This is a special election edition of How We Win, a Guardian opinion series with leading thinkers, offering bold ideas for America’s political future.
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We → win → future
In this historic night, Americans took their country back, making epic changes to the political map, putting blue back in places that had been solid red for decades.
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that → take → decades
Everyone I knew was almost afraid to hope, auspicious though the polls and other signs were, afraid to set themselves up for disappointment, and then last night came report after report of almost unbelievable victories, the Senate retaken, the House retaken.
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House → know → victories
It is a profound repudiation of Trumpism, helped along by Trump’s unerring ability to pick truly despicable candidates from Texas’s criminal Ken Paxton to Ohio’s creep Vivek Ramaswamy to South Carolina’s inane Darline Graham.
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It → help → Graham
In that it’s the end of something, and when the celebration is over, it’ll be time to remember it’s the beginning of something, of rebuilding this country in all the ways it’s been broken and corrupted.
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it → ’ → ways
So tonight there was a finish line, and tomorrow or the day after it’ll be our starting line.
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it → be → ?
- Rebecca Solnit, author and Guardian US columnist
America isn’t for sale
As it turns out, not everything has a price tag.
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everything → turn → tag
Elon Musk spent nearly $190m blanketing the state with ads against James Talarico.
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Musk → spend → Talarico
But his attempts to depict Talarico as an unhinged extremist wasn’t enough to convince a majority of Texans to vote for Ken Paxton.
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attempts → depict → Paxton
A similar story played out across the country.
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story → play → country
Donald Trump deployed hundreds of millions of dollars through Maga Inc to boost candidates such as Darline Graham in South Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, and Michael Whatley in North Carolina.
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Trump → deploy → Carolina
It didn’t work.
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It → work → ?
Tuesday night demonstrated the limits of big money’s influence.
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night → demonstrate → influence
It’s a hopeful sign for US democracy.
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It → ’ → democracy
- Judd Legum, founder and author of Popular Information
Listen to the south
“The south got something to say!”
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south → listen → something
Those were the now iconic words of André 3000 of OutKast in 1995 who thought the south was being overlooked and disrespected.
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south → think → 1995
Among the notable races, Democrat Dr Annie Andrews won the Senate race in South Carolina, a seat held by Republicans since 1998; Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s gubernatorial race to become the first Black woman to be a governor in the US, and Democrats won both the Senate and the governor’s races in Texas.
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Democrats → win → Texas
The southern strategy has a term limit, and the region’s diversity is now paying political dividends for the Democrats.
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diversity → have → Democrats
- Charles Blow, author, political analyst and contributing writer to the Guardian
Democrats on the clock
The bad guys lost.
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guys → contribute → clock
In a historic beatdown, Democrats took control of the House and Senate by flipping states that were considered impossible, such as South Carolina and Texas.
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that → take → Carolina
This was a rebuke of Maga’s corruption, incompetence and greed resulting in record-high gas and grocery prices and a loyalty to broligarchs over workers.
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This → result → workers
The American people have sent the strongest message in years: the politics of restoration are over.
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politics → send → restoration
We demand the politics of transformation.
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We → demand → transformation
As Democratic senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed said in Michigan on Tuesday night: “Alhamdulilah.”
- Wajahat Ali, editor of The Left Hook and co-host of The Democracy-ish Podcast
Blazing trails
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Sayed → say → Podcast
On Tuesday night, we witnessed political history with a series of firsts that warmed my jaded heart.
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that → witness → heart
Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman to be elected governor in our country’s history.
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Bottoms → become → history
Texas elected Gina Hinojosa, its first Latina governor.
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Texas → elect → Hinojosa
Dr Annie Andrews won the Senate seat in South Carolina, the first woman to do so.
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Andrews → win → woman
Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota will head to Washington DC in January as the first Native American woman elected to the US Senate.
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Flanagan → head → Senate
And Deb Haaland of New Mexico will become the first woman Native American governor.
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Haaland → become → Mexico
Voters entrusted their future leadership to brilliant, fierce, capable women.
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Voters → entrust → women
And as the mother of a brilliant, fierce, capable 12-year-old daughter, how can I not revel in the power of these historical firsts?
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I → revel → firsts
It also showed that Americans still believe in the beauty and nobility of progress.
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Americans → show → progress
The Aporia
