This is not a realignment. This is a rental.

As of 9:45 this evening Real Clear Politics shows 312 US House races have been called, 23 still being counted. Of those called, 252 went for Democrats, 160 for Republicans. Both parties will likely gain a few more. Alas, the site doesn’t say which races were declared since I last checked. Emily Singer of Daily Kos wrote about what she thinks are the nine most stunning outcomes of the election. Here are some of them. James Talarico, new senator from Texas, got more votes in early voting, 4.4 million, than his opponent Ken Paxton got for the whole election, 4.2 million. “Every House district that Trump won by 11 percentage points or less in 2024 flipped to Democrats.” And a few the nasty guy won by 15 points and more. In their gerrymandering spree last year Republicans drew 15 House seats in their favor. They lost 13 of them. Every House district along the US-Mexico border will be represented by a Democrat. Forrest County, Mississippi is named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Scott Colom, a black Democrat candidate for the Senate, won the county 54%-43%. The state as a whole hasn’t been called yet. Mike Luckovich posted a cartoon on Kos showing a tree with fruit labeled with the names of black women who won statewide offices in Georgia – Keisha Lance Bottoms for Governor, Tanya Miller for AG, Penny Brown Reynolds for Secretary of State, and several more. Luckovich named the cartoon “Strong roots” and across the trunk of the tree is “Stacy Abrams,” the black woman who ran for governor a few years back and is a strong advocate for keeping elections accessible. Drew Sheneman posted a cartoon on Kos showing the nasty guy in royal regalia as a donkey reaches for his scepter. The donkey says, “What’s wrong? I thought you liked regime change.” In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas posted back in July. It shows Abbott and eight other Republican candidates. Abbott wrote:

Last night, for the first time ever, ALL statewide Republican candidates (non-judicial) gathered to chart the course to victory in November. We will ensure Texas remains solid Red and we will preserve common sense over the chaotic policies promoted by radical Democrats.

After the election Christopher Hale added:

Every one of these candidates lost.

From Democracy Now:

In addition to taking back the House and Senate, Democrats also made major gains at the state level and will control a majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years. Democrats also flipped 12 state legislative chambers.

A series of tweets about one of the two Senate races not yet called. From La Soule: “What takes Mississippi so gahdamn long to count votes??” Mr. Make It Happens: “We have to say ‘Mississippi’ after each number.” Scott Colom, the Dem. candidate: “This may be the most Mississippi tweet I’ve ever seen. In the comments exlrrp posted a tweet from Dr. Annie Andrews, who just won the Senate seat from South Carolina:

The party that elevates Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17 yr old killer, & tears down Gus Walz, a 17 yr old with special needs who loves his dad, is a party that needs to be lit on fire & thrown in the dumpster & plunged into the deepest depths of the ocean never to be seen again.

Rambler797 posted a tweet by Wajahat Ali:

Democrats, you're on the clock starting tomorrow. You must stand up, fight and deliver. This is not a realignment. This is a rental.

In the pundit roundup from Friday a week ago (before the election) there were lots of interesting tweets and memes way down in the comments. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/30/800119398/community/ab/ A tweet from Christopher Hale:

The Democratic Party is poised to send a Christian pastor, a Christian seminarian, a Jewish southerner, a Muslim doctor, and several Catholics to the United States Congress to win a commanding majority. Only in America.

They all won. A meme posted by exlrrp:

Donald Trump, in South Carolina: “In fact, hospitals now are doing reverse surgery at my order. They’re doing reverse surgery. Nobody ever heard about it.” If you genuinely think hospitals across the US are reversing gender surgeries at the personal order of Donald Trump you have actual mashed potatoes in your skull instead of brains.

Another meme posted by exlrrp:

Republicans wanted complete power. And now that they have it, they’re demonstrating why they should never have any power again.

