Ep. 109: Big Night for Blue
Hey FRs,
I live in Texas. San Antonio, to be precise. A fairly stalwart blue dot in a blood-red state. I watched the returns with my husband, not expecting Talarico to take out Paxton despite the polling data. I'd just been burned too many times. Then it just...happened.
And while we were still stretching out into the unfamiliar feeling of political joy, Greg Abbott broke onto our screens and conceded the governor's race to Gina Hinojosa. Before the networks had even called it! From there, the wins just kept coming. And are potentially still coming! A Democrat might win a Mississippi Senate seat for fuck's sake.
Some of my neighbors went out honking (It's a SA thing. We do it after big Spurs wins.), but I couldn't muster the spirit. It's been a shitshow for so long I'm having trouble figuring out what this means. I mean, it's amazing, don't get me wrong. I'm just not buzzing like many around me are.
I was living (and voting) in Virginia when Jim Webb beat George Allen. If honking had been a thing there, I would've been out in the street. I remember how incredible it felt to believe a win could change things. I hope this is the beginning of getting that feeling back.
Why did Democrats flip Ohio, Texas, Kansas and South Carolina?
Independents played a huge role in delivering this. Exit polling shows Democrats making significant gains among swing voters, affecting races like Ohio's Senate seat, where Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton won, along with three flipped House seats, and Texas, where James Talarico beat the loathsome Ken Paxton.
AP polling found six in ten voters blamed Trump for high prices, and seven in ten wanted more checks on his power. About f*cking time.
What did JD Vance's post-election platform actually say?
Oh, JD.
Vance posted a lengthy X thread arguing Trump voters in 2024 wanted wars ended, affordability fixed, and the relationship with Israel changed, while Trump told Politico reporter Dasha Burns by phone that Republicans lost because he "wasn't on the ballot."
JD's take looks a lot like triangulation ahead of 2028, and it's markedly different from Trump's. If that public disconnect means two years of Trump publicly humiliating JD, well, silver linings.
Did Trump actually cut military aid to Israel?
Not exactly. Trump announced plans to end roughly $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel beginning in 2027. But the current agreement runs through 2028, Congress will have a say, and both countries are discussing a shift toward joint defense technology and direct weapons sales anyway. Whether this amounts to a meaningful reduction in American military support or just a restructuring of the relationship remains to be seen.
The timing, however, one day before voters went to the polls, reads less like policy and more like messaging aimed at undecided voters. It didn't work.
Can Congress actually stop a war it doesn't control?
History says sort of. In 1973, Congress used its power of the purse to force an end to U.S. combat operations in Cambodia. In 2007, Democrats tried to attach an Iraq withdrawal timetable to war funding, but Bush vetoed the bill, Congress couldn't override him, and lawmakers ultimately approved $120 billion without a withdrawal deadline.
With Democrats now controlling both chambers, Congress has some leverage over Trump's actions in Iran—but overriding a presidential veto still requires a two-thirds majority. The question is whether Tuesday's results gave any Republicans the balls to use it.
Missed the full episode? Go, go, go now!