“Democrat net seat gains from the 2018 Election are a small fraction of what the RSLC’s RedMap program accomplished during the 2010 Election and well below any comparable wave measurement,” RSLC President Matt Walter said in a statement, referring to the GOP’s wildly successful program to run and fund state-level candidates in the 2010 midterms.
That said, Democrats accomplished gaining all those seats despite extremely gerrymandered maps that heavily favor Republicans in addition to voter suppression. That makes it a pretty BFD. If we make similar gains in 2020, maps will be redrawn more fairy and we can mitigate some of the suppression tactics in some areas. I have a feeling that 500 point rally we had Wednesday is going to be very temporary and was a shorting opportunity going forward. Good luck running on a expanding economy in 2020 if the market gives up most of the gains under Trump Mr Walter.
We lost almost 1,000 seats over the 10 years since Obama took office
Here’s the bit of Obama’s legacy that I never see mentioned in all those requests to protect it.
Again, gerrymandering played a large role in that.
Obama was elected in 2008, the egregious gerymanders did not take effect until 2012
True
As the votes are still being counted and the dust is settling,the results of Tuesday were a lot better than many of us here in TPMland thought and felt on Tuesday night.
The stupid people who believed lies about Obamacare played into some losses. And there’s the fact that until this one, dems stayed home in the midterms.
I hope they’ve learned a lesson.
We always get the government we deserve. If we want good government, vote. Educate yourself and vote. That goes for conservatives or liberals. There used to be honorable people on both sides. I look forward to a day when I can say with confidence there is again and it is just a different way of looking at the world. But everyone needs to evaluate who is running and who will serve our nation well and vote for good honorable people. At the moment, the only rational choices with rare exception are on the left, but even if people don’t see it that way, so long as they are making the best honest choice their little minds are capable of, things will all balance out and it is better to have them engaged than not if they are honestly trying to find the best leaders by whatever values guide them. If people stay home we loose. If people disengage we loose. If people listen only to bumper sticker slogans we loose.
Some dems and indies also, apparently, didn’t understand how high the stakes were/are as far as the Court system is concerned.
We’re all going to pay for that mistake for a long time.
Yes it’s going to be hard to fix. I think it has to be fixed. Waiting it out is not going to be an option. There are a couple of possible paths, none of them easy. First we need more seats though.
If RBG were to retire, allowing the current occupant of the white house another appointment, that would mean he would have appointed 1/3 of the SCOTUS. When I think of those people in comparison with who Hillary would have appointed it makes me sick.
Run for Something and Indivisible are both outstanding organizations that have accomplished a ton over the last two years. I wish they were included in this article. Every District isn’t as impressive in my opinion.
Run for Something is laying the foundation at the local level:
Indivisible is in the National trenches NOW. From their newsletter yesterday:
“Indivisibles held 2,220 electoral events in 45 states, 25 weeks in a row.
Our voter contact tools were used in 114 races in 32 states on 6 Governor’s races, 15 Senate races, and 63 Congressional races.
11,863 volunteers completed more than 21,000 shifts, making more than 11.6 million voter contact attempts in more than 50 federal races.”
This takes time, relentless work, and deep commitment. I will continue my recurring small monthly donation to both these organizations. Screw the blue “wave”. We need a slow building blue tsunami. We are the future.
Most people have their pet issues. Mine has always been and always will be the SCOTUS. Every social/political/economic issue you can think of could wind up before the Court. If you care about those issues, you better care about the composition of the Court. So, I vote for whomever I feel will have the same outlook about the Court as I do. The rest will take care of itself.