Voters in North Carolina threw out at least five incumbent Republican members of Congress in this week's election—while also approving ballot measures to limit property tax increases and cut the state's highest income tax rate from 7 percent to 3.5 percent.
asserted
Voters → throw → percent
In Arizona (like in Colorado and Washington), voters passed new restrictions on transgender athletes' ability to participate in girls' and women's sports—even as Democrats appear to be on track to fully control the state government there for the first time since the 1960s.
asserted
Democrats → pass → 1960s
And in California, the bluest of blue states during the bluest of blue waves, voters appear to be rejecting a proposed "wealth tax" and supporting an initiative to ban new taxes on personal property or retirement savings.
asserted
voters → appear → property
(Neither has been officially called yet, but the leads are substantial in both cases.)
asserted
leads → call → cases
Making sense of these results requires stepping outside the partisan binary that dominates so much of American politics.
asserted
that → make → politics
Voters delivered a staggering, overwhelming victory for Democrats this week (even in places where Democrats simply aren't supposed to win), while simultaneously rejecting some of the most prominent left-wing policies and even elevating conservative ones, like tax cuts.
asserted
Democrats → deliver → cuts
Indeed, Democrats feeling emboldened by Tuesday's results should check out the exit polls.
asserted
Democrats → feel → polls
When NBC News asked voters for their opinions of the two major parties, an outright majority said they have an unfavorable view of Democrats.
asserted
they → ask → Democrats
Of course, an even larger majority dislikes Republicans.
asserted
majority → dislike → Republicans
And even larger majorities said Trump was doing a poor job as president—in the poll, 63 percent of voters disapproved of the job he has done and 62 percent said he has prioritized his personal interests over those of the country.
asserted
he → say → country
The extent of Tuesday's blue wave has triggered another landslide of memes and jokes about the coming "Woke 2.0"—put those pronouns back in your email signature and so on.
asserted
extent → trigger → signature
(My colleagues Robby Soave and Christian Britschgi did a good bit about this on their podcast.)
asserted
colleagues → do → podcast
Jokes aside, it would be a huge error for Democrats to misread this result as a nationwide embrace of their most radical and redistributionist agenda items.
asserted
Democrats → misread → items
The red congressional districts that voted for Democrats are still populated by the same people as they were last week.
asserted
they → vote → people
Kansas has its first Democratic senator since the 1930s, but it didn't transform into Brooklyn overnight.
asserted
it → have → Brooklyn
The Democrats who shone the brightest this week are moderates.
asserted
who → shine → ?
Adam Hamilton, who won that Senate seat in Kansas, was a registered Republican until earlier this year.
asserted
who → win → year
Gina Hinojosa, who scored a huge upset in the Texas gubernatorial race, has urged Democrats to "shove it with your culture wars."
asserted
who → score → wars
In an ad that ran late in the campaign cycle, she said her pronouns are "mom, Texan, and soon-to-be governor."
asserted
pronouns → run → cycle
When Democrats are getting in on the joke about the excesses of the "woke" era, that's a good sign.
asserted
that → get → era
But what about all the far-left candidates who won, like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan?
asserted
who → win → Michigan
Yes, of course there are progressives who prevailed on Tuesday.
asserted
who → be → Tuesday
That's because they won Democratic primaries earlier in the year.
asserted
they → win → year
And in this environment, where any and all Democrats were seen as preferable to all Republicans, that was good enough for a large share of the electorate.
asserted
that → see → electorate
And even in that environment, progressive candidates underperformed relative to more moderate Democrats.
asserted
candidates → underperform → Democrats
Candidates endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) underperformed across the board, as Jeff Maurer detailed on his Substack.
asserted
Maurer → endorse → Substack
They still won in a lot of cases, of course, because Republicans have become utterly toxic in the Trump era.
asserted
Republicans → win → era
Go back to the NBC News exit poll once more: Just 18 percent of the midterm electorate said they self-identified as a "democratic socialist."
asserted
they → go → socialist
That's fewer than the 24 percent who said they self-identified as "MAGA"—you know, the political coalition that was just dealt a historic wipeout.
asserted
that → say → wipeout
This election was a revolution of independent and centrist voters, now the largest voting bloc in America, who turned their back on the Republican Party.
asserted
who → turn → Party
And it was determined by "normal" Americans, as political commentator Noah Smith put it.
asserted
Smith → determine → it
That is most of the country (outside of the political echo chambers that exist on social media), thankfully.
asserted
that → exist → media
To be clear, the fact that voters obviously aren't calling for "Woke 2.0" doesn't mean we won't end up there.
asserted
we → call → Woke
It would hardly be the first time voters got the opposite of what they wanted—Trump won in 2024 with a"no new wars" promise, after all.
asserted
Trump → get → promise
It's probably a safe bet that Democrats will learn some of the wrong lessons from this election—and that Republicans won't learn nearly enough of the right ones.
asserted
Republicans → learn → ones
Democrats might embark on a plan to spend trillions of dollars on socialized health care schemes that will worsen inflation.
uncertain
that → embark → inflation
They might try to reignite culture wars or impose price controls or who knows what other kookery.
uncertain
who → try → controls
Trump is still president—and he says he will make aggressive use of the veto power (though he also wants to work with Sanders, so we'll see).
asserted
we → say → Sanders
The Supreme Court still has a conservative majority.
asserted
Court → have → majority
Democratic attempts at wiping out the filibuster or packing the court will almost certainly backfire.
asserted
attempts → wipe → court
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
