2026 Elections: To the Midterms and Beyond!

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Hillary Scholten joins us now Congresswoman, your thoughts on AES' win?

"Teehee, well he won. Ahhh...I've called him to congratulate him and I look forward to working together with him, blah blah blah."

Well, as we know, you weren't a champion of his. So what do you think that says about his brand of politics?"

"Look, I doubled my margin to +16, so I wouldn't write my brand of politics off..."

Oh Hillary, try not to be too sore of a winner now.

 

[Kepler]

Never heard of Hillary Scholten so I looked her up. Krazy Kristian high school and college, but she's the first Dem to win the Grand Rapids seat in 50 years.

Given her background and constituency you can't expect brains. Or morals. But she's one more blue (and one fewer red ) vote, so if she needs to snarl Islamaphobic bullshit to win in her subhuman district then As-salamu alaykum, mate.

We won both seats. Win/win.

 

[Bronco]

In January I will have a progressive house rep and senator. The people of mid-Michigan have zero interest in playing nice with the ICE abetting, tariff raising, warmongering MAGAs. Take the centrist BS elsewhere. This election should be as revolutionary as the neocons Contract With America. Except y'know be actually good for America.

 

[Kepler]

In January I will have a progressive house rep and senator. The people of mid-Michigan have zero interest in playing nice with the ICE abetting, tariff raising, warmongering MAGAs. Take the centrist BS elsewhere. This election should be as revolutionary as the neocons Contract With America. Except y'know be actually good for America.

Agostino Bertani where we can.
Clement Attlee where we must.

Slowly, slowly we push forward towards the eschaton of global peace, socialism, and free love with nubile strawberry blondes.

fig. 1. She already looks disappointed

 

[walrus]

Looks like Lepage will win 2nd district. Also looks like automatic recount as its so tight. I'm surprised its close at all as Dunlap is as boring as one can get

 

[Kepler]

How can that derp keep winning? Srsly, Maine, WTF? Do you aspire to be WV?

 

[MichVandal]

So the Dems had "the center" in 2020 and then lost it in 2024? What exactly did the Biden administration or congressional Democrats do that was so "wacky left" that it lost "the center?" Seriously, what specific actions or policy?

I've heard this baloney from a few places now and it's such a BS train of thought. The fact is, the Dems lost in 2024 because of inflation, and the GOP got wrecked in 2026 because of inflation+oil+tariffs.
For the 20-25% of voters who waffle and flip, the only thing that matters is their finances, and they vote pretty much entirely based on who they think is going to help those finances the most. It really is that simple.

If you haven't learned that lesson by now nothing anyone says is going to help you.

I must have missed the memo that Healthcare for All is centrist.

Maybe stopping the illegal war to get gas prices sane is centrist. But Senator Elect Al-Sayed clearly ran on Healthcare for All.

Funny, just this year, Blue Cross decided to have a hissy fit with Michigan Medicine- pushing a LOT here in SE MI to support healthcare for all. And Blue Cross is one of the "non profits" in healthcare.

 

[Kepler]

From Tufts University / Tisch College of Civic Life:

Every demo 18-29 went strongly Democratic:

Men:
Asian 80-20, +60
Black 70-30, +40
Latino 65-35, +30
White 55-45, +10

Women:
Asian 85-15, +70
Black 85-15, +70
Latino 80-20, +60
White 65-35, +30

That is from the entire data set, not just blue states. The GOP has a lot of movement to make to avoid complete irrelevance.

 

[MissThundercat]

Hillary Scholten joins us now Congresswoman, your thoughts on AES' win?

"Teehee, well he won. Ahhh...I've called him to congratulate him and I look forward to working together with him, blah blah blah."

Well, as we know, you weren't a champion of his. So what do you think that says about his brand of politics?"

"Look, I doubled my margin to +16, so I wouldn't write my brand of politics off..."

Oh Hillary, try not to be too sore of a winner now.

Still about as useful as decaf.

 

[Kepler]

Still about as useful as decaf.

Non-alcoholic beer.

 

[Boston_E]

So the Dems had "the center" in 2020 and then lost it in 2024? What exactly did the Biden administration or congressional Democrats do that was so "wacky left" that it lost "the center?" Seriously, what specific actions or policy?

I've heard this baloney from a few places now and it's such a BS train of thought. The fact is, the Dems lost in 2024 because of inflation, and the GOP got wrecked in 2026 because of inflation+oil+tariffs.
For the 20-25% of voters who waffle and flip, the only thing that matters is their finances, and they vote pretty much entirely based on who they think is going to help those finances the most. It really is that simple.

If you haven't learned that lesson by now nothing anyone says is going to help you.

In 2020 we eeked out senate races in a couple of purple states and lost seats in the house. That’s not winning back the center. In 2020 more swing voters broke to the right and was nothing like the results from last night.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Never heard of Hillary Scholten so I looked her up. Krazy Kristian high school and college, but she's the first Dem to win the Grand Rapids seat in 50 years.

Given her background and constituency you can't expect brains. Or morals. But she's one more blue (and one fewer red ) vote, so if she needs to snarl Islamaphobic bullshit to win in her subhuman district then As-salamu alaykum, mate.

We won both seats. Win/win.

She is the Midwestern MGP.

Actually that's unfair. Scholten votes with the party 90% of the time, MGP is more like 50%.

 

[Kepler]

I wonder what percentage of all state expenditures will now be overseen by Democratic governors?

Here's the top 15:

1. CA D
2. NY D
3. TX D
4. IL D
5. FL R
6. PA D
7. OH D
8. AZ D
9. NJ D
10. MI D
11. VA D
12. MA D
13. GA D
14. WA D
15. NC D

 

[Kepler]

10 largest cities, state's governor:

1. D NYC
2. D LA
3. D Chicago
4. D Houston
5. D Phoenix
6. D Philadelphia
7. D San Antonio
8. D San Diego
9. D Dallas
10. D Fort Worth

 

[Jimjamesak]

As always with Alaska it's difficult to get good information but...

Most of the ballots left seem to be mail-in which will likely favor Peltola though it's unlikely to put her at 50%. Means will be heading to an RCV tabulation which won't happen for two weeks.

Something to note: In 2024 Peltola narrowed a gap of about 4.5% to about 2% with the mail-in ballots.

 

[Kepler]

Something to keep and eye on.

D flipped 5 governorships to go from 24-26 to 29-21.

D flipped at least 12 legislative chambers, to go from 39-58 to 51-46.

R had controlled a majority of both governorships and leg chambers since 2010.

Many legislative races had yet to be called by midday Wednesday. But the National Conference of State Legislatures said current results showed Democrats would secure new trifectas – control of both chambers and the governor’s office – in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democrats also broke Republican trifectas in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Texas.

Additionally, Democratic wins crushed GOP supermajorities in several states. In Florida, the loss of the Republican supermajority takes away the party’s power to override rules regarding procedure and debate and override the governor’s veto.

Democratic gains also ended supermajorities in the Indiana state House, the Kansas House, both of Missouri’s legislative chambers, the Ohio House, and the South Carolina House.

 

[walrus]

How can that derp keep winning? Srsly, Maine, WTF? Do you aspire to be WV?

2nd district, mississippi

 

[Kepler]

BTW, 2028 is at worst a neutral Senate map for D. There are 34 seats up; 18 are R incumbent and 16 D.

 

[Kepler]

Late 19th century politics was fun. In the 1890 midterms, the Republicans lost 93 seats. In the next midterms in 1894, they gained 130.

Voters used to choose their representatives,not the other way around.

 

[Kepler]

"You're gonna make me hope."