By Swaminathan S. Aiyar
Déjà vu, 2006? Then, an unpopular war in Iraq helped Democrats wrest both houses of Congress from George W Bush. Twenty years later, another Republican president has lost both houses amid another unpopular Middle Eastern war. But even Democrats who dreamed of a blue wave might have laughed if you had told them where it would crest. Texas? Yes, Texas. Kansas? The last time Kansas elected a Democrat to the Senate, Franklin Roosevelt was winning his first presidential election.
Democrats needed a net gain of four Senate seats. They flipped Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. In Maine, an early Democratic lead turned into a projected victory over Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent. That makes seven projected pickups, with Alaska still uncalled in the early tally.
The rout ran from the Midwest to the South. Trump had carried South Carolina by nearly 18 points two years ago. His handpicked Senate candidate lost it.
The South also elected two Black governors, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia and Republican Byron Donalds in Florida. Bottoms becomes the first Black woman elected governor of any American state. Donalds' victory, in the middle of a Republican rout elsewhere, is a reminder that even a national wave leaves room for states to make varied choices. Michigan made history by electing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate.
Trump spent the campaign asking voters to pretend he was on the ballot. Once the returns came in, he insisted that had he actually been on it, he would have won in a landslide. Republicans who lost their seats can be forgiven for wondering what, exactly, they were supposed to pretend.
He gave voters a rationale for his tariffs, his immigration crackdown and his tax cuts.
Continued on Page 12: Unconvincing Argument
The Economic Times
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