The rollercoaster ride of the 2018 mid-term elections is over and now everyone can take a little breather before we start grinding the political machinery for 2020. While the promise of a Democratic blue wave did not happen, a lot of good progress was made. I feel better after this election than I did in 2016 when the whole world was surprised by the GOP controlling both the House and the Senate and, worst of all, the unexcepted election of Donald Trump.
Admittedly, I was cautious regarding my optimism to the point I may not have been optimistic at all. The blue wave concept seemed too grandiose to me. If you believed the hyperbole you saw on social media, images of a blue wave conjured a major sea change across House, Senate, and gubernatorial races. I was extremely confident about the results in 2016, as we all were, but I did not want to get my hopes up this time around.
The blue wave did not happen, in the sense of sweeping change, but progress was made. The House of Representatives turned blue which gives control of subpoena and investigative power back tot eh Democrats who will certainly be engaged as exposing Trump’s fraud. That, above all else, is the biggest outcome of the election.
Where the Democrats failed to deliver were in the Senate and governor races, where the Democrats lost seats of power. For the governors, this means more conservative policies on a state level that repress people’s rights (two states voted on referendums amending their state constitutions to restrict abortion access. On the Senate level, the GOP still has the majority to control appointments, like the Supreme Court, which will have an effect that will last for generations.
The Women’s March in 2017 that took place the day after Trump’s inauguration seems so far away. Upwards of five million people marched in the streets of major cities across the United States protesting Trump and his vitriolic and sexist agenda. The movement was energizing, but there were worries that the momentum would slow down as we got closer to the 2018 mid-terms.
However, last night’s election was a referendum on Trump, and women were largely responsible for much of the Democrats’ success last night. It was amazing to see that the spirit of the Women’s March was sustained long enough to create some change at the polls, even if it wasn’t as much as hoped. Here is a highlight of the accomplishments women made last night:
- 100 women were elected to the House; more than ever before
- Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia became the first Latinx congresswomen for Texas
- Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim women elected to congress
- Ayanna Pressley became the first black congresswoman for Massachusetts
- Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland became the first Native American women elected to congress
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to congress
- Michelle Lujan Grisham became the first Latinx woman Democratic governor
- Letitia James became the first black woman to become Attorney General of New York
- Jahana Hayes became the first black congresswoman for Connecticut
- Angie Craig became the first lesbian mother elected to congress
Over the next few weeks, when all the election information is collected and studied, we’ll see what all of this means for the GOP and Trump in the long-term. However, while the 2018 mid-terms did not usher in a blue wave, it was an indicator of what the Democrats could possibly achieve in 2020 and beyond. The key, and it is no less urgent than before, is to continue the fight.
In April, Janelle Monáe released her third studio album Dirty Computer, a funk neo-soul concept album that she considers to be “a homage to women and the spectrum of sexual identities” and an exploration of her more authentic self. In the track “Americans,” Monáe is urging for America to end the oppression of marginalized people and calls for these oppressed citizens to fight back. In the song, she plainly lays the gauntlet singing her America is not one where women cannot ear equal pay, where same-gender people are denied love, where police can freely shoot unarmed black people, and where poor white cannot get a chance at success. It is an inclusive call to arms that mirrors this election’s referendum on Trump, one where women are making the progress the country needs.
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