Now that we’re past the official election night and on to the ensuing post-election days, it’s time for an Election 2022 update.
Politics :
Let’s get started with the obvious: the Republican “red wave” many political pundits (and Republican politicians) expected never materialized. In fact, not only was there no wave but there was barely a GOP ripple. Democrats did exceedingly better than anyone ever expected. Of course, this also means the Republican expectation that they would snag 60+ seats in the US House of Representatives and grab comfortable control of the US Senate was a pipe dream.
Republicans were so sure they would be victorious on election night that GOP voters were literally stunned when reality rained on their parades.
In Pennsylvania, supporters of GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano were convinced God would intervene for their candidate.
“I just feel like he has been chosen for this, I really do,” said Kristin Bailey, a healthcare worker from York, PA. “I think he was led to this position for a reason.”
“I think he’s gonna win, 100%,” said Katie Grove, a florist from Chambersburg.
“Being the party in power, 8% inflation, a president with a 43% approval rating, they should, by any standard, have lost a whole bunch of seats. If you look at the projection right now they are going to be down about five seats. There’s some play in that number but it’s not nearly, nearly what Democrats or, frankly, Republicans who are frustrated this morning, expected.”
– Willie Geist, MSNBC
In other Election 2022 update news, Republicans have already begun pointing fingers at what went wrong, with some taking aim at House Minority Leader (and potential Speaker of the House) Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
According to Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, “knives are out for Kevin McCarthy,” who is taking the blame for Republicans underperforming in Tuesday’s midterms.
“GOP source tells me ‘if it wasn’t clear before it should be now. We have a Trump problem,’” she tweeted.
“Second GOP source sees below tweet, texts me ‘Knives are out for Kevin McCarthy, if he is under 225, expect Scalise to make a move quickly for speaker,’” Heinrich added, referring to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA).
She added: “A lot of rank and file members of Congress right now though are thinking to themselves that we need new energized leadership that is going to be focused on the working class voters.”
In more Election 2022 update news, Donald Trump is, as expected, pointing his (tiny) finger at everyone but himself for the Republicans’ failed night.
According to THE DAILY BEAST, Trump is steaming mad that his hand-picked Pennsylvania candidate for the US Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost to Democrat John Fetterman. In fact, Trump is so livid at the results that he is blaming his own wife, Melania, for allegedly suggesting that he endorse and support Oz.
Trump is indeed furious this morning, particularly about Mehmet Oz, and is blaming everyone who advised him to back Oz — including his wife, describing it as not her best decision, according to people close to him.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 9, 2022
As of this writing, the US Senate races in Arizona and Nevada remained still too-close-to-call.
In Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly holds a slight lead over Republican Blake Masters, while in Nevada, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is slightly trailing Republican Adam Laxalt.
Since no candidate won 50%+1 of the vote, the Georgia race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Hershell Walker is headed to a run-off, which is scheduled for December 6th.
In conclusion, our Election 2022 update predicts that Democrats will win in Arizona, potentially win in Nevada, and win the run-off in Georgia to retain control of the US Senate. However, they will fall short of about a dozen votes to retain control of the House.
Stay tuned…
OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
An Election 2022 update.
MSNBC: NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins said Wednesday that supporters of former President Donald Trump did not show up to the polls on Election Day because they want to “get violent.” Collins suggested that Trump-endorsed Republican candidates underperformed in the midterm elections because the “Trump base” and those who “planned the insurrection” want to be violent instead of voting. “There’s a large portion — So, like, the people who planned the insurrection still have their forum, and they gave up on democracy a long time ago, and by the way, we should have factored this in a little bit more before people started voting, I think” Collins said on MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports.” “There’s a large section of the Trump base that simply does not want to vote anymore, they just want to get violent, and maybe those people didn’t show up,” he continued. MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow made… Read more »