Hi all, it’s Wednesday, and what a Wednesday it is. A disclaimer at the top: I’m running on about 3 hours of sleep after our all day (and night) coverage, so apologies in advance for any typos. The good news? Last night wasn’t a dream. The Blue Tsunami was real. And it was spectacular.
Here’s a fun recap video I put together. LET’S RUN IT BACK!
OK, while we’re having fun, mind if I show you one more video? Reporter Lauren McGaughy posted this clip of a man at Ken Paxton HQ yelling “no” as the race was called for James Talarico. Then the song “Gloria” started playing loudly on the speakers. Put this video in the Louvre.
A quick thank you for trusting us with your midterm coverage last night. We had more than 3.5 million views. What an accomplishment for independent media and this community. If you appreciated our coverage, consider joining us a paid subscriber today. We sincerely could not do this without you.
To the news…
Democrats win the House and Senate in a historic midterm rout
Seven Senate flips, with Mississippi and Alaska still too close to call
Democrats flip governorships in Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Nevada, plus a wave of statehouses
Republican gerrymanders collapse in North Carolina and Florida
Fox News melts down on air as Trump goes silent and blames Fox
JD Vance, Matt Walsh, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron DeSantis turn on Trump over the war
Mike Johnson won’t seek leadership as Jordan and Scalise go to war
Elon Musk’s $450M+ bet goes up in smoke
Data center moratoria go 43–1
The Dow surges 1,000+ points while Trump Media hits a new low
Netanyahu’s grip on power slips in Israel
The Numbers
Democrats won both chambers in a rout that reached deep into Republican strongholds. It was a total WIPEOUT.
In the Senate, Democrats lead 54–44 with two races outstanding, a net gain of seven when they only needed four. It’s very possible that Dems end up with 55, or even 56 seats. In the House, CNN had Democrats at 231 seats with 27 pickups as of this morning, and projections point toward 240 or more. Hakeem Jeffries is on track to become Speaker.
Republicans lost ground in roughly 99% of counties with substantial results, with their share down about 9 points from Trump’s 2024 performance.
Look at this visualization. It is just freakin’ stunning.
Majority-Hispanic counties swung 14 to 25 points toward Democrats. Democrats won young white men by 17 points, per CNN exit polls. Trump won them 28 points in 2024. Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman called it “an extinction-level event” for the GOP on Capitol Hill.
In the Senate, Seven Flips and Counting
Texas: James Talarico beat Ken Paxton by double digits, the first Democratic Senate win in Texas since 1988 and the first statewide Democratic win since 1994… I guess calling him “Tala-Freako,” making up that he was hiding at a mental institution, calling him a vegan, and saying he “believes in six genders,” didn’t resonate with the people
Kansas: Democrat Adam Hamilton ousted Roger Marshall, the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932
South Carolina: Annie Andrews defeated incumbent Darline Graham by about 4 to 5 points.
Iowa: Josh Turek beat Ashley Hinson, the state’s first Democratic senator since 2008
Ohio: Sherrod Brown beat Jon Husted in a state Trump won three times
North Carolina: Roy Cooper won by about 20 points
Maine: Troy Jackson beat Susan Collins, who called him to concede
In his victory speech, Talarico said they had just taken back Texas and proved that all the money in the world couldn’t beat the people of Texas. Elon Musk will soon live in a state with a Democratic government, including a Democratic attorney general. Interesting.
In Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed walloped Mike Rogers, told Rogers to enjoy his retirement, and reminded JD Vance that he is constitutionally obligated to swear him in.
Democrats also held strong elsewhere. Jon Ossoff won Georgia by an astonishing 18 points, Peggy Flanagan held Minnesota, Cory Booker won New Jersey with nearly 63%, and Chris Pappas becomes the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. Republicans held Florida, where Ashley Moody squeaked by with 50.8%.
Still out:
Mississippi: Scott Colom leads Cindy Hyde-Smith by a few dozen votes with 95 to 97% counted. A win would be the eighth flip, Mississippi’s first Democratic senator since 1982, and its first Black senator since Reconstruction. Colom told reporters he’s “very confident” and that anyone who looks at the math can see where it’s going. Things are looking good for Dems here. Stay tuned…
Alaska: Mary Peltola leads Dan Sullivan by 626 votes, with ranked-choice tabulation set for around Nov. 18.
Trump’s House Comes Crashing Down
Democrats flipped battlegrounds and districts Trump carried by double digits. Pennsylvania was a clean sweep of targets. Democrats also took Jeff Van Drew’s seat in New Jersey, Ann Wagner’s in Missouri, Victoria Spartz’s in Indiana, and seats in Iowa, North Carolina, Kentucky and South Texas. Wow.
