There are two images that to me represent what happened in this 2026 election across America. The first is the street shrine to Alex Pretti, murdered by ICE in Minneapolis, with its new additions today: "I Voted" stickers. The second is James Talarico giving his victory speech in Texas behind a podium that said only, "Love Thy Neighbor."
It was an election of rejection, through the power of the vote. It was an election of rededication to ideals, as a pattern for the future. Both of these began in the No Kings demonstrations, in the accusations and affirmations on the signs millions of people made and carried. Many others joined the rising on the day it most mattered.
It was a rejection of power politics driven by money and serving the monied, as articulated by Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Senator-elect Talarico of Texas, who put it this way in that acceptance speech, referring to the hundreds of millions spent on smears against him: "Those attacks were the final howls of a dying establishment."
The dimensions of Democratic victories are literally stunning. That's in fact how I would describe the faces on the people who described the vote outcomes on TV livestreams and podcasts: sometimes joyous, sometimes teary, mostly they just looked stunned.
The polls were wrong, but in the way that Chuck Todd suggested they might be: they underestimated the vote against Republicans and for Democrats. In places where Chaos won by double digits in 2024, Democrats won by double digits. It was an impossible dream come true: not only did Talarico win the Texas Senate seat, but all state administrative offices, from the Governor on down, went to Democrats. And it wasn't close. Forecast to be at best undecided well into the morning, the Senate and governorship were settled by 10 p.m. Texas time.
Among the seats that Democrats picked up to take the majority in the Senate were the highly improbable South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas--which hadn't sent a D to the Senate since 1932.
The Democrats have 54 seats as of this writing, including Maine and Michigan, with one more likely (Alaska) and maybe even another (Mississippi.) They easily attained the House majority (they needed four more seats; they got 42.) But the political significance goes beyond the numbers. Though some winning candidates were well known in their states, few were the same old faces nationally. They were from new generations. And in the year that was supposed to see the demise of diversity, they included historic achievements for black and Native women, among others.
The results suggest a massive change in American politics. But they will even more tangibly lead to a change in governance. There are things the Congress can do that don't require the President's signature. Perhaps more profoundly, policies will change in states. ICE prisons for one thing will no longer be welcome in Texas. Changes in state legislatures will also be very important. But just the fact of Democratic governors in most major states now will be a formidable safeguard against federal attempts to interfere with elections and their results.
There's another level to all this. For those who turned in early, they went to bed in a country that rewarded some of the most morally despicable and degenerate (though wealthy) individuals with power and high office. They will wake up to a country rid of a great many of them Except those, of course, in the White House and the Chaos administration. And these results may encourage some of them to cash in their chips and go away. Even their billionaire and corporate enablers may need to recalibrate.
The future is likely to present great difficulties and even crisis. But Americans spoke with something close to a single voice today, against the excesses of Boss Chaos, his minions and enablers. It will take longer to sort out the full meaning of this rising than it took for it to happen. But we're a better country tonight.
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