I wrote yesterday that a big problem Democrats and the country face is being bought out by billionaires. Gaslit Nation has sent a couple emails about the election. Their general opinion is Democratic wins are great! But Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House are too establishment – too close to billionaire money – to want to do the major overhaul that is needed to protect the country from billionaire assaults on democracy. New leadership is necessary. Emily Singer of Kos reported that Stephen Miller has been appointed to be the nasty guy’s chief of staff. Susie Wiles, who had been in the job, will move over to the Trump Political Operation.

Miller is the architect behind Trump’s cruel, violent, deadly, and unpopular immigration enforcement agenda, which includes hiring a bunch of unqualified maniacs as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and sending them out to round up anyone who looks Hispanic. The strategy led to massive blowback in the midterms, with Hispanic voters who had supported Trump and the GOP in 2024 swinging back hard to Democrats.

That the nasty guy is promoting Miller, rather than getting rid of him, is a sign this administration is going to continue the racist policies that brought the massive Republican loss. And Wiles in a political role? She was quite wrong in her opinion of what the election outcome would be. So, in my opinion, putting her into a political operation sounds like a fine idea. Lisa Needham of Kos reported the nasty guy was hit with a big loss over his triumphal arch. He’s been good at manipulating “standing,” the right to sue, over his building projects. A project must be imminent, beyond the planning stages. No need to sue over something that might not happen. The person must show they will be harmed, not just upset the project will be ugly. The nasty guy fouls that up by starting to build while saying there is no final plan yet, then declaring the person bringing the suit doesn’t have standing. While the issue is sorted out in court the building continues and soon he’s saying it’s too late to stop it. The National Capital Planning Commission is full of lackeys. They approved the arch on Nov. 5 and he notified the court, saying he was ready to build. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan was lying in wait and issued a restraining order 75 minutes later. There are two suits against the arch. The first is that it will destroy sightlines that signify post Civil War unity. That’s much different than saying the arch is ugly. The second is that the arch would massively snarl traffic, requiring millions to mitigate, something the arch planners appear to have not considered. Again, this is real harm. Also, he’s supposed to consult Congress who always has standing. And claiming Congress approved it 100 years ago doesn’t cut it. The new Congress is much less likely to approve this monstrosity.

If Democrats don't deliver again, Woke 2.0 becomes MAGA 2.0

Kelli Anne Busey of TransAction in an article posted on Daily Kos reported Democrat Allison Montgomery made history in Alabama by being the first transgender legislator in the state. Yes, in red Alabama where Tommy Tuberville was just elected governor. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos listed the 13 women who were elected as governors. Some take over from other women, some from men, some elected to another term. The list includes Amy Klobuchar who follows Tim Walz in Minnesota. And commentary about the election, starting with what to do next. A major part of the discussion of what comes next is about what Democrats should and can do, knowing important bills will get vetoed. Some suggestions from Paul Krugman, as discussed by xaxnar of the Kos community: Investigate the full extent of the nasty guy family corruption. Pass popular bills that will improve the lives of Americans. If vetoed, call for a vote to override the veto to record Republican loyalty. Do not make a deal with the nasty guy or reach across the aisle to Republicans. Do not return to status quo governing. In a second post xaxnar speculated whether Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas will retire while the nasty guy can get their replacement through in the lame duck session. First, replacements probably can’t get through by the end of the year. Second, Alito and Thomas are not going to give up power until they have to. The bigger issue is Supreme Court reform, including adding members, curbing the shadow docket, and perhaps adding term limits. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported new Michigan senator Abdul El-Sayed laid out his priorities on Morning Joe. Basically: Affordability, including a job that pays a living wage. A war powers resolution and returning to diplomacy. Ending the tariff regime and tussle with Canada. Stopping the collapse of healthcare because of the Medicaid cuts. And pass a “Crap Lettuce Elimination Act, to restore the parts of the FDA and CDC that protected food safety. Kos of Kos quoted conservative pundit Erick Erickson who listed reasons why voters turned against Republicans. Erickson came up with a decent list (according to Kos), including corruption, incompetence, tariffs, cruelty, aggressive deportations, arrogance, and the ballroom. Even with a long list, Kos thinks Erickson left out a few things: gutting healthcare, expensive spectacles for his birthday, trying to get his name on the Kennedy Center, and desperate attempts to manufacture culture-war distractions.

