By: Agung Putra

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 was Election Day. It was a midterm year and many saw it as a referendum of President Donald Trump. Voters went to the polls to make their voice heard on whether President Trump is doing a good job or he is doing a horrible job. Regardless, people made their voice heard. This election day was consequential towards future events because it will determine the balance of power in Congress and an outline for the upcoming 2020 Presidential election. There were 36 gubernatorial races, 35 senate races and the entire of House of Representatives. Since Congressman serve every two years, their name is on the ballot every election cycle. All eyes were on the election night results. Will there be a big blue wave crashing down the GOP wall?

For starters there are 435 seats in the House of Representatives. 218 seats are needed to take control of the House. Democrats need a gain of 23 seats to take back control of Congress and on election night they did just that. Voter turnout was the main cause of their win. After months of protesting, organizing and canvassing, the hard work paid off. Democrats were confident on winning because for a large part many of the seats that were up for reelection were districts in which Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016. That meant that these districts were trending towards Democratic favorability in the race. Another reason for Democrats' confidence was the unfavorability of Trump. Some white suburban women were turned off by Trump’s rhetoric when it came to national tragedies. Finally, many Americans were tired of the inaction coming out of Washington. They were tired of politicians working for special interests that gave away million of tax cuts to the rich at the expense of middle class voters. After midterm elections, the House of Representatives is now under Democratic control and Nancy Pelosi will become speaker.

The Senate did not look well for Democrats that night. Democrats started the night with 49 and Republicans with 51. Ten of the states where Democrats were running for reelection were states where Trump won. Democrats had to defend more Senate seats than Republicans. The past few years did not help their cause. Democrats and Republicans are very partisan in Congress and frequently vote on party lines. Dems voted no on every major piece of legislation and most cabinet members' nominations. Voters that overwhelmingly voted for Trump felt that they were obstructing Trump’s agenda and must be voted out of office. This proved to be true because many red state Democrats lost their senate seats like Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana. These senators lost because of Trump favorability. Trump carried these states with double digits and each one of these senators voted against Trump’s agenda including the most recent Supreme Court Justice Nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Judge Kavanaugh was in desperate needs of Senate votes for his confirmation and it did not help these senators that most of their constituents wanted him to be on the bench. Why is this true? The only Democrat that voted for Judge Kavanaugh was Sen. Joe Manchin and he won his election maybe this was because he voted as a centrist moderate Democrat.

The governors' election as well as state house races turn favorable to Democrats because Democrats do not have a lot of majorities in state assemblies across the nation and governorships. This midterm year changed that. Ten state houses flipped to Democratic control and out of the 36 gubernatorial races, Democrats won sixteen. Democrats won in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Kansas, states that went for Trump. Kansas was a real shocker because that state went for Trump with 20 points. The real drama of the election? The southern states like Georgia and Florida. Both of these states nominated African Americans to be their governors. Democratic minority leader Stacey Abrams and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum were democratic nominees for governors in states that Trump won. Southern states typically vote Republican but if last year's Alabama senate race taught Americans anything, it is that Democrats can win in the south. It was a stretch. After a recount, Stacey Abrams lost.

Diversity in this midterm year election was unlike any other. There was a sea of candidates from all over the spectrum running to become first and they did just that. Check out the images below created by Journalism students to see the diversity in action. Both parties saw an increase in diverse candidates at the polling station. There are now more black women in Congress, native american women, LGBTQ people and so many more. It is safe to say that although some may say that it was not a big blue wave it certainly was a rainbow wave and a pink wave. A lot of female and women of color won from both parties. Republicans in PA 5th congressional district nominated Pearl Kim, a female Korean American. In California, a women named Kim Young won her district, she will be the first Korean American women sent to Congress and she is a Republican.

Big blue wave? Really? As I watched the election results that night I was looking for patterns and themes in this midterm year race. As a political analyst, I wanted my own unique personal insight and here it is: Democrats did not perform well enough to flip both chambers of Congress. Sure, Democrats lost some congressional races by very small margins. The top names in the race like Rep. Beto O Rourke, Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum all lost their election by less than two percentage points.

Yes, Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives, state houses and governorships. This was due to high turnout. All of the attention that went toward Georgia, Florida and Texas, southern states with a great Republican turnout, means something going forward. The economy is doing well and that was enough to maintain a strong GOP wall and block the blue wave and for some areas it did - but some water still got in. For me, I did not consider this a big blue wave but it was enough of a blue wave to initiate change in our government, change that might be looking better as we approach our next election, the presidential election.