What do the results mean for you, your community and our nation and the world at large?
How much attention have you paid to the midterm elections? How do you feel about the results that have been announced so far? What do you think they mean for you, your community, your state and our nation as a whole? Though control of Congress still hinges on races that are too close to call, by early Wednesday it was fairly clear that Democrats had defied predictions, winning dozens of key House, Senate and governors’ races across the country and forestalling a “red wave” that Republicans said would define one of the most consequential midterm campaigns in recent memory. We will continue to update this post, but you can also follow the live report. In “Five Takeaways From a Red Wave That Didn’t Reach the Shore,” Blake Hounshell summarizes the lessons of the 2022 midterms so far. Here are the first two paragraphs of each of these “takeaways”; please read the full article to learn more.
The Democratic base showed up. The biggest question hanging over Democrats all year was just who, exactly, would show up to vote for them. In a typical midterm election, like 2010 and 2014, turnout drops by about 20 percentage points from a presidential year. But turnout smashed all records in 2018, when voters repudiated Mr. Trump and Democrats retook the House. So far, preliminary research by the Democratic data firm Catalist suggests that this year looks much more like 2018 than it does the sleepy affairs that took place under former President Barack Obama. Many analysts now think the United States may have reached a new plateau of permanently high participation, stoked by each party’s fear of the other side.
Abortion put Democrats in the fight. Throughout much of 2021 and the first half of 2022, Republicans appeared poised for shellacking-level gains in Congress and beyond. Then came the Supreme Court’s bombshell decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning a 50-year precedent that many Americans had taken for granted.
Suddenly, Democrats had found an issue to rally their base around. Two months later, when voters in conservative Kansas emphatically rejected a ballot measure to ban abortion, many saw a potential game-changer in the making. Democratic governors like Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan positioned themselves as bulwarks of abortion rights, while liberal groups poured hundreds of millions of dollars into ads highlighting the far-right positions many Republicans took to win their primaries.
Trump saddled Republicans with weak candidates. Often, Democrats got the opponents they desired. And the Republican Party leadership was just as often confounded and frustrated by the choices its own voters made. G.O.P. leaders aggressively courted centrist governors like Doug Ducey of Arizona, Larry Hogan of Maryland and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire to run for Senate — to little avail. Mr. Trump played kingmaker from Mar-a-Lago, demanding that candidates pay fealty to his lies about the 2020 election being stolen. Republican primary voters sided overwhelmingly with Mr. Trump, leading Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, to fret about the “quality” of his party’s nominees.
Inflation dominated, as Democrats grasped for a response. Again and again, voters told pollsters that soaring prices for gasoline, groceries and housing were their No. 1 concern by far. And Democrats grasped for a clear, consistent response to Republican attacks. The White House first tried denial: Administration officials argued that inflation was a “transitory” phenomenon, a word that would come to haunt many a Democrat months later. Then blame: When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices rocketing upward, Mr. Biden and other Democrats tried to brand inflation as “Putin’s price hike.”
The country is as closely divided as it's ever been. The chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide. There were indeed some ticket-splitters on Tuesday, but in general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans. In years past, Mr. Biden’s low approval ratings and inflation stuck at 40-year-highs might have augured a convincing drubbing for his party. Harry Truman lost 55 House seats in his first midterms; Bill Clinton lost 53; Barack Obama lost 63. That kind of rebuke didn’t happen to Mr. Biden. It is rarely how American politics works anymore. There are fewer true swing voters than ever — and a dwindling number of swingable races.
Students, onceread the entire article, then tell us:
How do you feel about the results of the midterm elections that have been reported so far? Surprised? Excited? Angry? Worried? Something else? Why? Irritated, annoyed?
What races, issues or candidates did you care about most? Why? If you are American, who was elected in your state? What ballot initiatives were approved or rejected? What is your reaction these results and why? What impact will they have on you and the communities you are a part of? Which details of the voting results seem especially significant or interesting to you? Why? What do you think those results say? Did your friends and family who were eligible to vote go to the polls on Tuesday? Why or why not? Do you think you will vote when you are eligible?
