What Red Wave? Part II

It certainly was not a total blowout for Republicans.  Fox reported that governors who either opposed Covid lockdowns, or reopened their states quickly, did very well.  Ron DeSantis in Florida won reelection by 19.4 percentage points.  DeSantis had his state on lockdown for only one month, with schools closed for under 3 months.  Kristi Noem of South Dakota won reelection by 26.8 points.  She did not lock her state down, and only closed schools for less than 3 months.  

Kim Reynolds of Iowa won reelection by 18.6 points.  Again, Governor Reynolds only closed the schools for a few months.  Jared Polis of Colorado won by 18.1 points, having a one month shutdown only.  And Brian Kemp of Georgia again beat Stacey Abrams, this time by 7.6 points.  We'll see if Ms. Abrams again becomes an election denier.  

As Kimberly Strassel, of the Wall Street Journal, noted, DeSantis carried Hispanics, women, white men, older voters, independents and married voters.  ABC reported that DeSantis carried Hispanics by 57% to 42%.  He carried Cubans 68% to 31%, likely because Cuban voters understand freedom better than most.  In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine won by 25 points, and helped to increase Republican majorities in the legislature.  In Iowa, not only did Governor Reynolds win, and Senator Grassley win, both by double digits or more, but Republicans held all of the State's House and Senate seats.  Republicans also gained a super majority in the state Senate, and increased their majority in the state House.

In Texas, in addition to Governor Abbott winning, the Republicans increased their majorities in the state legislature.  Governor Abbott:  "Tonight, Texans sent a message that they want to keep Texas the beacon of opportunity that we provided over the past eight years."  Hard to argue with that, given the supporting facts.  In the decade from 2010 to 2020, Texas added about 4 million people.  Meanwhile, California lost people and lost a US House seat as a result.  700,000 Californians during that decade moved from California to Texas.  And, as recently as in 2021 alone, 62 businesses moved from California to Texas.  

Of course, the Democrats had their own wins - in addition to staving off a red wave in the House and the Senate.  In 4 states that had split governments before the election, the Democrats post election are now in complete control.  In Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts, the Democrats control the governor's house as well as both branches of the state legislature.

Is there a takeaway from these state elections?  Daniel Henninger, of the Wall Street Journal, thinks so.  Referring to Governors DeSantis, Kemp, Abbott, DeWine and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Henninger concluded:  "Each of these Republican governors ran on policy successes that elevated their state's economies, schools and indeed personal freedom.  Abortion didn't defeat them."    

Could the Republicans have done better in this divided country?  Maybe.  But, clearly all is not doom and gloom either.