Notes from Election Purgatory: What Did We Learn?

By Jim Miller

Here we are again, in that strange netherworld that is the days following American national elections of late.  

As we leave the worlds constructed by pollsters, pundits, social media, TV commercials, and enter the surreal dream of the long count and the new narratives surrounding that, we are left with the familiar feeling of emptiness at the heart of the commodity-spectacle that is the “show” of the modern election.  Exhausted, delirious, and ultimately filled with ennui, we buck ourselves up for a new wave of exhilaration or trauma or perhaps just a continuation of the feeling of being stuck in a psychic space between relief and dread.  

What is particularly purgatorial about the present moment is that with all the real, existential threats to American democracy, every election is “the election of our lifetime,” and yet the fundamental issues are never resolved.  

Hence, we are left feeling happy for what, as of this writing, is likely to be a two-year period of gridlock and intensified polarization that will only serve as prelude to the next “election of our lifetime.”  In the meantime, no progress will be made on our historic level of economic inequality, catastrophic climate change, or a host of other pressing issues.  

In sum, we are adrift—politically, socially, culturally—in a way that feels unique and dangerous.  Yes, the political guardrails seemed to have held again, but they still appear quite fragile and despite the Democrats’ historically solid performance, we are nonetheless sending a significant number of candidates to Congress who, in saner times, would have been disqualified by their extremity and uncomfortable relationship with basic facts. 

The party that embraces all variety of conspiracy theories and winks at political violence did not ride a “red wave,” but they were not soundly defeated either.  Gear up for the next cycle and hope for better results as the world burns around us.  The work must be done.  

So it goes.  

Outside of learning to live with a zeitgeist that lies somewhere between perpetual anxiety and mourning, there are a few more pedestrian, but important political truths that emerged last week.  

Florida Is Now the Capitol of Bad Things: From gerrymandering, disempowering African Americans, and stacking Congress with right-wingers to nurturing the authoritarian dreams of the next Trump and passing fascist legislation, the Sunshine State is a laboratory testing various ways to kill American democracy.  The Democrats can field all the former cops and Republicans they want and run away from all things progressive, and they’ll still lose there.  Perhaps poor Key West should start taking the Conch Republic idea seriously.  

John Fetterman Offers a Better Map Forward for Recapturing Working-Class Voters than Tim Ryan: Despite his stroke, Fetterman’s blunt, authentic identification with those left behind by neoliberal globalization combined with his simultaneous appeal to younger, urban voters is a winning formula.  He can speak to working people without having to signal disdain for progressives.  It’s not rocket science.  Recruit more candidates like him.  Gretchen Witmer in Michigan is also a good model to emulate in the Midwest.  

The Backlash Against Roe was Real and Deep:  Cue Captain Obvious . . . Women—especially young ones—came through in a big way to prevent a red wave from forming, both by supporting pro-choice candidates and voting for abortion rights in red states as well as blue.  Don’t shy away from this culture war issue.  Win on it.  It should be a key part of the 2024 playbook as well.   

The Democratic Establishment Will Insist that Big Ideas and Real Solutions Are Off the Table: Even though the multiple crises of our time require large, bold policies to address them, the political circumstances we now confront will blunt their collective imaginations.  The tack to the middle, win the suburbs narrative is baked into the cake.  Gridlock, small ball, anti-wokeness, and trench warfare will distract us while the most pressing and urgent issues of our era remain unaddressed until, perhaps, another crisis forces them back onto centerstage.  

Young Folks Showed Up, Helped Prevent a Red Wave, and Are Key to the Democrats’ Future: As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez observed last week, younger voters saved the day by breaking for Democrats 63% to 35% in House races according to Edison Research exit polling.  AOC also noted on Twitter that “By 2024 Millennials and Gen Z voters will outnumber voters who are Baby Boomers and older 45/25.  We are beginning to see the impacts of that generational shift.”  

Thus, she should be taken seriously when she points out that, if the House is lost, blame could be cast on New York, where four winnable seats were lost because of a state party structure based on “big money” and an “old school, calcified machine style politics that creates a very anemic voting base that is disengaged and disenfranchised.” That meant that too many Democrats there (and elsewhere too perhaps) leaned into Republican messaging rather than presenting a bold alternative based on progressive values.  

As AOC put it in the New York Times, “We need to get together as a team.  This idea of a pure moderate politics that seeks to defeat both a progressive grass roots and a Republican Party at the same time very often isolates itself and makes itself smaller.”  This means bringing younger, largely more progressive voters in rather than pushing them out and/or demonizing them as is all too often the case. 

Progressives (even Socialists!) Had a Good Night: As the Guardian pointed out in the wake of the election, “dozens of progressive members of Congress secured re-election including embattled incumbents.”  Bernie Sanders celebrated the news observing that “There will now be more strong progressives in the U.S. House than ever before.”  And moving beyond Congress, the big news coming out of Los Angeles was that after the LA City Council scandal, candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America were beating incumbents and turning the council to the left.  If Karen Bass pulls off a victory with a new progressive council in place, Los Angeles might end up being a vital political space in the new year.  

O.K.  Back to the chattering heads and the big board on MSNBC until the Georgia run-off in December . . .