Did you know that Generation Z has won its first seat in Congress? Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a 25-year-old Democrat, won in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, and focused on issues important to many young voters: gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and Medicare for all. How engaged do you think your generation is in politics now? How do you think you will make your voices heard in future elections? The Times writes that Tuesday’s elections show that “the chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide.” Do you see political divisions in your own life, whether in your family, at your school, in your neighborhood, or in any other communities you belong to? What do you think Americans should do about this divide?
How important do you think this election is? What do the results mean for our nation, in your view? What do you predict will happen, whether in the days and weeks ahead, in 2024, or even beyond? Why? What worries you about the future of America? What gives you hope? Why? Our 2020 Civil Conversation Challenge showed us how beautifully young people can talk to each other about hot-button issues across divides. Take a moment before or after you post your own comment here to respond to someone else’s comments — remembering, of course, to do so respectfully and thoughtfully. Thank you for contributing to the conversation. I definitely see political divisions less in my family, but more so in my community. While there are members of my family that have differing political views, we are able to put our opinions aside and not let it ruin the relationship and family dynamic. Living in Floral Park, our town is the most conservative as compared to the towns around us which are mainly liberal. This is a divide because while I see myself more liberal and democratic, people in my community consider themselves more conservative. This divide is a definite event occurring nationwide. I don’t think Americans can do anything about this divide because people will always have differing opinions. The best thing we can do is not let it dominate our personality so we can live in unity. Through the election day, I was mainly focused on Lauren Bobert and Adam Frisch as both candidates come from towns not to far from my home town. Running for Colorado's 3rd congressional district it has been a surprisingly tight race between the two. With a early prediction of Lauren being able to serve her second term without much competition from Adam Frisch, it has been all but that. With every vote counting Adam was in the lead for much of the past few days. Boebert passed him today by about 1,000 votes, but due to Colorado state law, any election within 0.5% calls for an automatic recount. Although Lauren Boebert slowly is starting to pull away from Adam Frisch in the running for Colorado's 3rd congressional district, this closer than expected race will show Boebert that she doesn't have the support she once thought and will serve as a wake up call for Lauren and her team. While it is occasionally necessary to discuss different political viewpoints and agendas, as a young person in America, I am far more worried about how various Americans treat each other in response to their differences. Blake Hounshell stated that on Tuesday, “general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” Because “there are fewer true swing voters than ever,” more and more people are deciding to associate themselves with one political party. This, I believe, is more dangerous than the loss or gain of a certain political party. As people begin to categorize themselves in one way or another, they become more unwilling to listen to and respect people of another category or opinion. This distinct polarization between political groups in our country is doing nothing but egging on an epidemic of division, and mistrust between Americans. As a young American myself, I have a group of friends who politically, identify very differently. I often receive confused looks and aghast stares when people undoubtedly ask about my own and my friend's political views. Many wonder how we can possibly get along if we do not agree on politics. The answer is simple. We are inseparable because we respect each other for who we are on the inside, and are not searching for either affirmation of a certain belief or an argument over a belief. Even though not all the votes have been counted, and not all the elections have been called, I think it is very clear that the so call “red wave” wasn’t able to completely wash away the democrats. The democrats were able to both prop up their candidates and completely tear down the republican candidates. Not only did this new wave of trump republicanism saddle the GOP with not great candidates, the democrats were able to create attack ads to weaken their popularity at the polls. The republicans had a multitude of issues they wanted to focus on this election, crime, taxes, gas, prices, stopping the “liberal agenda”, anti-lgbtq+ issues, parental rights, denying the 2020 election. It was a lot and honestly it was too much. The GOP wasn’t really unified in this election. Who was unified? The democrats. And the issue they focused on? Women’s right to choose. Almost every political ad I saw mentioned how this democrats would protect a women’s right to choose. The dems had a unified front and something to fight for. And so far it has seems to have worked. I can’t vote, so I can only be so involved—I can stay informed on what’s going on in my state, country, and community, but not necessarily participate. However, during election times, and especially the results, I notice a lot of things going on. First of all, I realize that the amount of voters around the country increased heavily, and I think that is because of the controversial decisions made earlier in the year. For example, I believe the overturning of Roe v Wade prompted more people to vote because this election is the one that could impact a singular person the most, considering this is state-wide. Another thing I’ve noticed is as time goes on, politicians seem to be moving farther left or right, rather then being somewhere in the middle. Essentially, it would in turn mean that getting a senator or governor that is republican or democratic can mean a lot of changes are going to ensue, because many politicians are either far right, or far left, for the most part. While I don’t think this is very beneficial for the country, I think that the best way for people to handle it is to thoroughly educate themselves on the people they’re voting for, to be sure what exactly voting for, not just a general summary.
