Cliff’s Note:
We Won. Bigly. The 50-yr storm I kept predicting landed (i.e. the biggest rout since the post-Watergate 1974 Midterm—52 yrs ago).
And, oh, do we have great stories for you; one breaking, some surprises!
For just a few bucks a month, you get access to it all—and can join live chats w/ me, get our Insider Secrets newsletter..+ holiday surprises! 😉 Subscribe!
—Cliff
First: YOU
Incredible. Generational. Seismic.
That’s what last Tuesday was and has been every day since, as we count votes and win more seats. NBC keeps inching up. Now they’re saying 259 House seats. They know they wanna get to that 260 I predicted—c’mon NBC, you can do it, you totally wanna!
Ok, now on a serious note: YOU made it happen.
You, the incredible members of our community who donated that extra dollar. You, who knocked on that last half-block of doors when your feet felt anvils. You, who made that last few calls when you needed clothes pins to keep your eyes open.
And yes, you, who ensured your teenager, or that co-worker who always works late, got to the polls. Because you knew how important this election was.
Tsunami doesn’t quite do justice to what you did. It was more like the meteor that would make a velociraptor more than a bit nervous.
We came close to sweeping just about every damn thing we could, including Don Jr.’s cocai..I mean sugar spilled on the floor. Yeah, sugar… We won almost everything we conceivably could.
You made it happen.
We took back entire swing states, cemented others as blue. We elected the first Black female governor of any state in Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Deb Haaland became the first Native American woman elected governor of a state in New Mexico. (some more stories like this below).
You made it happen.
We ousted some of the worst, most entrenched incumbents, from Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas to Sen. Susan Collins in Maine to Rep. Ann Wagner in Missouri, whose 14-yr right-wing Cruella de Vil reign was ended by my good pal Fred Wellman (Go Fred!).
You made it happen
And you didn’t just elect Democrats in big ticket races. State legislators, attorneys general—who can prosecute federal officials, say ICE, for breaking state law. Secretaries of state to ensure all the votes in 2028 are counted. This community played an enormous role in electing them all. So I hope you know it. I hope you can take a look in the mirror, reflect, and be proud of all you did. You saved our ailing democracy from authoritarianism in a bad wig. Call it the un-orange revolution.
One last time: you made it happen.
I can only speak for this one American. This one Ohioan. I never thank you enough for all you did to make this past week happen. I can live in a country I believe in again. One that embraced our “better angels.” And I now live in state that’ll never-ever-never have to say “Governor Ramaswamy.” And where we won nearly every other big race.
Incredible. Generational. Seismic.
I can never say “thank you” enough to this amazing community.
- Cliff
Four Weddings And A Funeral
Happiness…is a warm…US Senate with 56 Democrats, and a ton of talented moderate-to—liberal governors running 29 states where 75% of the U.S. population lives. For making me feeling confident for the first time in two years we’re not a just a hop, skip, and a jump from officially becoming a Vladimir Putin mistress.
Some of the specifics: we elected a cadre of talented Gen Xers and millennials who finally got their shot and came up big. Just in our thumbnail, you have Dr. Annie Andrews, elected the first woman Senator from South Carolina. Dr. Amy Acton, the first woman and Jewish person elected Governor of Ohio. Gina Hinojosa, who is the first Latina Governor of Texas, where Latinos now comprise 41% of the state’s residents.
As Abigail Adams famously wrote to her husband John, as he was attending the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on March 31, 1776, “Remember the ladies.” And so we have. Even when it’s for slightly different reasons, because…
Breaking News: Lauren Boebert has officially lost her reelection! Going through her sordid history would take its own entire post and a de-lousing, so another time. But let’s just say my pure-joy level has reached 11. Especially as we almost knocked her out of Congress from a lean Republican seat, so she snuck next door to a much more solid Republican district and…yeah, that didn’t work this time.
Ain’t that just the icing on the cake?
Lauren Boebert, confused by decimals
Boebert will now have the free time to attend all the Beetlejuice productions her little heart—and roaming hands—desire(s). Seriously, of all the embarrassments, she’s been one of the been one of the worst. Trashier than a night out with Kid Rock, George Santos, and a bag of crystal meth come to life.
Buh bye now Lauren. We hardly—but way too f*king well—knew ya.
Reconstruction Done Right
And now that we’ve covered the ladies, let’s not forget what Scott Colom is about to do in Mississippi. First of all, change the whole damn state. Some of us (see: me) have been obsessed with turning The Magnolia State into a swing state for a while. It lacks the profile of a normal swing state—white, liberal Northeast and California retirees moving there, huge Latino/a population. Suburbs exponentially growing.
But it has something no other state can come close to: you start off with a 38% Black population. Think of that base right there. When other minority groups are added in—ones that don’t vote Democratic in quite as high percents, but still strongly—you clear 40%. At that point, win your college kids, win bigger in the suburbs of cities like Memphis, don’t lose the rural white vote by quite as large a margin, and turn out your base(!), and you’re there. This may help tell the story:
So along came senate candidate Scott Colom, with his prosecutor’s record, his charming demeanor, and brilliantly produced digital ads. Kaboom.
Colom, if we continue to fund him so he can pay staff, for food, the office…the little things as they’re counting all the votes, will win. (donate to Scott Colum here!) Provisional ballots go our way by definition, because they’re cast by those right-wing thugs try to disenfranchise by sending to the wrong polling places, etc.
So we’ll have Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction. Think about that for a second. And want some beautiful irony? He already flipped Forrest County, MS, named for lug-headed, robo-racist, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Civil War Confederate general and the first Grand Wizard of the original, Reconstruction-era, league of unbelievable assholes, the Ku Klux Klan.
So, yeah, Colom won your county! 😀 😃 😁
Dropping Out And Still Beating A Republican
It would seem you didn’t even have to actually run for office to beat Republicans this midterm. Which, if we’re being honest, is the way it always should be.
For those who didn’t think you could be any happier with what happened Tuesday. Au contraire. This will do it:
Voters still questioning the scale of Tuesday’s ‘blue wave’ midterm elections should look to Iowa, where a Democratic candidate who suspended his campaign nearly two months ago swept to victory over his Republican challenger.
Democrat Eric Armstrong on Thursday said he was ‘proud to announce that we won Iowa House District 20,’ adding that voters ‘sent a clear message about the direction they want for Iowa, and I will make sure that message is carried to the Capitol in January.’
A retired railroad executive, Armstrong won with about 55% of the vote―or about 9 percent―over his GOP opponent, former police lieutenant Keith Jones, who secured about 45%.
To those familiar with the race, the victory came as a bit of a surprise, given that Armstrong had formally suspended his campaign Sept. 7, citing ‘some personal health issues that require my full attention and immediate care.’
And that just feels like a great one to end on.
We will have more stories to share. Because there are so many. So get ready for a whole lot of good news, and not just the doom and gloom we have had to live with.
Once again, we can never tell you how important this community is to us. Thank you for all you do!
—Cliff
WHAT A GREAT LIST OF VICTORIES!
Of all the LADIES mentioned in your article it’s interesting that you failed to mention the name of the ONE woman who became the FIRST in a multitude of ways… THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN TO EVER BE ELECTED AS GOVERNOR IN ANY US STATE & THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN & THE FIRST WOMAN TO EVER BE ELECTED AS GOVERNOR IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
Say her name
GOVERNOR-ELECT KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS!! ❤️🤍🐘