Neither the “Blue Wave” nor the “Red Wall” became a reality as the US midterm election results filed in. Instead, Washington faced a “Purple Puddle” as the Republicans kept and increased their majority in the Senate while the Democrats flipped the House of Representatives.
The Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives by winning in suburban districts, easily defeating the Republicans who could not counteract the flip despite gaining a few critical seats in competitive areas. Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Elijah Cummings are poised to take leadership roles.
Although the Democrats won 28 seats in the House, they only gained less than half of what the Republicans gained in the 2010 midterm elections.
Three rising stars from the Democrat camp, Beto O’Rourke, Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams lost to their Republican counterparts in spite of immense media hype. O’Rourke, who lost in a tight race to GOP candidate Ted Cruz, dropped an ‘F’ bomb in his concession speech.
He said on live TV: “Tonight’s loss does nothing to diminish the way I feel about Texas or this country. I’m so f**king proud of you guys.”
Interestingly, each and every incumbent Democrat senator in the Senate race who voted against Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice lost to their Republican counterpart. This curious phenomenon has been dubbed the ‘Kavanaugh effect’ by the press.
While the midterms brought success to the Democrats – with the House of Representatives flip and the exceptionally tight race for Texas, a strong red-state – and weakened some of the support for US President Donald Trump, Trump remains optimistic.
He wrote on Twitter that the midterms were “such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!”
Responding to speculation that the Democrats will go after him now that they have regained the House, President Trump warned:
“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!”