Personally, the midterm election results so far are a bit worrying. Overall, I’ve been feeling both disappointed and hopeful. The senate is close, but looking at the HOR map and the gap between Democrats and Republicans is honestly depressing. Many people believe it’s beneficial to our country to have a nice balance in Congress, but I have to disagree with this claim. Even without my own political bias, so many Republican candidates for senate, HOR, and governor have beliefs and views that are oppressive to marginalized groups that I find appalling people support. After so many things that have happened the past few years, I’m shocked that people like Desantis and Abbott got re-elected, and especially how 77% of Uvalde county voted for Abbott after the horrors that happened under him as governor. Among all the negatives, I have been able to celebrate the fact that Illinois once again went all blue for the senate, governor, and my HOR district. Knowing that rights such as abortion rights are still protected in my state gives me much relief and happiness that I’m lucky enough to live in a place where these rights are protected. The Gen Z voter turnout gives me hope as the national youth vote choice for the HOR was 63% Democrat and 35% Republican. With this and even more Gen Z voters being eligible for the next presidential election, I can predict that the youth of America will be able to save and stabilize Democratic votes and make the country even more blue than it is now.
As a teenager, who isn't necessarily extremely invested in politics, straight off the bat, topics that I've been advocating for either way were women's abortion rights and restriction of increasing inflation. While the White House's point of inflation being what keeps our economy and government going, I must argue that in the long-term our economy is being hurt through inflation. Gas prices are at an all time high, especially in California where I live, and this puts a lot of families that are especially in poverty in an even worse position than they've been before. So, I must ask the newly elected Congress and the audience, what are we going to do about it? Imagine a life in poverty where inflation is inevitable and imagine a women's life where abortion is illegal.
As someone who is not yet eligible to vote in our elections yet, I was surprised yet still worried about the result. While my pessimistic attitude that Tuesday believed that day to be a breaking point of our democracy, it somehow stood firm — against all of my predictions — and the American Experiment got to live on just a little bit longer. With so many attempts over these past few tumultuous years to subvert our elections, contest the results - despite having nothing to contest them with, and suppress the voters of the country, it is still hard for me to find solace in the fact that we held firm “this time” what about next time? Many questions remain for me about if our institutions can still stand after such concerted pushes against them. My primary message is for the American people is to not to get complacent due to any of this. We shouldn’t take our democracy for granted, we shouldn’t take our institutions’ strength for granted. For if we do become complacent, someone else can steal the very way we do things in our country right from under our noses. I’m annoyed with the midterm election results. There’s constant altercations between Democrats and Republicans, and it feels as if we’ve lost our sense of unity in America. This idea coincides with a statement mentioned in the article Five Takeaways From a Red Wave That Didn’t Reach the Shore by Blake Hounshell when it was stated, “...in general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” I wish people didn’t just vote for a candidate based on the candidate’s party without looking into what the person actually stands for. The election results aren’t very surprising; but Arizona’s election was the most shocking to me. I’ve always felt like Arizona leaned right, so I was surprised to see them as blue. I know their votes are still coming in, so maybe it'll change. The races in North Carolina, the state I live in, interested me most. I was hopeful for Cheri Beasley, however we’ve elected Ted Budd. I was also looking into the School Board election and I’m glad Michele Morrow lost. After seeing so many of her signs in peoples yards, I thought for sure she’d have the most votes, but I’m delighted to see that at least the majority of people had the common sense to vote for Tyler Swanson. Electing someone who hasn’t even had any experience with public school, doesn’t put her own children in public school, yet wants to run for a position on the School Board perplexes me. I would say better luck next election, but it’ll most likely be worse by then.
