There was nothing reasonably approximating a so-called “red wave” in this year’s midterm elections, in which Democrats kept the GOP to a barely present majority in the House and might even expand their majority in the Senate — depending on the outcome of next month’s Senate runoff election in Georgia.
That election is required under state rules because no contender passed 50 percent in this month’s results. Just the top two finishers — meaning Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock and Republican contender Herschel Walker — are competing in the runoff, meaning somebody mathematically has to hit the needed level of support. In the first round, Warnock got more votes overall, so he’s in a good position.
At the White House this week for the traditional turkey pardon performed by the president, Biden ripped the GOP’s record in the midterms. There was absolutely no shortage of predictions that a Biden-led Democratic Party would suffer what could be described as an existential crash in the midterms, with polls showing voters concerned about inflation (as could be expected) and Republicans (unconvincingly) trying to depict themselves as economic saviors, or something — but, well, that didn’t happen. How would promises to investigate supposed corruption involving the Biden family help everyday Americans with their actual needs, anyway? “The votes are in, they’ve been counted and verified, no ballot stuffing, no fowl play. The only red wave this season is going to be if German Shepherd Commander knocks over the cranberry sauce,” Biden said during the turkey pardon ceremony at the White House, according to a version of his remarks reported by CNN.
Commander is one of the Biden family dogs. Of course, attention is now turning to the 2024 elections — does the election season ever really end? — as Donald Trump tries to nab another presidential nod from the GOP while facing multiple criminal investigations and a rising political threat from Ron DeSantis, the recently re-elected Republican governor of Florida, who hasn’t declared a candidacy but has been widely floated as a potential contender. Biden has already made clear he intends to run for re-election, and his team released a brief video ad — quickly seen millions of times on Twitter alone — highlighting some of Trump’s abject failures around the time of his announcement of his renewed presidential intentions.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
