*popular* wave coming and, even in spite of their gerrymandering efforts, could not save the house. It was a major nationwide rebuke of Trump by all halfway objective or reasonable accounts. The underrated victory, IMHO, is the near sweep of gubernatorial elections with the exceptions of Florida and Georgia (but really, the fact that the GOP had to work in Georgia says a lot).

But where the GOP still has the edge on the Dems is their electoral mapping strategy. They knew they could hold the Senate if they got rural, white red state voters to turn out in equal numbers to smaller urban populations in places like ND, IN, and MO. They were right -- but they basically went out and campaigned in a manner that further sunk them in contentious House districts in order to hold the Senate. It worked -- both ways. You have places like Orange County that is not entirely blue and was once the cradle of West Coast conservatism. They got crushed in states with big Latino populations -- even losing a Senate seat in AZ and making Texas an actual contest. The old Blue Wall seemed to reform and then some. But they did better in states like Ohio that are more like Appalachia than the rest of the Rust Belt and continue to do well in Florida. I don't think the Dems could have been half as disciplined tbh.

It really is the party of old white people now, and they may have really effed themselves for 2020 in the way they ran this midterm campaign. But they have secured the Senate so Trump will not be removed from Office, and they have remade the Court. IMHO, you will see a lot more aggressive voter suppression efforts in the near future as well as efforts to strike down progressive legislation once the Dems are firmly back in power. That was the GOP's real play (or at least their money guys) in my view. They got it too.
[Post edited by WahooRQ at 11/21/2018 11:06AM]