Democrats’ unexpected performance will leave Republicans reassessing ties to Trump
The midterm elections are said to be a referendum on the success, or otherwise, of the sitting president and his first two years in the White House.
President Biden’s approval rating is underwater, inflation is soaring and he makes a gaffe almost every time he opens his mouth, so the success of Democrat candidates makes no sense when applying normal rules.
But this was no ordinary election.
One way to explain it is by viewing it, instead, as a referendum on the extreme right wing politics of the “Make America Great Again” candidates who were recruited, in some cases, and endorsed by the former president Donald Trump.
Take Adam Laxalt, the Republican defeated in the decisive Senate race in Nevada, a fully paid-up member of the election denial lie peddled by Trump.
There was “no mathematical way” he could lose, said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, perhaps forgetting to factor a discerning electorate into his equation.
Across the country and up and down the ballot – with a few, but not many exceptions – voters delivered a rebuke to Trumpism.
From Mehmet Oz, a celebrity TV doctor beaten in Pennsylvania, to anti-abortionist Yesli Vega beaten in a key race in Virginia, it was not the red wave the Republican party was expecting and they now must decide whether they continue to ally themselves with the former president.