After reviewing the results of the midterm elections so far, I can‘t help but feel worried about the future of the country. These midterm elections will result in the country getting nothing done for the next two years and a stronger divide between the two parties. The article talks about the “new plateau of permanently high participation” caused by “each party’s fear of the other side.” People will vote for politicians of the same party as theirs rather than looking at the other candidates. The article only emphasizes this point: “The chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide.” Political parties are only diving us on important topics resulting in nothing getting done. As of now, the republican party is winning both the Senate and the House. A majority republican congress and a democratic president is a definite disaster waiting to occur. Disagreements in ideas will slow down decision-making, slowing down the overall productivity of the nation as a whole. Political parties have only been diving us, and they will continue to do so if nothing changes.
As I write this on November 11th, 2022 there are still three seats up for contention in the Senate and thirty-two seats in the House of Representatives. Many of these races will still take a few days to see final results because of mail-in ballots. However, I was very surprised, as I think most people were, to not have Republicans sweep congress. I expected the “Red Wave” that was so talked about to sweep congress for the Republicans and so far that hasn’t happened. It is also exciting to see such close races! For example, I live in Colorado and our district put Loren Bobert up against Adam Frisch. It was supposed to be a solid easy reelection for Bobert yet it’s been a very close race so far. I of course feel a little worried to see the Republicans take back as much control as they have as politics under Trump has been scary. Yet I am also comforted to see so many people, from both parties, turning out to these elections and voting. It gives me some confidence in a democracy I will soon be a part of.
While it is occasionally necessary to discuss different political viewpoints and agendas, as a young person in America, I am far more worried about how various Americans treat each other in response to their differences. Blake Hounshell stated that on Tuesday, “general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” Because “there are fewer true swing voters than ever,” more and more people are deciding to associate themselves with one political party. This, I believe, is more dangerous than the loss or gain of a certain political party. As people begin to categorize themselves in one way or another, they become more unwilling to listen to and respect people of another category or opinion. This distinct polarization between political groups in our country is doing nothing but egging on an epidemic of division, and mistrust between Americans. As a young American myself, I have a group of friends who politically, identify very differently. I often receive confused looks and aghast stares when people undoubtedly ask about my own and my friend's political views.
The Democratic base showed up. The biggest question hanging over Democrats all year was just who, exactly, would show up to vote for them. In a typical midterm election, like 2010 and 2014, turnout drops by about 20 percentage points from a presidential year. But turnout smashed all records in 2018, when voters repudiated Mr. Trump and Democrats retook the House. So far, preliminary research by the Democratic data firm Catalist suggests that this year looks much more like 2018 than it does the sleepy affairs that took place under former President Barack Obama. Many analysts now think the United States may have reached a new plateau of permanently high participation, stoked by each party’s fear of the other side.
Abortion put Democrats in the fight. Throughout much of 2021 and the first half of 2022, Republicans appeared poised for shellacking-level gains in Congress and beyond. Then came the Supreme Court’s bombshell decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning a 50-year precedent that many Americans had taken for granted.
Suddenly, Democrats had found an issue to rally their base around. Two months later, when voters in conservative Kansas emphatically rejected a ballot measure to ban abortion, many saw a potential game-changer in the making. Democratic governors like Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan positioned themselves as bulwarks of abortion rights, while liberal groups poured hundreds of millions of dollars into ads highlighting the far-right positions many Republicans took to win their primaries.
Trump saddled Republicans with weak candidates. Often, Democrats got the opponents they desired. And the Republican Party leadership was just as often confounded and frustrated by the choices its own voters made. G.O.P. leaders aggressively courted centrist governors like Doug Ducey of Arizona, Larry Hogan of Maryland and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire to run for Senate — to little avail. Mr. Trump played kingmaker from Mar-a-Lago, demanding that candidates pay fealty to his lies about the 2020 election being stolen. Republican primary voters sided overwhelmingly with Mr. Trump, leading Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, to fret about the “quality” of his party’s nominees.
