General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf what we saw tonight is echoed two years from now, it will be devastating to the GOP.
says the ultra rightwing Washington Examiner
If what we saw tonight is echoed two years from now, it will be devastating to the GOP. Republicans lost important races in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan -- if any three of these four states go blue in 2020, Trump won't have a path to the electoral vote majority.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/in-2018-voters-made-u-s-politics-normal-again
Squinch
(50,949 posts)Quixote1818
(28,929 posts)Vogon_Glory
(9,117 posts)The Great Red Capstone that seals Republican presidential candidates elections to the White House wont be available either. Beto ORourke lost to the Calgary Kid by less than 250,000 votes, which may not seem a narrow loss in smaller states, but its narrow by Texas standards. Enough Republican voters falling out of love with Gog and Magog might make the crucial difference.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Turn 150,000 votes from R to D, and you win by 50,000.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)There is a natural ebb and flow to life, and that extends even to politics. For the last 40 years, Republicans have tried mightily to cast their victories in amber and seal them against any outside influence. They have tried to peg the political mood of the people permanently in their favor. They have grown increasingly intransigent over the years, unwilling to perform even the most basic tasks of governance if any credit at all would inure to the benefit of the Democrats. Politics is give and take, and Republicans have been steadily taking more and more.
They still have resources at their disposal, but their grip is slipping. The most popular issues all skew heavily Democratic. People really want health care, for instance. Health care that doesn't go away when you need it most. Health care that isn't tied solely to whether your employer provides health insurance. Republicans have chosen the unpopular side of that issue, because any benefit would obviously reflect well on the Democrats who passed the ACA in the first place without a single Republican vote.
Republican absolutism on reasonable firearm regulation is another issue that is turning against them. Turns out people don't really want to be packing 24-7 ready to blaze away at any given moment. The NRA is no longer the invincible political force it once was, and they're outspending their resources. Candidates aren't afraid to cross them anymore, and some of them are getting elected over NRA opposition.
In the next two years, the House should pass bills that heighten the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Yes, the bills will get shot down in the Senate, but establish a practice consistent with the party platform, and demonstrate to voters that you're on the winning (popular) side of issues. Force the Republicans to oppose popular solutions and waste time explaining why fewer mass shootings or insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions are bad things. As bad as the Senate map was for Democrats in 2018, it's every bit as bad for Republicans in 2020. New Democratic majorities in state governments can draw fairer district maps for 2020, and we could see another blue wave that will be far more effective without the systemic obstacles and firewalls the Republicans have been putting in place for the last four decades.
Kablooie
(18,628 posts)He's going to get wilder and wilder if the investigations get closer and closer.
We are going to see him go nuclear at some point, figuratively only I hope.
Demovictory9
(32,449 posts)eissa
(4,238 posts)several of them in competitive districts. Ours (for the most part) are relatively safe.
We will have two years to register younger, first-time voters, many of whom have been inspired by the March for Our Lives movement. Furthermore, we have time to target those eligible for citizenship, particularly in states like FL, TX and AZ, that could be crucial to winning.
I'm feeling quite hopeful.