COLORADO
Colorado turned DARK BLUE
We won every statewide race by large margins: Governor, Senator, Secretary of State, Attorney General, CU Board of Regents, and State Board of Education.
We won 5 congressional seats. We had 4 of 7 now we will likely have 5 of 8. (Boebert unlikely to lose)
We were 21 Dems to 14 Reps in the senate. Dems won 11, and Reps won 6 of the state senate seats up this year. Dylan Roberts and Janice Marchman flipped their seats (and Faith Winter sort of did, too but retiring incumbent Kevin Priola switched parties before the election). We should be 23 Dems to 12 Reps when votes are certified.
We were 41 Dems to 24 Reps in the House. We won 46, Reps won 19, increasing our majority!
Colorado turned dark blue, judging by the margins. We won our statewide seats by 7% to 17%.
Basically, it was a HUGE BLUE COLORADO WAVE.
Janice Marchman, Emma Pinter, and Faith Winter all won and we helped pull Yadira across the finish line.
STATE HOUSES AND SENATES
1. Democrats won the Michigan Senate for the first time since 1983. FLIP!
2. Democrats won the Michigan House and created the first Dem TRIFECTA! in 38 years!! FLIP!
3. Democrats won the Pennsylvania House. FLIP!
4. Democrats won the Minnesota Senate. FLIP! and kept the House (was a battleground) and created a Dem TRIFECTA!
5. Democrats kept control of the Washington Senate (was a battleground)
6. Democrats kept control of the Delaware Senate (was a battleground)
7. Democrats kept control of the Colorado Senate (was a battleground)
8. Democrats kept control of the Massachusetts House & Senate and FLIPPED! The Governor's seat creating a Dem TRIFECTA!
9. Democrats kept control of the Maryland House & Senate and FLIPPED! The Governor's seat, creating a Dem TRIFECTA!
10. Democrats kept control of the Maine House & Senate (both were battlegrounds)
Sadly, Republicans weren't able to flip a single state house or senate. We flipped four. We also created 4 trifectas, Michigan (HUGE), Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
U.S. SENATE
WE WON CONTROL OF THE SENATE!!!
We picked up a seat in Pennsylvania (Fetterman)
We kept all our seats that have been decided and are just waiting for the Georgia runoff, where Warnock is slightly favored. We will likely end up with a one-seat gain (if we keep working) and control 51-49. The one extra seat will dramatically reduce the power of Manchin and Sinema.
U.S. HOUSE (-6 or so)
We currently have 204 seats, and Republicans have 211 seats, with 20 left to decide. We need 14 to gain control, and Republicans need 7 to gain control. Of the undecided races, each party leads in 10. The undecided races are in Colorado, Oregon, Alaska, New York, New Mexico, Maine, Arizona, and California. If nothing changed, Dems would have 214, and Republicans would have 221 in the end. But I anticipate some races could change in California, and we could get a bit closer, perhaps. I predict that Republicans will win but have an unworkable majority that causes incredible in-fighting in the Republican party. Before the election, we had 220 and Reps had 212, and there were 3 vacancies)
GOVERNORS (+2 likely)
We will now have a record 12 female governors. Dems picked up in Maryland, Massachusetts, and…it looks very good for us to flip Arizona. We lost Nevada, so that will likely leave us plus two. We will control 24 governorships, and the Republicans will control 26.
BALLOT MEASURES
Legalizing Marijuana: Recreational use passed in Missouri and Maryland and failed in N. Dakota, S. Dakota, and Arkansas. Now it is legal in 21 states, and D.C. Medical marijuana is legal in 18 states. Thus, 39 states have legalized it in some way.
Pro-Abortion: Measures passed in California, Michigan, and Vermont
Anti-Abortion: Kentucky failed to pass a measure that would have eliminated their constitutional right to abortion, which already exists in their constitution; Montana voted down an anti-abortion measure
Democracy: Connecticut passed a measure allowing early voting, and Michigan expanded voting access. Nevada passed a law to use open primaries and ranked-choice voting. On the negative side, Nebraska passed a stricter voter i.d. measure. Ohio passed a measure requiring U.S. citizenship to vote in local elections.
Workers: Nebraska passed a $15 minimum wage law. Nevada raised its minimum wage to $12
Basically, pro-choice won in the 5 states it was on the ballot, minimum wage laws won in both the conservative states where it was on the ballot, and recreational marijuana was a mixed bag, but the trend to legalize it in more places continues. Democracy was a mixed bag too.