Inflation dominated, as Democrats grasped for a response. Again and again, voters told pollsters that soaring prices for gasoline, groceries and housing were their No. 1 concern by far. And Democrats grasped for a clear, consistent response to Republican attacks. The White House first tried denial: Administration officials argued that inflation was a “transitory” phenomenon, a word that would come to haunt many a Democrat months later. Then blame: When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices rocketing upward, Mr. Biden and other Democrats tried to brand inflation as “Putin’s price hike.”
The country is as closely divided as it's ever been. The chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide. There were indeed some ticket-splitters on Tuesday, but in general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans. In years past, Mr. Biden’s low approval ratings and inflation stuck at 40-year-highs might have augured a convincing drubbing for his party. Harry Truman lost 55 House seats in his first midterms; Bill Clinton lost 53; Barack Obama lost 63. That kind of rebuke didn’t happen to Mr. Biden. It is rarely how American politics works anymore. There are fewer true swing voters than ever — and a dwindling number of swingable races.
Students, onceread the entire article, then tell us:
How do you feel about the results of the midterm elections that have been reported so far? Surprised? Excited? Angry? Worried? Something else? Why? Irritated, annoyed?
What races, issues or candidates did you care about most? Why? If you are American, who was elected in your state? What ballot initiatives were approved or rejected? What is your reaction these results and why? What impact will they have on you and the communities you are a part of? Which details of the voting results seem especially significant or interesting to you? Why? What do you think those results say? Did your friends and family who were eligible to vote go to the polls on Tuesday? Why or why not? Do you think you will vote when you are eligible?
Did you know that Generation Z has won its first seat in Congress? Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a 25-year-old Democrat, won in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, and focused on issues important to many young voters: gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and Medicare for all. How engaged do you think your generation is in politics now? How do you think you will make your voices heard in future elections? The Times writes that Tuesday’s elections show that “the chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide.” Do you see political divisions in your own life, whether in your family, at your school, in your neighborhood, or in any other communities you belong to? What do you think Americans should do about this divide?
How important do you think this election is? What do the results mean for our nation, in your view? What do you predict will happen, whether in the days and weeks ahead, in 2024, or even beyond? Why? What worries you about the future of America? What gives you hope? Why? Our 2020 Civil Conversation Challenge showed us how beautifully young people can talk to each other about hot-button issues across divides. Take a moment before or after you post your own comment here to respond to someone else’s comments — remembering, of course, to do so respectfully and thoughtfully. Thank you for contributing to the conversation. I definitely see political divisions less in my family, but more so in my community. While there are members of my family that have differing political views, we are able to put our opinions aside and not let it ruin the relationship and family dynamic. Living in Floral Park, our town is the most conservative as compared to the towns around us which are mainly liberal. This is a divide because while I see myself more liberal and democratic, people in my community consider themselves more conservative. This divide is a definite event occurring nationwide. I don’t think Americans can do anything about this divide because people will always have differing opinions. The best thing we can do is not let it dominate our personality so we can live in unity. Through the election day, I was mainly focused on Lauren Bobert and Adam Frisch as both candidates come from towns not to far from my home town. Running for Colorado's 3rd congressional district it has been a surprisingly tight race between the two. With a early prediction of Lauren being able to serve her second term without much competition from Adam Frisch, it has been all but that. With every vote counting Adam was in the lead for much of the past few days. Boebert passed him today by about 1,000 votes, but due to Colorado state law, any election within 0.5% calls for an automatic recount. Although Lauren Boebert slowly is starting to pull away from Adam Frisch in the running for Colorado's 3rd congressional district, this closer than expected race will show Boebert that she doesn't have the support she once thought and will serve as a wake up call for Lauren and her team. While it is occasionally necessary to discuss different political viewpoints and agendas, as a young person in America, I am far more worried about how various Americans treat each other in response to their differences. Blake Hounshell stated that on Tuesday, “general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” Because “there are fewer true swing voters than ever,” more and more