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Republicans Have Total Meltdown Over the Blue Wave—and It’s Delicious

Republicans spent election night freaking out about what’s coming next.

Capitol building
Kevin Carter/Getty Images

The blue wave is here, and Republicans aren’t taking it very well.

As Democrats began notching huge midterm victories on Tuesday, including winning back control of the House of Representatives and securing key victories in races across the nation, Republicans saw the writing on the wall. .

Politico reported that senior Republican Party members are particularly worried about Florida, where Republican Ashley Moody won the Senate race against democratic socialist Angie Nixon by just three percentage points.

“Florida is bad. Real bad,” one strategist said.

“A socialist is on track to win Miami-Dade County, where most of the voters fled literal socialism and still refused to vote for Republicans. If that doesn’t tell you how big of a colossal fuck up the first two years of Trump 2.0 was I don’t know what will,” said another.

“It’s a ruby-red state. If we have problems there, we have real issues,” an adviser said.

MAGA commentators also spent Tuesday night publicly lamenting their party’s poor initial midterm showings, which indicate a rejection of President Trump’s larger political movement in general.

“This isn’t a blue tsunami. This is a blue great mud flood,” wrote right-wing podcaster Tim Pool. “Shit. Its almost like the GOP campaigned on nothing and deserve to get blown out. Fucking insane.”

“Tonight should be a wake-up call. The next two years cannot be more speeches, more promises, and more excuses for why nothing gets done,” former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn wrote on Truth Social. “People are tired of voting for change and then being told to wait until the next election. If we put you in office, we expect you to do the job. Tell us what you’ve accomplished, where you’ve fallen short, and what you’re doing about it. Having an R next to your name does not get you a pass.... The next two years need to be about accountability. We cannot afford to be having this same conversation in 2028.”

James Talarico Becomes First Democratic Senator in Texas in 33 Years

Democrats have flipped Texas blue this election.

James Talarico speaks into a handheld mic
Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images

James Talarico has officially turned Texas blue for the first time in 33 years.

Talarico beat embattled former Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton 58–40 with 68 percent of the vote counted, the Decision Desk HQ reported.

Talarico thus wins a state that President Trump won by 56 percent just two years ago. The Presbyterian former House member ran on a progressive populist platform consisting of affordability, economic inequality, political corruption, and healthcare reform.

Paxton did just about everything he could to lose this race. From his indictment and suspension to his alleged affair and subsequent divorce, his misuse of taxpayer funds for vacations, to his controversial, leak-filled Senate campaign, Trump could not have picked a more vulnerable candidate to loosen the GOP’s grip on the Lone Star state.

Democrats Win South Carolina Senate as Lindsey Graham’s Sister Flops

Democrats successfully flipped the seat after voters rejected Darline Graham.

Senator Darline Graham
Win McNamee/Getty Images

South Carolinian voters weren’t in the mood for groundless nepotism this election season.

Acting South Carolina Senator Darline Graham, the younger sister of the late Lindsey Graham, lost to Democrat Annie Andrews Tuesday.

Andrews beat Graham 51.1–47 percent, Decision Desk HQ projected.

The junior Graham took the reins of her sibling’s powerful office in July, days after the 71-year-old suddenly passed away from an aortic dissection. Despite having zero relevant experience or qualifications, Graham gained the president’s endorsement and was subsequently appointed by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. She then defied Republican strategists by throwing her hat in the GOP primary the following month, besting Representative Ralph Norman, a five-term lawmaker who has represented the Palmetto State in various legislative capacities since 2005.

But voters were apparently unimpressed by Graham’s four-month tenure in office. At the onset, Graham promised to follow in her brother’s footsteps, aligning herself with the MAGA movement and its various policy points. But her ignorance quickly shone through.

During her primary debates, Graham flopped on a softball debate question regarding Taiwan, confessing that “national security is not my thing.” In the same debate, she forgot the population of her own state, falsely claiming that South Carolina’s population is 50 million people—more than New York and Florida combined. Fact check: the state population is less than six million people.

Andrews’s win marks the first time since 2005 that a Democrat has represented South Carolina in the Senate, and the first time that a woman earned the electorate’s vote for the coveted position.

Republicans’ Attempt to Rig the Map Backfires Big-Time in Florida

It turns out gerrymandering isn’t paying off for Republicans.

Pia Dandiya laughing at a podium
Pia Dandiya gives her victory speech on election night, November 3
Screengrab via NBC 6
Pia Dandiya gives her victory speech on election night, November 3

It looks like Republicans have just played themselves in Florida. As midterm election results rolled in Tuesday night, it quickly became clear that GOP gerrymandering in the Sunshine State had seriously backfired

Democrat Kathy Castor held onto her seat in Florida’s 14th congressional district, fending off a challenge from Republican Mike Beltran. Republicans purposefully redrew that district to get rid of Castor, by including a lot less of Tampa and a lot more of its outlying rural counties. In 2024, President Donald Trump won the areas making up this new district by 11 points.

In Florida’s 22nd congressional district, Democrat Pia Dandiya defeated Republican Casey Askar, after Governor Ron DeSantis’s gerrymandering efforts created an open seat for the Republicans to steal. The state’s current 22nd district is represented by Democrat Lois Frankel, who is now running in Florida’s 23rd district.

In the race for Florida’s Senate seat, Democratic socialist Angie Nixon was defeated by Republican incumbent Ashley Moody—but when the race was called at 84.3 percent of the vote reported, Moody led Nixon by only 0.7 percentage points. The Republican won, but not by nearly as much as expected for a historically red state.

Democrats Take Control of the House of Representatives

Democrats are expected to win back the House of Representatives.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries
Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Democrats are projected to retake control of the House of Representatives for the first time in four years.

Decision Desk HQ projected Democrats will seize the chamber from Republicans. It is not yet clear which party has taken control of the Senate.

Republicans gained control of the House two years ago during the 2022 midterm elections. While there was no “red wave” as widely predicted, Republicans were able to flip 19 districts from blue to red.

Ahead of the midterm elections Tuesday, Republicans held only a slim four-seat majority over Democrats. The latest polls had heavily indicated that Democrats would retake control of the House.

While America’s authoritarian era likely won’t end in a day, the results of the House midterm elections are a searing indictment on Republicans’ rule and the first two years of Trump’s second term.