Blue wave sweeps midterms

RAPID CITY—Midterm elections generally favor the party out of power, but last Tuesday’s Blue Wave could not have been scripted better for a Democrat resurgence. What did the Democrats want? Control of both the House and Senate in Washington. What did they get? Exactly that.

Democrats flipped seven seats to take control of the Senate, 54-44. Some of these wins came in traditional GOP strongholds, like Iowa, Kansas, Texas, and the Carolinas.

• Josh Turek (D) beat Ashley Hinson ( R) in Iowa, 50-5% to 46.4%.
• Adam Hamilton (D) beat Ken Paxton ( R), 50.9% to 48.1% in Kansas.
• James Talarico (D) beat Ken Paxton ( R), 55.1% to 43% in Texas. This was a shocking result given the recent controversies plaguing Talarico and the redness of the state.
• Annie Andrews (D) beat Darline Graham (R ) 51.1% to 46.7% in South Carolina.
• Roy Cooper (D) easily beat Michael Whatley (R ) 58.7% to 39.1%. Cooper was running from the North Carolina governor’s chair and is one of the most popular Democrats in a Southern state.

There were some interesting wins in other states. Sherrod Brown (D) prevailed in Ohio over Jon Husted (R ), 50% to 45.2%, resurrecting his political career, after losing in 2024 for the other senate seat. Longtime Washington insider Susan Collins (R ) Maine, lost her senate seat to Troy D. Jackson, 53.7% to 46.3%. This was an interesting loss as Collins has not been an ardent trump supporter. In Mississippi, only 65 votes separate Scott Colom (D) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R ), 462,857 to 462,792.

There is deep controversy in Alaska. Although the Mary Peltola (D) (enrolled member of the Yup’ik Nation) camp denies involvement the Democrats are accused of finding an obscure candidate with the same name as Republican candidate Dan S. Sullivan, to confuse the ballot. The second Dan Sullivan was placed on the ballot above the Republican Dan Sullivan, the idea thought to be voters would see that name first and vote for that Sullivan mistaking him for the Republican Sullivan. Peltola finished with 48.2% to the Republican Dan Sullivan’s 47.9. The other Dan Sullivan got 1.7% of the vote and if added to the republican Dan Sullivan’s total, he vaults into first place with 49.6% of the vote. Odds are this outcome is far from settled.

The Democrats now hold a commanding 234-139 advantage in the House, although 62 races are yet to be called. Even if all races went for the GOP, they would still trail the Democrats by 33 seats.

The Democrats flipped five governor’s chairs. The most shocking win was in Ohio, where Amy Acton (D) defeated high profile GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy 52.3% to 44.4%. In Nevada, Aaron D. Ford (D) defeated Joe Lombardo (R ) 51.7% to 44.2%. Down in Texas, another shocker as Gina Hinojosa (D) defeated Greg Abbott (R ) 45.7. Iowa seemed to be in lockstep with Texas all night as Rob Sand (D) beat Zach Lahn (R ) 55.5% to 44.5%. And down in the Deep South of Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) prevailed over Rick Jackson (R ) 54.3% to 45.7%.

The biggest win for Indian Country was in New Mexico where former Congresswoman and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo), defeated Republican Greggory Hull, 57.2% to 42.8%. A 14 point win is big for a Native woman in any state. Unlike her time at Interior, where she worked at the president’s pleasure, Haaland will call the shots as New Mexico governor and will exercise true independent political power.

In a bright spot for the GOP, Byron Donalds, former Congressman, defeated Dave Jolly, for the governor’s chair in Florida. Donalds, a Black Republican, is the chief outlier from Tuesday’s blue wave.

Tuesday’s results seem to be a nationwide repudiation of MAGA, Trump’s personal charisma, and that repudiation flexed deep into traditionally red state strongholds.

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)

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