The 2026 Midterm Elections

The Blue Wave

Richard Rathe, Nov 4, 2026 (History)

The Election has finally come and gone. It was a whirlwind day for me working the polls. At the end of the day we helped nearly 400 voters cast their ballots. We were in the community hall of a small Baptist Church in a small rural community. The voters were diverse and I was struck by the number of disabled people who came in—even tho they could have voted early or by mail. There is something satisfying about voting on the actual election day. 🙂

Afterward, I did not pay attention to the early results. I just went to bed. When I woke up there was good news—better than I had hoped for. (The one negative spot was we lost the Gov and Senate in Florida, but not by much!)

I find three things very reassuring…

1. Voting Still Matters and we collectively sent a strong rebuke to Trump and his minions. It is very important to remember how much we were voting against things this time. We should work for a country where we can vote for things again.
2. Extreme Gerrymandering mostly did not work. In Florida our incumbent Democrats maintained their seats in spite of all the GOP dirty tricks! Nationally it mostly failed, one seat in Tennessee is the only success I know of.
3. It still matters what we do as individual citizens! The No Kings and other protests, organizing, and resistance paid off. Now it's time to get to work!

We are not the same country we were only ten years ago. The whole MAGA thing revealed sentiments and pathologies that have been percolating out of sight for decades. The silver lining is now they are no longer hidden and we might start to deal with them (racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, oligarchy, etc.). We should NOT be out for retribution IMO. What comes next is not about getting even—it's about righting wrongs and holding people and corporations accountable for what they've done.

On the world stage we will NEVER recover the post World War hegemony we've enjoyed since 1945. That ship has sailed. We've proven ourselves fickle and capricious. We continue to have an important role to play in the world. But we must embrace this with less arrogance and a willingness to work cooperatively to solve problems.

Great Summary of Where We Are and Where We Should be Going by Heather Cox Richardson