The elephant and donkey, symbols of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively. Photo from Wikimedia.
The logos of the Republican and Democratic Party. Image form Wikimedia Commons.
The Midterm Elections occurred on Tuesday, November 6th all across the United States.
Massachusetts is regarded as a liberal state with most residents possessing views that align with the Democratic party.
Republican Geoff Diehl ran for Senate opposing incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who remained a favorite and maintained her seat. Her success and recognition could help her in the upcoming presidential election of 2020, if she runs for office, a possibility that has been circulating in recent political discussions. Diehl had a total of 36.3% of the votes while Warren racked up 60.3% of the votes, the other 3.4% having gone to Shiva Ayyadurai, who ran as an independent party. Diehl’s campaign was state-centric, as reflected in his motto “Massachusetts first,” a rebuttal to Warren’s broader appeal to American values.
This election rendered extensions to the tenures of all representatives except third district representative, Niki Tsongas, and seventh district representative, Michael Capuano, who have been succeeded by representative-elects Lori Trahan and Ayanna Pressley respectively. Pressley defeated Capuano during the primaries, making her the first African American congresswoman from Massachusetts.
While the projected “blue wave” did not occur as predicted, newcomers including Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar rode high on a tide of incoming female candidates. With the influx of women elected into office, 2018 has been dubbed the “Year of the Woman.”
Ocasio-Cortez was elected as the Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district. When she takes office next year, she will become the youngest woman in history to hold office in Congress. She defeated Joe Crowley in the Democratic primaries in June this year. Her primary victory against the 10-term incumbent Crowley was a huge upset. After her stunning primary victory, she was an overwhelming favorite in the general election. She defeated Republican nominee, Anthony Pappas, in a landslide majority by over 64 points.
Beto O’Rourke was Democratic candidate running a high profile campaign against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in Texas, a campaign which was heavily backed by liberal celebrities and other members of the Democratic party, but ultimately came up short as Cruz retained his seat by a slim margin.
Allegations of voter fraud have surfaced since President Donald Trump alluded to and later explicitly denounced unsubstantiated claims of rampant electoral fraud. Florida has been in a process for a recount and so has Georgia. Arizona’s Democrat Kyrsten Sinema defeated Republican Martha McSally by 1.8% of the votes. Democrat, Andrew Gillum, who was defeated by Republican Ron DeSantis in Florida’s gubernatorial race, withdrew his concession as the state heads towards a recount.
There are still nine house races, one senate race and two gubernatorial races left to be decided as of November 15th, 2018. Overall, the Democratic party picked up 33 seats in the House, gaining a majority in the chamber. The Republican party maintained their majority in the Senate, adding an additional seat in the in Chamber.
