Senate Republicans have won enough heavily conservative states to expand their majority, a big boost for the party.
Republicans won key races in the red states of Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas and North Dakota to allow them to grow their 52-seat Senate majority by at least two seats.
Republicans held on in what amounted to a home game for the party. Democrats had to defend 10 Senate seats in states Trump had carried. Republicans were on defense in only one state carried by Hillary Clinton — a race that Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) lost.
The net result provides a lift for the GOP.
Florida was the lone real surprise of the night. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) trailed Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), though the race was close and he hasn’t conceded.
The Senate result, combined with what appears to be the GOP’s loss of the House majority, means that Congress is unlikely to pass much major legislation in the next two years. The Republican-controlled Senate will likely spend much of its time fulfilling Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) longtime dream of packing the federal courts with conservative judges.
The results are a disappointment, but aren’t all bad news for Democrats. A number of incumbents coasted to reelection in states Trump won in 2016 that could have been more vulnerable in a better year for the GOP, including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Debbie Stabenow (R-MI) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) remained locked in a tight race with Montana state Auditor Matt Rosendale (R), and Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) were going down to the wire as of 2:50 a.m. EST.
The results make things harder for Democrats as they look to taking another shot at the Senate in 2020, as they’re now staring at needing to net least four seats for control. The map will be easier: Only two Democrats from states Trump won will be up for reelection in two years, the same number of Republicans from states Trump lost will face the voters, and nearly a half-dozen Republicans from states Trump narrowly won will have to fight for reelection as well. But Democrats will now have a tougher hill to climb.
This story was last updated at 2:50 a.m. EST.
Not a surprise. And McConnell will go crazy with federal judgeships.
Fuck.
Starting tomorrow, Democrats need to begin an under the radar campaign to make expanding the Supreme Court an achievable goal for when we next win the Senate and Presidency.
With another two years of GOP Senate control, the best we can hope for is no more changes to SCOTUS before 2021, but that relies on both Ginsburg and Breyer remaining healthy enough – and alive enough – to hang on until then.
If either leaves SCOTUS before 2021 – if the GOP gets to put another fascist on the Supreme Court – we will absolutely need to expand it once we get control of the Senate and Executive Branch, if we are to have any hope of a Democratic agenda surviving judicial appeals.
There is no choice but to expand it. It is the right thing to do even if it wasn’t for this mess. The appointments have become too high stakes. It is too much power in the hands of too few. That power needs to be distributed among more people regardless of ideology. But the concern is also for the lower courts. We may need to do something there too. We will need to clean the rot out of those courts also. Perhaps a stronger ethics review board and disclosure laws for judges with real consequences for corruption that include expulsion from office through an expedited impeachment process. Something has to be done to make sure these guys being stacked in the courts are not on someone’s payroll.
What is the matter with you, Tennessee?
Wasn’t happy to see Nelson go down, but, after the 2016 election, I looked at which Senators were up for a vote in 2018 and was worried about the GOP ending up with 60 Senators by the end of it.
It would be lovely to wake up tomorrow to see Tester still in and Heller out, but the Senate is enemy territory for at least 2 more years no matter what happens the rest of the night.
The Dem House has a job to do – expose Trumpp, force compromises on spending priorities and tax breaks, work on voting rights, and pass sensible, popular legislation that will make the Senate and President play a little defense.
Our job? Keep up the support for each other and our elected officials, keep organizing, keep getting people registered, keep after elected GOPers who display or encourage racism, nationalism, misogyny, and so on. Demand more from our party organizations. Give more time to our party organizations. Be visible. Tell our stories – if we got hurt by the GOP tax scam bill, or if we have had problems caused by GOP efforts to undermine Obamacare and to pull healthy people out of the ACA exchanges.
Demand more of our elected officials, especially those who are in states with term limits and so are always looking ahead to the next office. We want effort and competence from them, not just resume polishing. Find out where their local office is. Call or visit, and ask what they have been doing in and for the district. Give feedback.
It’s a ridiculous collective action problem, but the solution is to act. We know how important it is to restore sanity, and we know other people who know. Try things. Share your stories with the people who would care. Learn from each other what works.
Practice the ability to ignore Trumpp’s distraction of the day and choose for yourself what you will keep your eye and mind on.