Now it’s time for Democrats to govern as a serious, sensible, measured, and pragmatic party—laser-focused on affordability and clean government. Less performative outrage. Less culture-war bullshit. More improving people’s lives. Because if Democrats fail to deliver again, Woke 2.0 will eventually give way to MAGA 2.0. And we already know what that hell looks like.

Another post by xaxnar, from before the election, discusses a Reuters article by Nandita Bose and Tim Reid about plans by the nasty guy administration to govern [rule] without input from Democrats and Congress. The power Democrats have is small compared to the nasty guy as the head of the executive branch and of the military. The summary of the article (xaxnar doesn’t clearly say if he wrote it or quoted it)

Officials identifying executive actions on immigration, tariffs, housing and spending, sources say. Trump says he would become “Mr. Veto”. Plans under consideration include tariffs on critical minerals and wind turbines. White House lawyers brief appointees on handling subpoenas and document requests, one source says.

Emily Singer of Kos has heard anonymous Republicans say that the election losses show the nasty guy’s power is waning. The party can now start to break from him. Singer can only laugh. Those comments were anonymous.

If Republicans are afraid to put their names to even the idea that they may have leeway to ignore Trump and stand up against his whims, on what planet should that give any of us any confidence that they will break with Trump when it actually matters? ... Ultimately, after a decade of wondering when Republicans would finally break with Trump, I’ve stopped waiting for that day to come. I refuse to be tricked by Lucy and the football any more.

Oliver Willis of Kos as part of his series of explaining the right asks why Republicans never learn from their election losses. It isn’t just a nasty guy thing, this has been going on for a long time.

The root cause of this unresponsiveness is an idea at the core of the modern conservative movement, which first came to the fore when conservative upstart Sen. Barry Goldwater secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1964. It is the idea that conservatism is always perfect. It cannot fail. The way the GOP sees it, if a conservative candidate loses an election, that is on the voters for not fully understanding the wonders of conservative ideology, not because those ideas are bad for the country and the world.

In the comments of today’s pundit roundup for Kos is a meme posted by exlrrp showing the nasty guy and the words, “[He] got beat so bad he didn’t even try calling it rigged.” Greg Dworkin posted a tweet by Degan Sports that appears to be from the TV show Breaking Points in which the host uses a half-minute to summarize why Republicans lost. This is an attempt at a transcript:

If you run a child sex trafficking ring, cover it up by waging a war after promising not to, and that war drives up the price of oil and breaks the global economy, and you spend the time getting rich and pushing money towards AI and data centers, you won’t do well in the elections.

A meme by the Fiber Friend and posted by exlrrp is about the Democrat who won the US Senate seat in South Carolina. I included a correction supplied by exlrrp. The text:

Dr. Annie Andrews is getting ready to sit in a seat that has been held by only two elected individuals in the last [72] years. 1. Lindsey Graham 2. Strom Thurmond. Thank you.

I had an important comment on what we face in the future. But I can’t find it. It was by The Geogre in the comment section of a pundit roundup on Kos, though perhaps working from someone else. The quote goes something like this: Money doesn’t defeat its opposition, it purchases them. A great many of the severe problems in America right now are because of the extremely wealthy wanting to destroy democracy so they can oppress everyone else with impunity. I’m glad Democrats won big, but I fear they won’t enact the necessary big reforms because they will be bought out by the rich. A cartoon by Drew Sheneman posted on Kos. It shows a rich man on a private jet saying, “I’ve spent more buying elections trying to avoid taxes than it would cost to just pay the taxes. Sometimes it’s the principle.”

