Many polls predicted Republicans would ‘shellack’ Democrats in the Tuesday US midterm elections. But it seems to have fallen apart.
There was no Red wave; it was, at best, a whimper.
And Chief MAGA, former President Donald Trump, who endorsed almost all the unelectable candidates, may have undermined his position as the Republican kingmaker.
Trump’s possible rival in the 2024 GOP primary, Florida Governor Ron Desantis, had a much better day, winning reelection against Democrat Charlie Crist by almost 20 percentage points.
Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post mocked Trump with an insulting cover, in all caps bold red “TOXIC TRUMP.”
“Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great fall– can all the GOP’s men put the party back together again?” “TRUMPTY DUMPTY,” the cover said, with a cartoon image of Trump appearing to be falling off a brick wall.
“Hey Lyin’ Ted and Sleepy Joe: meet Toxic Trump,” the opinion piece by John Podhoretz, began comparing Trump to a can of Raid insecticide.
“What Tuesday night’s results suggest is that Trump is perhaps the most profound vote repellant in modern American history,” Podhoretz said.
He is right; the surest way for any candidate to lose in a competitive race is receiving the Trump endorsement kiss of defeat.
Of 19 Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidates who denied or questioned the 2020 election results, 12 have already lost their races, and 3–Arizona’s Kari Lake, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, and Joe Lombardo in Nevada are in a tight race that could go either way.
Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, waltzed to victory, crashing MAGA candidate Tudor Dixon and leading a clean sweep for democrats, who now have control of the Michigan State government.
In Pennsylvania, ultra-MAGA Governor candidate Doug Mastriano lost badly to Democrat Joshua Shapiro (56 to 42 percent). And Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in the middle of his primary campaign, defeated Republican celebrity candidate and TV doctor Mehmet Oz.
Oz mercilessly used Fetterman’s stroke to attack him, saying he was unfit to serve, while his doctor gave him a clean bill of health.
At the same time, Fetterman presented himself as a champion for the vulnerable, fighting to overcome overwhelming life challenges while fighting for women’s reproductive rights,
After a disastrous debate performance where he struggled to speak, Fetterman said his campaign was “all about fighting for anyone in Pennsylvania that ever got knocked down and had to get back up again.”
Another significant loss for the MAGA gubernatorial candidates happened in New York.
“What Tuesday night’s results suggest is that Trump is perhaps the most profound vote repellant in modern American history,” Podhoretz said.
Former congressman Lee Zeldin who voted to overturn Biden’s election, lost to Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul by almost 6 percentage points (52.8-47.2 percent) in a race that appeared possible for a GOP pick-up.
As a result of defeating Zeldin, Hochul made history by becoming the first woman ever elected to serve as Governor of New York State.
It was not an easy path.
Zeldin’s campaign used racially-tinged disinformation to take advantage of several crime incidents to paint New York as unsafe and needing an urgent security make-over.
In one ad deemed racist and misleading, Zeldin used the image of Saheed Vassell, a mentally ill man shot and killed by Brooklyn police officers in April 2018, to illustrate he’ll be tough on crime.
Vassell’s family said they had requested Zeldin to remove the ad showing his final moments alive, including sending him a cease and desist letter because it was causing them mental distress, but he refused.
In the Senate, Republican incumbent election deniers seem to have comfortably escaped the axe, even though Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson squeaked through by a 1 percent victory over the youthful Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.
But the new ones were not as lucky. Out of eleven election deniers, 6 have already lost, and three are in dead-heat races that could sway either way.
Georgia senatorial race between Raphael Warnock and Hershel Walker is headed to a runoff on December 6 after neither candidate garnered 50-plus-one percent of the vote to win outright.
Warnock leads the count with 49.42 percent of the vote, while Walker is narrowly behind at 48.52 percent.
For the first time, Secretary of State races attracted national interest because, in most states, they play a significant role in managing elections.
Twelve election deniers ran for the Secretary of State position this year. Six have already lost, and 2 involving Mark Finchem of Arizona and Jim Marchant of Nevada are too close to call.
While Trump was the biggest loser in the midterms, President Joe Biden and the Democrats deserve praise for running a disciplined campaign and turning out women and youthful voters to polls.
Former President Barack Obama stumped for Pennsylvania candidates and told Americans while the economy was a concern, losing democracy was a bigger problem because undemocratic leaders are not accountable.
Obama’s words resonated well with the youth, who are considered Obama’s base, and they turned out in large numbers on election day.
A game-changer was the women’s vote. As expected, women showed up for Democrats to protest the Supreme Court decision to remove federal protections for reproductive rights.
It’s still possible for Republicans to take control of Congress, but their standing has diminished after the poor performance in the 2022 midterms.
They know the cure, dumping Toxic Trump, but it’s unlikely they’ll have the guts to get rid of him.
Trump has promised a major announcement on November 15. It’ll be interesting to see how many mainstream Republicans follow.