More to come as soon as the presidential election is officially called, but we wanted to get this out today.
With America’s survival at stake, Election Night was intense. So many elections took place that it was destined to be bittersweet. And as we celebrate every victory, we also mourn each defeat. But one massive victory that can't be overlooked is that our electoral systems held. Elections officials did their jobs and continue to do so. We're so grateful these impartial patriots upheld our democracy.
As the smoke begins to clear, here’s what we see.
THE HOUSE
We held the House majority, preserving our 2018 flip. It seems we will have lost a few seats, but we not only retained the majority: we elected two openly gay congressmen from NY, Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres. We elected Cori Bush, a BLM activist and Missouri’s first black congresswoman. We elected indigenous candidate Kaiali’i “Kai” Kahele to congress from Hawaii. And we again elected a record number of women.
THE SENATE
In the Senate, we wanted a blowout, so the defeats were crushing. ME and IA hurt like hell. So did SC and KY and MT, though they were always going to be tough battles. But there was also great news. Hickenlooper ousted Gardner in CO! Gary Peters beat back almost certain defeat, and held the line in MI! And Mark Kelly banished Martha McSally, achieving the unthinkable and giving us TWO Democratic Senators from AZ!
The fight is not over. At this moment North Carolina and Alaska have not been called, and it looks likely we’ll have two runoffs in GA on January 5, 2021. WE WILL JOIN THAT FIGHT for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Two more seats would get us to 50 in the Senate, and Kamala (we pray) could break any ties.
THE WHITE HOUSE
In the most important battle of our lives, the news has gone from very troubling to guardedly ecstatic. Here’s why.
Despite a raging once-in-a-century pandemic…
Despite legal and illegal voter suppression…
Despite Trump weaponizing our own Post Office against us…
Despite Russian social media operations targeting our voting blocs with disinformation…
Despite Bill Barr’s sham investigations…
Despite threats of white supremacist voter intimidation at the polls...
And despite Trump’s and the Republican Party’s endless parade of lies and smears…
...Americans voted in numbers that smashed every record in history.
And it looks like that was exactly what was needed to save our republic.
At this moment, geniuses we trust, including Cook Political Report analyst Dave Wasserman (@redistrict), have absolute certainty PA will go to Biden, and not by a small margin. With 20 electoral votes, that is the whole enchilada – regardless of what shakes out in NV, AZ, GA, or NC.
That said, it’s NOT official yet. That official call will be a very special moment. If and when “if” becomes “when,” a once-in-a-lifetime celebration is in order.
WHICH IS WHY at the moment the AP officially calls the race for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris, I will dance for fifteen minutes ON ZOOM. Doesn’t matter what hour, day or night. And I offer no promises about the quality of the dancing, except that it WILL be heartfelt... painfully so. Dance with me if you like! Pointing and laughing also encouraged! Sign up HERE.