people are deciding to associate themselves with one political party. This, I believe, is more dangerous than the loss or gain of a certain political party. As people begin to categorize themselves in one way or another, they become more unwilling to listen to and respect people of another category or opinion. This distinct polarization between political groups in our country is doing nothing but egging on an epidemic of division, and mistrust between Americans. As a young American myself, I have a group of friends who politically, identify very differently. I often receive confused looks and aghast stares when people undoubtedly ask about my own and my friend's political views. Many wonder how we can possibly get along if we do not agree on politics. The answer is simple. We are inseparable because we respect each other for who we are on the inside, and are not searching for either affirmation of a certain belief or an argument over a belief. Even though not all the votes have been counted, and not all the elections have been called, I think it is very clear that the so call “red wave” wasn’t able to completely wash away the democrats. The democrats were able to both prop up their candidates and completely tear down the republican candidates. Not only did this new wave of trump republicanism saddle the GOP with not great candidates, the democrats were able to create attack ads to weaken their popularity at the polls. The republicans had a multitude of issues they wanted to focus on this election, crime, taxes, gas, prices, stopping the “liberal agenda”, anti-lgbtq+ issues, parental rights, denying the 2020 election. It was a lot and honestly it was too much. The GOP wasn’t really unified in this election. Who was unified? The democrats. And the issue they focused on? Women’s right to choose. Almost every political ad I saw mentioned how this democrats would protect a women’s right to choose. The dems had a unified front and something to fight for. And so far it has seems to have worked. I can’t vote, so I can only be so involved—I can stay informed on what’s going on in my state, country, and community, but not necessarily participate. However, during election times, and especially the results, I notice a lot of things going on. First of all, I realize that the amount of voters around the country increased heavily, and I think that is because of the controversial decisions made earlier in the year. For example, I believe the overturning of Roe v Wade prompted more people to vote because this election is the one that could impact a singular person the most, considering this is state-wide. Another thing I’ve noticed is as time goes on, politicians seem to be moving farther left or right, rather then being somewhere in the middle. Essentially, it would in turn mean that getting a senator or governor that is republican or democratic can mean a lot of changes are going to ensue, because many politicians are either far right, or far left, for the most part. While I don’t think this is very beneficial for the country, I think that the best way for people to handle it is to thoroughly educate themselves on the people they’re voting for, to be sure what exactly voting for, not just a general summary.
Personally, the midterm election results so far are a bit worrying. Overall, I’ve been feeling both disappointed and hopeful. The senate is close, but looking at the HOR map and the gap between Democrats and Republicans is honestly depressing. Many people believe it’s beneficial to our country to have a nice balance in Congress, but I have to disagree with this claim. Even without my own political bias, so many Republican candidates for senate, HOR, and governor have beliefs and views that are oppressive to marginalized groups that I find appalling people support. After so many things that have happened the past few years, I’m shocked that people like Desantis and Abbott got re-elected, and especially how 77% of Uvalde county voted for Abbott after the horrors that happened under him as governor. Among all the negatives, I have been able to celebrate the fact that Illinois once again went all blue for the senate, governor, and my HOR district. Knowing that rights such as abortion rights are still protected in my state gives me much relief and happiness that I’m lucky enough to live in a place where these rights are protected. The Gen Z voter turnout gives me hope as the national youth vote choice for the HOR was 63% Democrat and 35% Republican. With this and even more Gen Z voters being eligible for the next presidential election, I can predict that the youth of America will be able to save and stabilize Democratic votes and make the country even more blue than it is now.
As a teenager, who isn't necessarily extremely invested in politics, straight off the bat, topics that I've been advocating for either way were women's abortion rights and restriction of increasing inflation. While the White House's point of inflation being what keeps our economy and government going, I must argue that in the long-term our economy is being hurt through inflation. Gas prices are at an all time high, especially in California where I live, and this puts a lot of families that are especially in poverty in an even worse position than they've been before. So, I must ask the newly elected Congress and the audience, what are we going to do about it? Imagine a life in poverty where inflation is inevitable and imagine a women's life where abortion is illegal.
