Women and Minorities give Groundbreaking Wins
I.S. Saluja
NEW YORK (TIP): What accounts for the wave of Democratic successes in Tuesday’s elections? Health care was a key issue in Virginia, as well as in Maine, where voters chose to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. Some voters may have been motivated by the sense that their values were threatened by President Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric. And Republicans in Congress face some obstacles to their next big goal, tax reform: The House bill undercuts some key party positions, and the Senate just unveiled a competing plan.
In short, Trump policies have not gone down well with voters. His lowest approval rating at 38% is an evidence of voter disenchantment with Trump.
Elsewhere, like in Nassau County, involvement of County officials in corruption was a big issue which resulted in a serious knock out of Republican contenders.
By and large, it has been a tremendous gain for Democrats.
Victory of Phil Murphy as Governor of the Republican held New Jersey and victory of a host of democrats in that State must cause Republican establishment some anxiety. Similarly, victory of Democrat Dr. Ralph Northam as Governor of Virginia has rattled the Republicans no less.
Curran ran a fierce campaign to regain for Democrats the position of Executive of Nassau County held by a Republican Ed Mangano for two terms.
Certain other victories were almost taken for granted. Mayor de Blasio was never in danger of losing. Queens Borough President Melinda Katz was quite comfortable. And so were many more.
A number of Indian Americans have won the elections. They include Ravinder Bhalla, the first Sikh Mayor in New Jersey State. He was elected Mayor of Hoboken. Others include Raj Mukherji (NJ State Assembly); Vin Gopal (NJ State Senate); Santi Narra (Freeholder, Middlesex County, NJ); Viru Patel (Councilman, Woodridge, NJ); Samip Joshi (Councilman, Edison, NJ); Hemant Marathe (Mayor, West Windsor, NJ); Balvir Singh (Freeholder, Burlington County, NJ). Besides, a large number of Indian Americans have been elected to board of education seats as well.
The Indian Panorama will publish in the next issue detailed results and analysis by experts. However, we are giving here some comments.
New York Times editorial comment said, “President Trump’s critics and admirers have both often wondered whether most of the normal rules of politics apply to him. Trump, in his own graphic way, may have summarized the view best: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, O.K.?”
But it turns out that the normal rules of politics do indeed apply to Trump.
With his approval rating at a paltry 38 percent, Trump’s Republican Party took a whupping. It’s not just that the Democrats easily won the highest-profile race — the Virginia governorship. Democrats enjoyed a stunningly good night across the country. Consider:
- Defying virtually all expectations, Democrats flipped more than a dozen of the 100 seats in Virginia’s house of delegates and, pending final vote counts, may have won control of it.
- They won full control — legislature and governorship — in both New Jersey and Washington State.
- Maine’s Republican governor has repeatedly vetoed Medicaid expansion. Maine’s voters effectively overrode his veto, by referendum, in a landslide.
- Democrats won two traditionally Republican legislature seats in special elections in Georgia.
- Last night’s results continue a trend. Democrats have done startlingly well in special elections this year, often in conservative districts.
As significant as all these wins are, they will also help shape the political future. Already, multiple House Republicans have announced their retirement, including two more yesterday. Idaho and Utah may now follow Maine and hold referendums on expanding Medicaid. Progressives will be energized to find candidates to run in traditionally Republican areas.
Donald Trump remains the most powerful person in the country, if not the world. But the election results show that he also remains the weakest first-year president in modern history.”
Elsewhere. “Enthusiasm matters,” writes The Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein, noting that Ralph Northam, Virginia’s governor-elect, earned about 330,000 more votes than his predecessor had in 2013.
It wasn’t just that Democrats won up and down the ticket, but which Democrats won, notes Time’s Charlotte Alter. “A trans woman beat the guy who introduced the bathroom bill. A gun victim’s boyfriend beat a delegate with an ‘A’ grade from the NRA. A civil rights lawyer who sued the police department just became the top prosecutor in Philadelphia,” she tweeted.
White, rural areas of Virginia largely backed Ed Gillespie, the Republican, but were swamped by suburban and urban turnout for Northam. “The data out of SW VA suggest maybe you can turn your campaign into a McTrump franchise,” noted the pollster Kristen Anderson, “but that’s of limited value in a state Trump lost.”
“With all the evidence in front of us, Democrats are slight favorites to retake the U.S. House in 2018,” argues FiveThirtyEight’s Dave Wasserman.