My thorough analysis of the results, especially in Maine, will be forthcoming in this Sunday’s Portland Press Herald column, but here are a few nuggets that didn’t quite make the cut:
There was the potential for a wave election this year, but Democrats did a good job of focusing on a few issues where they had the advantage, holding it successfully at bay.
There will be much more drama in the GOP’s post-election leadership races now; Kevin McCarthy is still likely to wind up as Speaker of the House if Republicans are in the majority, but he’ll at least have a credible challenger. Mitch McConnell, too, will probably stay as Republican leader, but he’ll face a challenger as well, even if not a credible one.
Both Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidates and the party establishment’s hand-picked candidates failed all over the place. The Republican attempt to expand the map in New England didn’t pan out for them whatsoever, and many of their most prized recruits failed there and elsewhere.
Still, as always, having the cash advantage - while nice - does not guarantee a victory in any race. That’s important to always keep in mind.
While the Senate runoff in Georgia and leadership elections in Washington will get more attention for the next month or so, Florida is the new political center for the Republican Party; Ron DeSantis made sure of it.
Speaking of DeSantis, his resounding victory last night positioned him as the 2024 frontrunner in the Republican primaries - even likely ahead of Donald Trump. It’s hard to see anyone else seriously being able to dethrone him from that pole position, either, but two years is a lifetime in presidential politics.
Thanks to DeSantis, Florida is no longer a swing state; instead, it’s more reliably Republican than Texas. Texas will never have to worry about Beto O’Rourke running for office again, but it’s going to gradually become more competitive. It’s just going to take a while.
Republicans at the national level and in just about every state in the country not named Florida need to seriously reexamine the entire structure of how they do their business. There’s plenty of soul-searching and post-mortem analysis to go around.
That’s it for now. More this Sunday!