of the country? Should they do it to uphold democracy? Nah — they should do it because it’ll be impossible to win elections in Virginia if they don’t!

“There’s no chance we’re going to sway light blue Democrats our way ever again if we’re going to be wearing red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats,” Anderson said. “It’s just never going to happen.”

What if you take the hat off but keep your MAGA mask on? Asking for a friend. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
What if you take the hat off but keep your MAGA mask on? Asking for a friend. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Right. Here’s the thing: It’s a little late for Republicans to denounce Trump, whose ketchup-stained fingerprints will mar American democracy for decades. His influence was clear down the ballot in multiple states on Tuesday, where voters weighed in on a bunch of proposals to expand — or restrict — statewide voting access. Residents in Nebraska and Ohio overwhelmingly approved stricter voting requirements; a similar measure in Arizona remained too close to call Wednesday afternoon. In Michigan, voters enshrined voting rights into the state’s constitution; in Connecticut, they approved early voting, eight years after a similar attempt fell short by 38,000 votes.

All told, voters considered 132 ballot measures across 37 states on Election Day. Some focused on familiar issues like the legalization of recreational marijuana (approved in Missouri and Maryland, rejected in Arkansas and both Dakotas) and the right to abortion (soon to be enshrined in the state constitutions of Michigan, Vermont and California), but others were more obscure. Voters embraced niche proposals to expand gun rights (Iowa), guarantee the right to digital privacy (Montana) and increase public school funding (New Mexico). Elsewhere, they rejected a constitutional convention (Alaska), changes to state liquor laws (Colorado) and a confusingly worded amendment to ban slavery in Louisiana, which had been watered down so much that even the measure’s sponsor no longer supported it.

In other states, results were mixed — and conflicting. Residents in Portland, Maine, voted to increase tenant protections amid a statewide housing crisis, but rejected attempts to limit and regulate short-term rentals. In Colorado, voters approved hiking taxes on high earners to pay for free school lunches — and a cut to state income tax that experts predicted would disproportionately benefit rich people.

In other words, voters contain multitudes. Their ballots have given Democrats a slight edge for now, but it’s far too soon to know whether that will hold. Election Day is over, but the postseason is just beginning.

Best of luck in the playoffs: For ongoing and updated election coverage, head to our national site.

From the Newsrooms

One Last Thing

You can now read a detailed account of former Vice President Mike Pence’s experiences on — and thoughts about — Jan. 6, 2021. The essay, a matter of great public interest (and, some might say, historical importance) was published Wednesday (a mere two years after the fact!) in the Wall Street Journal as promo for Pence’s forthcoming memoir, “So Help Me God,” which seems fine and does not strike me as problematic for any (or many) reasons!

TOTES FINE. (via Giphy)
TOTES FINE. (via Giphy)

This edition of the Evening Wrap published on November 9, 2022. Subscribe here.

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