Sherman noted Democrats won big even in the most expensive races: Scott Perry lost by 10, Brian Fitzpatrick by 6, Rob Bresnahan by 8, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was up 11, Shomari Figures won by 8 in Alabama, and Tom Suozzi was up 10 despite the GOP pouring money against him. Republicans poured SO MUCH money into these races, and still lost.
GOP leaders went down too. If this isn’t symbolic, I don’t know what is. NRCC Chair Richard Hudson, the man in charge of winning the House for Republicans, is on track to lose his own seat. Virginia Foxx, the 83-year-old Republican who once yelled “shut up” at reporters asking about attacks on democracy, lost hers. Buh-bye!
And in CO-04, former Navy rear admiral Eileen Laubacher leads Lauren Boebert by about 5,000 votes after outraising her roughly $14 million to $1.2 million. You do not want to be Boebert right now. It’s looking more and more likely that she will lose her election. Maybe with her new spare time she can lend a hand at her local theater?
The Gerrymanders Backfired
Republicans lost every redrawn seat in America.
North Carolina: Trump carried all 11 intended GOP districts by double digits. The map was built for an 11–3 Republican split. Zachary Donnini’s calls so far show Democrats 9, Republicans 0.
Florida: The bright spot in the Sunshine State. Democrats won all four districts Ron DeSantis redrew.
South Carolina: Lacore’s SC-01 had been gerrymandered to favor the GOP.
Historic Firsts in Governors Races
Democrats flipped Texas, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Nevada, and now hold a majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years.
Texas: Gina Hinojosa beat Greg Abbott to become the first Latina governor in the country. Democrats also won lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Georgia: Keisha Lance Bottoms becomes the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history.
Iowa: Rob Sand is the state’s first Democratic governor in two decades.
Ohio: Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy.
Nevada: Aaron Ford won the governor’s race as part of a Democratic sweep in the state.
New Mexico: Deb Haaland becomes the first Native American woman governor.
California: Xavier Becerra becomes the state’s first elected Latino governor.
Michigan: Jocelyn Benson won with about 54%.
Oregon: Tina Kotek leads 52% to 45%.
In Florida, Byron Donalds edged David Jolly to become the first Black Republican governor, and in Alabama, Tommy Tuberville leads Doug Jones. Democrats are on track to hold governorships in states worth 392 electoral votes. Think about that. Credit to Nate Silver for pointing this out.
The Statehouses Flip Too
This wasn’t just a federal wave. Democrats took the Texas House and Texas Senate, giving them control of Texas state government. They flipped the North Carolina, Georgia and New Hampshire state houses and retook the Michigan House.
Democrats gained full control of state government in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, likely Arizona and Michigan, and probably Alaska, and came shockingly close in North Carolina and Georgia. They also broke Republican trifectas in Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas.
In Wisconsin, Democrats flipped both chambers and kept the governorship, winning a full trifecta for the first time since 2010. One of the first things they’re expected to do is repeal Scott Walker’s limits on collective bargaining. David Crowley, Wisconsin’s first Black governor, is up nearly 220,000 votes, more than double Tony Evers’s 2022 margin, and Democrats flipped Racine, Kenosha, Brown and Winnebago counties.
In Indiana, Beau Bayh won the Secretary of State race and helped pull other Indiana Democrats along with him. I talked with Ben about Beau earlier in the cycle, and this is a big deal. He is a rising star. Keep your eyes on him.
Down in Austin, the celebrations last night looked like the city had just won the Super Bowl. Honestly, it looked like a city watching an authoritarian regime fall. It kinda was, I guess.
Trump Goes Into Hiding
At 10:37 p.m., Trump posted that he “wasn’t on the Ballot” and would have won in a landslide if he was. As we like to say on MTN, “Play the clip!” Thanks to the Republican Accountability Project for this:
He then called into Fox, and it went about how you’d expect:
He rambled about Greenland, insisting he “got” it and nobody t
alks about it.
He congratulated Democrats, said they did a good job, and claimed he didn’t view the results as a hit on him.
He insisted voters were mad about gas prices and not the war, even as his own vice president was about to say the opposite.
He told Bret Baier that Fox’s polls are terrible. Baier pointed out Fox’s polls were basically right last night. Trump said he didn’t know about that. Listen to this clip, it honestly sounds like he’s going to cry:
Asked if he’d accept the results, he said yes.
