The results of the midterm elections are still trickling in on the morning of November 9. Although Democrats can rightly claim to have dodged the much-touted red wave, political blood was certainly drawn. And the activist media stood ready to defend Team Biden. Several outlets took to social media and the internet to downplay the repudiation of the left’s candidates, visible in some notable GOP wins.
Parsing the Midterm Elections
The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta chimed in, noting that the much-anticipated “red tsunami” had not materialized. “This is not a red tsunami. In fact, it might be shaping up as the best midterm cycle for an incumbent president’s party since the rally-around-the-flag election of 2002,” he tweeted. While Mr. Alberta is correct to some degree, his message ignores the fact that Democrats have likely lost the House and, therefore, any reasonable chance of passing legislation in a continuation of President Joe Biden’s spending spree.
And then there is the issue of the demographic shift. MSNBC showed visible surprise when it was revealed that Miami-Dade County, which is about 70% Hispanic, supported incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) over his Democratic challenger, Rep. Val Demings.
Audible gasps from the MSNBC panel when they first saw the early returns from Miami-Dade county pic.twitter.com/Qn1HbCEK7u
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) November 9, 2022
Latinos in the Sunshine State turned out in full force for Republicans, supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis at 59.4% over his challenger, Charlie Crist. Other GOP governors also fared well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won re-election, handily defeating Beto O’Rourke. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was also victorious against Democrat Stacey Abrams. However, as of this writing, first-time Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is trailing her opponent in Arizona’s election.
And Then Came the New Message…
In another MSNBC segment, the hosts used the incoming results to prop up Biden, essentially claiming that the outcomes were a favorable referendum on his presidency. “Joe Biden is on the verge of being the most successful Democratic president in a midterm election that we have seen in quite some time,” one panel member at the network said.
Left-wing media personality Katelyn Burns stated that the results of the House elections – which are not indicative of a red wave – are evidence the United States is Democrat in nature. She wrote:
“One potential takeaway from tonight is that the US is a center left country with a gerrymandering problem.
“If republicans are going to turn in a historically poor midterm performance now in this moment, a lot of talking heads need to re-evaluate their priors on this stuff.”
(Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
What’s the Reality?
It is still too early to tell exactly how the midterm elections will shake out. It appears the GOP will come away with a grip on the lower chamber. But the journalists appear to have gotten one thing correct: This was not a red wave.
Both parties still have a pathway to upper chamber victory. While Democrat John Fetterman has defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, taking one seat away from the GOP, the outcomes aren’t so clear in Arizona, Georgia, or Nevada.
Over the next few days, the dust will settle and the nation will find out how well each party did. Regardless of the outcomes, we can count on the activist Fourth Estate to do its level best to weave a narrative favorable to the Democrats. Nevertheless, it remains likely that Republicans will achieve a majority in the House; with legislative control subject to the whim of the opposition and the GOP gaining the power to start investigations, President Biden’s political momentum isn’t looking as rosy as the media would have the public believe.