After the Elections, What’s Next?
Some have dubbed the midterm elections a “split decision,” with the Democrats picking up almost 40 seats, enabling them to regain control of the House of Representatives, while the Republicans not only held onto their slim majority in the Senate, but actually gained seats.
It certainly was not the Blue Wave the Democrats had hoped for. By comparison, in the “red wave” elections of 1994 and 2010, the Republicans gained 52 and 63 seats, respectively, in the House, along with good gains in the Senate. Had the Republicans actually gained seats in the House in the midterm, it would have gone against the history of the past century. Since 1914, the party holding the White House has picked up seats in the midterms only three times.
The Democrats greatly outspent the Republicans. In the Texas Senate contest between incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat challenger Beto O’Rourke, O’Rourke’s campaign had raised $69 million and spent $59 million as of October 17. These amounts were significantly above the $40 million raised and $34 million spent by the Cruz campaign. All in all, about $5 billion was spent in the 2018 midterms.
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