There was no massive red wave of Republican victories across the United States on Tuesday.  It was a mixed bag overall, but there were definitely winners and losers.

As I write this, neither major party has a clear majority in the House or Senate.  It looks like the Republicans will get a very slim majority in the House.  In the Senate, it looks like Georgia is headed for a runoff, which will favor the Democrats.  It will probably end up being 50/50 in the Senate, which means that the Democrats will get the deciding vote with Harris as vice president.

As I write this, there is still only 67% reporting in the Arizona Senate race and the Arizona governor race.  There is only 77% reporting in the Nevada Senate race.  In some California House races, the reporting totals are well under 50%.  This is almost a full day after the polls closed.

If you don’t want accusations of fraud and “threats to our democracy”, then maybe you can report all of the vote totals in a timely manner.  But obfuscation and confusion is the name of the game.

The Winners

Unfortunately, despite losing seats in the House, the Democrats are in the win column because it should have been so much worse.  This will only embolden the party of chaos and destruction, which means the American people as a whole take a loss.

It’s not that I think the Republicans would have been great in any way, but they would have been a roadblock to Biden and company’s destruction agenda.  Hopefully the Republicans will at least get a majority in the House so as to slow things down and create some gridlock.

On the Republican side, Ron DeSantis is the huge winner, along with the state of Florida.  DeSantis went from getting about 50% of the vote in 2018 to getting about 60% this time around.  He absolutely crushed his opponent.  He won by 1.5 million votes.

In fact, all of Florida did well for Republicans.  It is at least encouraging that DeSantis was rewarded for the being one of the few governors who locked down the least during COVID.  The only one who beats him on that front is Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who also had a big victory.

It looks like Florida is a red state now, and it is largely owed to DeSantis.  There were a lot of people who moved to Florida in the last 2 years to escape the craziness.  From personal experience, I can tell you that I did not vote for DeSantis in 2018, but I voted for him this time.  I know DeSantis is not a libertarian, but I wanted a strong message sent that COVID lockdowns and mandates are not acceptable.

For the Senate, I ended up voting for the Libertarian Party candidate and not for Marco Rubio.  I actually would have voted for Rubio if I thought he was in any danger of losing, only because I want the Republicans to have a majority in the Senate.  Or more accurately, I want the Democrats to lose the majority in the Senate.

The Losers

I already mentioned that the American people in general are on the losing side from the election (whether they know it or not).  They will be the ones suffering from inflation, government spending, the threats of war with Russia, the threats of more COVID mandates, and all of the totalitarian tactics being thrown at them by Biden and company.

Aside from the American people, I think Donald Trump was the big loser on Tuesday.  If you think about it, DeSantis did not seek Trump’s endorsement.  He did not want Trump out campaigning for him in Florida.  It would have only hurt DeSantis.

Trump had a victory with J.D. Vance winning in Ohio.  It is still not clear what will happen with Kari Lake in Arizona.

Trump completely bombed with his endorsement of Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, who went down to a guy who makes Joe Biden look articulate.

Trump made two huge errors leading up to the election because he can’t control his own ego.  First, he took an unnecessary swipe at Ron DeSantis.  He referred to him as “Ron DeSanctimonious”.

Second, Trump announced that he would be making an announcement on November 15.  So while the headlines weren’t blaring that Trump is seeking the presidency in 2024, he was saying this without directly saying it.

This was right before the mid-terms.  This could only hurt the Republicans across the country.  Of course, we don’t know what impact it had, but it doesn’t look good.

2024

With Trump candidates not having a great showing in the election, and with DeSantis coming out looking great, you have to wonder how this will impact the next two years.

It is becoming clearer to Republicans who support Trump that DeSantis is more likable and more polished than Trump.  And if Trump is going to pick a fight with DeSantis because he sees him as a threat, it just looks bad for Trump.  He looks insecure, which he probably is.

As a Floridian, I would rather see DeSantis stay as governor.  I would like for libertarians to put some mild pressure on him to improve things in Florida.

I think DeSantis will stay on the sidelines for a while and watch what happens.  He will see in the coming months how much momentum Trump has within the Republican Party.  He will get a sense of whether he should enter the race for the presidency.

DeSantis has some appeal to independents that Trump doesn’t have.  I think Tuesday night showed this.

Trump is 76 years old now, and the establishment is out to get him.  Of course, they will be out in full force to get DeSantis too if he runs for president.  But Trump’s future is not certain at this point, and I think DeSantis will be ready to step in the presidential race should anything change.

I don’t think Trump is lost at this point, but he definitely took some punches on Tuesday night.  If he keeps misplaying his hand, he will find that DeSantis has become the leader of the Republican Party.