Given the performance of Republicans now that they own all three branches of the government, a blue wave would seem inevitable. That said, Progressives have a knack for pulling defeat out of winning. But if the trend continues, a blue wave could be in the making. Carolyn Fiddler of the Daily Kos wrote the article “Eight is great: Democrats flip SECOND Republican seat in one night for eighth pickup of the cycle” that should make every Progressive salivate.
Democrats 8, Republicans 0. Democrats just won’t stop winning.
Tuesday night’s first red-to-blue flip was in Florida, where Democrat Annette Taddeo picked up a historically Republican seat in the state Senate. The second upset came in New Hampshire, where Democrat Kari Lerner flipped a dark red GOP district in the state House. Lerner defeated a Republican former state representative 50-48 percent, improving on Clinton’s performance here last fall by 25 points. This seat backed Donald Trump by a 59-36 margin in 2016 and voted 60-39 for Mitt Romney in 2012.
So now we have two massive upsets in a single night and one very worried party. These two flips follow Democratic pickups in New Hampshire and Oklahoma just a couple of weeks ago, and two earlier flips in Oklahoma in July. This trend of Democratic flips began in May, when Democrats flipped another state House seat in New Hampshire and a state Assembly seat in New York. This means that Democrats have now won seats from the GOP eight times in just 27 chances—almost 30 percent of all contested special elections in Republican-held seats in the Trump era. What’s more, the playing field has been very hostile to Democrats: Trump won these 27 districts by an average of 19 points.
A few weeks ago I wrote the piece “Democrats’ timidity & lack of a bold agenda dims 2018 blue wave hopes” and wrote the following.
Democrats’ released their new slogan, “A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future” which is completely uninspiring and cookie cutter. It says nothing either Republicans or Democrats alike have implied is their goal.
Democrats’ continue to fail to see that the country is looking for bold Progressive leadership and policies. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders proved that. It’s not hard to postulate that the intersection of Trump and Sanders’ voters who did not vote for Hillary, rank and file Democrats, Independents, and Progressive Republicans represent a winning coalition that supports a bold Progressive agenda.
Americans are starting to wake up. They are not buying into empty rhetoric from either side of the aisle. Middle-class centric solutions may be the order of the day in 2018.