By every conceivable metric, last week’s midterm results were cataclysmic for the Republican Party. The Democrats picked up seven seats in the Senate, 42 seats in the House, and at least five governors’ offices.
As of this writing, the outcomes of the Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi are still being determined, as are 18 House races and the Alaska gubernatorial race.
But at the very least, when the 120th Congress begins early next year, Democrats will hold at least 54 seats in the Senate and 254 seats in the House, and they are projected to control 30 governorships.
EVANGELICAL VOTERS LEFT THEIR DISCERNMENT IN 2022
To find a GOP thrashing of this magnitude, you have to go all the way back to George W. Bush’s presidency in 2006, when the Democrats picked up six seats to control the Senate, gained 31 seats to reclaim the House, and took control of 28 governors’ offices.
To the surprise of no one, the majority of leftist pundits and political scholars have decided unequivocally that President Donald Trump is largely to blame for the Republicans’ abysmal performance.
But many conservative pundits, including Ben Shapiro, have also pointed the blame squarely in Trump’s corner.
Yes, Trump is the GOP standard-bearer, but the simple fact is he was not on the ballot in Michigan, Texas, or South Carolina — to name a few states.
Does anyone in their right mind believe that Trump would lose a one-on-one election to Abdulrahman Mohamed el Sayed, James Talarico, or Annie Andrews?
In reality, el Sayed and Talarico were able to energize certain segments of the voting population that would have otherwise stayed home — in ways their Republican opponents were unable to do.
Preelection polling from the University of Chicago’s NORC Center found that 97% of Muslim voters and 98% of Arab Muslim voters backed el Sayed. Data from an NBC exit poll also showed that 86% of black voters in Michigan supported el Sayed.
Meanwhile, in Texas, according to exit polling data by NPR, Talarico won Gen Z voters, or those under the age of 30, by a commanding margin of nearly 50 to 60 points.
Talarico also did very well with female voters. Women made up 55% of the Texas electorate and voted for Talarico over Ken Paxton by a margin of 61% to 38%, accounting for roughly three-fifths of Talarico’s total votes.
Dare I say that some younger voters bubbled in the name of the more youthful candidate whom they found to be more physically attractive, without giving a second thought to the candidate’s voting record on sex surgeries for minors?
And are we to believe that South Carolina, a state that Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the last presidential election by 18 points, is now suddenly a Democrat stronghold? Or is it more likely that Lindsey Graham’s untimely death and a lack of voter enthusiasm surrounding his sister led to South Carolina turning blue?
For the record, Trump may have made the recommendation for Darlene Graham to fill her late brother’s Senate seat, but the actual appointment was done by Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC).
Much of politics is about timing, and this election came at the wrong time for the GOP.
Yes, even though under Trump the United States reached record-high crude oil production (13.6 million barrels per day in 2025) and set global benchmarks for natural and liquefied natural gas, the price at the pump is still too high.
Yes, even though the Trump administration, with the help of Israel, has thoroughly dismantled or weakened Iran’s three major nuclear facilities, the war with Iran has turned into quite the quagmire.
Yes, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which started under former President Joe Biden, continues to rage on, even as Trump has once again ramped up negotiations with Putin — potentially leading to a trilateral summit in the coming weeks.
Yes, Trump promised to close the border, and he has — but that has also led to an angry backlash from the Left.
Yes, the cost of groceries is still way too high, too many Americans are financially strapped, and the AI boom has only further increased economic anxiety.
But it was under Biden that we saw inflation rise as high as 9.1%. In fact, under Biden’s entire presidency, it is estimated that the cumulative price increase, or cost-of-living, rose by roughly 17.1% to 22%.
Under Trump, there has only been a cumulative price growth of roughly 5.4% across the first 20–21 months of his term — or about half the pace seen during the equivalent opening stretch of Joe Biden’s.
Meanwhile, the latest job numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which of course were released after the midterm elections, were far better than expected.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 jobs in October, well above economists’ expectations of roughly 59,000 to 65,000 jobs.
TRUMP BLAMES EVERYONE BUT HIMSELF. SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
In other words, the economy is doing far better than critics give Trump credit for.
But ultimately, negative voter sentiment and a lack of enthusiasm for many Republican candidates were the GOP’s ultimate downfall last week.
David Keltz is the author of Life Sucks, but Your Life Doesn’t Have To: How To Build Confidence and Find Purpose in a Turbulent World.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