Later, he blamed Fox for the losses in a Truth Social post attacking the network for putting Bill de Blasio on air. He also posted strange AI images of hats reading “veto veto.”
Today, every event on his schedule is closed press, and he was silent all morning until just moments ago when he made some unplanned remarks. I’m not making this up, in Trump’s first public on-camera appearance since the midterm wipeout, Trump talked about the ballroom, the arch, his golf course renovations, and the Reflecting Pool.
Here Comes the MAGA Civil War
JD Vance posted a long postmortem. He said Republican voters showed up, with Florida’s electorate just a couple points worse than 2024, but many Trump voters voted for Democrats. A pollster who nailed the results told him the top four things that would bring those voters back were ending the war, focusing on cost of living, putting America first, and changing the relationship with Israel. His conclusion: “The reason we lost is the war.” He also said Trump himself said so last night, which isn’t what Trump said on Fox.
Matt Walsh, in five posts this morning: Trump repeated George W. Bush’s mistake with “an unpopular pointless war,” gas is too high, people can’t afford groceries, and Republicans “deserve it.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene said Trump only delivered for “the Epstein class,” donors, big tech and foreign wars. In a second post, she said the GOP has to kick Trump out of the party or it won’t win nationally for decades.
Ron DeSantis called it close to “an extinction-level event” and slammed House Republicans for voting against releasing the Epstein files.
Rep. Greg Steube told GOP leadership the polls weren’t wrong, they were, and asked them to step aside.
Laura Loomer declared “we’re finished as a country.”
A Paxton aide posted a tearful video claiming children aren’t safe, the border will be wide open, and Christianity is “all gone.” This is exactly the kind of fearmongering that cost Republicans this election.
MAGA Mike Is Done
Mike Johnson won’t seek any leadership post. Bye, MAGA Mike!!! Before the election, he said Republicans would “keep and grow” their majority, predicted a shameful night for the polling industry, and insisted Hakeem Jeffries would never become Speaker. He once joked that if they lost, he might go home and start a lawn business. In his concession speech last night, he called it a tough year and said the party in power always loses seats, as if this were a normal midterm.
The fight to replace him is already ugly:
Jim Jordan is running for minority leader, pitching himself as new blood and an investigator. Yikes.
Steve Scalise is running too, setting up an intraparty fight.
August Pfluger, outgoing chair of the Republican Study Committee, is challenging Tom Emmer for whip, and Emmer is working the phones to hang on.
Oversight Is Coming
Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, put out a two-word statement:
“Lawyer up.” Fox hosts looked stunned when Baier read it on air.
Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem echoed Larry Kudlow’s claim that the administration was “too successful” in its first year. Yeah, that’s it!
Sen. Maggie Hassan, the likely incoming chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, asked if she’d like to say that under oath.
Elon’s Money Pit
Musk spent more than $150 million in Texas alone, and his “Vote red today!” post from Tuesday morning has vanished. Deleted. Gone. He spent nearly a half a billion dollars only to see one of the biggest Democratic waves in history.
Data Centers Lose 43–1
Data center moratoria went 43–1 nationwide. The lone exception was a single precinct in Harwood, North Dakota, where about 430 people voted down a review requirement.
Markets
Trump promised a 1929-style depression if Democrats won and $5,000 checks if Republicans did. Instead, the Dow jumped more than 1,100 points at the open, and U.S. stocks added about $1.3 trillion in value. The S&P 500 rose 1.7%, the Nasdaq 100 rose 2%, gold and bitcoin rose 3%, and silver rose 5%. Oil fell below $93 a barrel, down 12% over four days, as markets bet Trump’s wars may finally be restrained.
Do you notice?… What’s good for the country is bad for Trump. Trump Media fell about 10.75% this morning to a new 52-week low.
Meanwhile, in Israel
Netanyahu also looks likely to lose power. Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party is forming a coalition government with the Arab bloc, and Israel’s Central Election Committee reviewed and rejected Netanyahu’s claims that the election was stolen.
Where We Go From Here
This election proved what we’ve been saying from the start: when you stand up to Trump, punch back hard, speak with moral clarity and never give an inch, Americans show up.
Thank you to everyone who knocked doors, made calls, donated and voted. Now the real accountability work begins, and we’ll be covering every step of it.
If you haven’t yet, grab a copy of WTF America?!, and check out our new Blue Wave merch.
Again, thanks for trusting us to bring you our midterm coverage. You did it. Now let’s keep fighting.
Shoutout to the Meidas Mighty!
