Tuesday’s
midterm election proved the pollsters correct, for once, said many, and gave
the House to the Democrats, but it also gave a number of firsts, one being a
huge voter turnout among the young, and secondly a handful of women that were
minority women, of color, and of religion. And, one outlier in the form of the
unresolved gubernatorial election in Georgia, where Stacy Abrams, is less
than a sliver away from a recount, and in a state where voter
suppression ruled, and where her opponent, as secretary, of state that there
were 25,000 ballots that had not been counted.
One
big surprise was the defeat of Joe Donnelly, in Indiana to Mike Braun, 43.4 to
52.6, for the Senate, considering that he was one of the most
conservative Democrats on the HIll; and Ted Cruz fending off a very strong lead
from Beto O’Rourke and the recount in
the Florida Senate, where Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was defeated by
DeSantis in an election that was marred by racial animus, with a razor thin
victory for Desantis with 49.6 versus, 49.2 for Gillum.
Adding
to the mix was the victory on the Cook County Board of Commissioners for an
openly gay man, Kevin Morrison, formerly a full-time field
organizer for Hillary Clinton, and who seemed to have learned from that
experience by knocking on doors, and emphasizing “bread and butter” issues such
as health care, and property taxes strategically reached out to working class
people.
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| Kevin Morrison |
Welcome
news for many was the defeat of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the union busting
arch conservative who lost to Tony Evers, by 31,000 votes, and who scaled back
Obama era environmental protections.
While
veteran lawmaker Nancy Pelosi is poised to resume her role as Speaker of the
House, there is also the calls for impeachment by the party’s radical left, and
those on the right that want to see democratic governance, and that now faces
the absence of Jeff Sessions as attorney general, and an acting AG that says he
will not recuse himself from the Mueller investigation, and which is going to
give a real push to any moderate efforts that Pelosi may want and to maneuver
with a president that does not want to play fair, at all.
While
the appearance of malfeasance on the part of Trump can be debated, its apparent
that, as with former FBI director, James Comey, that Trump is afraid of the
findings of the Russian collusion with he and his family. But, the road to
perdition may not happen, with many of his supporters backing him, to the point
of insulation, despite the findings of the special investigation.
The
turnout by youth also will galvanize the need for gun control, always a hot
button issue, with seemingly monthly mass shootings, and the need for health
care that most exit polls showed to be of great concern, and that was promulgated
by the Democrats.
Women
seem to have been galvanized by the Women's March and the #MeToo movement have
surged ahead, and in unexpected places such as Illinois, where in the 14th
Congressional District, a largely white suburban area, with DeKalb, Du Page,
and Lake County, as part elected a 32-year-old black woman
Lauren Underwood, who defeated a four-term Republican incumbent, Randy
Hultgren, showing not only a step toward racial inclusiveness, but that the
profile of women elected officials is younger, browner, and blacker than
previously thought possible.
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez sailed in New York, after her supreme primary victory, as the
youngest woman ever elected to Congress. And, in another victory for women of
color, Jahana Hayes was elected as the first black women representing
Connecticut in the House.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez |
Close
behind were Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia as the first Latina women to
represent Texas in Congress.
Making
another historic inroad were Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, a
Somali-American as the first Muslim woman elected to Congress, representing
Michigan and Minnesota respectively.
While
some observers and voters are wary of a divided Congress, this is not an
expression of defeat, but more of a battle, say some, and a return to those
lessons taught in civics
classes across America. And, Pelosi put it
well, when she said, “Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans. It is
about restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump
administration.”
There
will be cries for impeachment of Trump, and incoming House Judiciary chairman,
Jerry Nadler, said last year: “If you are actually going to remove a president
from office, you are in effect nullifying the last election. Certainly the
people who voted for him will think you’re nullifying the election. It’s OK to
do that. It may be necessary to do that—as long as you have persuaded a
sufficient fraction of the president’s former supporters, the people who voted
for him, that you have to, that it’s necessary.”
For
those that expected the millennials to stay at home, there was a big surprise:
In Chicago alone, for those aged 25 to 34, there were 162,000 voters from their
ranks, just behind those from 55 to 64, with 142,000 votes reported the Chicago
Board of Election Commissioners.
The
real clincher was the 18 to 29 year-olds whose votes exceeded 31 percent, the
highest in the 25 years of midterm history.
“According
to TargetSmart, a political data analysis firm, early voting among 18- to
29-year-olds escalated with a 188 percent increase from 2014. States with
particularly close races had an even more intense increase in youth voters in
comparison to the 2014 election, with a fivefold increase in states like Texas
and Nevada,” reported The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper at
Northwestern University.
Co-president
of Northwestern College Democrats Claire Bugos, noted that, “The Marjory
Stoneman Douglas students led a revolt against the gun laws we have in this
country,” and, “I think that we’ve seen those pockets of youth discontent
throughout the presidency. Young people see the midterms as a way to easily
have a say in their government, and they’re taking advantage of that.”
In
the days, and weeks, ahead, final vote tallies will be had, and then the real
work of legislating will begin anew with new faces, as they tackle the
challenges of a divided country.
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