On Nov. 3, the world witnessed a wave of seismic proportions crash into the United States. That wave, of course, being the blue tsunami that crashed the polls as the Democratic party won this year’s midterm elections by the highest margin since the Watergate elections in 1974. While polls mostly predicted a big democratic night, none of them predicted the magnitude of these victories.
While many races across the New England region went as predicted (safe wins for the Democrats, the main headlines came out of the Maine senate race as long term incumbent, Susan Collins, R-Maine, was finally ousted by former tree logger, Troy Jackson. Big news also from the state of New Hampshire as the state voted Chris Pappas into the United States senate. Pappas became the first ever openly gay man to be elected to the U.S. senate, marking a truly historic moment.
Some of the biggest headlines from this election came from the heartland of the country, where history makers were present in nearly every state. Minnesota elected Peggy Flanagan, the first Native American woman to be elected to the senate, Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor, making her the nation’s first ever Black, female governor of any state, Michigan elected Abdul El-Sayed to the senate, making him the nation’s first ever Muslim senator and The lone star state of Texas elected Gina Hinojosa as governor, making her the first latina governor in the state’s history. Though many others were left out, the overall theme of the night was evident.
While the nation celebrated this group of history-makers, the actual voting data shows something much more interesting. The United States looked at roughly a 13-14 point swing in the Democrats’ favor. The pre-determined “swing states”, like Michigan and North Carolina gave the democratic party some expected wins, but it was the Deep South where the margins truly shifted.
Mississippi and South Carolina are two states that many predicted would not be competitive this year. South Carolina was called early into election night for Dr. Annie Andrews, signaling to many the sheer magnitude of the wave that was approaching the country. Mississippi is where the nation’s eyes now turn towards where as of November 10, they are still unfinished with counting all of the ballots, but show that Democrat Scott Colom maintains a small lead. With this race looking like it will go in Colom’s favor, this result would make him Mississippi’s first African American senator since the Reconstruction Era back in 1881.
With dozens more shocking results in each part of the country, and as of November 10, two uncalled senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, and 13 uncalled House races, one thing was crystal clear this election:he voters discontent with the current state of Washington DC. With the leverage democrats now hold in Congress, voters will be holding them to a high standard ahead of the 2028 elections. Given the history of President Trump presiding over a Democratic Congress, there’s no easy way to predict how the next two years will go. If anything is for sure, it is that America has turned to a new chapter in our country’s history and it’s up to all of us to write that history.