Results Are In

That was a tense week. Let’s take a look at what I hoped would happen

1. Trump is defeated
2. No violence at the polls
3. No shenanigans in determining a winner
4. Democrats take enough seats in state legislatures to ensure fair redistricting
5. McGrath defeats McConnell
6. Democrats retain the House
7. Democrats take the Senate
8. AOC et al are reelected
9. Hegar defeats Cornyn
10. Kulkarni defeats Nehls
11. Harrison defeats Graham
12. Buttar defeats Pelosi

Not a very good success rate. Though these were ranked by my priority so one and two succeeding are a major relief. It was touch and go there for awhile. While Trump hasn’t conceded and is waging some legal challenges, they don’t look like they’ll have an impact on things. There’s been lots of talk of violence and a possible near miss in Philadelphia, there doesn’t appear to be anything that happened.

Now, you’ll notice number 3 is italicized. That’s because, until Jan 20th, it could still fail. The electoral college hasn’t voted yet. And until Jan 20th, Biden won’t be sworn in. This has been a year of defying precedent and undermining democracy. Until there is an actual peaceful transfer of power, I’m holding my breath.

There was practically no change in state legislatures. Which means gerrymandering will continue. Not that Democrats wouldn’t have done some too. But they at least don’t go to the disgusting extremes we have now. My Congressional district is a shit show of a design as it wiggles around the edges of Houston and then way out into the boonies to ensure a Republican majority.

It looks like the Democrats will retain the House, but barely. Which boggles my mind. Enough people came out to vote to get rid of Trump BUT still decided they were fine with the Republicans in every other position. The Republicans who enabled and defended Trump.

And as for the Senate…we have a run-off in Jan for Georgia’s two seats. That could be the deciding factor. Here’s hoping Georgians show up in record numbers again. But even if both go to the Democrats (unlikely), it will be a split Senate. Granted, that means Kamala Harris will have something to do but it also means catering to McConnell’s asshattery, which Biden will definitely do.

At least AOC and her progressive cohorts all won reelection and several new progressive candidates joined them. None of the candidates I preferred in my districts won though. Which is very disappointing but not surprising given the gerrymandering.

The tension will remain until Jan 20th. Then it will transition to something new. All this election has done is take America a step back from the brink of fascism. The chasm is still right there. Almost 50% of the country still want to jump into it. We have a lot of work to do.