Organized people can still defeat organized money

The results are quite delightful! Yes, the US elections ended yesterday and results were posted last night and this morning. I’d love to bask in every wonderful detail, but you can get most of the results from traditional news outlets. So I’ll mention the top numbers and then turn to results harder to find and to what some pundits are saying. Real Clear Politics (I learned about this site only recently) shows the top numbers. It also gives details on each race. As of 9:20 pm today it reported: Democrats gained 39 seats in the US House for 247 to 152 Republicans. There are 36 seats that haven’t been called yet. Democrats gained 7 seats in the US Senate for 54 to 44 with two seats too close to call. Those seven gains are almost all in red states. They are: Maine, not so red, but goodbye Susan Collins! Ohio. Both North and South Carolina, goodbye Darlene Graham, unqualified sister of the late Senator Lindsay Graham pushed into the position by the nasty guy. Iowa. Kansas, which hasn’t voted for a Democratic Senator since 1932, where pastor Adam Hamilton will take the seat. And Texas, where Seminarian James Talarico won. Democrats gained five governor’s mansions, in Ohio (I like this!), Iowa, Georgia (Jon Ossoff returning to the Senate has long coattails), Texas (even better!), and Nevada. Kalloli Bhatt of Michigan Public has the Michigan results. Democrats kept the governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, the two contested seats in the state Supreme Court, and elected Abdul El-Sayed as the first Muslim senator in Washington. His opponent didn’t succeed in trying to smear him as a terrorist. Two seats in the US house also flipped. The Michigan constitution requires citizens be asked every 16 years whether it should be rewritten. But we now have too many wonderful amendments (independent redistricting, voter rights, abortion protection) to risk a complete rewrite most likely controlled by billionaires. There was fear at the start of the campaign season when it polled at 47% for a rewrite. Thankfully, no rewrite got 73.8%. I had helped gather signatures (all together more than a half-million) on a proposal to get money out of politics, especially from utilities and government contractors. It passed decisively with 81.3% of the vote! Already, one provision is the target of a lawsuit. Democrats widened their hold on the state Senate (their majority had been a single seat) and retook the state House, giving Michigan a trifecta again. There are still a few seats too close to call. The Daily Kos staff posted a chart (as of this morning) showing the Senate races that were not rated as safe for either party. It’s good to see all that have a “DEM. FLIP” designation. Sarah Bricker Hunt of Pridesource has results for Michigan’s LGBTQ candidates:

State Sen. Jeremy Moss became the first out LGBTQ+ person Michigan has ever elected to Congress, and Joanna Whaley will be the first openly trans member of the Michigan House. All nine out LGBTQ+ candidates for the Legislature won.

Whaley was in the news back in July when a suit tried to require the use of her deadname on the ballot. Moss won the seat vacated by Haley Stevens when she ran for the US senate. I’ll have more on her downfall likely in another post. Other firsts in this election:

Michigan was part of a night of national firsts. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will be the first out gay man elected to the U.S. Senate, Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the first Black woman to serve as governor of any state after winning in Georgia and New Mexico's Deb Haaland will be the first Native American woman governor.

The 9 LGBTQ candidates for state legislature are also listed. One is shown as too close to call. The others won, some getting as much as 71% of the vote. Emily Singer of Kos listed her ten most satisfying results. Here are some of them: Max Miller, Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio and accused of domestic violence, lost by ten points to Brian Poindexter. Vivek Ramaswamy lost the race for governor in Ohio. He had run an ad showing his opponent Amy Acton’s mother denouncing her while not mentioning Amy had been pulled from her mother’s home at age 12. The ever concerned Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was known for her “independence” from the nasty guy when her vote didn’t matter, lost by nearly 8 points. I had noted Texas had voted for Democrat James Talarico for Senate. The state also voted for Democrats for Governor (goodbye Greg Abbott!) and other statewide races and flipping the state House. Texas is no longer a Republican stronghold. Lauren Boebert, racist MAGA warrior of Colorado, is on track to lose her House seat. It hasn’t been officially called yet. Democrats won almost all seats Republicans gerrymandered to be in their favor. Wisconsin, perhaps the most gerrymandered state for Republicans, flipped its House, Senate, and governor for a Democrat trifecta. Oliver Willis of Kos reported that Elon Musk spent at least $440 million to help Republicans win. A big chunk of that went to Texas in hopes of preventing a Talarico win. Of the candidates Musk supported 20 lost, one won, and 20 are too close to call. Shares of Tesla and SpaceX dropped on the news because Musk’s contracts with the government will be scrutinized by incoming Democrat majorities. Musk moved company headquarters from California to Texas to avoid state oversight. And now Texas is controlled by Democrats. In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin had, of course, election commentary. A tweet by Chaz Nuttycombe:

Arkansas Republicans got absolutely nuked in the state legislative races. Seats where they had 80, 90% odds of winning, just gone.

A tweet by Drew Savicki

Dummymander moment: Democrats are going to win 10/14 congressional districts in North Carolina on map that was drawn to be 11-3 Republican.

A tweet by Jesse Ferguson:

Welp. Democrats have just flipped control of the City Council in Lynchburg, Virginia. That's the home of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.

In the comments, a tweet by Wendell Pierce:

THE NEW RECONSTRUCTION ERA FIRST BLACK HOUSE SPEAKER FIRST BLACK WOMAN GOVERNOR 3 BLACK WOMEN SENATORS 3 BLACK GOVERNORS CONCURRENTLY IN OFFICE FIRST MUSLIM SENATOR FIRST OPENLY GAY SENATOR

A tweet from Robert Reich:

The richest man in the world spent more money that most people will see in a lifetime, only to lose a Senate race and governor’s race in Texas by double digits. This is a reminder that we must overturn Citizens United. But it’s also a reminder that organized people can still defeat organized money.

A tweet from Armand Domalewski:

The mandatory sex change surgeries begin TONIGHT. All Republican voters, please report to your local abortion clinic voluntarily or a bisexual MS-13 member will be sent to your home. Somehow, pansexual org-es and shariah law are simultaneously in effect as of this moment.

Dan K of the Kos community commented on a New York Times report that at 10:30 last night the nasty guy said he would accept election results. He is looking forward to working with Democrats. Or maybe that’s a bit inside out. From the NYT

“I think they’re gonna want to work with me,” he said. “Otherwise I’d just veto everything and they’re not gonna want that.”

And from Dan K:

We’ve said all along we needed to win by so large a margin that trump couldn’t steal it away from us. We got that margin!!!!! (and we’re getting it bigger!!!!!), and it was enough to shock trump into a semblance of comity. For the moment.

Will his staff and cabinet allow him to not fight the results? Or maybe he is too old, tired, and sick to sustain a fight? I’ve been thinking a lot about not hearing anything in the news about putting in action the plan to contest the election, which I wrote about in my previous post last Friday. I’m delighted it doesn’t appear to be happening. Or maybe the nasty guy is content to turn his attention to his ballroom. This afternoon he held a news event inside the unfinished structure, as reported by Walter Einenkel of Kos. Dartagnan of the Kos community quoted a Republican strategist from mid October discussing polls showing a huge Democratic win.

It would be so historically unprecedented you’d have to presuppose we’re staring down the barrel of a generational national trauma that no one is aware of.

Dartagnan emphasized “no one is aware of” as evidence that conservatives live in a bubble. He explained:

They lost because they were living in a bubble. They were living in a media ecosystem that told them everything they were doing — everything that Trump was doing — was just peachy. The bubble was reinforced over and over on Fox News, and in all their social media feeds. That bubble brooked no dissent, not a hint of doubt or introspection. It was the same bubble all cult members live in. It was a big bubble, and it was an amazingly popular bubble (for them). They would go to bubbled events where they would only interact and talk to the people in the same bubble. They stared into their phones and read the same happy talk, tailored and curated for their bubble. And before too long — quite understandably — they all forgot about the bubble. No, they thought. This was reality. And Trump was happy to reinforce it for them, so much that acting– or even thinking — outside the bubble became unthinkable. But it wasn’t reality. It was still a bubble.