They said a blue wave was coming nationally — more like a blue tsunami resulting from a meteor the size of Rhode Island landing in the coastal Atlantic. It may wash up by the time it gets to Denver — maybe.
At the time of publication, Democrats had flipped 32 House seats, seven Senate seats and four governors’ mansions.
Donald Trump told The New York Times he would accept the election results and work with Democrats. He quipped that had he been on the ballot, things would have been different for the GOP.
Hyperbole aside, the question becomes why. Why did Democrats do so well?
It comes back to what it always comes back to — the economy.
If you’ve managed to stay ahead of the inflation curve and you have more money than month — dollars invested in a stock market that has returned about 10 percent year to date — you’re probably not convinced the economy is all that bad.
You’re also not like most Americans.
Taxed by tariffs, not liberated. Gobsmacked by the price per gallon, the result of a war with no end in sight. Affordability is the modern-day, Carville-like economic wake-up call.
My guess: Voters are willing to live with a lot. A social-issue-heavy agenda, more and more populist policies… a lot. But not if they have to endure a bad economy.
If the economics don’t work for the average Joe, nothing else matters.
Could AI and data centers be a driver nationally? Sure. But everything is secondary to the seemingly very real notion that Americans can’t afford America anymore.
Nationally, voters spoke clearly Tuesday night. They’re over Donald Trump and they’re over Republican control. At least until Democrats prove they can’t do any better.
They’ll have two years to prove their worth.
Join us Wednesday on Talkline for full coverage nationally and from West Virginia.