Election results 2018: Our readers sound off
Election Night produced a split decision: Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, and Republicans increased their hold on the Senate.
Elections (and rhetoric) have consequences
Letter to the editor:
In view of the electoral results, which saw Democrats win the "popular vote" over Republicans in the Senate races, we must be cognizant of a more significant phenomenon: the emerging realignment of the nation's political parties.
President Donald Trump has done much to perpetuate this realignment during his tenure in the White House and his 2018 election rhetoric. As a result, Republican leadership may soon be forced to realize that their concern for immediate policy gains and other short term "goodies" — which has kept them from standing up to and calling out the president — will cost them substantially and irreparably in the future.
As many pollsters and political observers note, Trump and those who support him are trading blue collar for white collar, rural for urban and suburban, older for younger, men for women, uneducated for educated, white for minority, fearful for hopeful and xenophobic for tolerant. This locks Republicans into a voting demographic that simply is not sustainable for them. Put bluntly, how one governs and the election tactics they employ have long-term consequences.
Richard Cherwitz; Austin
Talker: Latino voters were the ones to watch on election night
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Comments taken from Twitter and Facebook. If you want to discuss politics with us, join Paste BN's Facebook group "Across the Aisle, Across the Nation":
It is interesting that the states with known voter issues (i.e. faulty machinery, closing of polling places in some of the heavier minority areas, and the revision of voter laws themselves) are some of the states where the Republicans came out well.
The GOP has proven over and again that they don't think they can win an election without help. If President Donald Trump wins in 2020, it will only be because he had outside help.
— Kathy Pease
With the way the Senate and House flips during midterm elections, I am very happy with the results. We not only kept the Senate, but we replaced a few "never Trumpers" with Senators who will back Trump.
— Doug Steltenpohl
One silver lining from the election is that Republicans will probably be unable to repeal the "pre-existing conditions" caveat under the Affordable Care Act. No matter how hard they've tried and as much as they've lied about it.
— Max Speed
The House went to the Democrats, and that's a good thing. Just shows the world that the checks and balances system put in place by the Constitution is working.
If you have a tyrant and wannabe dictator in the White House, thank God the Founding Fathers created a way to deal with that sad possibility.
— Russell E. Glass
Over the next two years, the House Democrats will remind everyone why they lost in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The new "moderate" Democrats in the suburbs will be eaten alive by the progressives in the party. There's a reason there are barely any more "blue dog" Democrats.
— Kathie Church
A rainbow over the U.S. Capitol at sunset on Tuesday night was a sign of a good night for Democrats. Not a great night, but a good night. The beginning of the end of Republican rule over America.
What did Trump and Republicans accomplish legislatively with their two years of 100 percent rule over the federal government? Two things: Tax breaks mostly benefitting the wealthiest Americans and a beer-loving man accused of sexual assault on the Supreme Court.
— John Bertelson
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