Democrats Can Thank Trump for Their Midterms Boost
Republicans suffer the consequences of backing one of the most unpopular presidents of the polling era.
Back as House speaker.
Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg
The polls and projections were basically correct: The Democrats had a very good election night. They’ll gain a House majority for the first time since 2010, and for only the third Congress since 1994, and by a solid margin. They’ll lose some in the Senate, but that’s not because they did badly Tuesday; it’s because Republicans had a large lead, 42 to 23, among the seats that weren’t up this year. That was too much for Democrats to overcome even on a fairly good night.2And Democrats will pick up a few governors, a slew of state legislative seats and some state legislative chambers, and some other down-ballot positions.
Yes, Republicans have some bragging rights. They won quite a few gubernatorial races that were considered tossups, including in Florida, Ohio and (probably) Georgia. And as of early Wednesday they were leading in most of the up-for-grabs Senate contests. The latter is a big deal, because not only will they continue to hold the chamber, but they made their job in 2020 a lot easier. They were worried they would do a lot worse, but they clearly didn’t do as well as they expected two years ago.