As someone who is not yet eligible to vote in our elections yet, I was surprised yet still worried about the result. While my pessimistic attitude that Tuesday believed that day to be a breaking point of our democracy, it somehow stood firm — against all of my predictions — and the American Experiment got to live on just a little bit longer. With so many attempts over these past few tumultuous years to subvert our elections, contest the results - despite having nothing to contest them with, and suppress the voters of the country, it is still hard for me to find solace in the fact that we held firm “this time” what about next time? Many questions remain for me about if our institutions can still stand after such concerted pushes against them. My primary message is for the American people is to not to get complacent due to any of this. We shouldn’t take our democracy for granted, we shouldn’t take our institutions’ strength for granted. For if we do become complacent, someone else can steal the very way we do things in our country right from under our noses. I’m annoyed with the midterm election results. There’s constant altercations between Democrats and Republicans, and it feels as if we’ve lost our sense of unity in America. This idea coincides with a statement mentioned in the article Five Takeaways From a Red Wave That Didn’t Reach the Shore by Blake Hounshell when it was stated, “...in general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” I wish people didn’t just vote for a candidate based on the candidate’s party without looking into what the person actually stands for. The election results aren’t very surprising; but Arizona’s election was the most shocking to me. I’ve always felt like Arizona leaned right, so I was surprised to see them as blue. I know their votes are still coming in, so maybe it'll change. The races in North Carolina, the state I live in, interested me most. I was hopeful for Cheri Beasley, however we’ve elected Ted Budd. I was also looking into the School Board election and I’m glad Michele Morrow lost. After seeing so many of her signs in peoples yards, I thought for sure she’d have the most votes, but I’m delighted to see that at least the majority of people had the common sense to vote for Tyler Swanson. Electing someone who hasn’t even had any experience with public school, doesn’t put her own children in public school, yet wants to run for a position on the School Board perplexes me. I would say better luck next election, but it’ll most likely be worse by then.
After reviewing the results of the midterm elections so far, I can‘t help but feel worried about the future of the country. These midterm elections will result in the country getting nothing done for the next two years and a stronger divide between the two parties. The article talks about the “new plateau of permanently high participation” caused by “each party’s fear of the other side.” People will vote for politicians of the same party as theirs rather than looking at the other candidates. The article only emphasizes this point: “The chief force in American politics remains its deep partisan divide.” Political parties are only diving us on important topics resulting in nothing getting done. As of now, the republican party is winning both the Senate and the House. A majority republican congress and a democratic president is a definite disaster waiting to occur. Disagreements in ideas will slow down decision-making, slowing down the overall productivity of the nation as a whole. Political parties have only been diving us, and they will continue to do so if nothing changes.
As I write this on November 11th, 2022 there are still three seats up for contention in the Senate and thirty-two seats in the House of Representatives. Many of these races will still take a few days to see final results because of mail-in ballots. However, I was very surprised, as I think most people were, to not have Republicans sweep congress. I expected the “Red Wave” that was so talked about to sweep congress for the Republicans and so far that hasn’t happened. It is also exciting to see such close races! For example, I live in Colorado and our district put Loren Bobert up against Adam Frisch. It was supposed to be a solid easy reelection for Bobert yet it’s been a very close race so far. I of course feel a little worried to see the Republicans take back as much control as they have as politics under Trump has been scary. Yet I am also comforted to see so many people, from both parties, turning out to these elections and voting. It gives me some confidence in a democracy I will soon be a part of.
While it is occasionally necessary to discuss different political viewpoints and agendas, as a young person in America, I am far more worried about how various Americans treat each other in response to their differences. Blake Hounshell stated that on Tuesday, “general Democrats turned out en masse for Democrats, and Republicans for Republicans.” Because “there are fewer true swing voters than ever,” more and more people are deciding to associate themselves with one political party. This, I believe, is more dangerous than the loss or gain of a certain political party. As people begin to categorize themselves in one way or another, they become more unwilling to listen to and respect people of another category or opinion. This distinct polarization between political groups in our country is doing nothing but egging on an epidemic of division, and mistrust between Americans. As a young American myself, I have a group of friends who politically, identify very differently. I often receive confused looks and aghast stares when people undoubtedly ask about my own and my friend's political views.
