But as David Plouffe pointed out during MSNBC’s election night telecast, there were no big surprise GOP wins to point to as a sign of a significant electoral tsunami. Instead, it was Democrats finding these odd and unexpected victories—such as Democrat Greg Landsman ousting incumbent Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot, and Trump-endorsed North Carolina Republican Rep. Bo Hines going down to Democrat Wiley Nickel. Meanwhile, as the hour approached midnight, John Fetterman was in fine fettle, Lauren Boebert was staring down defeat, and several key contests remained tantalizingly close rather than blown wide open by Republican enthusiasm, such as the Senate races in Wisconsin, and Georgia.
Once again, I’ll caution everyone reading these words: In time, things could well shift back in the direction that election touts predicted and that our political history treats as a matter of destiny. Nails shall be chewed to the quick at the Raphael Warnock watch party. In Nevada, Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is clinging on for dear life in a huge test for the post-Harry Reid Democrats. In Arizona, which has become ground zero for some of the most toxic election denialism in the country, there’s no guarantee that the votes will be peacefully counted. But Democrats can take heart in an unexpected midterm showing that’s set to defy most expectations.
