The world didn't end last night. Democrats were not losers. In fact, we are the bigger winners.

[Stinky The Clown]

Yes, the loss of the flagship races suck BIG TIME. They HURT.

It is painful to see the likes of DeWine beating Cordray by the slimmest of margins. In fact, too slim to be believed. Logic alone tells us the motherfuckers CHEATED. A one point win here. A one point win there. And there. And there. Do you believe that happened naturally? I do NOT.

But with all of that, let's consider where we are.

The Senate is essentially unchanged, the pain and disappointment notwithstanding. The GOP has control but not with a supermajority. That is exactly what they had before. No Change. I will say that again: NO CHANGE.

Governorships shifted. We are in far better shape to resist gerrymandering and ensure fair elections than we were. We are in far better shape to effect Medicaid expansion. We are in far better shape because we WON the governorships we did.

And the biggest prize of the night is the HOUSE. We WON it decisively. We beat down some old line GOPers and we WON a LOT of open seats. The women candidates were IMPRESSIVE. In many ways, they led the charge.

I have not looked at local races beyond my own, where Dems flipped Republican incumbents in our reliably unreliable purple area. A couple of first timers on County Council. Women ascendant.




Yes, there was pain for us.



But celebrate, please.

WE WON last night.

We

WON!!!

[DinahMoeHum]

1. Governorships. . .AND state legislatures.

Let's not forget those. State legislatures will play a key role in the upcoming census and undoing gerrymandering.

The governor victories were especially sweet in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Thanks for the inclusion of state legislatures.

As I said, I wasn't sure how that had gone in too many places.

Glad to see NY out of GOP control in their senate.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. The Gov Shift Is Huge, I Think

It reflects a general mood about the executive in those states. I'll even count IL as an aberration because nobody expected Rauner to win 4 years ago anyway. He got away with a rotten message and bad campaign because the Quinn was stained by the Blagojevich scandal. (He had been the Lt. Gov.)

Still the result was a surprise in a blue state at most levels. So, we'll not count IL, but that means four states flipped that weren't reliably blue.

Seems like a big deal to me.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. They ARE a big deal

[Wintryjade]

5. Agreed. It is a huge start.