President Barack Obama holds a press conference at the conclusion of the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on August 6, 2014. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
Ultimately, that “blue wave” proved modest, enough to flip the House as expected but not more.
Indeed, if he could have had one dream from his father, Obama could only have wished that the 2010 and 2014 midterms had been this modest. In 2010, the Republicans gained 63 House seats — the biggest House pick-up since 1948 and the biggest midterm pick-up since 1938 — and six U.S. Senate seats. The GOP even ended up controlling 26 state legislatures and 29 governorships.
In the 2014 Obama midterms, the Republicans somehow found thirteen more House seats to net, and they gained nine more Senate seats, retaking the Senate and scoring the largest midterm Senate pick-up in 56 years. They also grew to 31 governorships while controlling 68 state legislative chambers.
Similarly, the 1994 Clinton midterms saw Republicans gain 54 House seats, eight Senate seats, and ten governorships. You want to talk “waves”? Them’s waves. Them’s tsunamis.
For Republicans, the huge news is that an undetected “red wave” roared in the Senate.
We all knew that Heidi Heitkamp was a goner in North Dakota, and she lost to Republican Kevin Cramer by more than ten points. But beyond that, America went even deeper-red conservative in the U.S. Senate, and the Republican Party no longer is the McCain-Romney “sweetie-pie RINO” alternative to Left Democrats but now has evolved into a seriously conservative, Middle Class, combative party that fights back when punched.
Obama had been a campaign blight throughout his Presidency.
Almost everywhere he campaigned in 2010 and 2014 sealed the deal for the GOP insurgents.
But Trump risked everything and put his name brand on the line in Missouri (Hawley won), Indiana (Braun won), and Florida (DeSantis and Scott won). That took guts, strength, fierce determination.
With Tuesday’s exceptional GOP Senate gains, and with the Alabama seat ripe for plucking back from Doug Jones, Republicans now will have added breathing room to control the Senate going into President Trump’s second term.
Read more here.
Midterm election: The Trump effect
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