Take away mid-term elections

The 2018 elections are almost over: the Democrats have taken the House and the Republicans will keep the Senate. And there has been and there will be a lot of screaming.

Below, some winners and losers.

winners

Democrats

Republicans will present this as a split decision because they held the Senate. That's not it; the Senate map was very favorable to them, which meant that it was planned to keep control of it. The Democrats have just acquired a House of Congress and it's a great night for them, period.

President (?) Nancy Pelosi

Good things (probably) come to those who wait. It is rare for a former speaker to remain as long as Pelosi after losing his gavel in 2010. And that seems particularly strange, given how difficult it was for Democrats to win back Parliament this decade.

But she continued to collect a lot of money for her side and she stayed long enough. Now, she just has to make sure there are not enough Democrats who do not want to vote for her and stop her from becoming a speaker again. It will be difficult to stop, however.

Mitch McConnell

It may not have been a huge surprise that the Republicans held the Senate, but they did so with relative ease, which means Republicans can continue to confirm President Trump's judges. And it will probably be easier now, since the majority of the GOP seems to want to expand slightly.

Oh, and the bonus for the majority leader in the Senate: the defeat of Democrat Amy McGrath in the 6th district of Kentucky. The highly sought-after candidate and the best fundraiser would have been instantly considered a potential candidate at McConnell's headquarters in 2020.

Florida criminals

Amendment 4 passed in Florida reinstates the voting rights of convicted criminals. It's huge from the perspective of civil rights – especially given that such voting initiatives in Florida must cross a 60% threshold – and an electoral threshold. In Florida, about 9% of the voting age population is made up of criminals, many of whom are racial minorities. This could change the elections (probably in favor of the Democrats) for years to come.

Democratic diversity

Jared Polis, of Colorado, became the first openly homosexual elected governor. The Democrats elected two Muslim women (Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota) and two Native American women (Sharice Davids of Kansas and Deb Haaland of New Mexico) among the first. They can also set the record for elected women.

John James

The Republican Senate candidate from Michigan had little enthusiasm, but he was actually closer to overthrowing Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) That the GOP did not hold the seat of the state governor. At the time of the press, he was losing only six points.

James, an African-American veteran and a conservative businessman, did not get much national support this time around. He could in the future run.

Sherrod Brown 2020

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) quite easily sent his representative, James B. Renacci (R-Ohio), despite the race of the GOP's winning Ohio governor. And then, in his victory speech, Brown left little doubt about the next prize: a presidential race.

"Let our country – the citizens of our nation, our democratic party, my elected colleagues across the country – let them all cast their eyes on the center of the country, the industrial Midwest, our state of the Great Lakes," Brown said. . He concluded: "This is the message that emanates from Ohio in 2018, and it is our country's project in 2020." He runs?

Beto 2020 (and beyond)

No, things did not go as planned for the new supposed Texas Democrats savior. They have not won a national race for 24 years – the longest of its kind in the country – and that did not change on Tuesday.

But Beto O'Rourke has collected a ton of money, and even a close defeat (he lost only 3 points with 80% of constituencies) will probably keep him on the radar. Given the long list of Democrats expected to run for president, why not the guy who just made Texas competitive? He must be tempted.

losers

Beto 2018 and its donors

A loss is a loss, and we should not pretend no. This must be particularly disappointing for those who invest so much hope in O'Rourke's bid – and for those who invest their hard-earned money – for a record $ 70 million. Democrats have a habit of focusing on bright objects, and this brilliant object has not prevailed.

"It's stupid economics"

The Trump era has forced us to reevaluate many political assumptions and we can now add this Clinton adage to the list. The idea that the economy is the most important thing of all time does not make much sense if the unemployment rate is 3.7% and that 8 out of 8 voters evaluate the economy in a positive way, but the party in power loses a room.

The economy almost certainly helped the Republicans, but it was not enough to save them, either because of external factors or because Trump was so focused on other things.

Trump Immigration Strategy

It was fashionable to say that Trump's anti-caravan strategy was naughty, but probably effective. And that could have been in Senate races in clearly red territory. But that did not seem to do much to save the House, which was the most threatened room. Exit polls showed that nearly half of the voters considered Trump's rhetoric "too harsh".

In the end, it seemed more than Trump was doing just what he knew, rather than what would save half of Congress.

Vote against Kavanaugh

A vote may be oversold, but it should be noted that Senators Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) And Heidi Heitkamp (DN.D.) have issued some of the most surprising votes against Kavanaugh's candidacy to the Supreme Court – after Voting for Neil M. Gorsuch – Senator Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) voted for Kavanaugh and played very well in the Trumpiest state of the country.

Once again, this vote may not have sealed the deal, but Donnelly and Heitkamp underperformed their expectations. These votes may have reminded the Conservatives of the big drawback of having a Democrat in the Senate.

The next generation of Democrat stars

O'Rourke was not the only one to lose a difficult and high level race. Andrew Gillum lost to the governor of Florida. Stacey Abrams risked losing in the Georgian governor's race without even a second round. And Randy Bryce, the Democratic man who fell in love with the Speaker of the House, Paul D. Ryan (you know: Iron Stache), lost the open-double-digit seat race.

These could have been the four most buzzy Democrat candidates – in fact, they were the four quoted by Esquire – and they were all disappointed.