WINNERS DEMOCRATS! Abortion rights, Marijuana, Polis, Whitmer, Democracy, Colorado, Michigan, Biden, Schumer, Gerrymandering, DeSantis, Kemp, Rhode Island, Maryland, Minnesota
LOSERS, TRUMP!!!, MAGA Republicans, the media, the pollsters, McConnell, McCarthy
Dems won on Ballot issues, state houses and senates, governors, and in Colorado. We lost seats in the House because of gerrymandering. We were even in the senate. It wasn't a red wave; it was actually more of a blue wave, as when it's all over, we will have gained in the U.S. Senate, statehouses, state senates, governorships, and on ballot measures. Republicans will only gain in the House and likely only be single digits.
Interesting Facts:
People 45-64 R+11
People 65 and over, R+13
People 30-44 D+2
People 18-29 D+28
University of Michigan Campus Whitmer 94%, Dixon 6%
STATE WAVES: Colorado, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Maryland (and probably some more)
HISTORY of MIDTERMS
Since 1922, only 3 times has the incumbent president lost no Senate seats and lost fewer than 10 House seats.
You do NOT win midterms.
You just don't. The objective is to stem your losses. We did more than that.
WHAT NOW?
Nov/Dec
1. We need to cure ballots wherever we can. Nevada, California, Colorado, Arizona…anywhere in where the results are questioned. This happens THIS WEEK
2. We need to help Warnock get elected in Georgia. Write postcards, donate and if you can find a place to text or call, do that.
2023
1. Start preparing for the 2024 election. Raise money, Unite the Party
A unified party, even in the minority, maximizes its effectiveness. There is nothing worse than helping the Republicans divide us by suggesting one of the most successful presidents in history should not run for re-election. The best thing you can do is to sing Biden's praises far and wide and shoot people down when they suggest he's too old. He has had a transformative presidency so far. He is a lousy communicator but judge him by what he's done, not what he says. His experience and knowledge about whom to appoint to what made his presidency a super-success, and now it is topped off with an incredible midterm! We need Biden. Experience matters. Can you imagine if we didn't have Pelosi these last 6 years?
Quit criticizing Sinema and Manchin. They are both up for re-election in 2024. Manchin comes from a state that is 70%, Republican. He is literally the only Democrat we could elect from there, and if he isn't elected, we will lose a senator and possibly the majority. Sinema is from Arizona, which is NOT a blue state either.
It's now, only since Trump, a purple state. We have a lot of senate seats we have to protect in 2024. Spending our money on primaries against our incumbents is NOT a winning strategy. We also have to defend Tester in Montana. We have seats up in Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan that we need to defend. 2024 is not the time to waste our money and time attacking our incumbents. We need to defend, defend, defend, so we still maintain our majority. These senators were all elected in the huge 2018 Blue Wave, which is why we have so many to defend in Republican and swing states. We can only win if we are UNITED.
2. Lobby elected officials in Colorado to get the policies passed that you want passed (don't waste your time calling anyone in the U.S. Congress or Senate as everything will be stopped in the House if the Republicans control it (except for judicial nominations)). We have a stronger majority and a mandate in Colorado to continue to pass progressive legislation.
3. Win special elections to strengthen our party. For example, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is elected. Right now, Conservatives control it 4-3. A conservative is retiring, and there is a primary in February and an election in early April. If we want to start undoing the extreme gerrymandering that Wisconsin has, we have to win this majority. These types of races are sleeper races where no one turns out. We need to pay attention and help whether they are outstate or in-state.
4. Let the Republican party implode. The Republicans lost this election for two reasons: Roe and Trump. Roe energized the Democrats and showed everyone how radical the Republicans have become. Trump backed nut jobs who lost in every swing state.
Because they took the House by so little, there is a fight for whom the Republicans are going to elect speaker. Having lost the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 (he didn't lose the 2021) elections, Trump is hated in the Republican party. However, he controls the base, so he still has lots of power. He is angry that DeSantis won on election night by such a large margin and is being anointed as the Republican presidential frontrunner.
Murdock is angry at Trump for being a loser, so he is using his Fox, Wall Street Journal, NY Post, etc. media empire to criticize Trump and promote DeSantis. Make no mistake, Trump will destroy the party before he will walk away. The Republicans might want Trump to be indicted as it will eliminate them from having to get rid of him themselves, which would alienate their base. Winning the House will only exacerbate their in-fighting. Trump knows he is at fault for losing the election, so he is trying to scapegoat McConnell.
What do we do?
Enjoy the show and let them destroy each other because a divided party cannot win.
Want to learn more? Join our mailing list!
https://www.influencersofboulder.com/contact