President Barack Obama worked so hard for Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections that his voice was a mere rasp. After a record-breaking election that put 100 women into Congress along with many Democratic governors, Obama noted the historic changes that occurred. His words were a welcome return to moral certainty after Donald Trump’s chaos.
Kansas installed a Native American lesbian into the House of Representatives, Sharice Davids, along with a number of other minority candidates. The 44th president noted the first two Native American women and two first Muslim women won their elections.
Obama released a statement on election night, congratulating Americans’ move “raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, and strengthening voter rights.” He continued, according to Mother Jones:
‘The more Americans who vote, the more our elected leaders look like America. I also want to congratulate voters across the country for turning out in record numbers, and for voting for several ballot initiatives that will improve the lives of the American people—like raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, and strengthening voting rights.’
Obama noted the many young people in deep red states won their elections. He said that former first lady Michelle Obama, “couldn’t be prouder.”
‘Even the young candidates across the country who fell short have infused new energy and new blood into our democratic process, and America will be better off for it for a long time to come.’
His statement went on as he looked optimistically toward a future with more Democrats and a healthier democracy. He emphasized that a new change that began on Election Day, one filled with opportunity and integrity:
‘The change we need won’t come from one election alone—but it’s a start. Last night, voters across the country started it. And I’m hopeful going forward, we’ll begin a return to the values we expect in our public life—honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another as Americans, not separated by our differences, but bound together by one common thread.’
Not only that, Obama once again praised the voters. He said that he was proud of all the people who came out to vote, young people, first-time voters, and even the disillusioned.
Donald Trump spent weeks prior to the midterms campaigning for Republican candidates, sometimes appearing with three difference candidates in one day. He said that these elections would be a “referendum on the country’s character.” He also based his rallies on the premise of fear of immigrants flooding America’s southern border:
‘In the lead up to Tuesday, the former president had largely framed the midterm elections as a referendum on the country’s character.’
Obama reinforced the pillars of democracy earlier:
‘When people lie with abandonment, democracy doesn’t work…(it is a) return to … honesty, decency, compromise, and standing up for one another.’
The 44th president was optimistic about the future of the country:
‘The more Americans who vote, the more our elected leaders look like America.,.Our work goes on. The change we need won’t come from one election alone — but it is a start.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
